Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast last week they light Welcome back
Speaker 1: guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name
Speaker 1: is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get
Speaker 1: all the inside goss on the popular TV shows you
Speaker 1: may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV
Speaker 1: sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and
Speaker 1: yet very little is known about how our favorite shows
Speaker 1: get made. So each episode, I've been finding guests the
Speaker 1: want to dive just that little bit deeper into the
Speaker 1: shows they're currently making, so that you can hear all
Speaker 1: their exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest names
Speaker 1: in Australian television. I want to thank you for downloading
Speaker 1: or subscribing to this podcast however you found it. I
Speaker 1: love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a
Speaker 1: review or a comment on your chosen podcast platform. On
Speaker 1: today's podcast, I have actor presenter Roger Corser here to
Speaker 1: talk about his hosting duties of Network ten's second series
Speaker 1: of The Traders. Roger Corser is an Australian actor best
Speaker 1: known for his portrayals of characters in Underbelly, Doctor, Doctor Five, Bedrooms,
Speaker 1: amongst other scripted dramas series. We have obviously seen him
Speaker 1: some very iconic roles here in Australia, but if I'm honest,
Speaker 1: I was a little shocked last year to see him
Speaker 1: as the host of The Traders, But as he found
Speaker 1: who he is in this franchise, I've kind of really
Speaker 1: come to love and appreciate him taking some chances within
Speaker 1: this role. The Traders features a group of contestants participating
Speaker 1: in a game similar to the party game Pluto, as
Speaker 1: they all stay in this sort of historic luxury hotel.
Speaker 1: During this stay, three contestants are selected by Roger as
Speaker 1: the Traders and must work together to eliminate the other
Speaker 1: contestants in order to win, while the other remaining contestants,
Speaker 1: known as the Faithfuls, are tasked to discover and banish
Speaker 1: the Traders by voting them out in order to win
Speaker 1: the grand prize. It's a lot of fun. I will
Speaker 1: find out what conversations Roger had with the producers and
Speaker 1: if he used any influences like Rocky, horror pictures, show
Speaker 1: or Clue the film to build a heightened role of
Speaker 1: his personality. Roger will also talk about what makes a
Speaker 1: good Trader what he would do if the game was
Speaker 1: flipped and he was actually one of the Traders or
Speaker 1: the Faithfuls will impact the latest series and find out
Speaker 1: how adding familiar faces from other reality shows and actors
Speaker 1: has changed the game in some ways for a lot
Speaker 1: of the players. Plus, we will get plenty of exclusives
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes of The Traders, which starts this
Speaker 1: week on Network ten at seven thirty on Sunday nine. Plus,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to catch up on ten Plus if
Speaker 1: you miss the launch episode. Anyway, guys, let's bring Roger
Speaker 1: into the podcast and I really hope you enjoy it's
Speaker 1: very insightful look into the Traders for TV reload.
Speaker 2: Hi Roger, and good to be with you.
Speaker 1: Very excited, welcome back to The Traders.
Speaker 2: Yes, season two. It's always nice. When you were a
Speaker 2: one hit one night, the second season's always good.
Speaker 1: It's a sign that things are going okay.
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean you can always do better, you know.
Speaker 2: Then that's what we're hoping for this year. Look, we've
Speaker 2: had a bit of a bumping interest, especially from the
Speaker 2: overseas contingent. You know, the Brits. The Brits. Brits are
Speaker 2: loving us.
Speaker 1: They are absolutely loving the format. But you know, I've
Speaker 1: seen episode one, which starts on Sunday night, and I
Speaker 1: have to tell you it really does feel like you
Speaker 1: guys have leveled up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, their challenges are bigger, I think also being a
Speaker 2: new format last year, I mean everyone didn't know really
Speaker 2: what to expect. I mean, players and production was our
Speaker 2: first time around doing it, and you know, and you
Speaker 2: can sort of change things in the second season. You
Speaker 2: can review it and go which bits can we tighten
Speaker 2: up and which bits do we amplify and so forth.
Speaker 2: So yeah, and also this year around we added some
Speaker 2: dare I say, some career you know, reality contestants. It's
Speaker 2: been spent in the last ten years getting around several
Speaker 2: shows and so forth and making a career out of it.
Speaker 2: And look, they know how to bring the gameplay, the drama,
Speaker 2: and they know, you know, they might be painted as
Speaker 2: a certain role, a villain or so forth, but they
Speaker 2: don't care. They kind of know that's what they're there for.
Speaker 2: And they do make good television. I've got to say, well.
Speaker 1: I have to. We're going to get into Luke and
Speaker 1: Ash in a minute, because I feel like they're the
Speaker 1: king and Queen of villainry and leaning into villainry and
Speaker 1: making it extraordinarily likable. So we'll get there in a second.
Speaker 1: But you know, last year it took me a little
Speaker 1: while to get used to you being a host of
Speaker 1: this show. And the reason why was because I was like,
Speaker 1: I've actually i've met you before. I've been in your
Speaker 1: audience as Australia has been for a long time as
Speaker 1: Roger Corser, and it's quite different to who you are
Speaker 1: as Roger Corser on this show. Was there many conversations
Speaker 1: about what sort of parts of your personality you wanted
Speaker 1: to bring to this role.
Speaker 2: Finally my schizophrenic self could come bipolar and everything, all
Speaker 2: the just different facets of my life. No, look, I've
Speaker 2: been asked before to host. You know, I feeled in
Speaker 2: a little bit on some Morning Telly, which was definitely
Speaker 2: kind of me. I'm not a cue anyway, because it's
Speaker 2: a kind of a genre. The thing that is really
Speaker 2: kind of who done it? And mixed a little bit
Speaker 2: of eyes white shut with those masks and knives out
Speaker 2: and some very kind of theatrical in a sense that
Speaker 2: I kind of liked the fun Pluto aspect to it.
Speaker 2: So we said yes, but look, it wasn't off the
Speaker 2: off the bat, you know that we said we're going
Speaker 2: to kind of do a bit of a kind of
Speaker 2: a quasi kind of character. It just sort of naturally
Speaker 2: went that way because we just I was sitting down
Speaker 2: with with Matt Lovecas who's the writer of this show,
Speaker 2: does a fantastic job, and we hit it off just
Speaker 2: with kind of the references we could use in some
Speaker 2: of the speeches, and then just to make it work,
Speaker 2: we're like, want, you know, funny little puns and gags,
Speaker 2: what if it's my hotel and what it's been handed
Speaker 2: down in the family, And it just lent us to
Speaker 2: be able to say a whole lot more sort of
Speaker 2: ridiculous stuff. So we went with it, and we were
Speaker 2: waiting for the producers to pull us up and go, guys,
Speaker 2: that's just you know, running off the rails here, but
Speaker 2: they never did, so we just so, look, it's probably
Speaker 2: the worst plot of character I've ever done, because it
Speaker 2: starts off with some place and it ends up somewhere else.
Speaker 2: So over the course of the first series it's a
Speaker 2: little up and down. I think, you know, I may
Speaker 2: lose the accent a little bit here and there, so
Speaker 2: we didn't know what we were really doing, but we're
Speaker 2: just having fun doing it, so we kept doing it.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what I kept thinking of. I kept
Speaker 1: thinking of the movie Clue with Tim Curry, and I
Speaker 1: was thinking, I wonder if Roger said yes to this
Speaker 1: and then went Because we're about the same age, so
Speaker 1: we probably watched that growing up. I wonder if you
Speaker 1: went back and watched Tim Curry's role and sort of
Speaker 1: lean into some of that butlery it's not a real word.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, well it's definitely that element with Tim Curry.
Speaker 2: I mean, I probably not Clue, which I should have
Speaker 2: a lot more. We did do the cludo. We kind
Speaker 2: of reference, if you know, Colonel must in the drawing
Speaker 2: room with a candlestick, that that kind of you know,
Speaker 2: sort of fadulous lends itself to a kind of a
Speaker 2: camp kind of fun thing. Even more, one of his
Speaker 2: other roles, like a frankenfurd I said, it's it's a
Speaker 2: lot less obviously, but that kind of mischievous host of
Speaker 2: the manner, you know what I mean, And you know,
Speaker 2: welcoming the guests into their place and then doing horrible
Speaker 2: things things to them and having a great time.
Speaker 1: Doing it with size white shot, Horrible Things more, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: hung in cheek, murder mystery.
Speaker 3: More, you know, a little bit rocky horror, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, without without the pants down of stuff
Speaker 3: that show. Yeah, lening it, leaning into that and just
Speaker 3: having a fun old time and just you know. And
Speaker 3: then we just found this sort of synergy with some
Speaker 3: of the challenges and we just sort of because I
Speaker 3: have to want to want to try and be entertaining
Speaker 3: instead of just being kind of droll because you have
Speaker 3: to explain the rules.
Speaker 2: I mean, then we're going to just sort of dress
Speaker 2: it up and a little bit of fun. So, for instance,
Speaker 2: last year, there's a there's a scene on a tarmac
Speaker 2: with the planes, and that was literally we made that
Speaker 2: up five minutes beforehand because this safety officer had this
Speaker 2: electric motorbike and the intro was just going to be
Speaker 2: standing the tarmac. But because top kind of just come out,
Speaker 2: we have these sort of planes sitting on the tarmac
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, well, that's in the trailer is
Speaker 2: him roaring up the tarmac in a leather jacket on
Speaker 2: a bike trying to look cool. And I said, I
Speaker 2: can pretend to look cool and fail dismally. So we
Speaker 2: got this stunties sort of electric bike. We had a
Speaker 2: kind of bomb and jack. What we did that. I
Speaker 2: got someone to run out at the service station and
Speaker 2: get some bad rip off ray band sunglasses and whacked
Speaker 2: them on and we just sort of wet with this
Speaker 2: kind of theme and we were allowed to do that
Speaker 2: all the way through. We're just sort of like, oh,
Speaker 2: this matches the challenge, so let's just ham it up.
Speaker 2: And it kind of. I mean some reality TV can
Speaker 2: be a little bit earnest and serious. It's all dramatic,
Speaker 2: dramatic all the time, and I just think it's a game.
Speaker 2: We're playing a big, wonderful game. You know, it should
Speaker 2: be fun and so the drama will come absolutely and
Speaker 2: you see that when it gets intense as well, and
Speaker 2: people can get a bit shirty with each other, but
Speaker 2: you also want to have those lighter moments. And if
Speaker 2: that's because they they're laughing at me a little bit,
Speaker 2: I don't mind it. It's fun.
Speaker 1: I love that you have that ability to, you know,
Speaker 1: be the butt of the joke as well. I think
Speaker 1: that that shows part of your true character. That's the
Speaker 1: real Roger Corsa that can take themselves a little less seriously.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's whatever's good for the you know,
Speaker 2: you got to entertain them. Hopefully we're doing that. And look,
Speaker 2: I think there can be a lot of nerves that
Speaker 2: people there, that these cameras in their face, and that
Speaker 2: they ease into it pretty quickly, but always giving trying
Speaker 2: to give them the unexpected and instead of coming out
Speaker 2: always being the authority in knowing it all you look
Speaker 2: a bit ridiculou some of the things I'm wearing and
Speaker 2: saying and doing it.
Speaker 1: Glad you're aware.
Speaker 2: So it starts off. It starts the challenge or the
Speaker 2: management you know. And mind you, I don't mind having
Speaker 2: a go with them as well. So I mean I
Speaker 2: sort of I give as good as I get, you know, well,
Speaker 2: point out if people are failing or you know, being
Speaker 2: a bit ridiculous or or whatever. And you know, we
Speaker 2: try and make moments in the management room at least
Speaker 2: have a few light moments, because it does get sometimes
Speaker 2: pretty dark pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: Did you watch some of the other hosts now of
Speaker 1: the show, because I mean Alan Cumming has taken it
Speaker 1: on in you know, one of the other successful versions
Speaker 1: of this franchise around the world and that sort of
Speaker 1: after you'd already attempted this role, do you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Like I wondered whether or not you were like, oh,
Speaker 1: Alan's now doing that. I'm going to borrow some of
Speaker 1: this because all I will say about season two, which
Speaker 1: people haven't seen yet, is that you are nailing this
Speaker 1: more succinctly, like I think you fully have worked out
Speaker 1: how to do it. And then I wondered whether you
Speaker 1: borrowed some of the elements.
Speaker 2: We watch some pieces, not specifically for their delivery style.
Speaker 2: I think some of the you know, you just the format.
Speaker 2: I mean, the producers definitely did for what do they
Speaker 2: do for challenges? What do they do for that? And
Speaker 2: also we have rights holders that you know, because it
Speaker 2: reginally a Dutch format, and you know, they don't want
Speaker 2: all the versions to be radically different from each other
Speaker 2: because they've got a bitlet of brand. And so when
Speaker 2: people watch the show and you know, this is what
Speaker 2: happens now, people watch The Survivor or The Traders or
Speaker 2: you know, Big Brother or something, and they'll watch multiple
Speaker 2: versions from from different places, and they need to know that,
Speaker 2: you know, it's still what they expect. And then obviously
Speaker 2: there's it's great to see the differences. So yeah, so
Speaker 2: we would watch and see how they did some challenges
Speaker 2: and so forth. But yeah, look it's it's a lot
Speaker 2: easier when you're a grand the castle. They really lent
Speaker 2: into the castle kind of you know, met medieval gould
Speaker 2: of you know, witch is in dungeons and that kind
Speaker 2: of that kind of gear. And he played at Bilman.
Speaker 2: He's a brand actor as well, you know, but he
Speaker 2: had some pretty fantastic tart from memory. Yes, so but
Speaker 2: I sort of played more I suppose the villain or
Speaker 2: the Bond or sort of version the manner. Everyone's got
Speaker 2: their own kind of way of doing it. And I
Speaker 2: mean I originally watched the Dutch version that we've got
Speaker 2: a subtitle, and I watched all that first season and
Speaker 2: to understand the hold the gameplay. But there's there's versions everywhere.
Speaker 2: There's the Key. We has got a version I think
Speaker 2: coming out now as well.
Speaker 1: Everyone's got their own version. But I like that we
Speaker 1: have an Australian take on it as well. I also
Speaker 1: think it's interesting that we did like a full civilian
Speaker 1: series to start it, and then when we saw what
Speaker 1: they did with it in the UK, with blending recognizable
Speaker 1: faces with everyday people. We we really haven't seen that
Speaker 1: that much, you know, and it's interesting to watch civilians,
Speaker 1: everyday people competing on a show against people that they're
Speaker 1: already familiar with, you know. I think that adds something
Speaker 1: quite juicy to it.
Speaker 2: There is another level. I mean, yeah, we're used to
Speaker 2: some you know, the celebrity master chaff, you know, where
Speaker 2: you bring everyone's you know, or celebrity get you out
Speaker 2: of here. But the mix it is different because it
Speaker 2: does sort of almost threw some players off the game.
Speaker 2: If you've seen the first episode, you know, the Annabel
Speaker 2: was quite taken it back and saying we'll rock up
Speaker 2: to the the train station with her, and you know,
Speaker 2: sort of star struck a little bit. So they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm going to be playing this sort of game of
Speaker 2: reception and having to form allegiances and friendships and clicks
Speaker 2: with people with people have done it, and I've seen
Speaker 2: how they've done it before and perhaps you know, stab
Speaker 2: people in the back and do all those sort of
Speaker 2: wonderful things that show promotes. I think they sort of went,
Speaker 2: oh wow, you know, it's I would say uneven playing field.
Speaker 2: But they've got some pros and they are the professional
Speaker 2: reality too condestines in there with first timers as well.
Speaker 2: But I've got to say the reason that we're getting
Speaker 2: success in the UK with our version and some people
Speaker 2: are saying that the gameplay is superior to that to
Speaker 2: the British version, I think is you know, end of
Speaker 2: mold shy. I know how to cast, you know, they've
Speaker 2: been doing this for many years. They've got a big
Speaker 2: track record with this genre. They know how to bring
Speaker 2: the right people together, some that are going to get on,
Speaker 2: some that are not a wide demographic demographic of people
Speaker 2: that might not necessarily ever be in the same room together,
Speaker 2: and sort of throw them all in and sort of
Speaker 2: see what happens. It's a wonderful sort of social.
Speaker 1: Experiment, that's what it is. I mean, reality TV works
Speaker 1: best when it is that social experiment that fly on
Speaker 1: the wall. You know, how are people going to behave?
Speaker 1: And this shows format leans into allowing people to be
Speaker 1: the worst version of themselves sometimes, which I think is
Speaker 1: the psychology of that is also extraordinarily fascinating.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the game aspect allows you to mean, you know,
Speaker 2: it's not myself playing a character, but there's people and
Speaker 2: they're playing a character. People are hiding what they do
Speaker 2: for a living because they think they perceive that there'll
Speaker 2: be a disadvantage to them if they do have instance
Speaker 2: in law enforcement or they're a lawyer. So some people
Speaker 2: are straight up with it, but other people think, oh,
Speaker 2: you're going to think that I'm going to be too
Speaker 2: good at this game. Probably never in questions with some pable, but.
Speaker 1: You can be too good at this game and that
Speaker 1: ruins your game, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like, oh, I mean did last year Alex who won it?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think a lot of people didn't know
Speaker 2: who she was until about episode seven because she was
Speaker 2: a classic flying under the radar. And really it's a
Speaker 2: brilliant strategy because you don't ruffle the feathers. You let
Speaker 2: you know, the fantastic sort of characters burn brightly and
Speaker 2: then burn out and get shot like that. In our game,
Speaker 2: it's sort of people self titledselves as a traitor hunter,
Speaker 2: you know, if we've had a bit of success. But
Speaker 2: if you do that too well, you're going to be murdered.
Speaker 1: The last thing that I would say, I would not
Speaker 1: be declaring anything, you know, I'd be leaning into my
Speaker 1: you know the stupidity of it, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like I've.
Speaker 2: Just done Lark or someone else's.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how I did that, you.
Speaker 2: Know, yeah, yeah, exactly because people you know, this is
Speaker 2: the thing. Look, the second season compared to the first,
Speaker 2: people have seen that, So maybe there's a little bit
Speaker 2: more strategy. Even with our first time is on Telly.
Speaker 2: You know, they've seen the formats and I mean, I
Speaker 2: think Annabel And in the first episode says that no
Speaker 2: one is more more versed on this game than May.
Speaker 2: I've seen every English speaking version of it. I've listened
Speaker 2: to every podcast that mentions it, and so you know,
Speaker 2: she had a game plan down and she's a fabulous character.
Speaker 2: St that really isn't that amazing.
Speaker 1: We get to see some players like Giton, who's a
Speaker 1: very well known actor as you know, and we get
Speaker 1: to see some of these heroes of reality TV. But
Speaker 1: one thing I want people listening to this podcast to
Speaker 1: know is that we very quickly connect with everyone that's
Speaker 1: in there. It's not as though you're watching it and
Speaker 1: you are going to stick to watching those people you
Speaker 1: already know. I actually think that these people are ready
Speaker 1: to play and are very interesting in their own right.
Speaker 2: And they have to audition for the show, and you
Speaker 2: know they're going to bring their best selves and it's
Speaker 2: just like an actor winning a role, you know. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just their first one. They're they're the stars of
Speaker 2: the future. It's just this is the this is their
Speaker 2: first gig. And some people are just you know, they
Speaker 2: print really really well, you know, they they make they
Speaker 2: sort of crack me up. Sometimes there's things that they
Speaker 2: totally unscripted come out of their mouth, and it's just
Speaker 2: it's really fun. I'm going to say there's this second
Speaker 2: season again I said before, but I think it's funnier.
Speaker 2: I think there's more moments in there that just that
Speaker 2: are that aren't scripted and when we try the gags
Speaker 2: and with the puns and things in the little speeches,
Speaker 2: but there's just some moments that just happened. Because I
Speaker 2: think there is the drama and some people don't get
Speaker 2: on and there is the friction and that type of thing,
Speaker 2: but the people also do get on really well and
Speaker 2: they have a great time. Some of the challenges are
Speaker 2: really fun, and sometimes they fail just terribly at them,
Speaker 2: but they're frustrated, but they're also having an incredible type.
Speaker 2: There's one moment on the lake with a boat and
Speaker 2: it just goes beautifully and horribly wrong and there's a
Speaker 2: sinking ship. I don't know all how we' supposed to
Speaker 2: do this challenge there. We just went with it and
Speaker 2: it just became something else and it was fun. But
Speaker 2: the failing's fun and it's all everyone's having a great time.
Speaker 2: And then obviously as we get deep into the season,
Speaker 2: then you know the game place has come on and
Speaker 2: where where Look? I can't obviously can't say too much,
Speaker 2: but we have an ending this year which has never
Speaker 2: been seen in any version ever. The stakeholders from the
Speaker 2: real version were shocked our particular ending because the ending
Speaker 2: is very different depending on the mix of people you
Speaker 2: get at the end Traders and faithful, and you know,
Speaker 2: there's different there's a whole big rule book of how
Speaker 2: it can go at the end. If you're left two
Speaker 2: traders and one faithful, one faithful, all faithful, all traders,
Speaker 2: you know, like how many there are, There's all these
Speaker 2: different sort of things. You're going to go down a
Speaker 2: subsection for how we're going to play this end game out,
Speaker 2: and we got to a scenario they're like we haven't
Speaker 2: aught of that, so it's it's kind of a real
Speaker 2: big water cooler moment at the end. It's going to
Speaker 2: be It's going to be great.
Speaker 1: Reality TV also works best when you don't know who
Speaker 1: the winner is, Like I think the shows that do
Speaker 1: work out more interesting for the viewer is when we
Speaker 1: don't know who's going to win, or we don't know
Speaker 1: how it's going to end, and it feels uncontrolled, And
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: Can I say there is no better example of this season?
Speaker 2: We didn't know In fact, we sort of we kind
Speaker 2: of had to pause the last and what are we
Speaker 2: going to do now? I don't know? What do you
Speaker 2: think we should do?
Speaker 1: Come back in a week, we know what we can do?
Speaker 2: We don't. Yeah, it was we were flying by the
Speaker 2: seat of our pants, and I think that's going to
Speaker 2: come across going like you're not going to see it
Speaker 2: coming at all?
Speaker 1: Do you watch a lot of I mean, I know
Speaker 1: who Ash Pollard is, I know who Luke Talkie is,
Speaker 1: I know who all these people are. But did you
Speaker 1: know who they are and then when you found it
Speaker 1: they're involved? Did you have to go and do some
Speaker 1: research and watch some like highlights reels like how much
Speaker 1: did you know of some of these familiar faces.
Speaker 2: I think some people are just become yeah, personality as
Speaker 2: they sort of transcend being on a reality TV show.
Speaker 2: They've just become a personality in their own right. So
Speaker 2: Ash definitely I understand because she'd been on a celebrity
Speaker 2: gets you out of here. That's probably one of the kids.
Speaker 2: My kids love that show, so that's on, you know,
Speaker 2: especially when it was on sort of in summer, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, every one time in school holidays
Speaker 2: and that show is differently. They love watching that and
Speaker 2: we've had some friends that have done the show as well.
Speaker 1: So you don't want to do that one because you've
Speaker 1: said no to that, Yeah, I ask you.
Speaker 2: I ask that question. I'm not really great with heights.
Speaker 2: I don't know about editing parts of animals, which should
Speaker 2: be I just don't don't know about that. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: the heights thing. I don't want to jump at a
Speaker 2: plane or a helicopter or what if they do.
Speaker 1: But that makes you the perfect person for that show.
Speaker 1: No one, of course, any of those things. If you
Speaker 1: wanted to Ben, it's crap I.
Speaker 2: Don't want to do. When I saw Shane warn squeal
Speaker 2: and scream. It was like a big, big, tough, izzy cricketer,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Like it was like, wow, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's really they're really making people. I think he was
Speaker 2: afraid of spiders or snakes or something. But yeah, so
Speaker 2: I knew Ash from that. And then I'm probably more
Speaker 2: of a stuff that I've watched because I fancy myself
Speaker 2: a bit of a chef, So I have watched a
Speaker 2: lot of Master Chef over the years, and I can't
Speaker 2: I seen all of the sort of Survivors. I've got
Speaker 2: friends though, that are mad fans of Survivor and will
Speaker 2: watch every season, some other active friends of mine that
Speaker 2: really that's the kind of show that they dig. And
Speaker 2: I think we have all the best elements of that,
Speaker 2: sort of the clicks and you know, fake friendships and
Speaker 2: so forth. Sort of a Survivors sort of in our show,
Speaker 2: but amplified.
Speaker 1: It's interesting a different setting. What about Ginton though, because
Speaker 1: you'd worked with him in the very first season of Underbelly,
Speaker 1: which is such an iconic series it just still penetrates
Speaker 1: the these days. I mean I rewatched the first season
Speaker 1: of Underbelly recently and it is still magnificent. Television, and
Speaker 1: both of you are so iconic in that series. So
Speaker 1: to find yourself in this position, were you able to
Speaker 1: connect with him as your old co star and have
Speaker 1: a chat or were you trying to put some distance there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we discussed it. Look, I honestly don't think some
Speaker 2: of the producers knew the connection, because some did. I
Speaker 2: think some did after that, No, like, it's fine, it's fine,
Speaker 2: But I did question. I go, you know, it was
Speaker 2: kind of a springboard for both of us that series,
Speaker 2: you know, and they're like, oh, what's that. Some of
Speaker 2: the some people are already in their late twenties and
Speaker 2: that are producers, you know, and you're going, that's right.
Speaker 2: It was fifteen years ago. So but I was really
Speaker 2: conscious not to look like I was giving anyone an advantage.
Speaker 2: But not every guy. And I know who the traders are.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so you have to have a poker face
Speaker 2: because I noticed this year one of the tactics of
Speaker 2: some of the people on there was at the banishment,
Speaker 2: someone's getting grilled or they really asking big questions of someone.
Speaker 2: A couple of smart players wouldn't be watching the reaction.
Speaker 2: They turn around and watch my reaction to see if
Speaker 2: I was smirking at what they were saying, or there's
Speaker 2: someone's you know, trying to excuse themselves. Oh, I'd never
Speaker 2: been doing that, and just to see if I'm kind
Speaker 2: of like not buying their story and if you've got
Speaker 2: a shit. I was getting looked at it, so I
Speaker 2: was like, it was a pretty smart move. So I
Speaker 2: sat to put the poker face on the whole time.
Speaker 2: So I can't I can't play an advenage for guy,
Speaker 2: and I can't play an advantage for anymore because I've
Speaker 2: got to not give the game away.
Speaker 1: But what about the choicing of that though? Like as
Speaker 1: in is there many conversations about who is going to
Speaker 1: be who? Because you just go around and tap people.
Speaker 1: Surely that's not you, Roger Corsa picking those people you
Speaker 1: told who to tap? What process is there and are
Speaker 1: you involved? Do you get to help you?
Speaker 2: You'd like to think that I had all the power
Speaker 2: in the game, but I do. I don't know. There's
Speaker 2: no they do tell me beforehand, There is conversation. Its
Speaker 2: very hush hush, like this is a I mean, you
Speaker 2: cannot let the group know what what's going to happen,
Speaker 2: and the actual of the traders that the ceremony that
Speaker 2: we have takes a lot longer than what you see
Speaker 2: on television. I do a dry run first. I go
Speaker 2: around and I tap everyone on the shoulder, one after
Speaker 2: the other hand, I say, they've all got their masks on.
Speaker 2: So by the time you see it, they've had the
Speaker 2: masks on for up to fifteen to twenty minutes. So disorientated,
Speaker 2: they're hot, the lights are going, you know, they're getting
Speaker 2: a bit agitated, and they've kind of lost They don't
Speaker 2: have any power or any control. So it changes very
Speaker 2: quickly from the cocktail party they were having before, and
Speaker 2: everyone's having jokes and fun and having a drink and everything.
Speaker 2: And then I go into this and the masks have
Speaker 2: been on for twenty minutes. I go around and tap
Speaker 2: everyone in the shoulder, and then when I just say,
Speaker 2: right now, we're doing it, and my tone changes with them,
Speaker 2: and I was like, you know, very direct, and you know.
Speaker 2: And then I go around and I go around four
Speaker 2: or five times. I go back the wrong way, and
Speaker 2: I stop, and I touch parts in my clothing and
Speaker 2: make noise, and then I clear my throat and then
Speaker 2: I'll move fast quickly, and then I'll stop again, and
Speaker 2: then eventually, after about three minutes, I'll tap the first person,
Speaker 2: but usually as I'm going past and not stopping, and
Speaker 2: so they're all thinking that hearing these things are going
Speaker 2: a bit nuts. When those masks come off, the tone
Speaker 2: just changes instantly to what it was. Everyone has just
Speaker 2: freaked out.
Speaker 1: I love the torture element of this show. I'm a sicko.
Speaker 1: I'm a sicko, I realized because I like all of
Speaker 1: the confusion that you're creating through that. And then how
Speaker 1: long are they there for? Because it's a very punchy show.
Speaker 1: It happens very fast, so I'm assuming that you're there
Speaker 1: for like three weeks. I mean, these people have their
Speaker 1: phones and everything taken away from them while they're going
Speaker 1: to their rooms at night. Sounds more like prison than
Speaker 1: it does like a night at the hotel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all of they've got they've they've they've got streaming TV.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: They can watch all of your shows. They're all in
Speaker 1: their rooms watching a back catalog of Doctor Doctor.
Speaker 2: That's that's exactly that's exactly right. They had their force
Speaker 2: to watch only my prof shows. Now they get you know,
Speaker 2: they got an on sweet hotel room and and you know,
Speaker 2: and they've got to streaming TV, but they don't. They
Speaker 2: get a phone a couple of times a week to
Speaker 2: call home Proof of Flying, and we shoot six days
Speaker 2: a week, so they're working six days a week and
Speaker 2: in the Sunday off. I think as opposed to last
Speaker 2: year where they kind of were locked in the rooms,
Speaker 2: I think they were sort of taken out more on
Speaker 2: some supervised day trips. But they do. They do if
Speaker 2: the producers are there and they are told not to
Speaker 2: continue the game, if the cameras are there, So they
Speaker 2: are locked in their room just so they are one
Speaker 2: hundred percent involved in this game, and they are deep
Speaker 2: in this game and when they come out, that's all
Speaker 2: they're doing. So it's it's a really intense experience for them.
Speaker 1: Well, before you go, I need to ask you what
Speaker 1: makes a good traitor?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean seems pretty obvious, but being able to
Speaker 2: lie and you know, I keep several lives going. I
Speaker 2: think you know that's the friends. They always could have
Speaker 2: multiple girlfriends at once and it's like to too many
Speaker 2: stories to keep up, you know, I mean, honesty is
Speaker 2: the best policy. I think, you know, they're quite good.
Speaker 2: Ones are quite crafted. They think three, three steps ahead,
Speaker 2: and they're planting. They know they just can't come up
Speaker 2: with a fantastical lie about someone out of blue. They
Speaker 2: start planting seeds. You know, they're thinking, it's like a
Speaker 2: chess game. They're thinking three steps ahead because and they
Speaker 2: might follow through with that. And we see that with
Speaker 2: one of our traders who starts planning some seeds and
Speaker 2: then doesn't act on it until like two sort of
Speaker 2: banishments later. But then it seems authentic because it's not
Speaker 2: just out of the blue. Oh well, you had suspicions before,
Speaker 2: but it was all being planted there to deflect off them,
Speaker 2: So you know, it is. It is a good It
Speaker 2: does take someone that has got a lot of strategy
Speaker 2: and can keep their cool, you know, and keep it
Speaker 2: up because some people can't.
Speaker 1: It makes me wonder, you know, what do you think
Speaker 1: if it was flipped on you, would you be a
Speaker 1: better trader or would you be a better faithful It's.
Speaker 2: A lot simpler, it's a lot simpler game plan to
Speaker 2: be faithful because you just tell the truth. You know,
Speaker 2: you stick to your one story and you think the
Speaker 2: truth will save me. But it is incredible advantage in
Speaker 2: the game to be a trader because you cut out
Speaker 2: one way of being exited from the game. You're not
Speaker 2: going to murder yourself, so or you'd be pretty silly
Speaker 2: to anyway, but yourself offered. Well, you can be falsely
Speaker 2: accused and banished in a banishment even though you're not
Speaker 2: a trader, and you can be murdered. So there's two
Speaker 2: ways to go there. So you do have an advantage
Speaker 2: and you can't. You can manipulate the game a little
Speaker 2: bit more as a trader. So I think if I
Speaker 2: was really serious about trying to win, you'd want to
Speaker 2: be a trader.
Speaker 1: What is something from behind the scenes, something that we
Speaker 1: won't see, something of a behind the scenes maybe secret
Speaker 1: from your time making The Trader season two?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I had a full time sketch artist
Speaker 2: following around, you know, just just doing portraits, which you
Speaker 2: will see fine art work to varying degrees of success.
Speaker 2: Maybe next time I shouldn't choose some of the art
Speaker 2: students from the local school because they have a bit
Speaker 2: to learn.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a portrait in the main room there. They
Speaker 4: forgot to paint my chin in. They took it off
Speaker 4: an old publicity shot, and I don't know.
Speaker 2: Ran it through AI, and that's what AI came up
Speaker 2: with it. Ai isppothed to paint you in a good light.
Speaker 2: But maybe I can pass that off as my dearly
Speaker 2: beloved past twin brother that passed away early, something like that.
Speaker 1: But Burnett, I'd say, Burnett, I am going to say,
Speaker 1: I am such a big fan of you. I have
Speaker 1: been in your audience for an extraordinary long time. I
Speaker 1: think I even saw you in a musical years ago,
Speaker 1: so I've been there from the start. But I just
Speaker 1: think you're fantastic in this role. And I'm so excited
Speaker 1: that we're getting a season two of this and I
Speaker 1: actually look, we're already looking forward to season three, so
Speaker 1: so am I.
Speaker 2: I'm happy for the renewal, tell you that, but I
Speaker 2: appreciate the support. Thank you so so much.