Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast Last.
Speaker 2: Deep Their Mind.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and
Speaker 3: on this podcast I will go behind the scenes with
Speaker 3: the biggest players in television. Each episode you will get
Speaker 3: a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers,
Speaker 3: editors and casting agents, plus the talent that we see
Speaker 3: on our screen. TV Reload reloads the shows that you
Speaker 3: are currently watching and gives you a better insight into
Speaker 3: our television industry and our streaming services. Today, on the podcast,
Speaker 3: I will unpack the latest TV series from Endemol Shine Australia,
Speaker 3: which is currently on Paramount Plus it is The Bridge.
Speaker 3: Joining me is my favorite contestant from the series, Madison,
Speaker 3: who managed to get plenty of attention from the viewers
Speaker 3: with his likable villain edit. Madison is the type of
Speaker 3: casting every producer dreams of when it comes to putting
Speaker 3: together a TV show. You want someone real, who speaks
Speaker 3: their mind and actually wants to play a game. Some
Speaker 3: may have been polarized by his gameplay, while people like
Speaker 3: me loved his brutal honesty. The Bridge saw a cast
Speaker 3: of unknowns forced into a situation where not only building
Speaker 3: a bridge was physically exhausting, but mentally, they faced a
Speaker 3: conundrum that would see only one person in charge of
Speaker 3: how the prize money would be spent. Madison talks about
Speaker 3: his brutal edit at times, if he has maintained a
Speaker 3: friendship with the winner, how he would have handled the
Speaker 3: prize money, what reality show he actually applied for, and
Speaker 3: some sassy commentary that will delight the medicine fans. However,
Speaker 3: let's get started with today's guest. I'd like to welcome
Speaker 3: Madison from the Bridge to TV reload.
Speaker 1: I probably shouldn't have lasted as long as I did.
Speaker 3: You have seventeen days to build the bridge.
Speaker 1: If you're given the opportunity to walk, yeah, keep it
Speaker 1: for yourself.
Speaker 3: It is a team effort to really pull this thing together.
Speaker 1: It definitely would make more sense of a host, But
Speaker 1: then again, what would a host do.
Speaker 2: Should you fail?
Speaker 3: No one will claim the cat.
Speaker 1: I was getting so frustrated during my time on the
Speaker 1: bridge around people who were just so apathetic towards being there.
Speaker 1: Will this place change them forever? As they built the
Speaker 1: bridge to not be in the position where it wasn't
Speaker 1: My influence that determined who walked the bridge did suck?
Speaker 3: Hi Madison?
Speaker 2: How are you, Hi, Ben?
Speaker 1: I'm so well today, a little bit hungover, but otherwise, well,
Speaker 1: how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm very excited to be able to talk to you.
Speaker 3: I really enjoyed The Bridge. I wish it was like
Speaker 3: thirty episodes and not six. Like I just don't understand
Speaker 3: why it was so fast.
Speaker 1: I know, even watching it back, it's kind of crazy
Speaker 1: because it's not like we were out there for a
Speaker 1: super long period of time to film it. So at
Speaker 1: the time, six episodes kind of made sense. But now
Speaker 1: watching it back and just seeing how much never even
Speaker 1: made it to air is kind of crazy because so
Speaker 1: much transpire it over those seventeen days, and to sell
Speaker 1: it down to six episodes is wild. I'm sure they
Speaker 1: could have probably produced at least ten and still had
Speaker 1: plenty of content, So I'm sad that it wasn't longer too,
Speaker 1: But I have also enjoyed watching it. It's been cool
Speaker 1: to go back and see everything again to relive it.
Speaker 3: I guess you can't play everyone's narrative.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, there are definitely parts of the experience out
Speaker 1: there that I thought would be much more front and Center.
Speaker 1: There are people who had kind of so much more
Speaker 1: to their personality and character that just didn't necessarily play
Speaker 1: out in what viewers saw. So I don't know, that's
Speaker 1: kind of bittersweet to go back and not necessarily see
Speaker 1: everything that you've lived in some of the stuff that
Speaker 1: maybe wasn't so dramatic or as I guess, focused on
Speaker 1: the actual build Like there were even that didn't make
Speaker 1: the final cut, which is kind of wild.
Speaker 3: I want to say how much I love your name,
Speaker 3: and I think it's perfect for you. What is the
Speaker 3: story to the name? Why did your parents name you Madison?
Speaker 2: Looks?
Speaker 1: It's a great question, and it's kind of been a
Speaker 1: blessing and a curse to be called Madison, because you
Speaker 1: go through life and everybody's like, but that's a girl's name.
Speaker 1: I've learned to love it because it's quite unique. But
Speaker 1: I think the story is that my parents, regardless of
Speaker 1: whether I was going to be born a girl or
Speaker 1: a boy, just loved the name Madison. It just so
Speaker 1: happened that I was born a boy and they stuck
Speaker 1: with the name because they liked it.
Speaker 2: And here we are twenty.
Speaker 1: Nine years later, and it's still really hasn't taken off
Speaker 1: as a boy's name, but I do love it.
Speaker 2: I think that it is suited to me.
Speaker 3: It is so suited to you. It's kind of regal,
Speaker 3: it's kind of like expensive, but it also could be
Speaker 3: a little bit poisonous. So I don't know that sounds terrible,
Speaker 3: but I love it.
Speaker 2: Look, I mean maybe poisonous is part of it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but it's certainly unique and I've really
Speaker 1: learned to embrace it, and it makes it a lot
Speaker 1: better because when people are referring to boy Madison, I'm
Speaker 1: not competing against many.
Speaker 3: I love it. So you survived the bridge and made
Speaker 3: a huge impact on your audience, probably because of your
Speaker 3: brutal honesty. Are you okay with that whole title of
Speaker 3: brutal honesty?
Speaker 2: I am okay with that whole title.
Speaker 1: I think that that was my game plan going in,
Speaker 1: and look what we call it, brutal honesty. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of trying to be deceptive, maybe playing a
Speaker 1: few sides while I was out there, but I was
Speaker 1: calling it for what it was, which was an absolutely
Speaker 1: chaotic experience, something that I knew was not going to
Speaker 1: be something that I was good at. So I kind
Speaker 1: of I thought it was better to be honest about
Speaker 1: the fact that I probably shouldn't have lasted as long
Speaker 1: as I did. But that kind of played into my
Speaker 1: strategy as well, by saying, look, of all the people
Speaker 1: that arrived here on day one, I am probably the
Speaker 1: last person that you would expect to make it to
Speaker 1: the end. So if we're going to vote somebody across
Speaker 1: that represents growth as a group or resilience, then.
Speaker 2: Why shouldn't it be me?
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm totally happy for people to remember me
Speaker 1: as the person that was brutally honest because it was
Speaker 1: really hard out there, and I just felt the need
Speaker 1: to constantly remind everybody that was asking me how I
Speaker 1: felt how much I hated it.
Speaker 3: As you just were calling it as it is. I
Speaker 3: didn't see it as villainry, but I think some people
Speaker 3: might have watched you in this season and thought that
Speaker 3: you were the PG likable villain. I don't know, is
Speaker 3: it even offensive to put that title on you? Do
Speaker 3: you feel okay with being like a bit of a
Speaker 3: TV villain because of that honesty?
Speaker 1: I do feel okay with that, and I think that
Speaker 1: when I went out there, I kind of knew that
Speaker 1: I would come across as a bit of a villain
Speaker 1: because my game plan was always to lighter people. It
Speaker 1: was fake it till you make it. It was build relationships.
Speaker 1: It was literally, when it gets down to it, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to burn bridges. So I kind of knew going
Speaker 1: into it that I was happy to kind of fit
Speaker 1: into that role. But I'm also really confident with who
Speaker 1: I am as a person, and I know that I
Speaker 1: am somebody that has a lot of kind qualities as well.
Speaker 1: So coming off the back of the bridge, I had
Speaker 1: this idea that I probably would be perceived by a
Speaker 1: lot of viewers as a villain. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I stand by everything that I said and did I
Speaker 1: know that I was true to who I am, and
Speaker 1: coming out of it, I don't think I really offended
Speaker 1: too many people, except for maybe regional people. After that
Speaker 1: first episode when I made that one comment about regional people,
Speaker 1: Facebook popped off. But yeah, I think I'm comfortable with
Speaker 1: the villain title. I'd rather be remembered for being interesting
Speaker 1: than fade into the background like some of the other
Speaker 1: people who were out there.
Speaker 3: I think you and I are quite similar. I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people thought very similarly of me and
Speaker 3: big Brother as to the way you have been portrayed,
Speaker 3: Is that a fair thing to say?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 1: And I actually remember your own big Brother and thinking
Speaker 1: at the time, like, I love that kind of representation
Speaker 1: because I can't remember at the time that many openly
Speaker 1: gay people that had been on reality TV or who
Speaker 1: had at least done as well as you did to win.
Speaker 1: But I also just remember how much of a shit
Speaker 1: fight that was about, you know, is he being mean
Speaker 1: to people? But I think that that's what it is.
Speaker 1: It's being brutally honest. And what people, I think don't
Speaker 1: realize when you go into reality TV is there is
Speaker 1: a lot of downtime. It can be really frustrating. It
Speaker 1: takes a lot of energy to be there. And I
Speaker 1: was getting so frustrated during my time on the bridge
Speaker 1: around people who were just so apathetic towards being there,
Speaker 1: and it was like, Okay, well, at least at least
Speaker 1: speak up, like, at least have something to say, even
Speaker 1: if it's negative, have some sort of opinion. And I
Speaker 1: think that sometimes people do take that out of context.
Speaker 1: And again, it's a TV show. There's so much content
Speaker 1: they have to fit into an episode that, yeah, of
Speaker 1: course some of that stuff is going to make you
Speaker 1: seem like a bit of a villain, But at least
Speaker 1: I know that it's representative of how I felt, and
Speaker 1: I you know, I was there, I was playing a game.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I was frustrated with people with the experience, and
Speaker 1: I'm just glad that, you know, I did myself in
Speaker 1: my experience justice. You know, there are people who are
Speaker 1: there who are just so afraid about how they're going
Speaker 1: to be portrayed that they choose not to say anything.
Speaker 1: But you know, in real life, you're just as much
Speaker 1: of a bitch as I am. You are just being
Speaker 1: way too censored, and it's boring. It's boring to be
Speaker 1: there with those kinds of people. So look, I have
Speaker 1: a newfound appreciation for people that get this villain edit
Speaker 1: in reality TV, because I think that it does actually
Speaker 1: require a bit of bravery to be brutally honest and
Speaker 1: not to just you know, kind of fall into that
Speaker 1: position of being a really apathetic character that just tries
Speaker 1: to people please and is afraid of how they're going
Speaker 1: to be portrayed.
Speaker 3: We are so critical as a queer community on ourselves,
Speaker 3: which means that we are super harsh on ourselves with
Speaker 3: super harsh on other people, which makes it very easy
Speaker 3: to edit us as the villain of TV shows. That's
Speaker 3: my theory. It might be wrong, but that's my theory.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I totally agree with you.
Speaker 3: I think it was good. Do they even introduce you
Speaker 3: as being gay? Like I don't remember. I think that's
Speaker 3: what we know.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of the crazy thing, which I think
Speaker 1: is a good thing that you don't necessarily have to
Speaker 1: lead with that label anymore. And I think that the
Speaker 1: only person, I mean, they Jesse was queer and as
Speaker 1: obviously in a lesbian relationship because in her little backstory
Speaker 1: introduction it introduced her and her wife and the child
Speaker 1: that they have together. And then I think Alira it
Speaker 1: was quite obvious that she was queer because she was
Speaker 1: talking about pronouns when they introduced her. But actually, for
Speaker 1: Steve and I I don't think they ever actually labeled
Speaker 1: us as gay.
Speaker 2: I think it was maybe just a little bit obvious.
Speaker 3: It was a little bit obvious, But then I thought
Speaker 3: Elliott was gay. Then I thought everyone was gay, and
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god, this is like queer camp.
Speaker 3: And then it turned out not everyone was gay.
Speaker 1: What I would say about this show is the representation
Speaker 1: in the cast. The diversity in the cast was really impressive.
Speaker 1: I did not expect that when I walked in there.
Speaker 1: I think that being a straight white person actually made
Speaker 1: you a minority on the bridge.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, But you know, I want every single person that
Speaker 3: was cast on this series to be put into another series.
Speaker 2: Would you want to see everybody on another show?
Speaker 1: I mean I could see maybe like three quarters, but everybody.
Speaker 3: I just think, I know this is a big cliche
Speaker 3: because I did a Big Brother and blah blah blah
Speaker 3: talk about Big Brother. Whatever, I could have seen that
Speaker 3: cast put into the Big Brother house. I think it
Speaker 3: would have been the best cast we've seen in Big
Speaker 3: Brother in the last ten years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what was interesting about it? And I
Speaker 1: don't really know if I'm allowed to say this, but whatever,
Speaker 1: A lot of people because being the first series, like
Speaker 1: if they put out an AD that's like come build
Speaker 1: a bridge, like, they're not gonna They're probably not going
Speaker 1: to get that many applicants, or at least a diverse
Speaker 1: range of applicants, Like I sure as hell wouldn't have
Speaker 1: applied to an ad been like come build a bridge
Speaker 1: in the middle of Tasmania, So a lot of the
Speaker 1: people who ended up on the show had come over
Speaker 1: from other casting pools, which was really interesting because when
Speaker 1: you consider some of the shows that people were in
Speaker 1: casting pools for, you don't necessarily look at those shows
Speaker 1: and go, oh, that's they have really really great diversity
Speaker 1: in the people that they cast, So it was kind
Speaker 1: of cool. I don't know if it was really intended
Speaker 1: to have that much diversity or if that's just how
Speaker 1: it played out with each of the characters that they
Speaker 1: wanted in there.
Speaker 3: Did you applied for a particular am I allowed to
Speaker 3: ask that? Did you apply for the bridge or did
Speaker 3: you apply for Big Brother?
Speaker 1: I was meant to go into Big Brother last year,
Speaker 1: the one with the returning housemates, which because I've been
Speaker 1: a fan of Big Brother for forever, I was so
Speaker 1: excited about. But I had something come up at work
Speaker 1: that meant that I was unable to so I had
Speaker 1: to pull out before I was meant to fly down
Speaker 1: to Sydney, and then at that point I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, there's no way they're going to put
Speaker 1: me on another TV show. After I pulled out, after
Speaker 1: kind of going through this whole process and like, they've
Speaker 1: invested this much time in me. But then probably a
Speaker 1: month later, they were like, hey, we're filming this new
Speaker 1: TV show. And when they explained to me what it was,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, let me think about it, but
Speaker 1: I'm leaning towards absolutely not the idea of building a
Speaker 1: bridge sounds disgusting, but lo and behold, how to think
Speaker 1: about it. I was like, you know what, seventeen days.
Speaker 1: I think I can do anything for seventeen days, and
Speaker 1: if anything, it's going to be a really wild story
Speaker 1: and it's going to push me outside of my comfort
Speaker 1: zone a little bit. So that's how I ended up
Speaker 1: on the bridge.
Speaker 3: I feel robbed. I feel robbed. I would have loved
Speaker 3: to have seen you in Big Brother, especially in that series.
Speaker 3: I feel like you would have been good at being
Speaker 3: able to hold people accountable. The weren't being held accountable
Speaker 3: in that series.
Speaker 1: So yeah, look, I'm sad. I'm sad that I didn't
Speaker 1: get to do it because that was like, that was
Speaker 1: my pick, the show that I wanted to do. But
Speaker 1: you know, when the opportunity arose with this, I just thought, yeah,
Speaker 1: it makes sense. The timing makes sense. Take it as
Speaker 1: a sign from the universe go and build a bridge.
Speaker 1: Who knows, maybe a win And going into it, I
Speaker 1: was like, there's maybe I'll make it halfway. There's no
Speaker 1: way I'm going to make it to the end of
Speaker 1: this thing. But I surprised myself by going out there,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad that I did because the people that
Speaker 1: I met, like post this show, the I guess relationship
Speaker 1: that most of us still have with each other is
Speaker 1: really strong, and I think I'll be friends with quite
Speaker 1: a few of these people for a long time.
Speaker 3: So who's on the outer?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 3: Can I ask that there's got to be someone on
Speaker 3: the outer like, who are the people that are not
Speaker 3: no longer in the WhatsApp group?
Speaker 2: Well? There are, Look, there are people.
Speaker 1: That just don't engage in the main group. Tiana is
Speaker 1: one of those people. And I don't know whether that
Speaker 1: stems from a place of she's a busy woman. She's
Speaker 1: touring with, busy about Billie Eilish at the moment, dancing
Speaker 1: for her, which very jealous of.
Speaker 2: And I don't know whether it's because of the way that.
Speaker 1: She left the show as well with burning the bridge
Speaker 1: to maybe she doesn't maybe that's why she doesn't contribute
Speaker 1: in the chat, but she's one person that doesn't speak
Speaker 1: up as much in the group chat.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Interestingly with Hugo Weaving, he introduces the show in episode
Speaker 3: one and he very dramatically says, you know, will this
Speaker 3: place change them forever? Did this show change you forever?
Speaker 1: Look the experience, yes, probably in many ways has changed me.
Speaker 1: Has it changed me forever? Not really, because I think
Speaker 1: I was one of those people that went in that
Speaker 1: you know, loves a moral dilemma, like put me in
Speaker 1: a difficult situation and let's see if I make the
Speaker 1: right or wrong decision.
Speaker 2: I love that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I think for a lot of other people who were
Speaker 1: out there, it will have legitimately changed them because it
Speaker 1: put them in positions where they had to take money
Speaker 1: and they wouldn't usually, and you know, it made them
Speaker 1: feel physically sick that they had stolen from this prize money.
Speaker 1: But to me, it was an experience that I think
Speaker 1: has changed me and has meant that I've grown in
Speaker 1: a number of ways. But has it changed me forever
Speaker 1: that dramatically?
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 3: What about the people who thought the bridge was too confusing?
Speaker 3: Because I read a lot about this online where people
Speaker 3: were like, what's going on? You know, is there a
Speaker 3: monster that left the knife in the post? You know,
Speaker 3: who's in charge of the bridge? You know? There was
Speaker 3: some questions that people had about getting invested in the
Speaker 3: show because there was some things which were a little
Speaker 3: bit blurred. So I guess the best way to ask
Speaker 3: you this question is how did you explain the game
Speaker 3: to your friends and family.
Speaker 2: Going into it?
Speaker 1: Because I had no idea how it would work. I
Speaker 1: really didn't understand it, and there was a British version
Speaker 1: that a lot of us had kind of watched to
Speaker 1: get a grasp on the rules, but there were also
Speaker 1: a few key differences between the two. When I came back,
Speaker 1: the way that I tried to describe it to people
Speaker 1: is it's kind of like a hybrid between like a
Speaker 1: big brother and a survivor. But the fundamental difference is
Speaker 1: that you need to work together as a team, so
Speaker 1: you need to keep your strong people together. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you don't want people who are too strong,
Speaker 1: because then when it comes to the end, if they've
Speaker 1: contributed more or they're perceived to be, you know, the
Speaker 1: hero of the group, of course they're going to be
Speaker 1: the person selected to walk it at the end, and
Speaker 1: can you trust somebody you've known for seventeen days to
Speaker 1: split that money with you? So I really could not
Speaker 1: succinctly explain to people how this worked, which I think
Speaker 1: frustrated a lot of people in the lead up to
Speaker 1: it airing. And I still get a ton of questions
Speaker 1: from my family and friends around how it works. And
Speaker 1: I think the reality is it's just a new reality
Speaker 1: TV format that people need to be able to wrap
Speaker 1: their heads around because it is unconventional. You don't have
Speaker 1: a regular cadence of people going to tribal counsel or
Speaker 1: having an eviction. When we were out there, we had
Speaker 1: no idea when the next player would go off. We
Speaker 1: had no idea how many people would be there at
Speaker 1: the end. We were like, is this have we stopped
Speaker 1: getting rid of people? Will there be five of us left.
Speaker 2: At the end?
Speaker 1: Is like nine seems like too many people to be
Speaker 1: here at the end. How are we actually going to vote?
Speaker 1: Are we raising our hands? Are we writing down names
Speaker 1: and putting them in a jar? The format, I think,
Speaker 1: just because it is so new, means that there are
Speaker 1: a lot of questions, and I don't think it's as
Speaker 1: simple as your typical competition reality TV show format.
Speaker 3: There was just that. I think I mentioned it, but
Speaker 3: I think there were some things that only frustrated me.
Speaker 3: I mean, I loved the show, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 3: Like I actually was kind of a bit obsessed. But
Speaker 3: the knife. You know, like in episode one, you're all
Speaker 3: sitting around having a chat and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: you know, Savage found the knife that was stabbed into
Speaker 3: the wall. It's like, who stabbed that knife with a
Speaker 3: letter into the wall? Like it just felt like there
Speaker 3: should have been like a John or someone or maybe
Speaker 3: even a fake monster that was leaving things. But I
Speaker 3: don't know, I just felt like that was kind of
Speaker 3: left a little bit too silly for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a little bit strange, and even when
Speaker 1: we were out there, we were like it, it's weird
Speaker 1: because like obviously, I mean, this isn't really breaking the
Speaker 1: forth wall a little bit, but everybody knows, like these
Speaker 1: shows are produced and it's a producer stabbing it into
Speaker 1: the thing of wood, and you just have to pretend
Speaker 1: like that's.
Speaker 2: Not the case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think not having a host makes it kind
Speaker 1: of difficult, especially when you've got kind of the contestants
Speaker 1: in the moment having to kind of lead a sort
Speaker 1: of decision or whatever it may be, and we have
Speaker 1: no fucking idea what's going on, so we're just kind
Speaker 1: of rolling with it and hoping that we get.
Speaker 2: It right the first time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it definitely it definitely would make more sense
Speaker 1: to have a host, But then again, what would a
Speaker 1: host do, like just wander around the work site?
Speaker 2: So I totally take your point.
Speaker 1: It is kind of confusing, and even watching it back,
Speaker 1: I thought, like, I've lived it, so I understand how
Speaker 1: all this works, but I feel like for a viewer
Speaker 1: at home, there would be some context missing.
Speaker 3: Watching it back. What do you think was the biggest
Speaker 3: what you know what the moment?
Speaker 1: I think it was in the first episode because I
Speaker 1: was benchmarking, like I knew what was going to happen
Speaker 1: in the first episode, and I was kind of benchmarking
Speaker 1: where we were based on this one flare going off,
Speaker 1: which I think was like the second flare that we
Speaker 1: ever got, and it just didn't appear in the episode
Speaker 1: at all, And that kind of surprised me because I
Speaker 1: feel like that really was the first It was the
Speaker 1: first moral decision that had to be made and I
Speaker 1: forget who ran for it. It was Bushy and maybe George,
Speaker 1: maybe Dean, I can't exactly remember, but they ran for
Speaker 1: the flare. The twenty meters of bridge was sitting there,
Speaker 1: and it was like, you can take this bridge because
Speaker 1: you haven't built anything so far, but then you need
Speaker 1: to get rid of somebody or you can not take it.
Speaker 1: And you don't have to get rid of somebody by
Speaker 1: virtue of the two people that went up there, being
Speaker 1: I guess quite morally upstanding people didn't didn't take it.
Speaker 1: So they came back and they kind of walked it,
Speaker 1: walked us through it and said we wouldn't do that,
Speaker 1: like we're doing this as a team. And that's when
Speaker 1: I kind of like the light bulb moment went off
Speaker 1: for me and it was like, Okay, some of these
Speaker 1: people are here to play happy families.
Speaker 2: They don't understand that this is a game, this is.
Speaker 1: A competition, and having a bit of foresight, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this opportunity is going to come up again, so next player,
Speaker 1: I'm going to run for it. I'm going to get
Speaker 1: there first, which is what I did. And then it
Speaker 1: was basically, now you need to take the twenty meters
Speaker 1: and you need to send somebody home. So I think
Speaker 1: that was when I was watching it back, like having
Speaker 1: things like that missing just made me realize how much
Speaker 1: they had to condense into so few episodes.
Speaker 3: So the conditions looked actually quite nice on the screen,
Speaker 3: How was it in real life? Would it make a
Speaker 3: nice retreat by any chance?
Speaker 1: Look, there were so many people who were out there
Speaker 1: that were like, I never want to leave.
Speaker 2: This is like a holiday and the setting was not
Speaker 2: lost on me.
Speaker 1: Of course, it was beautiful, probably even more beautiful in
Speaker 1: person than how it came across on the show. But
Speaker 1: by the time that you actually start building the bridge
Speaker 1: and realize how much of a pain in the ass
Speaker 1: it is, it very quickly becomes old. The accommodation was
Speaker 1: like very basic, no insulation. It was Tasmania, it was March,
Speaker 1: so it was still warm for Tasmania, but coming from
Speaker 1: Queensland also freezing. So look, I had a lot of
Speaker 1: complaints about the environment.
Speaker 2: But yeah, of course it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: I just feel like once you're thrust into that situation
Speaker 1: and your focus was on the task at hand, the
Speaker 1: actual beauty of your surroundings starts to get lost on you.
Speaker 2: A little bit.
Speaker 3: I guess the million dollar question of this whole entire podcast,
Speaker 3: which everyone has listened to me go on and on
Speaker 3: and on to get to what they really want to know.
Speaker 3: Was it hard not to get the money in the end?
Speaker 2: Yes and no.
Speaker 1: My take on it the hahollway through was I don't
Speaker 1: really care that much about the money.
Speaker 2: I just like to win.
Speaker 1: So for me, even when you kind of saw me
Speaker 1: pivot to saying I'm not I'm not playing for myself anymore.
Speaker 1: I want a lera to cross the bridge. That was
Speaker 1: kind of me making the decision that I feel like
Speaker 1: I can pull the strings to have a lera across
Speaker 1: the bridge, and for me that will be like winning,
Speaker 1: Like I just want my person to win. So to
Speaker 1: not be in the position where it wasn't my influence
Speaker 1: that determined who walked to the bridge did suck. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, I'm glad that Barti won. I'm
Speaker 1: happy for her. She was very transparent with us that
Speaker 1: if she walked, she probably wasn't going to share it.
Speaker 1: So that evening, when everything kind of came undone around
Speaker 1: the campfire with Bloody Elliott exposing us in front of
Speaker 1: everybody at that moment, I kind of realized that, you know,
Speaker 1: we don't we don't have a chance in hell here,
Speaker 1: and that part sucked, not walking away with anybody.
Speaker 2: You know, it would have been lovely.
Speaker 1: To have fifty grand or however much, but it was
Speaker 1: more just the fact that I didn't win that upset
Speaker 1: me the most.
Speaker 2: But you wouldn't know that feeling, would you.
Speaker 3: I know, though, who cares about me? At this point?
Speaker 3: I just want to know, do you RSVP to Elliott
Speaker 3: and Maddie's wedding? Like, you know, if they get married,
Speaker 3: are you going to go to the wedding?
Speaker 1: Well, I be invited to the wedding. You know what's
Speaker 1: funny is I'm actually going to see Elliott tonight. And
Speaker 1: I've seen him once since the show finished airing as well,
Speaker 1: and I do remember to give him shit for it
Speaker 1: because I feel like it didn't come across as well
Speaker 1: in the final episode. But we had kind of figured
Speaker 1: it out that we had had the numbers to send
Speaker 1: a lira across and we were going to split the vote,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that really got shown as much
Speaker 1: as it was a reality in that moment. But when
Speaker 1: everything fell apart, just to kind of stick it to
Speaker 1: Elliott because I knew how badly he wanted Barty to win.
Speaker 1: That's why I threw all of my weight behind vote
Speaker 1: for vote for Tony, which ultimately didn't work either.
Speaker 2: But we almost, We almost did it.
Speaker 3: Do you think that Barty did the right thing by
Speaker 3: keeping the money the way she did? Well, I mean,
Speaker 3: she gave some to Bushy to Mark, But do you
Speaker 3: think she did the right thing?
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 1: I think that the reality is, and perhaps even the
Speaker 1: irony of the situation is, if Aleira had walked it,
Speaker 1: she probably would have been the person to share it
Speaker 1: with the most people. I think that anybody else would
Speaker 1: have kept the money for themselves and maybe spun off
Speaker 1: a little bit like Barti did with Bushy. I think
Speaker 1: that Barti did the right thing. If you're given the
Speaker 1: opportunity to walk, yeah, keep it for yourself, because you
Speaker 1: know what, You've just convinced a bunch of randoms who
Speaker 1: have poured their blood, sweat and tears into this stupid
Speaker 1: bridge for the last seventeen days to give you the money,
Speaker 1: either by virtuo of you being the best game player,
Speaker 1: or the hardest worker, or the nicest person, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: we sent you across, so do whatever the hell you
Speaker 1: want with it.
Speaker 2: I respect the fact that she kept it for herself.
Speaker 3: What would you have done? Can you please tell me
Speaker 3: how you slice the pie with that cash? Do you
Speaker 3: take it all for yourself? Well? Who was going to
Speaker 3: get it?
Speaker 2: How did it been me?
Speaker 1: Up until the point that I shifted to no, let's
Speaker 1: send Aleira across, I would have just split it three ways.
Speaker 1: It would have been Steve Alera myself. I think right
Speaker 1: at the end, before I decided that it was going
Speaker 1: to be Aleira, that we were just going to put
Speaker 1: forward for our little alliance, I was thinking about Barty
Speaker 1: because I kind of felt bad with how much she
Speaker 1: had put into the experience. But realistically I probably just
Speaker 1: would have split it the three ways.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, once she was picked to walk across
Speaker 3: the bridge, you must have given up all hope that
Speaker 3: she would give you any money.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, you watch it back and there's all those
Speaker 1: conversations around you know what she's going to do. She's
Speaker 1: such a team player. Of course, you'll share it with everybody.
Speaker 1: But the reality is that we knew as a group
Speaker 1: that she was going to keep it for herself, more
Speaker 1: than likely keep it for herself. You kind of saw
Speaker 1: the conversation she had with Bushy. Probably what you didn't
Speaker 1: see were Maddie and Elliott, who for whatever reason were
Speaker 1: just like obsessed with her, like oddly obsessed. And they
Speaker 1: were the ones that basically convinced her, because I think
Speaker 1: she probably would have shared it with everybody had they
Speaker 1: not been in her ear been like, you need to
Speaker 1: keep it for yourself, Like, they were the most aggressive
Speaker 1: campaigners for her, Like I'm pretty sure they gave up
Speaker 1: on their own chance of walking the bridge on like
Speaker 1: day three.
Speaker 2: They were just obsessed with her. And I can't tell
Speaker 2: you why that was.
Speaker 1: I still don't really get it, but they definitely played
Speaker 1: a huge part in her decision to keep it.
Speaker 3: The looks on everyone's faces as they were told, no, sorry,
Speaker 3: I don't have any money for you. Actually, that's a
Speaker 3: really good point. Did she come up with the words
Speaker 3: for that or do you think she was sort of
Speaker 3: spoon fed by producers? Do you reckon? Producers said, you know,
Speaker 3: do you reckon? She changed her decision on how the
Speaker 3: money was going to go or how she was going
Speaker 3: to break it up. Do you think that anyone else
Speaker 3: play the hand in what she had to say.
Speaker 1: It's hard to say. I honestly don't have an answer
Speaker 1: that question. I think, based on what she said to me,
Speaker 1: which you saw a very small snippet of the conversation
Speaker 1: that we had, I think that she had crafted that herself,
Speaker 1: and a few people messaged me afterwards saying, oh, it
Speaker 1: seemed a bit condescending that she was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: so so happy to see.
Speaker 2: That you've grown.
Speaker 1: But the way with that the final Campfire worked was
Speaker 1: I basically when I did my pitch before Elliott kind
Speaker 1: of jumped in with his alliance, thing was that I
Speaker 1: was the best representative for the group because, like I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, as we've been talking on day one, I
Speaker 1: was probably the least equipped to go out there and
Speaker 1: build a bridge.
Speaker 2: I showed up in a fucking college.
Speaker 1: Shirt for Christ's sake, and I kind of talked about
Speaker 1: my development, and that was what she was talking about
Speaker 1: when she was talking to me, and she was a
Speaker 1: very good listener. So I think that I think that
Speaker 1: a lot of what she said was sincere. The only
Speaker 1: one that I would question, whether you know, there were
Speaker 1: other people kind of playing into her decision making or
Speaker 1: the way that she broke it up was maybe with Dino,
Speaker 1: because I think that she legit did want to share
Speaker 1: it with Dino. But then I think, and you saw
Speaker 1: how emotional she got when he was up there on
Speaker 1: the platform with her. I think that she was just
Speaker 1: very I think she thought, well, if I share it
Speaker 1: with Bushy and Dino, then why aren't I cutting in
Speaker 1: Maddie and Elliott and you know everybody else that has
Speaker 1: helped with this. So you kind of have to draw
Speaker 1: a line somewhere, and I think Dino was that line.
Speaker 1: I think if she had to share with the third person,
Speaker 1: he would have been in who.
Speaker 3: Was the saltiest? So they didn't get any money.
Speaker 1: It's a tough one, I think Dean and I think
Speaker 1: had Savage not been walking away with ten grant, he
Speaker 1: would have been a lot saltier.
Speaker 2: But he was still quite salty.
Speaker 1: Because I think he really I think Tony God bless him,
Speaker 1: love him, really thought that he was a much more
Speaker 1: strategic player or had it in the bag more than
Speaker 1: he did. He was not a great liar, and everybody
Speaker 1: kind of had this suspicion that he had the ten K,
Speaker 1: so he was salty that he didn't walk away with
Speaker 1: more money. But I think Dean was probably the most
Speaker 1: salty because he walked away with nothing, and you had
Speaker 1: what five out of fourteen of us total or thirteen
Speaker 1: how many of us there were that kind of went
Speaker 1: through the experience that received money. So it's like you
Speaker 1: had a one in three chance of winning money and
Speaker 1: you brought away with nothing. So yeah, I think he
Speaker 1: was the most salty about it. But he doesn't have
Speaker 1: an issue with Barty. I think he's quite happy for her.
Speaker 1: He just wishes that it were him.
Speaker 3: So is there anyone that is kind of struggling to
Speaker 3: keep their friendship with Barty?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think that everybody had a good relationship with Barty,
Speaker 1: and I think the sort of relationship that everybody had
Speaker 1: with her was that she was a bit of a
Speaker 1: little sister. She was the youngest one out there, but
Speaker 1: she was very very bright, vibrant, very uplifting, and I
Speaker 1: think that everybody's general sentiment afterwards was that she was
Speaker 1: a deserving person and she's such a lovely person that
Speaker 1: I think people really struggled to be upset with her.
Speaker 1: So no, as far as I know, nobody from the
Speaker 1: experience is upset the Barty one, and I.
Speaker 3: Guess everyone kind of alluded to being selfish or ruthless
Speaker 3: or you know, in their pieces to camera. People were like,
Speaker 3: I was going to take the money, So no one
Speaker 3: could really be that annoyed with her because they kind
Speaker 3: of had, you know, said how shady they were in
Speaker 3: their pieces to camera.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that Barty's copped a bit since
Speaker 1: the final episode aired around taking the money just from
Speaker 1: the general public. But my sentiment towards it is she
Speaker 1: was transparent with all of us around what she was
Speaker 1: going to do. If you're upset, if you loved Dean
Speaker 1: and you're upset that Dean didn't walk away with any money,
Speaker 1: don't be upset with Dean, be upset or with Barty.
Speaker 1: Rather be upset with the people that voted for Barty
Speaker 1: because they're the one. We all knew what voting for
Speaker 1: Barty meant for the group. And to your point as well,
Speaker 1: with everybody's little confessionals to camera, I don't think that
Speaker 1: anybody else would have shared the money. And that's why
Speaker 1: I think it's so funny and so ironic that Elliott
Speaker 1: called out out a Lira, because I know Alera would
Speaker 1: have fit with pretty much everybody except for Maddy and
Speaker 1: Elliott had she walked, and I think that's where the
Speaker 1: money would have gone the most ways, which is funny
Speaker 1: because the call out of the final campfire was you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're selfish and they're trying to take the money
Speaker 1: for themselves. But it's like, in reality, we were we
Speaker 1: were just being truthful. We were or we were being upfront.
Speaker 1: We knew what we were doing, whereas the others, I think,
Speaker 1: wanted to speak about sharing the money but didn't really
Speaker 1: have a strategy behind it, and I think put in
Speaker 1: the same position as Barty, most of the people there
Speaker 1: would have taken all of the money for themselves.
Speaker 3: It's such a good show because, like it is a
Speaker 3: it's a conundrum. It's a very big conundrum. And yeah,
Speaker 3: there's probably a few things that were probably a bit
Speaker 3: difficult for the cast to go through, and that happens
Speaker 3: in all reality shows. But for the viewer, it was
Speaker 3: very delicious.
Speaker 2: Being out there.
Speaker 1: You kind of get to a point and we all
Speaker 1: agreed on this at the end, like you get to
Speaker 1: a point where you stop forgetting or you stop remembering
Speaker 1: that the goal is to walk the bridge at the end,
Speaker 1: because the other conundrum that you're faced with is if
Speaker 1: you don't finish the bridge, nobody wins any money, So
Speaker 1: you do have to work as a team and sometimes
Speaker 1: just kind of put the game to the side to
Speaker 1: focus on finishing the build. And the most upset that
Speaker 1: anybody got when we were out there was when t
Speaker 1: burnt the bridge, because we were already on such a
Speaker 1: time crunch and it was already looking like we probably
Speaker 1: won't finish this, and to wake up in the morning
Speaker 1: and see the bridge building, everybody was like, are you
Speaker 1: fucking kidding me? Like, now nobody is going to win,
Speaker 1: So it doesn't matter who would have the most boats,
Speaker 1: because if nobody's going to walk it, then we've all
Speaker 1: just wasted two and a half weeks living in a
Speaker 1: tin shed.
Speaker 3: Do you think that if there's a season two that
Speaker 3: it'll be much harder because people have watched it and
Speaker 3: so would it be harder to build alliances? Or does
Speaker 3: it when everyone going into series two think the person
Speaker 3: who crosses the bridge is just going to keep all
Speaker 3: the money? Like, how do you think a season two
Speaker 3: will play out? If they do it?
Speaker 2: I think it'll be much more strategic.
Speaker 1: I think that some way somehow the majority of the
Speaker 1: cast going into this first season did not really clock
Speaker 1: that it was a game, because it was kind of
Speaker 1: sold as more of an experience. But I was like, well,
Speaker 1: there's a component of somebody wins, so of course it's
Speaker 1: a game.
Speaker 2: You need to strategize for that. Hardly anybody strategized.
Speaker 1: I think going into season two there will just be
Speaker 1: a lot more strategy, and I'm sure that they'll change
Speaker 1: up the format even I mean, I know an International
Speaker 1: Versions season two has always had a bit of a
Speaker 1: crazy twist, so I think that it'll be more strategic,
Speaker 1: and I think the actual build will be more difficult
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 3: After your experience of reality television, would you apply to
Speaker 3: go on another show.
Speaker 1: At the end of the Bridge, I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: never fucking doing this shit again. But I think my
Speaker 1: sentiment at that time was very much around building the
Speaker 1: Bridge because it was so physically demanding and I was
Speaker 1: just over it. And I'm sure any reality TV show
Speaker 1: is either physically or emotionally draining, So I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm in two minds about it. I would love to
Speaker 1: I'd love to do it again, And what I've said
Speaker 1: to people in the aftermath, and I know I use
Speaker 1: the word apathetic quite a lot as we're talking what
Speaker 1: I hated because I've always watched shows like Big Brother
Speaker 1: and Survivor, and especially the new format of Big Brother.
Speaker 1: It's like, I want to be strategic, like I want
Speaker 1: to win, I want to beat people. I want to
Speaker 1: boat people out, and on the Bridge we got a
Speaker 1: little bit of that, but by and large, most people
Speaker 1: were not playing a game, and that was frustrating to me.
Speaker 1: So I'd want I do reality TV again, but I
Speaker 1: want it to be like a proper competition and even
Speaker 1: the Bridge. Maybe in season two it will be more competitive,
Speaker 1: but yeah, that would be my That would be what
Speaker 1: helps me make my decision. Is it a show where
Speaker 1: people are actually going to go balls to the wall
Speaker 1: with trying to win this or are we just playing
Speaker 1: a happy family.
Speaker 2: Because that was boring.
Speaker 1: The first ten days of the Bridge build was all
Speaker 1: just happy families, and I was so offered, which is
Speaker 1: when I started to just ster shit with people. Build
Speaker 1: alliances obviously didn't work that well for me, but I
Speaker 1: just wish more people were in that game mindset.
Speaker 3: The last question I asked is the same question ask
Speaker 3: everyone who joins the podcast. What is something from behind
Speaker 3: the scenes, something we didn't see that we won't see,
Speaker 3: kind of a behind the scenes secret from making the Bridge.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, this is probably not that exciting, but
Speaker 1: the porter potties right behind the campfire where we would
Speaker 1: run for the players every time and jump over those
Speaker 1: really sad looking players that you just see progressively die
Speaker 1: throughout the series. With the porter potties that we had
Speaker 1: to use, and they were so disgusting.
Speaker 2: I don't think they got cleaned once while we were
Speaker 2: out there. It was and it was like a decent.
Speaker 1: Trek from the tin shed as well, so in the
Speaker 1: evenings we get to get up and go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1: It was just a terror well experience. And they didn't
Speaker 1: smell very good. So behind the scenes there were two
Speaker 1: very not glamorous porta poppies.
Speaker 3: Brilliant, Madison, what an amazing opportunity to talk to you
Speaker 3: about The Bridge. I loved this series. I thought you
Speaker 3: were fantastic in it. Good luck with whatever it is
Speaker 3: that you decide to do. Keep leaning into that villain ry. Actually, no,
Speaker 3: forget that, just keep being yourself.
Speaker 2: Thanks, look live every day like you're a villain.
Speaker 3: A PG villain you know, not once somebody that kills people,
Speaker 3: you know exactly, A family friendly villain, a Disney Channel villain. Amazing,