Speaker 1: Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and
Speaker 1: on this podcast, I'll be going behind the scenes with
Speaker 1: the biggest players in television. This week, I had huge
Speaker 1: success with my midweek episode. I was lucky enough to
Speaker 1: have a chat with Doris Unay, who is from Paramount
Speaker 1: Plus's series Five Bedrooms. Doris has a unique turn of
Speaker 1: phrase and I loved all the feedback from you guys
Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter. What a cracker of an episode.
Speaker 1: The pop up episodes will continue next week is I
Speaker 1: have one of my favorite Wentworth actresses joining to talk
Speaker 1: about the final series called The Final Sentence, So another actress,
Speaker 1: but I will have more presenters and reality TV stars
Speaker 1: coming up plus to celebrate the return of Wentworth, which
Speaker 1: starts on August twenty fourth on Foxtel. I will have
Speaker 1: one of the biggest master minds from behind the scenes
Speaker 1: on the main episode. And as you know, I love
Speaker 1: giving you a recommendation on a podcast, so check out Chickstree,
Speaker 1: which has ev Jones and Annie Potatoes discussing women in history.
Speaker 1: The guest this week was Kerrie Milligan from Gogglebox, and
Speaker 1: he really knows how to tell a story. As for
Speaker 1: what I've been watching on the box. I've seen the
Speaker 1: first three episodes of Wentworth and it is so intense
Speaker 1: that I actually had to put my head between my legs.
Speaker 1: So if you're a fan of the show, the final
Speaker 1: series will not disappoint. As for ratings on Free to Wear,
Speaker 1: I've been loving The Voice Australia on Channel seven and
Speaker 1: can pretty much attest to what audiences have been saying,
Speaker 1: which is this is the best series in ten years,
Speaker 1: which is an amazing get for Channel seven. I've also
Speaker 1: been loving all the twists on Australian Survivor on Channel ten,
Speaker 1: and whilst the Purist seem to be at odds on
Speaker 1: social media about this season, I think that all the
Speaker 1: twists have been an improvement. Also for those keeping up
Speaker 1: with the Block on Channel nine, the biggest scandal in
Speaker 1: the show's history is about to explode, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about that as the
Speaker 1: show unfolds. This week on the podcast, I have Chloe
Speaker 1: Baker and Lee Aaron Berry here to chat about The
Speaker 1: Voice on Channel seven, which has been blitzing the ratings.
Speaker 1: Both Lee and Chloe work for ITV Studios and have
Speaker 1: been rightfully lament the success of this season. We will
Speaker 1: talk about why the show has resonated so well with audiences.
Speaker 1: We'll go behind the scenes and get some secrets from
Speaker 1: the set. We'll get some goss on the coaches, and
Speaker 1: we'll also find out how these young producers got their
Speaker 1: start in the industry. Pretty sure they're going to love
Speaker 1: me calling them young. Both took time away from their
Speaker 1: current work, Chloe from Love Island Australia and Lee, who's
Speaker 1: already working on the next two seasons of The Voice Australia.
Speaker 1: These guys are at the top of their game and
Speaker 1: could not be more humble about their success. So I
Speaker 1: really hope you enjoy their banter and their candor. However,
Speaker 1: let's get started with the executive producers from The Voice.
Speaker 1: I'd like to welcome Chloe and Lee to TV reload.
Speaker 2: I definitely think Australia just needs a big, warm hug.
Speaker 1: I'm listening for a voice that leaves me no choice
Speaker 1: but to turn my hair.
Speaker 2: Sometimes people are hesitant to take part in a show
Speaker 2: like this.
Speaker 3: Yek someone who stops me in my tracks and calls.
Speaker 4: Me in because it is reality TV. When I get that.
Speaker 5: Tingled feeling, I know something special is about to happen.
Speaker 6: It's hard to work on the Voice and not live
Speaker 6: and breathe it.
Speaker 5: That's the most magical part.
Speaker 4: Ah, it's breath taking.
Speaker 6: Only put someone in a chair if they really want
Speaker 6: to be there.
Speaker 1: How are you both of you? Both well?
Speaker 4: Ye, really good, really excited to chat. It's a nice break, Chloe.
Speaker 1: Did you think that The Voice would be one of
Speaker 1: the highest rating shows of twenty twenty one?
Speaker 2: I definitely would say we had a special feeling about
Speaker 2: the show. I think we're always nervous about ratings and
Speaker 2: you never want to get too far ahead of yourself
Speaker 2: because at one point, you know, I did have the
Speaker 2: lowest launched television show in Australian television history. So I've
Speaker 2: experienced the ultimate high with The Voice this series and
Speaker 2: the ultimate low. But we definitely felt like there was
Speaker 2: a different feel on camera and off and I think
Speaker 2: Lee will be able to agree with me as well,
Speaker 2: like behind the scenes as well, we said it was
Speaker 2: the best series we've ever ever had.
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to say what the show was? What
Speaker 1: was the lowest launch?
Speaker 2: What was the last resort? It was on Channel nine?
Speaker 2: It was actually a really good show. It was just
Speaker 2: a it was a perfect storm.
Speaker 6: I would say.
Speaker 1: Maybe the general public just took it literally, you know,
Speaker 1: and they thought it was the last resort and so
Speaker 1: they just didn't watch it.
Speaker 6: Do you know what?
Speaker 2: I remember when Lee interviewed me for the job. Was
Speaker 2: it five years ago or something like that. I just
Speaker 2: had a baby. I was a real mess and an
Speaker 2: absolute nightmare. And I went in and I said to him, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, I've had the success of the lowest rating
Speaker 2: television debut in Australian history. I think it was like
Speaker 2: four hundred and eighty two thousand or something like that,
Speaker 2: and he I always remember Lee saying to me, you
Speaker 2: know what, it's really good because you need that grounding,
Speaker 2: because you know, you don't want to get too far
Speaker 2: ahead of yourself. But I do remember when the ratings
Speaker 2: came in that day, I sat in the bushes and cried.
Speaker 6: Put everything into a show, and for some reason, it
Speaker 6: just doesn't connect. So it's great to be riding this
Speaker 6: way at the moment. But I constantly whenever I see
Speaker 6: the ratings come in, I'm always thinking of the other
Speaker 6: two shows that we're compared to and thinking, I mean,
Speaker 6: it's not like those guys didn't work just as hard
Speaker 6: as we did to make a TV show. It's just
Speaker 6: that for some reason this time round, the voices resonated,
Speaker 6: you know, le, I.
Speaker 1: Know that people in the industry were saying that the
Speaker 1: Olympics would have had an effect on the launch of
Speaker 1: the series, but the show has maintained massive numbers.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that no one could ask for a
Speaker 6: better launching pad than the Olympics, that's for sure. It
Speaker 6: was like Choe said, there was something special about this
Speaker 6: season and in making it, I think having some new
Speaker 6: faces in the chairs really makes the show feel invigorated.
Speaker 6: That's always kind of been a staple of the shows.
Speaker 6: If you could change at least one coach over, people
Speaker 6: want to come and see the coaches. But ultimately, I
Speaker 6: think that even though it's competitive, there's some camaraderie between
Speaker 6: this group of four that feels special. And then that
Speaker 6: combined with just some incredible voices that we were found
Speaker 6: were drawn to the show this year. That's all sort
Speaker 6: of been the recipe. I think it's kept those numbers
Speaker 6: where they are because, like you say, you can have
Speaker 6: a big launch, and then did, But for some reason,
Speaker 6: everyone's chuming in night and night again, and the episodes
Speaker 6: just they stay strong, don't they, Chloe. That's a great
Speaker 6: thing about nine blind episodes and they all stay strong.
Speaker 2: You know what else I think is really special from
Speaker 2: a coaching perspective is Jess Malboy.
Speaker 4: You know, she is such.
Speaker 2: A beautiful Australian talent and no one has ever seen
Speaker 2: her the way you're seeing her on the show, and
Speaker 2: I think that's something really special as well.
Speaker 5: I totally know what it's like to work with a
Speaker 5: dynamic of women, you know, all different harmonies, you know,
Speaker 5: coming together. So it was all about finding each other's
Speaker 5: kind of groove and for me that was probably the
Speaker 5: most eye opening for me being with strong women.
Speaker 1: Do you think the COVID's played into this because you're
Speaker 1: up against the Block and Survivor, two very big, noisy
Speaker 1: shows that really do rate. But there's a competitive nature
Speaker 1: in that that can be you know, can create some conflict.
Speaker 1: This show doesn't have conflict really, so do you think
Speaker 1: that that might be a reason why audiences are lapping
Speaker 1: it up?
Speaker 2: I definitely think right now Australia just needs a big,
Speaker 2: warm hug and this is what that show is.
Speaker 6: Actually.
Speaker 2: Last night I was working on Love Island Ford Planning,
Speaker 2: and I'd forgotten that the show was on, and my
Speaker 2: phone started BP and I was looking at all the messages.
Speaker 4: And I was like, oh God, the show's on. So
Speaker 4: I ran over and tended on.
Speaker 2: But the messages were just so positive, and you know,
Speaker 2: not only just from my mum, from other people as well,
Speaker 2: saying I'm balling my eyes out, this is feel good TV.
Speaker 4: This is just what we needed right now. Actually, I should.
Speaker 2: Go into my Instagram and read you a message from
Speaker 2: doing another TV producer. I won't say who it is,
Speaker 2: but she sent me a really great message last night
Speaker 2: and she was like, thank God for your show, Chloe.
Speaker 2: It's the medicine in this hell fire we all need
Speaker 2: right now. And I was like, she couldn't have said
Speaker 2: it better.
Speaker 1: You know, I agree, Because as these shows launched, I
Speaker 1: saw previews of all of them before they launched, before
Speaker 1: I saw ratings, before we could talk about ratings. I
Speaker 1: saw the three shows that were going head to head.
Speaker 1: And that's what the take home was was that I,
Speaker 1: you know, walked away from that show just feeling like
Speaker 1: it was a bit of a bit of something that
Speaker 1: I needed, you know, Lee, I was just wondering, you know,
Speaker 1: do you get incentives as producers for these type of numbers?
Speaker 1: You know, like these numbers are huge? Do they give
Speaker 1: your cash bonus?
Speaker 6: You know what I was just I was actually having
Speaker 6: a conversation with another television producer I can't mention who
Speaker 6: works at another company, who was like, you really should
Speaker 6: have waited to negotiate. You're right, I wish we did.
Speaker 2: If only we worked in the eighties sleeping on pillows
Speaker 2: full of money with these ratings.
Speaker 1: Oh I know, well, I was wondering whether or not
Speaker 1: you guys would just storm into ITV studios and ask
Speaker 1: Madi for your dream shows? Like do you go?
Speaker 2: I'm so good now we're already working on the dream show.
Speaker 2: We've probably done the deal.
Speaker 1: Do either of you have a show though that you know,
Speaker 1: something like The Circle that was really big in America
Speaker 1: and the UK. Is there something that you would love
Speaker 1: to bring to Australia.
Speaker 6: I think that's not necessarily a specific show I'd like
Speaker 6: to work on, but I definitely as I've worked in
Speaker 6: reality television for quite a while and probably I would
Speaker 6: say moved more into the entertainment world. I think the
Speaker 6: creative side of television is what I really love, and
Speaker 6: I've sort of learned that over time. I feel like
Speaker 6: something that is either really creatively based. So even there
Speaker 6: was a show that came up a couple of years
Speaker 6: ago on Netflix, The Big Flower Fight, and I was
Speaker 6: just like, that kind of stuff to me is like
Speaker 6: super fun, nice, easy thing to make, but even kind
Speaker 6: of good moving into drama and scripted drama and you know,
Speaker 6: the kind of stuff Ryan Murphy makes in the US.
Speaker 6: It'd be my dream.
Speaker 1: Chloe, what about you?
Speaker 2: Not one that I'd love to bring to I mean, look,
Speaker 2: my background is as a journalist, so I was a
Speaker 2: journalist for fifteen years and I did a lot of crime,
Speaker 2: so a mass consumer of true crime. I love all
Speaker 2: of that sort of stuff. So to work on any
Speaker 2: of that for me would be really enjoyable. But you know,
Speaker 2: in terms of shows, Skier the Voices is the epitome,
Speaker 2: really But I would really like to work on a
Speaker 2: dance show with Lee because I know he did so
Speaker 2: you think you can dance in the past, and I
Speaker 2: was actually I was thinking about it the other day.
Speaker 4: I mean, that would just be next level.
Speaker 1: I'll bring that bass and see if net bass is
Speaker 1: still king to do another.
Speaker 6: I was like choreographing dancers for the contestants. I honestly
Speaker 6: thought that I was a dancer. I clearly have unfulfilled
Speaker 6: potential there.
Speaker 1: Well, we've only got forty five minutes. Otherwise I would
Speaker 1: have got you to dance to see what it was like.
Speaker 1: So you know, Chloe, I heard an interesting story about
Speaker 1: Chris Blackburn and Alex Mevdykis at one point pulling your
Speaker 1: resume out of a bin. Is this story true or
Speaker 1: is it an urban legend? Can you elaborate?
Speaker 2: Well, what's sort of true? Chris threw it in the
Speaker 2: bin and Alex pulled it out. So I've taken a
Speaker 2: voluntary redundancy from ten after a decade there and I
Speaker 2: started at seven, and I was doing a bit of
Speaker 2: Sunrise stuff and I sort of, I don't know. I
Speaker 2: started to feel like I was losing the passion for it.
Speaker 2: And like I said, I've done a lot of crime
Speaker 2: and it's really hard work being and on the road journal.
Speaker 4: It's not easy.
Speaker 2: And I had mentioned it to a friend of mine
Speaker 2: and she said, oh, actually I heard there's a job
Speaker 2: going at Big Brother. Why don't you apply.
Speaker 4: I can hook you up with their EP and I went, oh, gosh,
Speaker 4: I've never thought of doing reality TV before.
Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of beneath journalists sometimes, even though
Speaker 2: we get paid heaps more and have heaps so.
Speaker 4: Fun and so I reached out.
Speaker 2: I sent my CV in and Chris Blackburn, I believe,
Speaker 2: looked at my CV and went, oh, I don't want
Speaker 2: a newsreader complaining in the middle of the night that
Speaker 2: her hair and makeup isn't done. So we threw it
Speaker 2: in the bid and Alex pulled it out and he went,
Speaker 2: hang on a minute, she's got good interviewing skills, good
Speaker 2: story knowledge. Let's just get her in for a chat.
Speaker 2: And then they gave me the job. And that was
Speaker 2: eight years ago. It was the Big Brother series after yours.
Speaker 1: Actually, oh really.
Speaker 4: And so I started at the bottom.
Speaker 2: So I was kind of at the top of my
Speaker 2: game as a journalist and then I had to start
Speaker 2: from the bottom again and work my way out.
Speaker 1: Well here we are, like, you know, I think that's
Speaker 1: quite amazing. Anty Alex's boss now or.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I boss him around every day was
Speaker 2: poorly and poor Lee and Alex. I've seen both of
Speaker 2: them all day long.
Speaker 1: You know, Lee being a boy from Adelaide. How did
Speaker 1: you get started as a producer? You know, this is
Speaker 1: pretty big and achieving big.
Speaker 6: It all actually happened in the UK. I went over
Speaker 6: to London for one of those you know when you
Speaker 6: turn eighteen and you're like, I got to get out
Speaker 6: of the small city, so I'll go to the biggest
Speaker 6: city I can think of. So I went to London
Speaker 6: to do my two years over there, and I kind
Speaker 6: of weaseled my way in. So I got a couple
Speaker 6: of weeks work experience through somebody that I met, I
Speaker 6: sent an email, and then when I was doing that
Speaker 6: work experience for a couple of weeks, they gave me
Speaker 6: a job where I had to call contributors for a
Speaker 6: TV show for a renovation show and see if they
Speaker 6: were still interested because the property market had changed and
Speaker 6: so they weren't doing a show about building houses. It
Speaker 6: was going to be about renovating. So every I called
Speaker 6: these people, I'd just say, when you call back, make
Speaker 6: sure you ask for Lee, and I'd charm them on
Speaker 6: the phone and have these big, long conversations with them.
Speaker 6: So knowing that I was going to leave and they
Speaker 6: would be calling for this person that wasn't there, anymore.
Speaker 6: It all kind of worked in my favor because about
Speaker 6: two weeks later, I got a phone call and someone
Speaker 6: from the production was saying, we've had all these phone
Speaker 6: calls for this person called Lee. No one knew who
Speaker 6: it was, and someone said, that was that work experience
Speaker 6: kid that was here a couple of weeks ago. So
Speaker 6: they offered me a job as a runner, and it
Speaker 6: all kind of went from there. So I think it
Speaker 6: was just sort of blagging my way in which I
Speaker 6: feel like TV producing is just an entire career in
Speaker 6: the art of bullshit artistry. So it's like walkway into something.
Speaker 6: You can dog people into things.
Speaker 2: And you mada, you know, you know what, Lee speaking
Speaker 2: about your career as well. Like Lee and I've worked
Speaker 2: together now for five years. Almost every day we've got
Speaker 2: a shorthand with each other, except every now and again
Speaker 2: he'll say, you know, I used to be an electrician,
Speaker 2: or you know, I used to work at McDonald's, or
Speaker 2: I used to be a photographer, and I'd be like,
Speaker 2: what I mean, I've never met someone who's had so
Speaker 2: many surprise professions before.
Speaker 1: It's leading somewhere, isn't it lead? Like it's all about
Speaker 1: gathering and you know, I think once you get to
Speaker 1: be an executive producer, that's you know, you've understood the room.
Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting in the way that you
Speaker 1: two have progressed into this because there's obviously perceptions, But
Speaker 1: what do you think is the most What is the
Speaker 1: biggest misconception about being an executive producer in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 2: I actually love being an EP, but at times it
Speaker 2: is very stressful and demanding, and you don't get to
Speaker 2: do all those things that you loved when you were
Speaker 2: doing the grunt work.
Speaker 6: It's interesting. We had Jak who was our series producer,
Speaker 6: who's worked with us for a few years too, has
Speaker 6: gone on the likes of things, and he rang recently
Speaker 6: and he was just kind of like, may, why didn't
Speaker 6: you tell me how hard this eping thing is? And
Speaker 6: I was like, yeah, it's not a all good park. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And getting back into the voice, what changes did you
Speaker 1: guys make with the format moving networks? What did you
Speaker 1: take out of the series and what did you put in?
Speaker 2: I think every year we always try and make the
Speaker 2: series different and better. And you know, we were in
Speaker 2: our ninth series when we changed networks to Channel seven
Speaker 2: and I feel like with some directions from the network
Speaker 2: as well, we just stripped it all back and we
Speaker 2: went back to the grassroots and the way the show
Speaker 2: was made in series one, which was making dreams come true,
Speaker 2: and we actually do do that. It's not bullshit. There
Speaker 2: are people that come to the show with a dream,
Speaker 2: and their dream is to stand on a stage in
Speaker 2: front of hundreds of thousands of people or one point
Speaker 2: seven two million last night, and we make.
Speaker 4: That happen for them.
Speaker 2: And I think we just embraced that, and it was
Speaker 2: about finding the everyday person, the person who serves you
Speaker 2: at McDonald's or you know, the guy who washes your car,
Speaker 2: the person you would never expect to see the way
Speaker 2: they did.
Speaker 6: And I think sometimes too, there's the successes, so you know,
Speaker 6: there are other people that are successful when you make
Speaker 6: the dream come true in terms of them getting a
Speaker 6: chair term but the best thing for us is when
Speaker 6: somebody doesn't get a chair turn. For example, there was
Speaker 6: a girl on the show who didn't turn a chair
Speaker 6: and she got to sing with Keith and she was
Speaker 6: posting throughout her performance saying, one incredible experience it was
Speaker 6: how much you loved being working with the team and
Speaker 6: for us that doesn't matter. It actually matters to us
Speaker 6: that every single person that comes has a good experience,
Speaker 6: and you can't always negate that for everybody. Some people
Speaker 6: are going to walk away from it and take what
Speaker 6: they want, or take whatever kind of part they want
Speaker 6: from them getting a chair turn or not getting a
Speaker 6: chair turn. But for the most part, our whole team's ethos,
Speaker 6: and that's existed since day one when I started on
Speaker 6: the show in season one, was to create a show
Speaker 6: where you treated people that came to the show like
Speaker 6: artists rather than contestants. And so the concept is they
Speaker 6: have a talent, so treat them like talented people rather
Speaker 6: than just a big cattle call of people coming to
Speaker 6: audition where they're waiting out in the cold for hours
Speaker 6: on end. So that starts literally from go and we've
Speaker 6: just held on to that, and I think you feel that,
Speaker 6: and particularly this year, I feel like the things that
Speaker 6: mean the most to me are when you hear the
Speaker 6: people that didn't get a chair turned, so they had
Speaker 6: an incredible experience on the show. Because there's no better
Speaker 6: advert to other singers to come on our show than
Speaker 6: you kind of lose out, I guess, and you still
Speaker 6: have an incredible experience and you didn't hate it, and
Speaker 6: you don't walk away from it feeling like your talent
Speaker 6: is diminished in any way.
Speaker 1: There has been a lot of auditions. Not once have
Speaker 1: I seen the crowd as angry with us coaches. That's
Speaker 1: true because you gave that everything. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: We have a huge amount of respect for the people
Speaker 2: who participate in the show as well. You know, they're
Speaker 2: called artists, they're not called cast, and we treat them
Speaker 2: like artists. Sometimes people are hesitant to take part in
Speaker 2: a show like this because it is reality TV. But
Speaker 2: for the most part, ninety nine percent of the people
Speaker 2: who do leave really happy.
Speaker 1: It still feels really large and noisy, but you know,
Speaker 1: this year you've managed to have this intimacy. How did
Speaker 1: you cultivate that? Because there one hundred percent feels like
Speaker 1: there's more intimacy for the viewer.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that has to do with
Speaker 2: the coaches and the way that they're vibing together. We've
Speaker 2: loved every single coaching panel we've had. We've loved every
Speaker 2: series that we've done for different reasons. But I definitely
Speaker 2: feel like, like Lee said earlier, there is a camaraderie
Speaker 2: and a connection between these coaches that we haven't seen
Speaker 2: for a long time. And I definitely feel like this
Speaker 2: is the year for that. People don't want to see
Speaker 2: people arguing at the moment, and you know, these coaches
Speaker 2: have just got such a great connection with each other
Speaker 2: and with those artists who are standing on stage as well.
Speaker 1: I'm listening for a voice that leaves me no choice
Speaker 1: but to turn much air.
Speaker 6: You feel the whole room left.
Speaker 5: That's the most magical part.
Speaker 3: It's breathtaking, to be honest, somebody that knows how to
Speaker 3: tell us, someone who stops me in my tracks and
Speaker 3: pulls me in.
Speaker 5: When I get that tingling feeling right through my body,
Speaker 5: that's priceless.
Speaker 1: Well, Lee, I was going to say that I noticed
Speaker 1: that there was some new camera angles being used, and
Speaker 1: that seemed to offers us as a viewer more inclusion.
Speaker 1: It does really feel like you get to join that
Speaker 1: little private conversation for some reason.
Speaker 6: Definitely, the coaching panel feels different. I think even the
Speaker 6: space that we filmed in felt it actually felt more
Speaker 6: intimate where we filmed, which I think gave some intimacy
Speaker 6: and everything was sort of closer into actually physically in
Speaker 6: terms of shooting, so you got that intimacy there, but
Speaker 6: then our ethos to ourself was we still wanted to
Speaker 6: feel like the glossiest show on TV. So it was
Speaker 6: kind of finding this balance between it feeling intimate and
Speaker 6: about real people and real Australia, but then also bringing
Speaker 6: the production values that people have gotten to know across
Speaker 6: the Voice with our incredible creative team, and they brought
Speaker 6: that kind of into play still, So I think maybe
Speaker 6: it's a combination of all of those things working together
Speaker 6: that gives that. But I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker 1: When you add blocking or something like this, is that
Speaker 1: your decisions as a producer? How did that land on
Speaker 1: your desk?
Speaker 2: Like I said earlier, every season we aim to make
Speaker 2: it feel slightly different and slightly better than the season before.
Speaker 2: And the block was an addition that Lee and I
Speaker 2: felt was a really good one. You know, it gives
Speaker 2: the coaches some power and it takes some away as well,
Speaker 2: so it's really interesting in that respect, and it makes
Speaker 2: them fight harder for people that they want as well.
Speaker 6: And I think the difference this year was what's nice
Speaker 6: about the block this year is that it's all done.
Speaker 6: It's done with competitiveness, but with a bit of tongue
Speaker 6: in cheek as well. So I think the block's being
Speaker 6: done elsewhere in the world, and there's different versions of
Speaker 6: there's different kind of iterations of it, I guess. But
Speaker 6: what was nice is the message for us with a
Speaker 6: co which was a block, is you're blocking somebody because
Speaker 6: you feel threatened by them in that moment because they're
Speaker 6: a great pitching coach. So take it as a compliment
Speaker 6: as much as you take it with a bit of
Speaker 6: a hit at the same time. So it was kind
Speaker 6: of like, if you can lean into it that way,
Speaker 6: then it doesn't just it sort of feels a little
Speaker 6: bit more in keeping with the rest of the theme
Speaker 6: of the voice, rather than being this thing where you're
Speaker 6: shutting somebody out and it's done with a negative connotation.
Speaker 2: And that remains the same for the artists as well,
Speaker 2: because if you're an artist standing on stage and a
Speaker 2: coach is being blocked, you should take that as the
Speaker 2: ultimate compliment because the coach has done the blocking means
Speaker 2: that you're fucking great.
Speaker 1: That's another tick to you know, another tick to the box.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to know about the casting of the
Speaker 1: coaches you know, and how this happens. Are you guys
Speaker 1: involved with that or are you sitting there waiting to
Speaker 1: find out who's being delivered to you?
Speaker 4: How many lists have we got, Lee?
Speaker 6: I reckon if I did a serch on my laptop
Speaker 6: for coach lists or like male Coach List, Female Coach List,
Speaker 6: they'd be like Bertie, We've done so many different versions.
Speaker 6: I think, Yeah, we've been involved for as long as
Speaker 6: I've taken an executive role on the show, so I've
Speaker 6: always kind of been involved in that capacity. I think
Speaker 6: the networks lean on us because we're the ones that
Speaker 6: are producing the coaches on the floor, where the ones
Speaker 6: having a relationship with them. I think the thing about
Speaker 6: the voice is it's hard to work on the voice
Speaker 6: and not live and breathe it, especially for I know
Speaker 6: I feel that way. I've worked on it for over
Speaker 6: a decade now, which is insane. If you live and
Speaker 6: breathe it, you think about everything to the end degree.
Speaker 6: So if you think about that putting one new coach
Speaker 6: in a lineup of three, you're thinking about one impact
Speaker 6: that will have across those other three coaches, not just
Speaker 6: what it does for a promo. Announcement or you know.
Speaker 6: So for us, it's like we have to think about
Speaker 6: it far more deeply than just what do these four
Speaker 6: coaches look like in a red chair and what does
Speaker 6: that do for the launch of the show. We need
Speaker 6: to think beyond that, how are they going to pick together,
Speaker 6: what kind of relationships are they going to have, what
Speaker 6: are they going to bring to the show? Are artists
Speaker 6: going to be invested in them? And fundamentally, I think
Speaker 6: the thing that we've held very true to is only
Speaker 6: put someone in a chair if they really want to
Speaker 6: be there, not because they're getting a paycheck. Because I've
Speaker 6: seen versions of the show done where you can feel
Speaker 6: someone's in the chair for a paycheck versus someone's in
Speaker 6: the chair because they're competitive. And the coaches that last
Speaker 6: on the show are the ones that are naturally competitive
Speaker 6: and genuinely care about mentoring these artists. So that's the recipe.
Speaker 1: I went back and cherry picked different series of The
Speaker 1: Voice from around the world before chatting to you both,
Speaker 1: and I just was really impressed with this season in
Speaker 1: particular how they connect with the viewer. And it's so
Speaker 1: interesting to say that because like in America and in
Speaker 1: the UK and all these different versions. They probably have
Speaker 1: access to bigger names, but the chemistry just seems to
Speaker 1: be electric this year, and we have in this country
Speaker 1: scene probably noisier coaches being picked, you know, like Ricky
Speaker 1: Martin or Seal or things like that. But this is
Speaker 1: the probably the best cast that we've seen in Australia.
Speaker 6: They're just resonating really, really well with the audience. I
Speaker 6: think to Chloe's point, Jess is so different in that chair,
Speaker 6: like she's just I think the feedback that I've had
Speaker 6: about Jess from people that have watched the show is
Speaker 6: that there doesn't feel like there's with when you've got
Speaker 6: talent on camera, there's certain element of performance that goes
Speaker 6: on just naturally because you're on camera with Jess. You
Speaker 6: feel like you're just getting Jess as she is all
Speaker 6: the time. And I think that that, to me, is
Speaker 6: such an interesting element to have in the on the
Speaker 6: panel this season.
Speaker 2: Behind the scenes, she said to us as well, thank
Speaker 2: you for letting me be me. This is the first
Speaker 2: time in my career I've ever been allowed to actually
Speaker 2: be Jess Malboy, so that was really nice to hear
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 3: It's really about, you know, not being heard I guess
Speaker 3: not being kind of loved and nurtured enough, you know,
Speaker 3: being kind of pushed down and suppressed almost. So I
Speaker 3: guess for me writing that song about my mum my son,
Speaker 3: watching her struggles and her challenges.
Speaker 4: I'm so proud of that song.
Speaker 2: We love Reader as well. I mean it's wild and
Speaker 2: good fun. And then I mean Keith coming home. Who
Speaker 2: wouldn't love that? And guys just got so much experience.
Speaker 2: I think this is his fourth year in the chair now,
Speaker 2: isn't it, and third or fourth and he's you know,
Speaker 2: he's just he's so nurturing with his artists and so
Speaker 2: passionate about mentoring as well.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Reader is interesting because I think you don't. I
Speaker 6: mean I didn't even know necessarily we looked into Reader,
Speaker 6: but you're not sure what you're going to get with Reader,
Speaker 6: and then she comes and she's just so warm, and
Speaker 6: the girls had this great relationship between the two of them,
Speaker 6: and I think that that's what's fantastic too. It's like
Speaker 6: seeing them all bond and have their individual relationships as
Speaker 6: well as working as an ensemble of though was really nice.
Speaker 1: What did Reader impress you the most with or what
Speaker 1: did she surprise you, I guess with.
Speaker 2: So Lee and I divide and conquer on the show.
Speaker 2: So I handle all the mentoring side, all the reality
Speaker 2: Lee handles studio and creative, and so from a mentoring
Speaker 2: point of view, I was genuinely really surprised with.
Speaker 4: Her technical musical knowledge.
Speaker 2: Just because you can sing doesn't immediately mean that you know,
Speaker 2: you can read every note or you know, know every
Speaker 2: technical in and out of a musical performance. But she
Speaker 2: her technicality was really really impressive, and every time she spoke,
Speaker 2: you listened when she was in a mentoring session, and
Speaker 2: obviously all of that's yet to come on the show,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it was genuinely really impressive and really valuable
Speaker 2: information that she imparted to her artists as well.
Speaker 1: So happy you guys came on this show. I mean,
Speaker 1: you all sound great together.
Speaker 3: Your flow is fantastic, you all had your moments, you
Speaker 3: all blend.
Speaker 1: It's super well together.
Speaker 6: It's such a roll of a dice with the voice,
Speaker 6: because you're putting people into the chair that they're not judging,
Speaker 6: they're coaching, they're pitching, they're selling. Essentially, the tables are
Speaker 6: turned on them, probably for the first time in their
Speaker 6: career since they walked into a record label and said
Speaker 6: pick me, and suddenly they're back in the pick me
Speaker 6: position again, and so they're having to sell themselves in
Speaker 6: a really different way than they would normally be used to,
Speaker 6: and I think it's completely humbling in terms of an
Speaker 6: experience for them, and they find that quickly. But being
Speaker 6: good at that is not something that's just rewarded to
Speaker 6: you because you're famous. You know, you could put the
Speaker 6: most famous person in the chair, and that doesn't necessarily
Speaker 6: mean they're going to be good at pitching. And that's
Speaker 6: where Rita she came alive. And you always kind of
Speaker 6: sitting there on the first day being like, you know,
Speaker 6: we've had conversations and meetings and you've talked it all
Speaker 6: through and everyone's kind of nodded at you and going, yeah,
Speaker 6: I know what I've got to do and reve them
Speaker 6: up and they're all excited. But until they actually sit
Speaker 6: in the chair and the first artist walks out and
Speaker 6: they've got a pitch to get their first win, you
Speaker 6: kind of don't know whether it's going to work or not.
Speaker 6: And that's what I loved about Reader. I think she
Speaker 6: just had her own laneway and she stays in up
Speaker 6: for the blinds, like she doesn't cross over or try
Speaker 6: to be somebody or she uses their own style of pitching.
Speaker 6: It feels really natural to her and she owns it,
Speaker 6: and she definitely heats up with competition, and particularly I
Speaker 6: think the boys really felt it with her. I think
Speaker 6: they were kind of like Guy and Keiths just really
Speaker 6: felt when suddenly you could tell Rider really wanted somebody.
Speaker 6: It was like all bets are off, a person's going
Speaker 6: to read up.
Speaker 2: She's really funny as well, like she brings a real
Speaker 2: element of fun.
Speaker 4: To the show, and so does Jess. I mean they
Speaker 4: all do.
Speaker 2: But having the two women in the middle as well
Speaker 2: was a really pointed move from Lee and I as well.
Speaker 2: We felt like the women, you know, should be in
Speaker 2: the middle and bringing what they did. I think like
Speaker 2: you just can't help but smile when you watch them
Speaker 2: as well, Like particularly Jess's dancing, I mean that's next level.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: What I also thought was interesting was, you know, the
Speaker 1: gravitas that Keith brings to this show, you know, which
Speaker 1: we hadn't seen since he had been on the first series.
Speaker 1: Was it just a run of coincidences that he ended
Speaker 1: up being in Australia. I mean, how do you get
Speaker 1: Keith Urban to say yes to coming onto the tenth
Speaker 1: season of The Voice in Australia.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think timing worked out really well. I know
Speaker 6: we've definitely reached out to keep in the past, so
Speaker 6: it was funny. You know, you have run aways asked
Speaker 6: when you're you know, you're catching up with friends or family,
Speaker 6: or you meet new people and they find out you
Speaker 6: work on The Voice. The first question is always, so,
Speaker 6: who's your favorite coach or who's the best coach you've
Speaker 6: ever worked with? And Keith was always on that list
Speaker 6: for me. And I only worked with him in season
Speaker 6: one for that season, but I just remember he for
Speaker 6: somebody as successful as he is, just how kind and
Speaker 6: humble and real he was. And that's was something I
Speaker 6: took away. And I was in my early twenties when
Speaker 6: I started working on the show, so it was something
Speaker 6: that really stuck with me, and I was really interested
Speaker 6: to see when he came back what he was going
Speaker 6: to be like. And it was exactly the same Keith.
Speaker 6: You know, he was just the same guy. He's you know,
Speaker 6: takes time to go and talk to people that you know,
Speaker 6: takes time to go and talk to the junior person
Speaker 6: that works on the music team because he knows he's
Speaker 6: a guitar player, and he goes out of his way
Speaker 6: to make people feel seen. And I think that that
Speaker 6: is something that you know, you don't necessarily always get
Speaker 6: with somebody who's famous and has all this a world
Speaker 6: of other stuff going on and has all these other focuses,
Speaker 6: but he kind of sees everybody in the room and
Speaker 6: acknowledges them, and I think that's really special.
Speaker 1: Well, he's always been like that. You know. What's really
Speaker 1: interesting was that people think because I was on Big Brother,
Speaker 1: that then I ended up being and it, you know,
Speaker 1: doing this for work and interviewing people. But I actually
Speaker 1: was doing it before Big Brother. And I was on
Speaker 1: the red carpet at the Logis in two thousand and
Speaker 1: four and I was waiting with my list of people
Speaker 1: that I'd been given by the radio station to interview,
Speaker 1: and I was asking this publicist for Georgie Parker and
Speaker 1: the lady was like, look, George's kind of busy, but
Speaker 1: can you just take Keith Urban And it was funny
Speaker 1: because he wasn't as big as what he was, but
Speaker 1: he came over with the same presence that he has today.
Speaker 1: The way I got to interview him and have that
Speaker 1: chat with him. And funny little tidbit of that story
Speaker 1: was I'm obsessed with Nicole Kidman, like actually obsessed, so
Speaker 1: I know really stupid things about her. So when he
Speaker 1: shook my hand for this interview, I felt his hand.
Speaker 1: He not normally artists don't even do this, or talent
Speaker 1: don't do it, but he shook my hand and he
Speaker 1: had the most beautiful, manly hands, and in my mind,
Speaker 1: I was like, you'd be good for Nicole Kidman because
Speaker 1: she loves these masculine hands. He flew to Los Angeles
Speaker 1: the next week and met Nicole Kidman and now they're married.
Speaker 4: That he manifested it.
Speaker 1: So I've been telling people that I predicted this romance.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's manifested our ratings too, full time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, can you come to Love Island?
Speaker 6: So weird?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was just such a such a strange thing. Oh,
Speaker 1: actually I should ask though, did you ever see him
Speaker 1: on the phone talking to his wife and you think, oh,
Speaker 1: that he's on the phone to Nicole Kidman all the time.
Speaker 6: A very awkward fact that our job is you constantly
Speaker 6: hear everything that goes on because we've got we've got
Speaker 6: earpieces to the coaches so we can hear them when
Speaker 6: they're you have to remember to turn them off because
Speaker 6: you're listening to what they're having. You're listening to Keith
Speaker 6: talking to the cole about what they're having for dinner,
Speaker 6: or you know, in jewels or every now and then
Speaker 6: you get somebody and you can hear the bathroom door
Speaker 6: open and suddenly you quickly turn.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well turn it off.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: I was going to say about Keith as well.
Speaker 2: We it was the final episode we filmed, and he
Speaker 2: gave a large portion of the crew coffee machines, espresso
Speaker 2: coffee machines, and so it was really quite funny. There
Speaker 2: were a whole heap of crew walking around with these
Speaker 2: massive wrapped.
Speaker 1: Up box That's amazing. Okay, that's a good reason. Another
Speaker 1: reason to have Keith on the show Gifts Box. You know,
Speaker 1: with Guy Sebastian, was he the first person that it
Speaker 1: was attached to the show? I mean he was obviously
Speaker 1: coming across with you. Did you have him right from
Speaker 1: the start.
Speaker 6: I'm not sure. It was a bit of the jigsaw
Speaker 6: kind of what happens is the network puts the lineup
Speaker 6: actually together in terms of doing the deals were you
Speaker 6: just continue to kind of consult back and forward. So
Speaker 6: I think, as it is with any season, it's like
Speaker 6: such a jigsaw puzzle in terms of dates and trying
Speaker 6: to make things work. So I don't know if it
Speaker 6: was necessarily the first person on, but obviously he was
Speaker 6: in the conversation from the beginning having done the show
Speaker 6: in the past.
Speaker 1: And my last question about the coaches to do with
Speaker 1: Jess Malboy is you know, as an artist who has
Speaker 1: come from you know, she has such longevity, you would say,
Speaker 1: you know, coming from reality television, much like Guy Sebastian.
Speaker 1: But did you watch her giving any advice to these
Speaker 1: artists on the show in how to build a career
Speaker 1: and not just a moment and not just a television moment.
Speaker 2: I think that all of her advice is built around that,
Speaker 2: because Lee and I say, Jess Malboy is just a
Speaker 2: normal person who's become a celebrity. Yes, but she really is.
Speaker 2: She's like your best mate that you'd go and have
Speaker 2: a wine with. Not that the others are, but you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. And so I think think all
Speaker 2: of her advice comes from the experience that she had
Speaker 2: and she was just a little girl in a semi
Speaker 2: rural town who was plucked from obscurity, and you know,
Speaker 2: we talked to her about all of that, and she
Speaker 2: said one of the most terrifying moments she had was
Speaker 2: when she'd been on idol and she got a deal
Speaker 2: and the record label had said to her, right, you've
Speaker 2: got to fly to la and she was like, the
Speaker 2: only flight she'd ever taken was to Sydney for Idol,
Speaker 2: and she was terrified.
Speaker 4: You know. And she still has that essence about her,
Speaker 4: doesn't she leave?
Speaker 6: Yeah, and she's like, this is one of the beautiful
Speaker 6: things about her, was she she was nervous about doing
Speaker 6: the show. And I think anyone who's kind of worked
Speaker 6: with Jess outside of it is she gets nervous to
Speaker 6: speak sometimes, or you know, she has a sense of
Speaker 6: that about her. But when when we kind of leant
Speaker 6: into that with her and just had the conversation and
Speaker 6: gave her the freedom to say I was like, say
Speaker 6: that in your pitch, Like say that to an artist
Speaker 6: they're nervous as well, Like they're looking at you, and
Speaker 6: just use it. Like the ethos is be as honest
Speaker 6: as possible, and because people see through bullshit. The audience
Speaker 6: sees through bullshit like maybe ten fifteen years ago on
Speaker 6: reality TV, we could pull the wall over people's eyes,
Speaker 6: but they can smell it from a mile away. It's like,
Speaker 6: be real with them and say that. And she uses
Speaker 6: that in some of her in some of her pitches,
Speaker 6: or she acknowledges that in some of her pitches, and
Speaker 6: it's just unbelievably endearing. And for the artists, it's like
Speaker 6: when somebody that they admire says something that is something
Speaker 6: they felt like they had to hide away from everybody.
Speaker 6: I mean that in itself is a piece of advice
Speaker 6: for your career.
Speaker 1: Can I ask you both to do something? It's gonna
Speaker 1: be really tricky for both of you, But imagine this
Speaker 1: is like a version of the voice, but it's like
Speaker 1: Producers and you if all of those judges turned around,
Speaker 1: who would you pick?
Speaker 6: Oh, this is the worst question you could ask us.
Speaker 2: What I'm going to preface it with is we love
Speaker 2: all of our children all the same. But I just
Speaker 2: I would be one of those artists that would say
Speaker 2: I'm going with reader from start to finish, and that's it.
Speaker 1: Lande, I just go follow that lead.
Speaker 6: It's going to go with Reader too. I actually was.
Speaker 6: I was like a gainer in Free Come True. I'm
Speaker 6: going with Day.
Speaker 4: Well, we're on the same team then, so one of
Speaker 4: us can't win.
Speaker 6: Now I'm going with Guy. It was ruthless. I'll definitely lose.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: The show can very easily fall into the sad story
Speaker 1: of a contestant. However, the stories this year feel more authentic.
Speaker 1: This Sundays, Australia will get to see a very compelling
Speaker 1: story which really works because it had a reason.
Speaker 7: Music definitely helped me during quite a difficult experience my life.
Speaker 7: In twenty sixteen, I went overseas with my family to
Speaker 7: pull out. We went scuba diving. It was just meant
Speaker 7: to be a fun trip trip. On a particular dive,
Speaker 7: we were swimming in the blue for about fifteen minutes,
Speaker 7: which means swimming with no physical features around you, just
Speaker 7: like kilometers of clear blue water, so it's really easy
Speaker 7: to become disoriented. The current was pushing all of us
Speaker 7: so far away, and it was only until we got
Speaker 7: to the surface that we realized that the boat had
Speaker 7: actually gone. There was an hour and a half left
Speaker 7: of sudden you could see that reef sharks below, Like, yeah,
Speaker 7: it didn't really hit us until we were kind of
Speaker 7: floating there for quite a long time that maybe no
Speaker 7: one was coming. I was constantly thinking will I die?
Speaker 7: I sang to keep the morale up while we were floating.
Speaker 7: Music definitely gives me hope. At the five and a
Speaker 7: half hour mark, a boat puller and we were rescued.
Speaker 7: I was definitely a defining moment in my life, and
Speaker 7: I just told myself I wouldn't let any opportunity.
Speaker 6: Go to waste.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you build those backstories.
Speaker 6: With someone like law It was just she walked into
Speaker 6: the room, and I honestly think sometimes there's and maybe
Speaker 6: everybody thinks is about this show, but I honestly think
Speaker 6: this show's got some thing that takes care of it.
Speaker 6: There's something that looks after it. Because it's like these
Speaker 6: people walk into the room and they start to tell
Speaker 6: you something. You just ask the right question and something
Speaker 6: comes out and they'll start to tell you this story
Speaker 6: that you might otherwise never have heard. And with Low
Speaker 6: it was the same thing. She was just kind of
Speaker 6: we're having a conversation with her, and then suddenly she
Speaker 6: was telling us this story and our mouths. I remember
Speaker 6: looking down, you know, we were all sitting at desks
Speaker 6: in this audition. I remember looking down and everyone's mouth
Speaker 6: was just open, and I kept saying. I remember just
Speaker 6: being like this, there is a movie should be made
Speaker 6: about what happened to you, Like it was just crazy.
Speaker 4: So I think it's the most phenomenal story.
Speaker 6: Honestly. I think if you try to beat the story
Speaker 6: up is when you end up in territory where people
Speaker 6: are a little bit like that, they kind of feel
Speaker 6: like it's been rammed down their throat. But if you
Speaker 6: allow the person to just tell the story, which I think,
Speaker 6: you know Chloe's background as a journalist, everything that she's
Speaker 6: done in terms of storytelling, she is the best person
Speaker 6: that doing that, and she knows how to guide that
Speaker 6: and she knows how to get all the information and
Speaker 6: then kind of replay it in a way that feels
Speaker 6: just so authentic to how we heard it the first
Speaker 6: time and stay true to that. And I think that
Speaker 6: that's why it feels like that when you're watching it
Speaker 6: is because essentially the person is telling it like they
Speaker 6: told us in the room. It's like if your mouth
Speaker 6: was a gasp when you were sitting there listening to
Speaker 6: it the first time, Well, then there's a very big
Speaker 6: chance that the audience will be doing the same thing.
Speaker 6: So I think if you don't, then go and fuck
Speaker 6: with it too much and just kind of stay true
Speaker 6: to it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: What made it work though, the most for me was
Speaker 1: that element of her saying that she was singing in
Speaker 1: the water, you know, that she did that to survive,
Speaker 1: and then tied itself back in where previously we have
Speaker 1: heard really sad stories that don't really tie back into
Speaker 1: the music, where I felt like with this season, we've
Speaker 1: just again and again had it tied back to the music,
Speaker 1: you know, which I think is really important in someone's backstory.
Speaker 2: Do you know that when she told us them that
Speaker 2: she was singing and telling jokes to keep everyone's spirits up.
Speaker 2: I mean, that was one of the biggest points for
Speaker 2: me where I was like, this is a massive story.
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously it was a massive story anyway.
Speaker 2: But she said they were all clinging to each other
Speaker 2: and she was next to her cousin and she said
Speaker 2: they were singing and he started vomiting, and so he
Speaker 2: unclipped him from the group. He unclipped his weights and
Speaker 2: let himself go, and I said why and she said,
Speaker 2: I said, why was he vomiting? And then why did
Speaker 2: he do that? And she went because the waves were
Speaker 2: so big, he had sea sickness, so he was vomiting,
Speaker 2: and he knew that sharks would start coming and we
Speaker 2: would potentially be eaten alive, and so he unclipped himself
Speaker 2: so he would be the first person eaten. And that
Speaker 2: was a bit convoluted to tell in the edit, so
Speaker 2: I don't actually think it made it in, but that
Speaker 2: was you know, we were sitting there going, can you
Speaker 2: imagine that the sun's fading, They're all linked family members
Speaker 2: in the middle of nowhere. They're singing for their survival really,
Speaker 2: and then you know, one of the family members unclips
Speaker 2: himself and says, I'll be the first person taken by
Speaker 2: a shark.
Speaker 6: Crazy, isn't it. I mean yeah, in terms of your
Speaker 6: question about the kind of it, also feeling like there
Speaker 6: wasn't this sort of we'd call themselves stories. I feel
Speaker 6: like that's what the audience calls them as well. That's
Speaker 6: what I find that always really hard with that because
Speaker 6: like innately artists who were drawn to the show, creative
Speaker 6: people tend to lead quite quite tortured lives, so there
Speaker 6: are a lot of those. There are a lot of stories,
Speaker 6: and everybody has We always say every single person has
Speaker 6: a story to tell when we meet them. We say,
Speaker 6: even if you think you're the most boring person in
Speaker 6: the world, sometimes you know, the smallest thing is makes
Speaker 6: up who you are, and we want the audience to
Speaker 6: get to know you and invest in you. And as
Speaker 6: we know, you sort of eye roll at some stories,
Speaker 6: but they're also the things pick people who have a
Speaker 6: big story, other things that you talk about the next day.
Speaker 6: They're the ones that you have recall for. So we
Speaker 6: always have to find a story. But I think particularly
Speaker 6: this year, the directive between all of us, the network
Speaker 6: and US was to really lean into only leading stories
Speaker 6: that had something to do with music. So that's probably
Speaker 6: why I think you've picked up on that like it.
Speaker 1: But I did. But that's why it's good because I
Speaker 1: have been in your audience before. I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is another substory. Yeah, you know, I heard that Channel
Speaker 1: seven had ordered air Kids version for twenty twenty too,
Speaker 1: but then they've changed that to the Voice Generations. What
Speaker 1: can we expect from that series? Like if no one's
Speaker 1: read this, and no one knows anything about it. How
Speaker 1: would you explain the voice Generations.
Speaker 2: I think we're really really excited about this. I guess
Speaker 2: you could call it a spinoff or an offshoot of
Speaker 2: the main series, But this is giving us an opportunity
Speaker 2: to put people on that stage who would never normally
Speaker 2: fit the mold or be considered for the main series.
Speaker 2: So for example, and I've used this example so many
Speaker 2: times when we were looking at what the series would be,
Speaker 2: it's groups from every generation on stage. So for example,
Speaker 2: there's a little schoolboy who helps his elderly neighbor with
Speaker 2: the bin every week, but he goes inside and they
Speaker 2: have a jam once a week. That pairing will be
Speaker 2: on the stage. Or you know, the family with the
Speaker 2: great grandparents all the way down to the great grandchildren,
Speaker 2: and there's you know, fifteen of them, and it's like
Speaker 2: the von Trapp they're the type of artists that we'll
Speaker 2: see on the stage in Generations.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's like family. It's the most it
Speaker 6: will be kind of the most family friendly, warm hug
Speaker 6: version of the voice. But you'll still be looking. But
Speaker 6: we're still looking for great vocalists and great vocal discoveries,
Speaker 6: and that's the thing. It's not just a variety show.
Speaker 6: It's still a version of the voice, so discovering these
Speaker 6: incredible talents don't come in the normal packages that you
Speaker 6: would see on the Voice main show.
Speaker 1: Well, I kind of felt like the Genation, which is
Speaker 1: coming up on Sunday Night, is a bit of a
Speaker 1: tease to seeing a collection of voices together. And I
Speaker 1: felt like I was on my exercise bike, not that
Speaker 1: you need to know that when I was watching it,
Speaker 1: and I felt like my response was the same as readers,
Speaker 1: which was reader just went and was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you hear like a trampede of people's feet going on stage.
Speaker 1: But then when you heard that voice as a collection,
Speaker 1: it just it just was amazing. Wondering whether or not
Speaker 1: when you sort of is this a tease for how
Speaker 1: that show is going to look? By having Genation on
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 6: It was definitely a good It's good preparation for us because.
Speaker 4: It's like a lot of we need to buy more microphones,
Speaker 4: that's for sure.
Speaker 6: Groups you need more wranglers more. No, I think it is.
Speaker 6: I think it's kind of the things that you can
Speaker 6: do as a group in terms of harmonies and stuff,
Speaker 6: and just even we're in the casting process for Generations
Speaker 6: now and even seeing the variety that can come in
Speaker 6: because you kind of forget, You're like, you think there's
Speaker 6: you know, like a country band, country family band, which
Speaker 6: is that sort of prairie home companion sort of feel word,
Speaker 6: and then you've got a group like Genenation. Obviously they're
Speaker 6: not cross generational, but it's that kind of up tempo
Speaker 6: pop sound that they do. So it's really interesting vocally
Speaker 6: where Generations will go and the scope that you have.
Speaker 6: You sort of don't realize as we're starting out now,
Speaker 6: as people are starting to audition and stuff's coming in,
Speaker 6: it's it really is rapping up how I think it's
Speaker 6: going to be. So yeah, definitely Genenation were good. I
Speaker 6: have been a good test.
Speaker 1: I thought that. Yeah, I was like, I was frantically googling.
Speaker 1: I'm still on my exercise bike, but I'm frantically googling
Speaker 1: you know, how Generations was going to come together. But
Speaker 1: I was just like wow, as watching those those girls sing,
Speaker 1: it was amazing and you know, no spoilers, so hopefully
Speaker 1: the judges turn around for that. But I have only
Speaker 1: got one thing that I was going to ask that
Speaker 1: maybe we can do next year. When I say we,
Speaker 1: I've got nothing to do with the show and she
Speaker 1: probably never speaks to me ever. Again, why don't we
Speaker 1: get Sonya Krueger to do those dance numbers that she
Speaker 1: used to launch Big Brother with because she was so
Speaker 1: good at those dance.
Speaker 4: Phenomenal dancing. Behind the scenes as it is.
Speaker 6: Into it, I'm like, the more Sonya, the better I know.
Speaker 1: We need more Sonya. I feel like we're getting a
Speaker 1: lot of Sonya on Channel seven across all the shows.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, but.
Speaker 4: It is a fact that The Voice is her favorite
Speaker 4: show and.
Speaker 6: She loves us, he says everyone else, she definitely tells us.
Speaker 1: Can you also confirm once and for all, for me
Speaker 1: and for everyone listening as to why the judges are
Speaker 1: always in the same outfits? Because like, surely you've been
Speaker 1: inundated with designers wanting or to wear this or just
Speaker 1: go melboy to wear this?
Speaker 6: Like, yeah, the most ask question I think in the
Speaker 6: ten years of making the show, it's definitely the most
Speaker 6: profession We shoot the blind auditions across four days and
Speaker 6: so we have to then edit it down to nine episodes.
Speaker 6: So imagine trying to decide which blind audition is going
Speaker 6: to go in which episode. If you had outfit changes,
Speaker 6: then it would kind of look really messy. So they
Speaker 6: wear the same outfit for continuity. But we hear loud
Speaker 6: and clear that the audience wants them to change their
Speaker 6: clothes and ask how they must be.
Speaker 2: Smelling by the and that yeah, they really stink by
Speaker 2: midnight on day four.
Speaker 4: Let me tell you, I just assumed.
Speaker 1: I just assumed you had like mister bean closets. It's
Speaker 1: the same outfit, you.
Speaker 2: Know, because they've got they've got lots of different versions,
Speaker 2: except for Reader's dress this year because it was a
Speaker 2: Mark Jacob sample.
Speaker 1: Then you're in trouble. I guess to be like, No,
Speaker 1: how's COVID affected the show? Well, it has affected the show,
Speaker 1: I guess in lots of ways, But you know, how's
Speaker 1: it going to affect the finale? Is the finale going
Speaker 1: to be any different? Or have you had? Is the
Speaker 1: show going to look any different wrapping up because of the.
Speaker 6: I feel like the audience will be none the wise
Speaker 6: or with COVID this year, which is we're so grateful
Speaker 6: for honestly, we're having obviously we're both working on different
Speaker 6: shows now, and with everything that's going on now, you
Speaker 6: kind of you know COVID. I think TV producers are
Speaker 6: suddenly getting used to having fifteen different plans and actually
Speaker 6: probably getting more used to having a plan that you're
Speaker 6: only put into place one day before you'd need to
Speaker 6: action it, which is very not in alignment with what
Speaker 6: a producer normally likes to do. We're kind of getting
Speaker 6: used to reacting like that. But we've been so fortunate
Speaker 6: with the Voice, particularly with season ten. It just it
Speaker 6: fell in times when we were able to have the
Speaker 6: show look and feel the same way that it did
Speaker 6: in the past. You know, the season before we were
Speaker 6: in a studio with no audience, and incredibly the team
Speaker 6: pulled that together. The coaches that we had that you
Speaker 6: were fantastic, The network we worked with were amazing, and
Speaker 6: everyone got on board and we just kind of got
Speaker 6: it across the line. And I think, did you know,
Speaker 6: did a great job at doing that. But we were
Speaker 6: just so fortunate when season ten weren't we Chloe sort
Speaker 6: of fell in the right time.
Speaker 4: Season nine fell in the wrong time, but we pulled
Speaker 4: it together and that that was a real learning experience.
Speaker 2: Because we were the first show on television to make
Speaker 2: the product during COVID when it first hit, and then
Speaker 2: season ten fell in the right time, which meant we
Speaker 2: were able to really proceed with very few amendments. I mean,
Speaker 2: we did rescriptions, a lot of scheduled time for COVID testing, true.
Speaker 6: And all of that sort of stuff. But in terms
Speaker 6: of the experience for the audience, I think they're going
Speaker 6: to see a show that feels akin to one you know,
Speaker 6: that was made without all those restrictions.
Speaker 1: Still in the cannon. They probably won't know, you know,
Speaker 1: it's still following that same format.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: We then confirmed both of you are coming back to
Speaker 1: do Generations. You're both doing Generations next year. Yes, which
Speaker 1: is so exciting.
Speaker 6: We're both over that.
Speaker 1: And then it would be awkward if I ask that
Speaker 1: question one of you has been fined and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is fucking awkward. This is the worst podcast I've
Speaker 1: ever done. Do you remember that moment and never doing
Speaker 1: a podcast again? You know? And how are you balancing
Speaker 1: that out? I mean, you're both working on other shows
Speaker 1: at the moment, so like, how does that balance into say,
Speaker 1: Chloe for you Love Ireland?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm dipping out and leaving the show in Lee's
Speaker 2: good hands for a few months. But I'm sitting across
Speaker 2: everything still. You know, there's a huge team that sit
Speaker 2: across both series, and you know they joined together as
Speaker 2: well to share to share knowledge. So yeah, I feel
Speaker 2: like it's in really good hands. And then I'll come
Speaker 2: back and get cracking on it.
Speaker 4: Please November.
Speaker 1: We've got it's going to be like I've been I've
Speaker 1: been doing some research and there's a girl on Love
Speaker 1: Island that can sing, and I'm bringing one compet Has
Speaker 1: that already happened? I just she only brought one contestant.
Speaker 1: While you've been hard at work on this show putting
Speaker 1: it all together. You're like, I found this one person.
Speaker 6: Chat which is for casting and with the whole casting team,
Speaker 6: and we went, you know, Chloe will be like swamped
Speaker 6: by Long Island, so we don't hear from her for like,
Speaker 6: you know, five or six days, and then suddenly there
Speaker 6: will just be like forty five minutes, which is just
Speaker 6: bending people through, like about this person, and you're kind
Speaker 6: of like, yeah, it close back.
Speaker 1: It couldn't be more different shows. They really couldn't.
Speaker 6: Actually, So we've got the season eleven of the Voice happening,
Speaker 6: and we've got Voice generations, so they'll kind of be
Speaker 6: running side by side, so working on both of those.
Speaker 6: And our auditions are open at the moment, so we're
Speaker 6: kind of taking in auditions. If anyone listening to your
Speaker 6: podcast can see, please feel free your auditions for the show.
Speaker 6: That's what we've got going on at the moment, So
Speaker 6: we're just juggling those.
Speaker 1: Take bribes, okay, good to know producers take bribes. Good
Speaker 1: to know that I can't sing, so it's pretty much
Speaker 1: you're safe. Yeah, the only two these are desperate to
Speaker 1: do more reality television can't do any of those shows.
Speaker 1: So no, I won't ask you can't sing. Definitely will
Speaker 1: not be anyway. My last question that I ask all
Speaker 1: of my guests, and you can probably try and work
Speaker 1: on a story together maybe or one of you might
Speaker 1: have one better than the other. But the question I
Speaker 1: always ask is what's an amazing story from behind the
Speaker 1: scenes that we as an audience might not have seen
Speaker 1: from the Voice.
Speaker 6: I'll tell you the one that everyone always is shocked
Speaker 6: by that the coaches don't have an earpiece with us
Speaker 6: in their ear.
Speaker 2: In the blow.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they don't. Of course you produce them and it's like, no,
Speaker 6: we're not allowed to tell. It's a tell rule across
Speaker 6: the board. It was always from day one. The coaches
Speaker 6: have to make the decisions. I mean, if you had
Speaker 6: an earpiece to them, then there wouldn't be any twenty
Speaker 6: turning the chairs around because you'd basically be able to
Speaker 6: tell them everything. So we go in and chat to
Speaker 6: them in between and we're kind of like great pitch
Speaker 6: and give them a bit of a rever but we've
Speaker 6: got no way of communicating to them while their chairs
Speaker 6: are turned out that way. So if you know it's
Speaker 6: some someone's say law for examples, has this incredible story
Speaker 6: to tell. If she doesn't find a way, you didn't
Speaker 6: tell her story herself, and it's gone, it's gone. And
Speaker 6: we've had that happened heatter times on the show. As
Speaker 6: a producer, it's your biggest.
Speaker 4: Nightmare, very frustrating.
Speaker 6: Like flyerver Clone is like they don't have an earpizza
Speaker 6: the I'm like.
Speaker 1: No, is that required though, Like as you know how
Speaker 1: it's a it's a show that's you know, the rights
Speaker 1: are sent out to all the different countries, you know,
Speaker 1: and there's things you can't touch. Is that something you
Speaker 1: can't touch to give them an airpeace?
Speaker 6: It's kind of dovened, i'd say, by tapat who are
Speaker 6: the creators of The Voice worldwide?
Speaker 2: And because it goes against the whole ethos of the
Speaker 2: show where you're reacting to a voice only and nothing else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you broke that, Kristin Aguilera would just appear
Speaker 1: and send flame a hundred. I just want to say
Speaker 1: thank you both so much for being able to come
Speaker 1: on and share these stories. It was so fantastic to
Speaker 1: go behind the scenes of The Voice Australia twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one rating its tits off or it's ass off. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's more inappropriate to say, but congratulations, congratulations
Speaker 1: on the success of the show.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Thanks Ben, Thanks Ben.