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