It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast last Deep Thereby. Hey guys, welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Grant Daniel, who is taking his Little Deal or No Deal show to primetime this week, with some celebrity editions of the hit game show lining up for the chance to win two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars for their chosen charity. Is Gold Logie winning comedian Tom Gleeson, MASTERSHEF Australian judges Andy Allen and Sophie Levin, The Stars a Gogglebox Australia, and some of the I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out if You're alumni, including this year's winner Sky Wheatley. It is funny. I was super self conscious about having a cold this week, and after talking to Grant I found out that in fact, he had a cold while filming all of these TV specials.
Now that I know that he had a cold, I actually went back and watched a few of the preview episodes I had. As a genius of television, he manages to hide it completely and I think most audiences unless they're listening to this podcast will have any idea that he had a cold. We will unpack Grant's relationship with Tom Gleeson from gold Logi's drama to what their relationship
is really like behind the scenes. I will find out what the big differences are between having celebrities play Deal on No Deal over the general public and what Grant thought may have been a big issue with the celebrities not playing for a prize that they get to keep. We will talk about why Grant is actually the most comfortable he has ever been in his skin and which
reality show was where the turning point was. We will dive deep into why he isn't on the Paramount plus reboot of Top Care Australia with some juicy details as to what actually happened, which I think is going to surprise some people. There is so much to unpack with Grant, so sit back and relax as we unpack his life and his love of television in the midst of these
Deal or No Deal celebrity additions. This is quite surreal because I've just been sitting here all morning watching Deal on No Deal, watching as many episodes as I can.
Too much.
Danie is never an that's a policy. We've got a T shirt of that at my house. How are you, mister Grant Danny?
That's really really good. What do you think?
I'm obsessed? But can I just be really really honest because I noticed a couple of times through this celebrity edition that you call people out for maybe not watching the show. So I just want you to know it is often on in our house because it is one of my partner's favorite shows, so he is watching it all the time. But I've only ever been sort of like coming in and out of the room where I've now been plowing through episodes. It's kind of like scratches
from down at the news agency. Once you've scratched one, you just want to keep scratching them all.
That's amazing. That's so good to hear. I really appreciate that. Look, we haven't been on air that long, right, it's sort of it's a new return to Delhi, and it's still making waves and people are starting to find it now, which is really nice. So the rating driw coming up. But more importantly, it's so much fun that I thought it would be.
When game shows came back around. For you, did you make a conscious decision to try and do anything differently.
Well, yeah, see, look, I obviously didn't hoste it in the past. You know, I was aware of it back in the day. And that's kind of like the most nerve wrecking thing about doing this is, you know, can I make it my own? How do I evolve it? How can I make it more fun? Is that even possible? So I kind of really felt the pressure about taking it on. But I'm also I'm a pretty competitive guy,
and I'm up for a challenge. And I knew that six pm was a bit of a troubled slot for ten, and you know, I take great pride in kind of help driving its return. I think the show is so much more fun than I expected. It's way more dramatic than I gave it credit for, and it's just funnier and it's got more heart than I ever anticipated. So I think it's a perfect alternative to the News at six and I'm so glad that families have fallen in love with it.
As I'm watching these episodes, I think to myself, do you ever turn up and not have that energy? I've got a cold. At the moment, I was thinking, what does Grant and you do when you turn up and you have a cold, or is there just like an energizer like Tesla charger thing that you plug yourself into.
Well, I'll let you a little thigret. I had a cold doing those special I was starting to lose my voice. But I think the cool part is is that you don't have to fake anything. The jeopardy is real. The stakes are high because the money is genuine, but the moment that it produces of filliness and laughter coming thick and fast, right, So it's not like you're having to pretend.
The vibe is.
So high in the room, like it blows the roof off, you know, the crowd they go nuts like a rock constant in there because you got to remember, in normal episode they all have the chance of playing next, so everyone's really invested in how the game is going for the player. And yeah, when you're staring down the barrel of winning one hundred grand I don't need to pretend. All the ingredients are red hot. And it is such an entertaining watch. So it's a pleasure to turn up
to work, and that energy of mine is genuine. I'm not a great actor. I'm not a great pretender. So what you're seeing is me just having the time of my life. I genuinely love this so much more than I anticipated. It's a beautiful surprise.
Being in your audience for as long as I have been and enjoying you on television for many years, I I've noticed something about you though. You have an ability to make people feel special. And I don't know whether that's been on the ship the whole way or whether that's something that you learned. I can imagine little grand Daniel like making people feel special, like it's it's always been a part of you. What do you think about that?
It's very gorgeous thing to say, and I really appreciate that. Yeah, I was always trying to make people smile, you know, as a little kid, you know, a really happy, very sensitive little kid, and when life is difficult, I always wanted to put a smile on your face and make you feel better again. And that's I still have that in me as an adult. Right So I look at television and go, Okay, life hard. We're struggling to put food on the table and pay for a roof over
our head. So television can be a great form of escape. It can take you a million miles away from your troubles. I love that about television, and so I feel like it's my duty that if you have been there your half hour and chosen to watch my show, it's my duty to give you the best time possible. That's how I reward you for choosing to spend your time with us.
That's my only role, that's my number one job. And I like making people feel good, you know, and I think TV is a pretty unusual experience to someone who hast done it before. So with a contestant, if you can make it feel like a safe, fun space, and then the hero, they shine, and then the TV show saws. So I want them to be comfortable, you know, I want them to share their funniest stories, you know, they're saddest heartbreaks or I wanted to see what the money
means to them. So I think it's very important to make the contestant the hero. Not everyone does that, no, you know.
They really don't. It's also I think you've got a very good, active listening face, like you're genuinely interested in what people have to say, whether they're celebrities or their every day punters.
You know, yeah, I really appreciate what you're saying. You know, not everyone has noticed that or says that back to me, and that really means a lot. I want them to have a good time, you know. That's all that it's about. If the contestant has a great time, the audience really loves watching it, and that's when I know, you know, I've done my job. So I take it really seriously. You know, I'm deeply passionate about making television. I adore
doing it. It's my twenty seventh year of working in Telli, and you know, I'm still refining how I do it. You know, I feel like I'm at my best at the moment, you know, and I've done a lot of great stuff. I'm also a bit more of an evolved person now and gone through hardships and I've reshaped myself and rebuilt myself and worked on myself until you know,
I feel like I'm a better person. So yeah, it's you come from a place of security and evolution, and I feel like I'm giving the most that I've ever given and it's probably the first time in my life where I'm really truly me. I think as a kid growing up, I had pretty poor self confidence, you know, no self worth and smart. But yeah, to make it, I didn't think that I was enough, so I would pretend to be other people or pieces of other successful people,
you know. I would take a bit of what Rod was doing, or Darryl someone was doing, or but you were doing, or Larry imd or whatever. Right, I'd just be pieces of them because I didn't feel like I could be myself, because I didn't think I was worth anything. But now I'm kind of I feel like this is the first time I've truly been one hundred percent me. It feels good.
I think you collect your stories, you know, and I think it's interesting when you talk about some of those legends of television that you've probably borrowed from. It's hard not to let sort of that wash over you. And I think it's important sometimes to watch other people's work and borrow certain things that suits you, and then it still is quite authentic.
Yeah, I think we all do it. We all do it no matter what job you do. We turn up and we put on a version of ourselves, the best version of ourselves. But when you don't feel like you are very good, or if you're driven by fear, that I'm going to fail, or I'm not enough, or they're
going to hate me, or I'm not smart enough. You tend to put on a manufactured facade, and I was just I was just wearing a patchwork coat of all these other personalities, and I'd wear it like a suit of armor because I just didn't think I had what it takes to be able to do it authentically. Until now it's kind of nice, you know. Maybe it was
a gold LOGI I don't know. I think that gave me permission to relax, that maybe I was enough, maybe I didn't have to be anyone else, And so it gave me the kind of permission and the comfort to just be me. And it was relieving because it had been exhausting.
It was funny. I went to a friend's place for lunch, actually someone that you know, Evie Jones, and she had a friend there.
Gorgeous woman.
Yeah, she was lovely. She said to say hello. She rang me before, but we were at her place and she brought over a girlfriend who read my cards. The interesting thing that this person told me was that I was exhausted by trying to be what I thought other people wanted me to be.
Uh, huh.
And that really resonated with me, and I just it was almost like she gave me permission at that point to stop having to try and lift my energy, to try and impress other people, and to just sit back and be myself. And it was just it has been a relief just to want to be me.
What a beautiful gift. Yeah, And sometimes it takes someone else to point that out or say that to you for your body to believe it. Yeah, I agree, and you let that set in and it changes your life.
Yeah.
Yeah, I couldn't have kept functioning, you know, back in the early day the way I was. I've reached chronic fatigue before, and I think that was because I was exhausted from the act that I was playing, you know. I remember Jim Grey, one of his famous sayings is depression is you need deep rest from the character that you've been playing, and that you don't want to do that anymore, or you kind of the energy to do that anymore. And I think I've been guilty of that.
And that's just that little little boy again, at little seven year old, who was just trying to make everyone happy and if someone was hurting or feeling down, that you know, he would try and entertain them better. If that takes sense.
Yeah, I mean is very interesting because I think he grew up from a broken family and he wanted to make both of his parents I think laugh. I think he had a complicated relationship with them both. I think I believe I'm grabbing that fact, but I just think that there's sometimes there's that within us. I think more more sensitive boys, and we're growing up in those environments. We learn that it's a currency to make people laugh, and it's important currency.
Yeah, a hundredercent agree. I completely agree with you, And I think that's why I put such value and importance on giving everyone who watches your show the best possible half hour of their lives. Because what a great gift if you can put a smile on someone's face or take them away from thinking about, you know, the issues that they've got going on in their life, give them some relief from that, even if it was just half
an hour. And what a beautiful privilege to have to be a part of Deal or no Deal has reached celebrity status now, I think every star it's out.
That's the plus. Yes, you've got a big budget here. Maybe they can get your milk crape. That would be good deals prime Time Celebrity Specials.
I know how to host showst with the look that you've got. I think you're going to open the briefcase and drugs are going to fall out.
Deal or No Deal.
Celebrity Specials starts Monday, July twenty two, fin Tenants and Play.
I wanted to ask you a really cheeky question about this show though, what's the difference. Did you notice the difference between talking to the celebrities in this format versus having your everyday punters on the show? Was there a tifferent level of energy?
Yeah, obviously some of them are entertainers, so that you know, that gives you a pretty easy and instant dynamic to have fun with. I thought that because the money doesn't go to them, it goes to charity, that maybe they might not be he as invested as a regular everyday contentive. But that wasn't the case. I was surprised at how they felt the drama, Like even like Tom Gleason, right, he can stuff around a lot, like his act is obviously could be you know, he lampoons everyone. You know,
he insults everyone. He's an asshole. That he's made a great living out of playing that character.
Right, so on his shirt, hard quiz.
You know you only get insults and a twenty dollars plastic cup at the end if you win. Here we had quarter of a million dollars, And so I wasn't sure if he would buy into the intensity of this, but it's obviously he felt it. And then to see nice qualities come out of him and kind of feel the obligation to win big and do the right thing and have a soul, have some heart. It was kind of really refreshing to see him in a slightly different light.
I think he's just used to slinging mud around everywhere, but this was kind of it was really playful, you know, he was he was in my house this time, and it was nice to see him squirm, but also nice to see him, you know, do something nice and pull off a big win for a great cause. And I think it surprised him how much fun he had, and it surprised him how much he felt for it.
The banter between the two of you is phenomenal. Some people might take offense to some of what he says to people, but you were very quick and you came back with things. That also is a really hard thing to do because by nature, when someone throws us something sassy, you can easily say something sassy back that can land badly. Where with you you continue to throw things back and forth between the two of you in a way that
it was still funny. There was nothing mean about what the two of you were really saying.
And that's a skilling's a rival game show host hate one another. And he took a lot to get to know because he doesn't let his guard down very much. And you can tell all the rest of the comedians were afraid of him because no one would pile oft right. They all had their guns in the holster like no one was. No one wants to take him out with something neat because it's hard to out.
Me the bad guy, right the course, the biggest and baddest of them all.
But he and I have history and respect for one another, and it was playful and it was fun. I didn't want to I didn't want to hit too hard because you know I also you want to create the space so he can perform and he can shine, because when he shines, then the whole show wins, right, So I wanted him to come in own the space just and just be Tom. So yeah, I knew he was going to take a few hits, and I wanted afraid to take a few shots in return.
You know, is that your normal relationship is that the banter that you guys would normally have. Is that kind of what gets thrown back and forward when you guys run into each other at your industry events.
It is It is now like I have a complicated relationship with Tom because like back in twenty eighteen, it's very last minute. He jumped on my gold Logi band and sort of hijacked the campaign and there's something I could do or say, and whilst he just used it as a pr opportunity, you know, for himself, I didn't really want him to do that, to be honest, I thought if I won, well, then people would just think that it was just because he won it for me, and so I was I was got a little shirty
at the time. I could see what he was doing. He was just maximizing the moment, you know, for himself. But it sort of made my LOGI win a bit complicated because it just there were too many questions and it was sort of sort of made a little bit of a mockery of the win, which was sort of, you know, if you gotta win, I want to win on my own terms. I don't want to I don't want or need any help. And then if if if I did win, you know, everyone would just say it
was only just because he he jumped on board. And so I got over that pretty quick, and we have a really great relationship now because he's although he looks very mean spirited, there's a really sweet person deep deep, deep down underneath. You have to almost get to the center of the onion defied that. But he's actually quite a sweet person in real life. So he gets me, I get him. We both go about our world very differently, but we just happened to do the same job.
Do you think it kind of changed the way the logis were seen in a way? I think that there was sort of a bit of a jump the shark moment in some of that. And do you think that there's still the same respect for the logis, I guess in some ways. Or do you think it's returned back like.
It's just it's an industry award and you can't expect the rest of the country to value it, that it's just an industry patting itself on the back. You're not saving lives, You're just holding a little gold trophy. But when Tom said the following year when he wanted, he said, if you want one of these, then you are a wanker. And I just wanted a previous year. And it meant the world to me because I've been in television. I sixteen and I love it with all my heart and
it's given wonderful life. And because I was such a pretender my whole life, pretending you know that I knew what I was doing, that I was good enough to do the job, you know, and I finally want it didn't mean a lot to me, you know. It you know, brought me to tears, and it was beautiful culmination, you know, of a career I'm very proud of. So it really hurt my feelings when he said, if you want one of these, yere awanka, And I know he was just telling jokes and.
Hard to know that though you know, with him, you know, like that's his brand, and I give you were to really sit down and talk to him about that, he liked the rest of Australia would have been so happy for you for winning that award. I think he would have been so happy about that as we all were, and he would be in your audience. But it's hard to decipher when he's being Tom Gleason and when he's being Tom Gleason, if that makes anything.
What I know now is that's not what he meant, and that's not who he is. And that's when I really got to know Time and really got to like him. I love watching him sway on stage. You know, I think you know. My job has been for me to be successful in doing what I do, I have to have the least amount of people hate me as possible. That's the number one key focus for trying to have a longevity in a career. He's gone there completely out
of the way where he's made himself. He's made an unlikable character lovable, which is bold and courageous and funny and daring and naughty, and that's ball the ads because Australian audiences are very judgmental. They know what they like and they don't tolerate much. And by saying everything, by saying what everyone is thinking but refuses to say, he's made this incredible mark on the industry and I couldn't do that. I couldn't walk that pass. It wouldn't work
for me. But it's so exciting that he does it because it just feels risky and fun.
Do We all have our superpower though? And I always think for you, your superpower is your vulnerability on television. I always think of you being like the selling Field of Australian television. I remember a review for Sally Field was when Sally Field cries, America cries when Grant ten Your cries, whether it's on Dancing with the Stars, I'm telling you cried on a lot of things. And I remember this
because I cried with you, my friend. I felt like, it's such an amazing thing to be vulnerable on television with these platforms, and whenever you've done it, the sincerity of the whole thing and the fact that we're all rooting for you makes it such a big and emotional, celebrated moment of television.
Oh thank you. Yeah. I think it's because I was afraid of all of those emotions for most of my life. I thought being sad or lonely or upset or like your failure was a sign of weakness, right, and it should be hidden at all costs. And I also feel like I'm sort of part of the problem, right I'm in pretending to be the TV present that I thought everyone wanted to watch, and you know, smiling and all
day and pretending everything's perfect. I felt like I was kind of part of the problem that everyone's supposed to portray the perfect version of themselves. So once iok it to a point where I was kind of, you know, I'd worked on a shit, you know, I've done a lot of therapy and different forms of health treatments to kind of, you know, work on my less favorable aspects of my personality. You know, then I thought, well and
started in the Jungle show. To be honest, it started it I'm a celebrity where I'm like, I'm just going to go with whatever comes up, and I'm going to try not to filter it out. And everything comes up pretty raw and real and fast in there, and I just was like, normally I would joke my way out of it, I would avoid those feelings at all costs,
I would run the other direction. And I was like, I'm going to sit with this, And it allowed me to kind of identify things that I didn't like that weren't working for me, and aspects of my character that I wasn't particularly proud of. And I kind of took a stock take of all of those and had so much time to burn in there in the jungle that you just were able to work on them and slowly kind of rebuild yourself. And that's when I sort of found the courage kind of just let those emotions be.
And I sort of haven't hidden the fact, you know, on television sort of since, and so it wasn't a deliberate act. But yeah, I'm really glad I found the courage to do it because it's sort of it's made a better me.
It's happy to me, but it's funny. You can also adopt these things that you you know when you're growing up. But I remember, for me, people used to make fun of my voice and I was like, yeah, I do have a weird voice to sound a cross between Kermit the Frog and Rove after too many drinks. And I didn't like it, you know, and I really pushed against that for so long, and then I realized that that actually the things that I hated about myself were actually
my superpowers. And the minute that I stopped trying to push these things away which were inherent in me. I couldn't get rid of them. The moment that I started to appreciate them was the moment that success started to come in.
The eristure of war with yourself right, and the universe is not going If you're not operating from a place of gratitude, the universe might give you more. So I think, yeah, I would either. I completely agree with what you're what you're saying there, Yeah, it's yeah, it's I'm trying to teach my girls that, you know you failure is a gift because you learn more from failure than you do
your successes. You don't learn anything from your successes. To be honest, the best things that have ever happened in my life have been the things that were the hardest and the things that went wrong, because they're also they're roadblocks. A failure is a roadblock that gets you to turn around and go in a different direction, the direction you're probably supposed to go in the first place. Right their life correction. There there's signposts to push you onto the
course you're supposed to be on. Whereas I was afraid of failure, I have massive perfectionism syndrome where it it's almost it's crippling, like it's paralyzing, and it wasn't serving me.
So yeah, you're right.
Once you embrace the things that you originally didn't like, you soften and you allow great things into your life because you're not so closed off. You know, you're not trying to hide everything from everyone, and you're right, gifts start flowing your way. Of course, when I was a kid, you know, I hated being short. You know, I was really sensitive about my height, you know, so eighty percent
of my life. And now it's not an issue because I've kind of worked on all the other emotional reasons as to why that was problematic for me, you know, low self esteem, you know, poor confidence and little self worth, and now you know my height, I don't feel anything about it anymore. It's not an issue.
I like the idea of rejections being gifts, you know, the rejections that we've had along the way. Kind of what you were saying before was sort of guiding us, and the moment we can sort of accept that. And I know that when you talk about your height, you talk about these things that you said to yourself wasn't good enough. You know, in some ways that's just your lesson to learn. And then when you look at what you're doing now, Grant, like you, my friend, have leveled up.
It is so much fun to watch. It's inspiring. It's great television. And I had like a thousand questions to ask you today about you know, how many episodes you film in a day, all of these things that are sort of like kitch questions that you're going to ask someone when you have them on a podcast. But here we are. You've given me the raw, Grant, Daniel, and it is amazing.
It's nice, I know, and these are It's not like I'm there's any language of it's learned.
You know.
For most of my lists, I didn't have the words to describe these things that we're talking about now. I'm so glad I've got the vocabulary now through hard work and self searching. But yeah, it's you know, my job now is to ensure that the things that I've learned at say forty six, you know, my kids hopefully get at fifteen. My personality failures as a kid with the driving factors to create the person and the career that I've got now. You know. I wanted to be seen
and heard and validated, you know, and loved. And I think I used all those those ingreeted and to forge this television careerause it came from a place of emptiness that I needed feeling. And Yeah, I don't want my daughters to spend their whole life searching, you know, to fill the gap, you know, to fill the hole that's inside them, you know. I want them to know that they are enough from the start.
I have to let you go because I've run out of time. I honestly could talk to you forever, and I feel like this has been a really interesting counseling session that I didn't think I needed today, but I've definitely I feel like I've learned a lot out of this. I've finished the podcast by asking a question about something from behind the scenes, and I thought maybe I should ask you what everyone was thinking this year when they brought back top Gear Australia on Paramount Plus. It just
seemed to me like that show was yours. Did they call you for that show? Did you audition for that show?
I want to know, I'm a surprised as you are. To be honest, I felt like.
My whole life was leading up to this role.
Yeah.
Yeah, being a multi championship winning race car driver who's still racing cars and a television host, I thought, I thought maybe it might have been enough. But I think perhaps what might have got in the way is I think Channel ten might have known that deal or no deal was around the corner, and I wasn't aware of it at that particular point. So I think they knew that maybe both shows could be filming at the same time,
and that ruled me out. But I'm a massive fan of the format, So yeah, I'm super jealous of those guys getting one of them gets big.
You got to go there, that's your job.
Oh man, I've been seeing the promos and then he makes me cry quickly, like.
Have you been able to watch it?
I can't bring myself to watch your full episode because it would have been unreal. But I'm not sure in fact that they did ring me. Okay, And but what happened was Dany gave me a few days notice and they said, oh, we're going to do a chemistry test with a couple of other potential hosts. Can you come down? And I was racing in the Bathurst twelve hour race for Lamborghini and I was like, I can't make it.
I'm racing this weekend. And they're like, oh, if you can't make it to the chemistry test, well then you don't get the gig. And I was like, are you listen to me? I said, I'm actually racing, and you're saying that that's the only time that we could do this.
They said yep.
I'm like, okay, well, yes that's me.
At least the call came through. As long as you know that most of Australia was thinking, where's great, Dan, You're on this show right now?
Because even way back way back in iore when it break my back, I was lying still for like four months, you know, recovering from that, and I just watched Endless episode after episode after episode of Top Year.
So all my family bought me all the box at DBDs. So it was part of my recovery in therapy. So I'm deeply kind of connected to the show as well as a massive car fan, right, So yeah, it's it was the one that got away.
You can't win them all.
I guess it'll happen. I'm putting it out there. I'm putting it the head into the universe. I swear that that's going to happen at some point, and they won't need three. You've got enough personality to just do that one by yourself. I just want to say thank you so much for you being so generous with your time and for what you shared today. I've had such a good fine talking to you. I always do. You're a genius amongst geniuses of television, and I'm in your audience.
Oh bless you. This has been so much fun. I didn't think we were going to go to the places that we went to.
We hadn't, but I'm glad.
I'm really go we did. It was it was gorgeous, warm and safe and and good for the soul.
Absolutely, I think there's something in that for all of us. Look After will give some love to Evie Jaines for me, I will do. We'll do great to chat