Welcome back to TV Reload.
This is my second last chat with the stars of I'm a Celebrity twenty twenty one, featuring the runner up himself, Grant Dania. Today's guest is basically TV Royalty, as Australian audiences have either grown up watching him or grown to love him. Clocking up more hours on television than Skippy the Kangaroo.
He has brought so much joy to us.
All from Sunrise to family Feud. This Gold Lugie winner is simply TV Magic. Viewers of I'm a Celebrity saw a raw and honor side to the TV host in the jungle, a rare insight into a family man who has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster ride at Luna Park. We have read the headlines, watched his shows and always wanted more, which this man delivered in spades. I'd like to welcome to the show this year's almost winner, Grant Dania.
I don't attempt things unless I'm going to be amazing at it. David Animal your associates with Grand Dania. I've worked in Telly for twenty years for the Gold LOGI.
This year it's Grand Dania.
I'm a pretty sure person. I never thought i'd talk about TV in the form of self discovery, how survey said. I made a vow to myself that when I went in there, if someone asked me an uncomfortable question, you know, I'd try and answer it honestly.
Congratulations Grant Daniel on coming second, What was the jungle experience like for you?
Horrible, disgusting, putrid, hated it all, But weirdly, all I wanted to do when I was in there was leave, and then now that it's over, I kind of wanted to end. I don't know what's happened to me.
Well, you certainly committed to your time in the jungle, and you know, casting agent Georgina Harrap said, Grant Daniel's always on, He's great television. Did you feel like you were always on in the jungle?
Not always like I've worked in Telly for twenty years, and that's a pretty strong reflex for me to go into TV mode, you know what I mean, Like I've been doing it since I was sixteen. When I went in there. You're scared, You're anxious, you're afraid. You know it's going to be horrible. I'm a pretty shy person, so I kind of I turned on the TV mode when I got in there, and then probably for a week.
It took me a while for that wall to drop when I realized that I don't have the energy to go four weeks pretending to be a TV person, So I just gave into it, really dropped the guard, and stuff just flowed. You know, I can't believe the things that I purged in there. It's quite remarkable. I thought it was just a TV show. I thought you just do this for the exposure, But there was so much more gold that happened by There's a lot of self discovery in there. I never thought I'd talk about TV
in the form of self discovery. I just died enough of them to know that it's all pretty plastic. But here I am going, oh my god, I've come out a better person. Legit.
Well, you know, at what point did they ask you to do this show? Because for years, actually I think you are the most speculated person to ever go into the jungle.
At what point did they ask you to do it?
And was there any rumors about the fact that, you know, Dancing with the Stars didn't happen, and so they just plopped you into the Jungle instead.
I had nothing to do with Dancing with the Stars. I just I'd said no for six years for a good reason, because I knew to be shit. I knew it to be terrible in there, and I didn't want to do it, and I knew it to be confronting. And I, you know what, I've made a lot of television in my life, but I've never made and I'm a bit bored, to be honest, because I've done a lot, but I've never made a kind of television like this. And I you know, I've got kids now, and I
just wanted to show them the joy of trying. You know, you don't. I've got a terrible thing that I don't attempt things unless I'm going to be amazing at it. And I wanted to instill in my daughters the joy of trying. And yeah, they look at me really differently now, and that's that's actually incredibly special. I didn't expect that when you arrived.
There was a few moments where I've watched you on television for for as long as I can remember, I've reviewed your career, so I could see something happening. Was there a slight look of concern? That you'd gone to the wrong event, like you were looking around at the cast, like am I at the wrong Christmas?
I got in there and I was like, oh my god, these are all high energy, high octane people, you know, bouncing off the red limit. Like I thought, I can't I can't be in here around the clock with these people. I've made the wrong decision. I thought I'd made the wrong decision for at least three of the four weeks, but slowly when I gave in to it. You know, and I am also someone who hosts television, so I'm used to being the puppet master, used to controlling the strings.
Handing that power over is a very daunting experience. It's a bit scary.
Did you worry that at some point that you might have been too honest? I mean, as a overshare on myself. I wondered how you felt watching it back. Did you think, oh, I've revealed too much?
Yeah, and I was pretty it was a bit of a pain in the ass to be around in the weeks leading up to it, because I was I was worried I cried too much and I'd said too much and I might have embarrassed my partner or my family. I knew my daughters were going to so I was a nervous wreck, not knowing what they were going to use, how they were going to edit it. You know, I've been in television long enough to know that, you know,
they can build storylines artificially in post. And I didn't know if I was Maybe I was a dickhead in there, maybe I'd offended someone, maybe I was angry. Yeah, I had a lot of self doubt watching it back. It was uncomfortable with some of the things that I spoke about. But I made a vow to myself that when I went in there, if someone asked me an uncomfortable question, you know, I'd try and answer it honestly. And yeah, I just kind of I was bit tired of being
this shiny, smiley game show host. I just thought, you know what, I kind of just stuff it just fucking be.
You, and we loved it. I mean, that's the best thing about it. I think that's why people have wanted you to do it for so many years, is because we can see the man who's the host, but then we also want to know the man behind that. You know, a lot of speculation about Chezy, your wife and what she thought of the show. How did she react to some of these moments where I guess you was sharing not only personal stories for yourself, but I guess stories that reflected her as well.
Well, that's the hard parts. I'm sharing stories that aren't just my stories. There's someone else's as well. So I felt guilty that I was sharing things without someone else's permission. But at the end of the day, I asked Chezi if I should do this, and she's heavily pregnant and it was her call, and she had a feeling that if she pushed me in there, that I might come out a slightly better version of myself. And she had
that foresight. I didn't think, you know, that could possibly happen on a TV show, But she was right, and she knew. She knows I'm I'm pretty sensitive, to be honest, and it doesn't take much for the emotions to flow. So I am a little bit nervous because I don't know what you saying. I think she knew that they'd crack me, and they did.
You know, what's really the eye opener for me was that I crave a drink when I don't necessarily know what to do with my access anxiety or energy. And I think in Australia, I'm not alone. Do you think in Australia we need to talk a little bit more openly about the way in which we use and drink alcohol.
It's funny. I've been thinking about my relationship with alcohol probably for the last two years, and really deeply for the last month. And I didn't realize the effects alcohol or role it had in my life until I quarantined the week before I went into the jungle, and I had enormous amounts of nerves. I knew I wasn't going to be able to control the circumstances in there. I knew they were going to have their way with me,
and I knew it would be emotional. So I drank everything and ate everything and went in about five kilo heavier in a week. And that's when I kind of discovered, Oh, I know why I drink. It's because I get anxious. I'm not comfortable around other people. I'm shy, so I like to lubricate myself to be comfortable because I don't know. There's parts of my personality that I'm not particularly that comfortable with. So I recognized, yeah, I recognized an issue that I gotta work on.
You've worked with some of the most amazing people in your career once you entered the jungle, and up until this point, who's been some of your biggest champions.
I wouldn't have a career to this day if it wasn't for a news director in Prime TV Woggle Wogger, who as a sixteen year old kid, allowed me to come into his newsroom and carry the tripods and wash the news cars and hang around like a smelly pest. And I couldn't spell. I wasn't smart enough to go to university to get a journalism degree. And that guy let me hang around so long that he taught me to write like a journal talk like a journo, do
stand ups to camera like a journo. And he saw something in me that I didn't even know I had in myself, and he allowed me to make thousands of mistakes. But he let me grow unchallenged. He didn'tized me. He didn't smash me or crush me like most news directors would because they're pretty harsh people. And that guy, Doug Hogan in Prime TV Wolga let me blossom. I thanked him in my gold Lady's speech, because I could have been a garbage collector.
Couldn't we all? Actually, I think that's a calling. It's a calling for me right now.
To be honest with you, A lot of people were saying that maybe the snake bite got abby over the line in the end. What did you think her strength was and why do you think that Australia voted for her in the end.
Her story on the Bachelor was pretty hard for her, you know she you know, in her words, not mine, she was the most hated person in Australia according to her. After being on the Bachelor, she really received a lot of death threats. The whole country hated her. She finished second, she didn't win. That was heartbreaking and embarrassing for her. She confessed in the jungle, so to kind of to go back onto a reality TV show would have been pretty triggering and she thought, oh my god, you know,
my life's going me turned upside down again. Yet she did it anyway, and you know, she had the whole ultimate outcome and the whole country fell back in love with her. The winner, I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here for twenty twenty one is pretty awesome redemption story. Really, if you want anyone to win, it's someone who's had a rough trot that now has an ultimate outcome like that. And now she's the queen, so that's pretty special.
Has Abby offered you any advice on coming second in a reality show?
Yes, coming second? Yeah, he's like being the shatter knoll of I'm a celebrity, to get me out of here. It's she No, she was bamboozled by the moment, mate. She I could see in her eyes that she didn't know what to make of it. I don't think this girl has perceived much love in her life. I think she's had a bit of a rough run. You know.
I could see the little girl all in there, just overwhelmed by love, not knowing what to do with it because it was an unfamiliar sensation for her, but really wonderful to see someone finally the country just wrap their arms around her. And I think she really needed that, you know, I think she was there. She was a little broken after her last experience. Yeah, I'm so happy for it.
Yeah, when you've already won a reality shows, so you can't can't win them all. As probably what your parents said to you when you're growing up.
Present they look to be honest. I didn't come I'd kind of got what I needed out of it, which was a little bit of personal development going there. You know, fear. I had a bit of fear creeping into my life, which is fear is a limiting thing, you know, when you're afraid, fear steals joy from your life. And I wanted to go in there to kind of reset the bar and face a couple of fears and not let them kind of cast off the shackles a little bit.
You know, I used to do crazy stuff all the time, you know, when I was a Sunrise weather man, and it's been a while since I've done stuff that's scared me. And I needed to do that again, and I got what I wanted out of the jungle. You know, I was the smiley game show guy for a long time and who was pretending to be perfect, but my life's not perfect. I've made thousands of mistakes, and you know, I cherish each one of those mistakes because they are a scar that has built the person who I am today.
So I kind of didn't mind revealing a lot in there and opening up. And I've never been good at doing that, so it was nice to sort of learn how to yeah.
And I guess that was the most beautiful thing from my point of view is that I actually sat on my lounge room and I, like the rest of Australia, I think I cried and laughed along with you throughout the experience. I felt such a visceral experience. And I've watched the show for all of its seven seasons, and I don't know, I just really related to watching you open yourself up and be really raw, and I think that's hard.
It's hard when you are a match fit media professional, you know what I mean. Like I've turned it on for years. I've been in the game for a long time, and it's a strong reflex of mind to go straight into presenter mode because that's my job and I do it, you know, daily. I tried to go in there because of my anxiety and nerves and fear. I went in there and I dressed myself up as a TV presenter and I carried that act on and then realized I can't hold this up forever. So it kind of fell down.
And when the walls came down, the magical stuff started to happen and I was like, I don't really know who I am. I've just been a presenter my whole life. So I kind of just was like, if someone asked me something embarrassing and uncomfortable, I'll give them an honest answer as best I can. And I found real freedom in that if you can acknowledge it you've made a mistake in your life, you take the power out of that mistake and it no longer holds you prisoner, you
know what I mean. And there was a lot of purging that went on for me in the jungle where stuff just flowed out and I had no control of it. I don't know where it came from and why, and I cried more than I've cried ever in my entire life. But you know sit I did some healing.
Well.
It was brilliant to watch.
I'm absolutely loving your podcast by the way, with your wife shares.
It's so good, it's all true.
I've actually got it in my number three of podcasts that I'm listening to. I think I really just like pleasure, the raw energy. So I think Australia loves you. I think that there's still so much of your story to be told. I hope that people can check out that podcast for starters because it's brilliant.
Now that because you're the biggest.
Name that we've been trying to get onto the show for so long and you've now done it, have you recommended it to anyone else?
Like?
Is there any of your mates in the industry that you think will turn up next year?
Sarah Harris from Studio ten said, you know, should I do the show? A week ago? I said, hell, no, are you kidding? It's the worst thing you'll ever do? But now I'll actually go. You know what do it? Something special happens in there and I can't explain it and doesn't make sense to anyone who watches it because they only see it for an hour and a half each night, they don't know how hard and how owing it is. But special stuff happens to you in there.
Well, Sarah Harris would be amazing, so with Amanda Keller. There's so many of your mates that I think would be great in the jungle. Thanks so much for your time. You've been so generous and thank you.
Ben an absolute pleajer mate is a wonderful chat