It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reloaded podcast last week. They're right, Welcome back guys to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television.
I don't like the reality show so that they cut with them and into their life. I don't like them at all.
But I've also got to go behind the scenes with writers. The truth is, when I started writing it, it wasn't had nothing to do with the news and casting agents.
They know from a casting point of view what they need, and.
Editors because that's what we do as editors where storytellers, not to forget some incredible executive producers who are making some of the best TV in Australia.
We thought he'd be too just self aware. Well, in fact, exactly the opposite was true and he became the biggest character in the show.
So thanks for joining me each week and I hope the podcast continues to give you real insight into the magic of television. Today, on the podcast, I have Gold LOGI winner and Australian TV legend Grant Danya, and we're going to unpack his latest gig dancing Upper Storm on Channel seven's Dancing with the Stars All Stars. Addition, I don't know if you're currently watching this show, but you really should. I mean, catch up on all the episodes
that you've missed. Pull yourself at Bloody Champagne on Sunday nights because the show is really fun and Grant is amazing in it. I think he probably could win. That's just my pick. Anyway. Grant daniel is one of Australia's most loved television presenters for many reasons. But to me, I've just always loved Grant's energy and from the chat today I've realized something about him, and that is he's
as sensitive and thoughtful as he is funny. We will talk about he's breakdown on Dancing with the Stars, why he came back to dance again after nearly saying no hiss, future ambitions, and so much more. You know, I'm gonna admit right now that this has probably been my favorite podcast to record, and not to talk it up, but it's just a great chat anyway. I'd like to welcome Grant Danielle to TV Reload.
What are you doing going back to being a contestant?
Is he's starting with the Stars All Stars.
There was no walk in the park like I thought it might be well done, Grant, you have come through an alful lot. I told some hard stories out there. You know, I had a full on meltdown if I was going to come back, you know, I wanted to do something that was truly special. You know, maybe it's okay to say some of these uncomfortable and embarrassing, humiliating, painful things. It's granding you with the passing of time. I'd kind of thought, well, what's this going to be like when it goes to air?
Hi, Grant, how are you man?
Thanks for having me, mate, It's lovely to be here, great to chat.
Well. I have to say congratulations on Dancing with the Stars. I'm absolutely flawed watching this series, and you, my friend, are just brilliant.
Thank you, mate. I really appreciate that. I actually said no at first to coming back and doing it, and that was mainly because of my enormous ego going mate, you've you've hosted this show. What are you doing going back to being a contestant? And I could I quite get my head round that. I thought I was looking at it as a backward step, but then I sort of slapped myself around a little bit and was like, come on, mate, are you kidding yourself? Wasn't when you
did it in two thousand and six? Was it not one of the greatest things that you've ever done in your life? Nance was, yes, it absolutely was. Well, then who bloody doesn't want to relive or get the chance to redo one of the best things that they've ever done. So I was like, come on, man, and I finally said yes, and I'm so glad I did because it's just been majestic and the money helps Frank Oh yeah, man, I've got kids that I need to feed for sure. Like I live on a farm here and I'm a
terrible farmer. The only thing that makes me qualify as a farm is my hat. It's a really good hat that an Aboriginal stockman gave me out in Birdsville. It's legit, right, but my farming skills are not. So it's not like I can I can feed my family with my farming skills. So it's nice to still have a side hustle being television.
Are you telling me that the hat that you wore on who do you think you are? Was not your hat?
That was my hat that was. That's the hat I'm talking about, And I was like, Oh, it's great because it's it's it's You must have looked at that and said, wow, is this some kind of cattle? Barren? Did you? Did you get that vibe from from the hat?
I just thought you looked so beautiful amount of hat because the promo pictures for that series last year came out and I just was really looking forward to that episode.
The hat does all the talking, I do stuff all in the whole show, right, you know, I just you just look at the hat and you go, this guy is the real deal. And then you you know, you.
Put the hat on shares nose, you're in for business. Yeah.
Sometimes it's just just that's the hat. Was the only thing I'm wearing. And that's when you know it's got Danny household, do you know what I mean?
Time?
But children number four?
Come on, you're gonna have to do dancing with the All All Stars, the Superstars. You know you've got any more children?
You know what? I also, I know there've been two other series of All Stars before me, and then I was like, third time, surely there's no one decent left, Like, surely all the good dances would have been used in series one and two of All Stars, they would have come back. So by the third series only the hopeless ones would we left. And so I'll be able to brain it if I put my work in as it tends it. No, I get Courtney Act who sings and dance through a living and has done you know since
she was I think in the womb. And Ricky Lee, who's an All Star performer, incredible vocalist and just like an absolute stage hound, like just a weapon on the floor. So no, it was no walk in the park like I thought it might be. I was hoping it was going to be.
Do you think that the show is about being emotionally raw?
Well?
Is it as much about being emotionally raw as it is with the dancing, because like this series, the people that are getting through, the celebrities that are getting through, are the ones who connect the most emotionally to the dance.
I think if you connect to a dance, you end up doing it better, the viewers feel it more, and the judges buy it right. But I think it's I don't think it's a deliberate thing where the emotion people are getting through or it's certainly not a tactic. I know, sometimes a backstory can help because the viewers can feel a little bit more for the dance and for you,
or they understand what it's about. But I kind of, you know, normally, I'm pretty frivolous in my career, right I've always just been that sort of smiley game show guy who gives away cash and cars. It doesn't take life too serious. But I wanted this to be a bit different.
You know.
I if I was going to come back and do Dancing with the Stars, and I'd wanted in two thousand and six, what's to gain by coming back and doing it again? You got everything to lose, and you know what, your last memory to be the one that didn't go well. So I was like, you know what, maybe I don't want to just bounce around the floor and just giggle, you know, like a buffoon like I normally would. You know, I kind of I wanted to do this for a purpose, for a reason, and you know, I told some hard
stories out there. You know, I had a full on meltdown after one of the dancers, and you know, I kind of wanted to to share some of the things that aren't The Smiley Game Show, Grant Dania, because you know, I've been faking it a lot of my life and shiny and glossy is nice, but that's not real and it's not that interesting. So I kind of, you know, I kind of I wanted to. I wanted to open up a little little more than I ever have.
I can see it's still very raw for you, Grant, Yeah, you are.
I made some mistakes in my life, and you know, there was a period that I'm not particularly very proud of. And you know, one thing I have learned that it's it's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to be okay to fail, and that's a part of being human. And whilst that was a very dark period and a hard thing to kind of dance too, it's you know, I just put one foot in front of the other and I climbed my way out of that hole. And
I feel a lot of healing here done tonight. That's why it's probably so you know, emotion, I know, this is just a it's just a dance, and dance maybe isn't important, but it's important to me, and this was important to me.
Well, it felt like to me in some ways. This show has been a way for you to unpack some emotional backstories. Is Dancing with the Stars the new group Therapy. It feels like it, It really does. I had learned a little bit about myself from being in the jungle and I'm as celebrity, where I kind of through starvation and deprivation and boredom, you end up not being able to run away from your issues, right that You've sort of forced to sit in them and confront them a
little bit. And as other people become really warm and friendly.
With you, you kind of felt like you're in a safe place. Even though there's three thousand cameras pointed at you. You weirdly end up being able to say things that you've never said to your own wife. So I kind of learned on that show, oh, ok, maybe I don't have to pretend as much, you know, maybe it's okay to say some of these uncomfortable and embarrassing, humiliating, painful things. So I kind of started to learn how to do that,
you know, by accident celebrity. And then I thought, you know what, let's craft a couple of dances that truly, you know, I want to feel these ones I want to feel this, so I did them for important reasons.
I felt like that, you know, with this emotional dance that Australia has already seen, I just I don't think I've ever watched Dancing with the Stars or watch dancing and felt emotional like I've been to the ballet and I can see the people next to me crying or welling up, and I'm like, oh god, this is like there's magic eye puzzles that I can't see. And I
had to pause it just before you spoke. So I'd watched the dance and was wiping away those tears, and then I was texting Channel seven by one of the heads of publicity and about another interview, not this one, but a different one, and I said, I've just watched Grand Dania dance and it is unbelievable and I'm emotional,
like I'm crying watching this. And then I got off the phone and watched what you had to say about it, and I just thought it was so amazing to be able to watch a man a blow, you know, father, a car racing driver, emotionally be able to talk about that stuff. Because I think it's important for osie men out there that would be watching that to go, oh, let's get in touch with how we truly film Thank you.
That's a really lovely thing to say. I'd never thought of that as a potential outcome or a benefit. When I was coming up with the dance, it was literally just, you know, what's the worst thing I've ever been through? What's the hardest period of my life? Fuck? It was this period? Right, it was about twenty twelve. All right, what's the song? We'll have to dance a song? What's a song that represents that period? That's right. I used
to listen to this song, Don't give Up. The song Don't give Up is about reaching a moment in your life of absolute despair where you don't think it can go on. I relate to it so much because it represents the lowest, you know, I've been in my life. You know, when I was at my lowest, when I was really struggling to climb out of a pretty deep
dark hole. So I thought, well, what a great opportunity, you know, to not only to not sort of go back and be re triggered by all those feelings, but also to celebrate within myself, just for me, how far I've come. So I thought that'd be like just a really lovely pat on the back to yourself to say, well done, g D. You know, you've come a long way. You know, I'm proud of you. That was my only purpose, you know, it was it was selfish, to be honest.
But then when I walked off the stage, and then you know, I walked into the arms of Rob Mills afterwards, who just held me really tired and just said, you know, what you have done a lot of men a lot of good by what you have just done by giving them permission, you know, permission to be emotional, permission to you know, accept that life is hard and we all make mistakes, but you can recover from them. And I didn't think of that as the as a as a
benefit until he said that. And I'm still touched both those words, and you've just said the same thing, and it makes me smile.
Well, Melsy would know. I mean, he's done so much work you away from the cameras with men's mental health, and I think that's great that he was there and able to give you that words of wisdom, you know, having been in that space himself. But I also really love that song, don't give up? And I love that Shannon Noel Natalie Bassing's wait version? Did you hear from either of after it was on? Telling I did?
I texted them both just to let them know that I was using their song and just to let them know that it meant something to me because I knew that I have a full melt out because we recorded it, you know, in September or October last year, and I was really nervous, like really nervous, waiting for this to come around. Have I embarrassed myself and my family? Am I going to look silly? Why did I do that? Why did I fall apart? Why can't I just have
held it together just for a few more seconds. I was sitting in a lot of a lot of discomfort, a lot of embarrassment and bordering on humiliation. Like I was caught up in the moment, and with the passing of time, I kind of thought, Well, what's this going to be like when it goes to air? Is it going to have any meaning? Lose it to all its meaning? Am I just going to look like just a you know, blowers just having a mental breakdown?
Well it's kind of hard because it is between two things it's between overdoing it and people accusing you of being unauthentic or I guess yeah, losing it and then people saying his he, or being in the audience feeling worried for you. It was the right amount of that. It was in between. You know, it was authentic, it was real. No one would question what you were going through, and it just wasn't melodramatic.
I don't know if that helps, Yeah it does, but I still very nervous about people's judgment of what that moment either looked like or I know it to me, but I just didn't know. You know, when you live in the public eye, you get very sensitive to what you know. My whole job is to when I create television, is to put myself in the audience's seat. What's this going to look like? How can I make this moment better?
Like if you're creating a game show or doing a comedy skit, right, So then you always have that sort of third person perspective. So when when I absolutely lost my sit, which was not the plan, I was like, oh my god, you know, what are people going to think of me? You know, how much damage if I've done to my career? Will I never be hired again, because you know, I can't even sort of keep it together. I'm supposed to be professional TV guy. What am I
doing for in the bart? But the rehearsals were tough.
You know.
When I first put this song on in the dance studio and played it to Lily, who's twenty two and has barely even heard of the band Coldplay, so you have a lot in common. I first play, She's turned around, I'm already bawling, and she's like going, oh my god, what have I inherited here? What kind of emotional mess is this? She was really gentle and she understood that that period of time was hard, and I walked it kind of through it, you know, as to why it
meant to me and why it was hard. And then when we first did it on the floor, I was really struggling to do it in rehearsal, but you know, I kind of mustered it and pulled it all together, and I just knew the hard bit would be when Lily and I finished last Move, we danced to the song and she sort of breaks away from me and she's now a memory. And then I thought, I'm good,
I'm good, I'm good. And when her fingertip just left me for the last second, and I was like, I'm gone, I'm gone, I'm gone, and I just I cracked and it just all came out, mate, It just just it just had no control over anything. It just all happened.
You've got full claar Dane's crying face, because what I call it, you know where the cry starts at the bottom of your chin. And I was the same watching it. I actually feel emotional now. How ridiculous. I feel emotional now just thinking about it. It was crazy, it was surreal, and you know, in a medium at the moment, we'll get into this in a little bit about reality television.
You know, it's so hard to create those moments of authenticity these days because these days, you know, the production company can cut it up and make it into something different, you know. But there we are watching something raw. So I have to ask, what did Natt and Shannon say, Hey, can you go through your phone? Yeah? I can't.
I think their privacy and I'll see you. Let me just quickly look her up here. So all right, okay, okay, So I said to her, I said this Sunday Dancing the Stars. I danced to one of your songs with Shannon, Oh don't give Up. Your song helped me get through the worst period of my life, and I'm honoring it on Sunday night. You got me out of a very very deep, dark hole with that song, and I just wanted to say thanks and kiss emoji and she wrote back, Oh my god, there's very sweet. I'll be tuning in
for sure. This world we live in right now could do with some of that song too. It doesn't get much better than Kate Bush, you know who's the original performer with Peter Gabriel's. She also it's truly amazing how music can get you through the hardest of times. Thanks for reaching out. It's inspiring to see you come out the other side and share your vulnerabilities. The world needs more people like you. Love to you and your beautiful family and good luck. Oh my god, such.
A nice message. And then you know, now all those people that were disappointed that she got the understudy to do jag a little pill that night so she could stay home and watch you perform on Dancing with the Stars, they'll be so angry that rings up and goes sorry, my friend Grant's on Dancing at the stars tonight, you'll need the understudy for Jag a little pill. I won't be there.
Simon from The Wiggles tells this great story when he was feeling in Anthony Wallow for a Phantom of the Opera, and he said he used to hate filling in because he'd be side of stage when they would make the announcement to the crowd. Tonight the role of the Phantom is being played by Red Wiggle. And then he gues, you could hear the whole audience go oh what, and he goes emotionally, would hurt my heart that they Yeah,
that's why they don't do that anymore. They actually make you go up to this board before you see any performance to see who the understudies are, so you've got time to deal with that. But I just feel bad because now we've given those people a reason. I'm sure she went and did the show. So I've made all of this up, like, can I see it? So you've given her a link to it? So I may, I hope half of the show.
And Shannon do we want to find out about Shannon? Shannon probably just sent your beer emotion emoji.
Right.
I'm just gonna say that it's exactly what happened. You read my mind, No Knowlesy did he did say something that ended He said, I had to work yesterday so I missed it. Can I watch it back? Thanks so much for the message, brother, and I'm stoked to help you get through some tough time. Tape You're in the family are well, beer emoji.
Classic, nosey classic. I just think that's so good. I think it's nice to be emotional in front of Australian audiences these days and to be transparent like that. So thanks for that.
Yeah, thank you. I still don't know how I feel about it, but yes, yeah, I feel part of me sometimes feels like I was silly for letting allowing it to get to me and for falling apart. But I also take your words you know to heart that you know hopefully it can help others who might be in that position to know that you can come out of stuff, even when it feels like you can't, or you are stuck, or you're in a state of permanence where you'll forever
be in this pit of pain. Knowing that others have managed to put one foot in front of the other and climb out of there. Slowly, you know. I think I learned that lesson from someone else, So if I can be that lesson for other people, then that's been a good thing.
I think it's you know, if you've ever been through depression, or if you've ever been through a mental health struggle or an obstacle in your life, the funny thing is you always feel like you're always going to be there, Like it's impossible to think you'll ever be getting out
of it. So that's the important thing. I always find that people need to say so you might not always feel like this, you know, And that is so powerful because Yeah, I've been in places like that in my life, and I remember thinking I'm never coming out of this, and the fact that I did and then I was able to go on and achieve great things beyond that, I think became this important message anywhere we're going off on an emotional tangent.
I love this. I can talk about this all day. I think it's beautiful sharing it as well. Yeah, right, it does feel like you'll never get out of it until someone sort of shows you that, oh oh ei, there is a way out, or someone else made it out. Maybe I can too. Just that little light globe of hope, you know, sometimes that's all you need.
Do you think we need more authentic emotions on television? Just? You know, so much these days is sort of frank and grabbed or made to be perfect. And even as a presenter, something I've always admired in you is at times you're a word perfect presenter, which is what the network wants. But then also I've seen you go off script and be yourself. You know, But do you think we're missing something?
Yeah?
Sometimes when we ah making things too perfect, I.
One hundred percent agree. And to be honest, I was looking back on my career going I've I'm not particularly very proud of how I've done it and what I do. I don't feel while I was I was employed to be perfect. I was employed to be flawless. And when you have a you know, a crew of two hundred people and a live show, you know resting on your shoulders, that's that's a huge amount of pressure. And you know, I take it very seriously, and you know you have
to lead it strong from the front. You know, if you lose one piece, you know, it all falls apart. And I don't want to be responsible for having done a shoddy job, because there's hundreds of millions of dollars resting on this, and you know, and I'm fear and I'm the truck driver. So but when I was bored with my own work, to be honest, I was bored with my own performance. I was dissatisfied with how I was doing it. I wasn't finding it very interesting. I found I think I felt like I was a fraud.
And I just had fallen out of love with what I was doing. And so I kind of had to figure out what I was doing wrong and why I didn't like myself, And yeah, I had to put a lot of work into that, you know, and that takes you down a lot of roads and questions as to why you're not happy and why you know you why you are who you are, And so I kind of had to rebuild myself to be honest and build myself
into a better version of myself. Again, A lot of that started sort of in the jungle, weirdly enough, and a lot of work over the last ten years as well. But I did all that privately, whereas I just decided that, you know, maybe it's okay to do a little bit of that publicly.
You know before that we got some of my favorite television moments. Certainly Granted in your favorite moments was always when you go off script on any of the shows that you're any of the game show hosting jobs that you did, because when you laughed as an audience, we laughed as an audience, and it was just so funny, like you are one of those people like Kristin Wig, you know, like one of those SNL sketches where they fall out of character and you laugh and you just
lose it as an audience. And so we always could see that there was more raw Grant tenure to come. So it's been amazing that the Jungle and Dancing with the Stars, I mean, come on, he has allowed us to get to see a little bit more.
I know.
How weird is that you would ever ever thought that, you know, a comfortable old slipper like Daisy with the Stars would be the one thing that kind of paints me in a completely different picture or just.
Changes the way that I go about broadcasting forever. You know, what a pivotal moment, But I'm so glad it did happen. But you are right, I think for a lot of my career and I started really young, So I was sort of kicked off in television at about sixteen years of age, you know, and went up through the journalism ranks, and journalist knock's personality out of you. Also, it knocks your ability to communicate as a normal human to start using terms and phrases that you know, art a normal
way of communicating. Then I was young at say Channel ten or Channel seven, getting these big shows like Australia's Got Talent or It Takes Two and then all I was doing then I was still like the work experienced kid trying to prove to his bosses that he deserved to be here, you know where, you know, trying to dress up as an adult and act like a TV presenter rather than just being a TV presenter. So it's I guess we all do that in life, you know. You know, they say dress for the job you want,
not for the job that you've got. I was kind of doing that in my career, you know, I was I was acting like I should do. I was acting like for the job that I wanted, rather than just doing the job, you know, true to true to, true to heart. I was performing.
But that's the magic of you in lots of ways. I think, you know, you're Australia's favorite son in that way that we got to feel that, Like, I mean, I've been in your audience for an extremely long time. I'm showing my age, but I've been with you through that, watching you. And yeah, as I said, it's the magic of you was that you were kind of like, you know, off to your first job at school, you know, wanting to wanting you to do well. And I think that's been a part of the magic of you.
Yeah, I think that youthful excitement. And because I'm a I've alwayso been aware that this could all end tomorrow, Like I've picked the most difficult of career choices because there's so few jobs. Everything could fall over tomorrow. The industry could collapse, or you just might not ever get a job again, or you get a one show that fails, you might never be hired ever again. So I've always kept that in the back of my mind, which keeps
you appreciative of the opportunities that you got. But to be honest, I was really struggling to find the buzz again after doing Sunrise on seven because that, you know, allowed me to really push the envelope. You could do anything you wanted from wherever. And I was cheeky, I was naughty, I was stunty. I you know, we're doing big things. You know, you're wrestling crocodiles one day, or jumping out of a helicopter the next setting a Guinness
World Record for the world's largest tandem bungee jump or whatever. Right, But I really struggled after that because I was getting such a massive adrenaline hit every single day that when that stopped, I was how do I replace that? Like, what where do I get that from? So I you know, I could get it in motor racing, but when I decided not to continue being a professional racing car driver, I had a big hole that needed to be filled. And that was hard.
I can imagine. But I mean things are like snakes and ladders. I mean, even Dancing with the Stars. You started off as a competitor, then you were the host, you know, and then now you're back dancing again, and I'm sure we'll talk in years to come and you'll be back to being the host of this show. I mean, you're really only in the middle point of a person's career.
So it's the industry for people who are as good as what you are and how well you do, it means that we probably will see you replaced Aryl Summers the next time round.
Yeah, it's it's funny, you know, once you've done a show and then watching another host host your show is like watching someone else kiss your wife. It's really awkward, and it's not a nice feeling because you're like, I.
Can imagine, it's not it's.
Like, that's my baby, what are you doing in there? And so sometimes when you let go of the reins and someone else takes over, you sort of don't want it back. You feel like, no, you've just abused it, you know what I mean? I want I don't want. I don't want this show back with all your emotional luggage still in there.
I mean, I can imagine you watching Sonya Krueger having so much fun on this show in her role that you might be a little bit jealous, you know, you might want to snatch the microphone away from her hand. At times, You're absolutely.
Right, And it was when I was hosting the show, watching the other celebrities do it reminded me how wonderful the whole experience it is, and That's what sort of convinced me to do it as a dancer. Watching her have that much fun as a host kind of made me fall in love with the format all over again, because she is joyous, she's having the time of her life. She is pushing the envelope like she's making naughty gags, making us all laugh and hysterics. Makes it feel so
live and vibrant. And the best feeling, you know, that I will ever get in the world is, you know, a live television grand final. You just can't whether you're hosting it or whether you're in it. That's the that's the greatest kick I've ever received, you know, And that's I live for those moments and watching her do it, Yeah, you're right, is inspiring because she she's so alive in that role.
So alive, and she looks so good.
Like did you see that the jokement Todd made about her dress in the semi final She had this really short sort of mini minute steps on that was like it looked like a broken mirrors, like there's a glass as you left. To be careful down, you'll have to smile from both ends in that dress tonight and motom.
Oh my god, it made it onto The show was on Sunday night. It was last Sunday, And interestingly enough, I had I've had Todd and I've had Sonya on the podcast before, and both of them talked about their friendship and that they actually would nart it out, like they would work out a few jokes before turning up and be like, but I could say this, and then you could say that, And it was. And it's so
funny because their friendship is palpable. No matter how much it looks like they're having a go at each other, you know, the lover is still there. And it's just brilliant television. How some of her jokes or his have stayed in the final cut. They've had set some temble last year to edit them out.
Well that I thought, there's no chance that that GAG's stayin in there. I loved the gag, But like, that's that was straight out of the box, so to speak. This is the show had started, so like that's you're talking, that's seven oh four on Sunday afternoon. That's that's early, you know to be dropping that kind of material. But I you know, credit to the network and credit to the produces. What it does is it gives something for
the adults to make them laugh. You know, you tell the best television is when you run the Disney model right when there's something for the kids and there's a level for the adults. If you can do that well, then you're nailing entertainment. You know. That's that's that's that's the golden key, because you caters for everyone in every everyone in the audience, and I think if you don't do that, then you're neglecting your job as an entertainer.
One of the questions I was going to ask you was I was wondering how you went with Sam Mack. I mean, obviously you both have walked in similar roles, and then he wasn't an All Star. You know, he was coming back for the first time. So I'm assuming he was really nervous because as an audience, we were going to quickly compare the two of you. It's just natural.
What did you say to him? There's two things I've sort of said to him over the years. One is when he started the weather role, I said, mate, you're in for the time of your life, and I want you to enjoy this because it doesn't get any better. Like I said before doing whatever you want from where you want. This is the gig, the gig, so soak it up, enjoy it, but look for the warning signs. Listen to your body because it travel is the best
and the worst part about that gig. You know, you're in another part of the country, sometimes the world, every single day. So you you know, I had three hundred and fifty flights in Sorry, I had seven hundred and fifty flights in three and a half years. Seven hundred and fifty in three and a half years, so it's prolifics. I ignored all the signs. I was never good at
listening to my body. And you know, I was always focused on the next goal, the next race when you know, the next trophy, the next television gag, the next television gig, all of that, and I ignored what my body was doing. And it was shutting down, and I was running head on into a brick wall and I wasn't even aware of it. And I think that's why I broke my back in a monster truck. I don't think it was the accident so much as it was, you know, the
universe telling me to slow the hell down. So I just wanted to pass that on to him, to just say, there is a time limit on this gig, so just be mindful of that and if you get the balance right, you'll be okay. So we sort of had that frank chat and I'm glad because he's grabbed the role with both hands and he does an awesome job. But when he came on Dancing with the Stars, I could see that I don't know if he wanted to do it. I think he was either forced or asked, or I'm
not sure. He looked uncomfortable. From the very first photo shoot, I could see his hesitation, and, Mate, if you haven't danced before and everyone else has, like you are a hundred miles behind, because it's a grueling, difficult process and if you've done it before, you're already right up the road before you've even pulled your shoes on to start dancing.
So that was a big ask for him, but he played it beautifully because he just knew where his strengths were, which was in I'll just go total dork and laugh at myself and just just crack out the gags, and that's exactly what the show needed. You know, you've got to have that light and Shade wen't be falling apart and crying about our dead relatives all the time, you know, we had a mental breakdown. You need that, and he brought that in spades.
It felt to me like he was being his daytime job in Dancing with the Stars, you know what I mean. Like it felt like it was he got to be the weather man on Dancing with the Stars, and whilst he probably didn't dance as good as Grant Danya like, it still was very entertaining. Yeah, exactly.
I think the judges were a little annoyed that he was still playing that kind of weather character. I think they wanted more from him. I think they were a bit frustrated when they were trying to give him, you know, some tips and encouragement and he was just wanting to steal the first line or get the first gag out. I think that was frustrating them a little bit. You know.
I know that Paul mccurieo was a bit sort of annoyed by that, because this is an opportunity, you know, as you've seen, to show a completely different part of you, and I think they wanted that from him, and I don't think they got that. But the show got the laughs that we probably needed.
I mean, that's the type rope that you have to walk with making a show like this. If those judges aren't taking it as seriously as they need to, the show falls down a little bit. So they're holding it together and so if they're in their right to be probably a little bit annoyed if people aren't taking the competition as seriously as what they are expecting it to. Because then he.
Had no choice. That's exactly what he had to do, because there's no way he could have competed because it's not an even playing field. You know, we already had a massive head start. So he just read the playbook, well, read the room and thought, well, this is all I could do, so I'll do this.
Well, I'm really enjoying your podcast. It is all true with your wife, Sharz. I just think that you've both allowed your audiences a chance to really get to know you both in different ways, and it's just such a fun podcast. Interestingly enough, you do mention it that you guys don't plan what you're going to say, and you're trying to be as natural, but surely with what you put into each episod. So this podcast. You must have some parameters. What are the parameters of a husband and
wife on a podcast like this? Because my partner would never do it. I've been with him for twelve years. He'd leave me before I'd even finish the sentence. Do you want to do a podcast with me? I?
End of right?
What about you? Now? What end scene? End whole relationship?
But you, I'm I mean, parameters are something we should have done. We should have sat down and drawn out, Okay, what's too far? What's what's where are the boundaries? Where are the no go zones? We didn't do that. And this was also me being again trying to figure out I wasn't enjoying how I had been previously broadcasting. I thought it was just too stiff, too serious, not fun enough, not honest enough. And we're in a different era of
communication as well. Now we're all communicating very differently than we were five years ago. So I said to Shares, I will do it on the provisor that I have no idea what we're doing. I don't want to organize it, I don't want any I don't want to mind my life for top. You know, I've done breakfast radio where it's a job to have to remember childhood stories or something that happened to your kid, or and your kid
put their finger up the dog's bum. And I've done that where you had to write all those down and deliver them the next day in the radio. And that was it was. That was heavy going. That was hard because every time I mind my life for material, it was a great segment, but that took a lot of energy, and then it would get written about and in the newspapers and then so I felt like it was a job. So I said, I don't want it to feel like that at all.
So you do it.
Let's not figure out what we're going to do and doing fresh record and Chess has a little bit of an idea where she might want to go about, oh, let's let's talk about that time, you know, we vomited in the bathroom at gold class or whatever, and but yeah, I have I have no idea what we're doing, and it's kind of it keeps it loose and it keeps it fun for me.
You know, I'm often I'm often talking to the speaker, and I there's still a lot of podcasts because I feel like, if you want to be good at something, you immerse yourself in it. If you're a writer, you read a lot. So I'm a podcaster. I podcast a lot, and I'm often having you guys. And there's a break between the first series and second series. I was disappointed with that, but you're back, and I would sit. It's the only podcast I can think of where I talk
to the speaker. I don't think there's any other podcast where I do it. I feel like I'm allowed to join your conversations. You guys don't talk back, but like this the last podcast I listened to, And maybe there's more, and maybe I'm not a true fan, but the last one I listened to, I remember hypothetically, what would Grant
Dan you do as his next job? And the guys were pushing you into musicals, and then they were like trying to work out who you would be in Jesus Christ Superstars, and so I was like, Jesus, you would be Jesus like that. I love that musical. And I love that nineteen ninety two musical so much that you got one of the musicians wrong at one point, and I also yelled at the speaker, that's not job, that's
the wrong guy anyway. But I thought you would be so good as Jesus in that Jesus Christ Superstars sort of rock format, and it was funny to me that you didn't know.
That's very kind of you to say that. However, John Farnham played Jesus. Now, one thing I've learned about my career is you always replace someone that is worse than you, right, because that's the way to win. Okay, you don't mate. You don't try and replace Farnham because you're going to fall a long way down. And because I'm about not over promising and under delivering, I underpromise and over deliver. Right, you can't do that if you get the Jesus role.
For starters, and John Farnham was the previous guy because he's insane in that.
Well, I'll tell you he was actually a really good friend of my father's. So we went to the musical when it was live. I watched it a few times, and I was young too, I was twelve. But the first night that it launched, I sat next to Jill, who's John's wife, and Jill was so shocked that John was standing there for that first half, not saying anything and not fidgeting. Because John's the biggest figure of all time, like me and san Cel, and he didn't think he
could play that role. And so I think enough time has gone past and the fact that you are a little bit hesitant, and wouldn't we all be to play Jesus? Yeah, you know, I think it's something that should be there. And I've always thought that you would be great in a musical, and I almost feel like that would be so amazing for us as an audience to be able to see that theatrical side of you. So I definitely think that door should still be wide open to play Jesus or to be in a music.
Can I just play Baby Jesus? Would that be okay? Can I just be in a manger the right size? Put a dummy in my math and I can just sit there and just enjoy the music. I'm curious about musicals because I love music. You know, I'm a closet guitarist. I play the drums. You know, I've done some singing lessons. I put out two songs and one of them got to Top five, the top five for about forty seconds. It was for charity.
But what was this I don't remember that.
It was a song called Driving Home for Christmas, which is an old Chris Reea song which I heard of, but I did it for the drought when Australia was going through those three years of the worst drought then living memory, like yeah yeah, And so I did a fundraising one for Rural Aid and I sang the song and it's you know what. I was surprised. I was wonderfully surprised.
Always the best moments where you're like I was good.
Because I was terrified, mate, and I'd never sung in front of anyone. That's the scariest thing in the world is to sing in front of someone else. So I went to singing lessons. In fact, it was Sean Farnon's backing singer Lindsay who taught me how to sing beautiful man, Wow, great details voice in the world, loveliest man. And so I was just when I was making family Fit in Melbourne, I'd fly down and during my days when I wasn't filming, I'd do singing lessons. And then I sort of got
to put it into this driving Home for Christmas. And then I did one other dirty banger, which is which was I want to Kiss You all over? Well, I want to kiss you well, yeah, you love that, mate, and it's it's pretty. It's pretty. My kids put it on all the time when we drive to school.
It's funny, and then they go to school and sing that yah worst father ever.
It's I've always loved that song. And then when the idea came to do it, I was like, that is so not me that I absolutely have to do this. And my kids are like, I love this song, Dad. This is about kissing Mum, isn't it, Like yep, yep, That's about Dad's love for mom. That's what this song is all about.
And they love it and they love it. The last thing I was going to say, we just go back it because I feel like it's my job as a podcast that I rope us back in because we obviously could talk about this embarrassing stuff. Ever, But at this point of the competition, can you just tell me who you think is going to win? Because, like I I feel like it's between you and Courtney, between you and Shame. But I mean, who do you think is going to take this competition out?
Ricky Lee is her little face when she dances is glorious, lack. I could just watch her perform singing dance because she just has something infectious about her and she has an enormous following. Everyone loves her. I think you don't need to be the Often the best dancer doesn't win this competition. I wasn't the best answer when I want it. Back in two thousand and six, Toby from Human Nature was he was far better technically for me than me. He
applied himself more than I did at the time. But I just had a little bit of I do sort of one fun, one serious, one cheeky, one serious, and I kind of just that was my only sort of tactic back then, whereas this time I was like, no, I'm going to put the yards in. If I finish this competition, I want to know that I left every single ounce of blood, sweat and tears in the dance law and that's what I did. Courtney's my father. The best dancer. Ricky Lee, I think is the most magnetic,
and I don't know what I have to offer. Yeah, I sort of feel like in those three there, I.
Think it's going to be And those three, I mean, unless Abby Chatfeld enters late into the competition and pips you at the post, you know.
I still the day that that snake bitter In the semi final of I'm a Celebrity, to get me out of here because boy, George I did wonders for her votes.
How ridiculous one of the contestants been bitten by a snake, so now she wins. Not that we're bitter, Not that we're bitter.
I was like, I'm dead, I've gone, well.
Before I let you go. One thing I always ask everybody who joins the podcast is what is something from behind the scenes that were as an audience might appreciate that we didn't get to see. What's something from behind the scenes. They've dancing with the stars, all stars that were as an audience didn't get to see. Maybe not anything from that boat party that you had at the very.
End that was fun. I'll tell you what. That boat party that I organized at the end was the scariest day of my life because I'd organize us all to kind of God, you put so much work and we're doing eleven hours a day, right, So I thought, at the end of all of that hard work, let's have a day at the harbor, celebrate each others, have a good time, and dancers can drink. Man particularly the Russian ones.
I thought, if anyone falls overboard or drowns and dies, that's on me because I organized this, so I barely touched the glass. I had one half strength Champagne No. I had two half sprint strength strength Champagnes and one half strength Mehito. Over about eight hours, that was it. Because I just I felt like I was the school teacher who was responsible for the school excursion and all the kids were naughty like it was. It was not an enjoyable day for me. But you never been done.
I'm imagining because it's your boat that you have like a life saving outfit. You have the ring ready to throw ready, I'm ready to save anyway. I think that's the best story that you could possibly have set from behind the scenes, because I don't think many people know that you threw an after party for it. If everyone survived, I would let the.
Mum of a slumber party, who's who clearly didn't want anyone to reckonny of the furniture or break any of the vases, or not stay up late. I became that person, which is also not me, But I just I love those guys too much. I didn't want to see anybody get into cells into any trouble because I had a feeling that paparazzi might have been around, and sure enough they were, and sure enough they cover, and sure enough trouble, isn't you.
Yeah, you must get so annoyed with the magazines. I mean not that we I mean we're laughing that. I just must just when everyone's after you anyway, that's a completely intert story, and we're going off on long chat. That's a longer chat. That's a different podcast as well, because I reckon I'm the right person for it. But thank you so much for being able to take the time out and have a chat and talk about the show. And I'll be forever in your audience, so you know, keep it up.
That was lovely. I really enjoyed this. Thanks. Thanks mate that it was nice to reminisce about some cool stuff and talk about some hard stuff too. Appreciate it.