It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast plat deep that line. Welcome back, guys to TV Reload. My name, as you may know, is Benjamin Norris, and this is your podcast to get all the insight goss on the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known about how our favorite shows
get made. Each episode, I've been finding guests that want to dive just that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast however you've found it. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a review
or a comment on your chosen podcast platform. On today's pod, I'm lucky enough to be chatting to this year's shock eliminated celebrity Ian Dicko Dixon from Network Tens. I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here. Ian Dixon is one of Australia's biggest TV personalities who has been asked every year to enter the jungle, and this year at Sea, the money was right and so the former shock judged a lighted fans by signing up and taking on the challenge.
Dicko certainly opened up and spilled the beans throughout his jungle journey, and while I do think we got to see a new perspective on the man behind the headlines, he has been overshadowed by some of the other celebrities competing for that very coveted jungle crown. I will talk about that controversial spat between Kerry Ann and Dominica and get Dicko's perspective on what he thinks really went down.
Dicko will also get a chance to respond to claims that happened this week that he tried to out Anthony Klear on Australian Idol. I will talk to Dicko about gameplay and if he thinks maybe acting up to the cameras could have backfired in the end. Plus, we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes if I'm a Celebrity twenty twenty three, which is absolutely delighting fans on Network ten, which you can now catch up on
ten Play at your convenience. Anyway, let's bring Dicko into the podcast, and Hey, I really hope you enjoyed this revealing episode of TV reload. Good to see you. There you go, Ben, don't you think this is really funny? We have gone full circle and people are referring to your shock elimination as the Ricky Lee moment of the season.
That's what I'm calling it, too, Like, Look, I don't know. I kind of realized I couldn't go deep into this show because I don't do social media. I've run away from TV a few years ago, and I'm an old kid, so I didn't think i'd go all the way. I thought I maybe have lasted one or two more shows.
But to be honest, I'm quite had to go. All of those people in the jungle that are still there are fabulous, and there was a day, Look about four days ago, I hate a little bit of a rough patch and started to feel like I was out of my depth. But I didn't belong anymore. So maybe I've used up all of my energy in those early episodes and it was time to go. So I've got no problem, and I do leave with a huge sense of gratitude. And I feel super calm, so all he's good with the world. Ben.
The last time that we spoke, we were talking about whether or not you would do the show, and you did say to me that the money has never been right, and they had asked you every year. So I'm assuming that this money was either catastrophic or you thought to yourself, hey, why not Australia misses me.
So either they gave me a rockstar check or I've spent all my money on the Pokeys so and I'm hard up. No, look what it was. Something stirred in me this year and I thought, I've been spending the last six years trying to become a normal person again and wash the idea of fame out of my hair. And I think I've finally got to the point where I no longer require the validation of profile, and I can't really use it anymore because I just manage artists.
Now I'm back in music and I'm loving what I'm doing it really, it makes me feel so grateful that these young artists allow me to drive their careers and it just fills me with so much joy that I just I don't need profile. I don't want it. I don't want to be on TV, and it's because I
didn't need it. I thought it was safe to go back and do it, especially a show like this where I'm away from Australia, and because I'm on it and it's live, I don't need to watch it and see any of the press or any of the nonsense that goes with it. So it felt like the perfect opportunity to get away at Plus, there was a little bit of sharden for it inside of me that thought, how wonderful it would be for my artist to tune into the show on a Sunday night and go what he
isn't a jungle? What a bastard he didn't tell us? So yeah, they would have been trying to wring me for days, not getting hold of me, working out ingenious ways to sack me, and then I end up in the jungle. So I can't wait to speak to them to see if I've been fired well.
And now they need you more than ever. You know, you keep saying that you has been and all the rest of it, but you're still making news headlines. And coincidentally, yesterday before your shock elimination, there was a news article which, by the way, you and I were both in and it was about Anthony Klea. Have you read the newspaper since you did.
Some I did some press when I got out of the show, and a few people brought up the fact that he referenced me for trying to out him on Australia. And look, the fact is I did it for the right reasons because I've always been I used to be called a fag hag. Now I think you use the term queer adjacent. And I've always enjoyed my sisters in the gay community. I've had I've always had special relationships.
And also working with Simon Carr's boy band, there was always a gay guy that we had to keep quieting the boy band, but we managed that to make sure that they had enough sex and keep their private life, you know, to themselves, and keep their career going. So I felt that we were adept as an industry dealing with secretly at artists. So that's why I gave him the offer, and he, obviously, you know, he rejected that
and said I'm not gay. And now he said that I shouldn't have done it, And to be honest, he's right. I had no right. I've got no one's got any right to insist that someone should be at the closet let alone, a privileged white guy, white straight guy. And look, he came from the right. I felt it came from the heart and for the right reasons. But really he's right to call me out on it. It's no one's business but that person. And I'll take that on the chin.
And he's he's absolutely right, you know, And I'm glad. I'm so glad that he's out in one of Australia's big gay power couples because him and Tim are amazing. They do a lot of great work, you know that they're fabulous together and Anthony's still kicking goals. But he's so much happier now being a gay man. And I guess that's why I was trying to tease him out a little earlier. But again it just wasn't It wasn't for me to do that. So he's he's absolutely right to call it out.
Well, I think it's fair enough for me to jump in and say I think of you as the og fanghag of Australia because I met you before I even had any notoriety at the Logis. One year with Mel your partner, and you know you didn't know that. I mean, she didn't know who I was. I didn't know who mel was. We just started talking at the bar and she just looked at me and she said, do you know who is going to love you?
My partner?
And dragged me over to you and then we stood there and had like a big chat. And like, you could not have been more supportive of the queer community back in the day, well before it was even popular to be an ally, you were so supportive.
Yeah. Look's when I was first in the record industry in London. I was at Sony Music and we had there was there was a there was a gang of gay guys who were just uber fabulous. They were always had the most outrageous rank sense of humor, they and they were just they they all pushed the party to new levels and I just was I just gravitated to this gang in a way that they are just opened
to my eyes to so many things. And it was in the eighties and in the late eighties, and I lost two or three of them to eight and it was tragic, and I'm going to cry. It was a tough time. But through all of that, it was just a fabulous community finding its pride and I couldn't get enough of it. I could not get enough of it. And ever since, you know, it's just been it's been something I've always gravitated towards. I've got my girls have got so many gay uncles and they love that.
And I always wanting to clear up because if anyone's looking for some clarity on the situation, I just wanted to make sure there was something in the zeitgeist about how supportive you had been. And I knew quite a bit of your backstory because you shared it the first time that we ever spoke, and so so I know that, and so I just hope that people out there can see it, you know. I also I want I'll get to the jungle in a second, but I also want
to ask you. Australian Idol it came back and we had the reboot of it, and I felt like it really did miss you and Marsha particularly. I think having Harry Connick Junior and Meghan Trainer I think was a bit of a mistake. I think it would have been
better to have you and Marsha back. What are your thoughts on that show and do you think It probably would have been more successful if we had the nostalgirama of having you back and seeing what you've been up to and how you fit into the media these days.
Look, Ben, there's a lot from packing that question. Let's take this one by one. Firstly, they shouldn't have brought the show back. In my opinion, I think it was a mistake. I think they tried to reanimate a corpse but didn't want to be reanimated. The World's moved on. Idol was of its time and it was pretty special, but the World's moved on from there. And what made Idol special really was the fact that, you know, it was a slice of ritual humiliation as well as the
celebration of talent. And if you're not going to invite the nutters and give them a bit of a dressing down, to be honest, that was part of its charm. I know it's not terribly politically correct to say that, but ritual humiliation was part of that format. And if it's not going to have that, it's just a poor it's a poor shadow of what it used to be. Now, should they have invited me, Mark and marsherback, or any
of us, probably not they were banging the drums. Seven was about this being the youth format that was going to save their year or build their year. Are you really going to put two confused seventy year olds and a bitter and twisted sixty year old to front your youth format. I mean that's kind of a big call,
isn't it. You know, so I can understand why they would go for something a little with a bit more sheene like Harry conneg Junior and Meghan trainer and look, and I was really happy telling everyone that would listen that I've been replaced by Meagan and Harry. But that's just a dad joke. Look, I did manage to watch a little bit of a couple of episodes. I didn't think the talent was great. And the other thing is I didn't think Kyle was being himself because Kyle couldn't
be himself on that show. Nobody wants to bastard on that show anymore. No one wants someone to be an asshole and give kids to serve. You know, we've moved into a new paradigm where everybody gets a rosette for turning up and the body chance is really low. It
was hard telling people the truth to their face. But if I'm really honest, once you get the whiff of blood in your nostrils, you get used to it and you realize it makes the show tick and makes the show rate as long as you can live with yourself, happy days for everyone. And look at the other thing is like, you know, I feel a little bit sorry for some of those kids on the first Idol who turned up and got to serve, But from then on
in it, I think it was fair game. It used to rate two and a half million an episode on Sunday Night, which is massive, you know. And if you turn off on that second show and you queue up for two days, go through three auditions before you go before the judges, and they tell you your shit to your face, then you should have fucking watched the first series.
And the other thing was I would go out and there'd be these this distraught sixteen year old weeping into a shit outfit with all of their friends and family for racing me as I was trying to go for a piece, saying you don't know what you're after, you haven't got a clue, to which I'd say, look, I'm prepared to accept that your daughter is tone deaf, but you can't all be fucking tone depth.
One of you tellers that Reality TV in front of two and a half million people on a Sunday night was probably not the best way to test their ship voice.
You know, I think you are one of the best team personalities that we've ever seen in this country. Maybe that says more about me than it does about anything else. But I've always felt if people I don't understand why people can't handle your truth, because essentially you're definitely not a bad guy. I know that from behind the scenes, you're literally just calling it as it is. And why do we need to be wrapped in cotton wool?
We just do these days? It's this is Look, this is going to sound contentious, but I don't mean it too because I really think we need to take mental health seriously. But I also think taking mental health seriously does not mean using mental health as an umbrella get out of jail card just because you're being a bit fucking sad. And I think if you want to talk about something, be specific, talk about what's ailing you and
let's talk it through. But the amount of time I hear young people using the term mental health without getting specific. I just feel a little bit suspicious by it, and maybe that's in fact, that's because I'm a dinosaur and an insensitive one. Is key buzzwords these days that seem to take the place of real communication and understanding of a particular moment or a situation. It's almost like you can hold the card up and go, ah, okay, well we can't go there.
I want to jump in here and say something because I only have you for a limited time, and I feel like the dicko that I'm getting today. Maybe you're just giving me what you know I want, because you know I'm mad for this shit. But I don't know whether or not this dicko that you are that I've met a couple of times in real life is the dicko we've just been watching on the show. Did you
try and PG yourself on this show? Did you try and PC yourself and give us a watered down version to act up to the cameras in some way?
No, look, I didn't look. There was a lot of love in that camp. I didn't need to drag this person's look. It's funny. Liz and I had a laugh very early on. Liz and I got very very close, and every now and then I would arc up and have a little bit of narkiness and she say, you're all right, And I said, look, I just think there's a cunt inside of me that has to run free like a horse in the field every now and then, and I call it Trigger. And we had a laugh.
And every time I would arc up again, she would say, just Trigger need a run in the field. I said, I think so, So I'm going to have to go to the long Drop and have a sheet instead and in the Rhonda Birchmore Memorial Long Drop. But yeah, look, it's to be honest, Ben, you didn't see this sticker because there was a lot of love in that camp and it was so beautifully cast. It wasn't cast for conflict. It was cast for meaningful relationships and great conversations that
were held with respect. So I think we were allowed to move into some contentious issues but maintain the respect. And I didn't want to go in there swashbuckling. There was one person on bodied heads with time and time again who was done. But do you know what if there were two people built for conflict in that camp, he was me and Dom She's from maths and I'm the asshole from Australian Idol, and we know how to do that to not take it personally and to hug
you ass which we did virtually every day. So we always had a love hate relationship throughout that. But I really respect her. She's whip smart, she knows who she is, and she's really good trading off that and leveraging it. So she's great. She's superb for this. But no, I wasn't look i'd be telling her lie. I did edit myself a little bit, but it wasn't because I was scared to go there. It's because I didn't want to
spoil the tea party everyone. There was so much love there that I didn't want to introduce any knockiness just for the sake of it. You know. I just didn't think that's what we were there for. I think we were there for a loving and to have some great conversations and eat the odd zebra testicle. That's all the.
Question I have for you about this conflict in conflict on television and talking about DOM, I kind of feel like, you know, that whole DOM showdown with CAC must have been censored because considering the cacs now come out saying that she needs therapy based on the conflict that happened between Dom and carry Anne. What what's your take on that? What really happened for And do you think that Karyen Kelly needs to go and get therapy after that showdown that you witnessed.
I can't tell you whether Kerry and Kelly needs therapy or not. I not. What I do know is Kerry's grieving for Cary's grieving for John. And I don't know if entrying the jungle was the wisest mom for her.
And did you say that to her though? Did you pull it because your mates with her?
Yeah? I did. We had a conversation about this where I just don't think I just don't think she understood what she was getting into. And I don't think she understood the importance of feeding the camp and what those styles meant to people and everyone else did so. I think her saidfastly refusing to get a hands thirty in some of these some of these trials just looked a little bit short sighted on her and a team.
But Dom must have gone too far. At the same time, I mean, what are your thoughts?
You don went way too far and you're absolutely right to pick it. She did say some things that didn't make the edit, and that's really Dom should have handled herself a lot better, but Kerry looked for to be fair, carry Anne was going. You know, I sat there with a ringside seat and carry Anne did not read the room terribly well. And as we all know, don can go from north to gremlin in fist seconds. And she was poking the bear. Carry was poking the bear and
the bear bit back, you know. But yeah, it didn't stop there. There was some stuff they couldn't show on the live fee because it's Sunday night primetime show, and it was fucking awesome.
Would the show rate if we got to see Watson all I'm a celebrity or do we need to say, comboya you.
Can't show the sea bomb on Sunday night television. You can't. That's mount everest. I don't think Dom handles herself terribly well. It was you know, it was a spectacular blow up and I know it probably caused earthquakes in the control room when it happened, and the look on Julia and Chris's face was unbelievable. They had wavyline smiles like the ABC logo, and Paul Wood in front of me was just chewing down on a q DO testicle while it was all going on. It was the most bizarre thing.
But you can't show that on primetime. I mean, who's going to do that? And what's the point They showed the blow up. They didn't need to show the full profanity, but I'm neither am I going to take that to my brave you know. I mean, it happened in front of me, and it was spectacular and.
It's your story to tell, yeah, exactly.
And also I was involved, so I can't get canceled.
You can't get canceled you're not on social media, and you don't ever show I've read the bumper stickers.
Of your life. So for me, it was just it was just a brilliant ringside seat to the SmackDown. But there was a subtext there, which was you know, the you know, the elder stateswoman of TV, you know was staring and you know, the upstart reality TV peasants who's banging on the door saying, I'm taking what's yours. So that that was a wonderful fund off between you know, he showed the shifting plates of the entertainment landscape. It was amazing.
This is the best to go question when it comes to who's going to win this thing? Who wants it and who needs it? And who's going to get it?
Who wants it? Don wants it? Probably Don wants it most. I think she's the one who's who's the most outspoken. She's the one who's verbalizing it. But she flip flops between send me home, I need to see my dog Millie, and I can go all the way, so's she's like Sybil in ten minutes. Who needs it? I think I
think those kids need it. Asha Dom and Aisha Dom, Harry and Nathan can all use this the trajectory there are now in the velocity that they will get shut out of this format at great speed, that they can use that to really bed themselves into the next level of fame and achievement. Who is going to win it? I think it's going to be Liza Less because she's just the most spectacular quality human being, an amazing leader,
which smart, funny, wicked sense of humor. But she's got this kind empathy and an innate sense of reading two steps ahead of every argument and steering it where it needs to go. And she's just so well equipped to take that camp where it needs to be, but to bring it Australia along on the ride too. She's a deeply, deeply impressive person and she's gonna win it. Now.
Everyone who joins the podcast gets asked this question, what is something from behind the scenes, something that we did not see that we might appreciate, kind of like a bit of a behind the scenes secret of what it's like to make on a celebrity.
Okay, our corner myself Woody and was named me saying corner because with all of those beans for lunch, it was just a wet and windy night every night in that corner of the camera, and there was like a purple haze just existing above our sleeping bags that looked like will of the Wist.
By the Flint and Casey Albert.
I know now, if we'd have had that on the first night, we'd have lit in the fuck by it. I can tell.
You, Dicka, I kind of begin to tell you how much how thankful I am that you said yes to doing this show and how much I love you on television.
Well, thank you, Ben, but you need to fucking get out last time. I always loved you on Big Brother.
I need to do more, but you know what, when the time is right, the time is right, something will come along.
Always a pleasure, Darling. It's nice to spread to you.
I love chatting with you.