Phil Burton - DANCING WITH THE STARS - Singer

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast plat Deep That.

Life and welcome back guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside 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

Thank you, Ben, Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Was it a shock to take this out because I mean the competition this year was pretty tough.

Yeah, it was a shock, I have to be honest, you know.

Of course, for the last few weeks, Emily and I had both known that one of us was going to win it because we'd filmed us both, you know, coming to the front of the final two, but we didn't actually know which one of the two of us was going to take it out from there. So for the last sort of six weeks or so, I think both of us have just been on tenor hooks, just waiting.

To figure it out.

But the beautiful thing was we actually were together last night watching the final together. Emily organized to get together, a lot of the cast came along and we were all hanging out watching it on a projector screen in a pub in Sydney, and Emily and I stood there arms around each other watching the final result, and it couldn't have ended in.

A more beautiful way. That's the fact that we were together. And I think in the end, no matter which one of.

Us won, I think any of the competitors that were on there can look back with pride and say, you know what, together we made an amazing TV show.

You know what I think is really interesting about filming multiple endings. Apart from you know, it's a safety thing that I think that they do, it actually works really well because you get this response from both people being quite supportive of the other person winning. You know what I mean, Like, you get this yes, of course it's you, that's so great, and then they're like, roll tape go again, and then the other person's like, of course it's you.

And and funnily enough, even going back in the series before that, when we all got together, all of the different celebs and the partners, the pro dancers, there was very little competition amongst the amongst the group. Backstage, there was almost like basically none. Everyone was so supportive of each other and we were there was the amount of hugs that were going around backstage was just ridiculous. So

And it feels like you're just done this incredible ride together.

And so when you look back and see the TV show that we made, like I said before, I think no matter whether you came first, or whether you were the first person voted out and or anyone in between, you could just look at what we made together and feel so proud of what we did.

Well.

Home and Away contestants are really hard for you to beat. I don't know if you know this. There's a bit of a track record with this show where it's like, Okay, there's a Home and Away guy, there's a Home and Away girl. Everyone's going to have to up the anti. I was wondering, did you think that she was the one to beat? I mean, who out of this competition did you think was your strongest competition.

Before the competition started, Just from name alone, I thought that the competition, the main competition was going to be Christie whel and Brown because she's big in the musical theater scene, and in the musical theater you have to know how to dance, so I thought that she was going to be really, really great. I also thought Paulini was going to be fantastic just from her background of

But I didn't realize that Emily was such a great package.

I knew she was a great actress, but I didn't know that she had that dance background that she'd had and was really comfortable with the rhythm and the steps. So she came through as a bit of a surprise package for me. But from her very first dance you could tell it was like, Oh, no, she's really great.

She's going to be really good in this competition.

Well, it's one of those competitions that I think does well with the audience because we are watching you, guys learn more about yourself than you've ever realized before. I mean, apart from the moves. What did you learn about yourself during this experience that made it so rewarding?

Oh?

I think, you know, being a performer on stage, A lot of artists and creative types have this thing called imposter syndrome where they feel like what they're doing is never good enough and that someday someone is going to expose them for the fraud that they think they are. It's a really common thing amongst performers that have their insecurity, and of course I've got it. So I've got that anxiety.

To just stop.

The show always happen, I mean, those things can happen so well. The thing is also it's like going in the ocean and just being constantly anxious that you're going to get bit in my shark. It's okay, yeah, it could happen, but the chances are so minimal that it's not worth worrying about.

And I think that's something I felt in this show, was that level of self confidence where I can go out on stage and say it's going to be okay. I'm doing something that I've never done before. I've never danced with a partner before, I've never danced or in before. I've never had to grab someone and walk around like that, and you know, in front of TV cameras and millions of people at home, so to have that confidence be instilled in me and to know that I did it well,

I know what I'm doing.

I've prepared, That's the main thing I've prepared and that's going to help me through this.

So yeah, like I said, it's kind of life changing in your way.

I love this for you. I mean, we all think you know human nature. We've grown up with you guys, so we just assumed that you guys have been doing this for so long you'd be confident, maybe even a little bit arrogant. But this has really shown you that you have this inside you and you can do something like this, which is powerful.

Yeah.

And I think being a part of a group with three other guys, there's always been that protection around me and around the other three guys as well of knowing that there's three other people on stage that have got your back when you're out there performing a solo or a lead line, as you've always got that help and support. So taking that away and it's just me I mean I had Ashley, who was the most amazing partner, like incredible dancing and incredible teacher. She brought out so much

I'm on stage, I'm good enough as me. Yeh? Does that make sense? And I'm not saying I'm not in any way saying oh I don't.

Need the other three guys, because when it comes to human nature, that's what we are. We're four guys putting each other on stage and that's always going to be that way. But when I'm out on stage without them, I know that what I've got is still strong enough.

This isn't your Robbie Williams moment where you announce that you're going solo.

Absolutely.

I do have some solo shows coming up that I'm doing that start in September and go through to early next year, and I can't wait to do those shows. They're going to be really exciting. But that for me is branching out and still having Human Nature as a very much an ongoing concern. I'm actually the guys are out here again next week and we're all together touring for two weeks, so can't wait for.

That as well.

Was it true that your manager suggested that all of the Human Nature boys took part in the competition and competed against each other? Have I mean, sometimes these things happen behind the sides.

Is that talent doesn't know? That's brand new? I didn't know that. Is that true? Well?

I heard that your your manager is a female. She's a woman, is Jim. Yeah, So she was asked, you know, for a time check, availability check, which happens for these sorts of shows, and she said, I want all the boys to do it separately and compete against each other. Wouldn't that be fun?

That's an explosive of that this, I guess. Yeah, I mean, if you actually haven't heard that. I don't know. Yeah, maybe she did.

I guess that's those backroom discussions that the actual performer doesn't hear about. That's like, I'll leave that to the manager. So I'm not sure what discussion she had. If that was one of them, that would would be really interesting, wouldn't it.

Yeah, put the phone call in and be like, is this guy that I did a podcas with crazy? Or is there some triff Jim?

What's going on now?

Funnily enough, that would be be a strange one because, like I said before, the backstage feeling was very much there was no competition amongst any of the competitors. Backstage, it was all about putting on a great show together and being proud of what we've done. So if you put the four of us in the mix, I guess we've always supported each other backstage before we go on any show, it's always been us as a team. So to go out there as four separate performers, it would

It's wow, that's really It would have been really interesting. I think it would have been really interesting to see that happen. And I did hear that the conversations were what a fantastic idea. We would love that, But then it would just become sort of the human nature addition of Dancing with the stars. So I think that.

Maybe that is next Dancing the Stars, the human nature edition. We were up against the wig On family feud once. Oh yeah, yeah, maybe.

What if we're Yeah, we won, which was good, but imagine that, like if you had like the four of us and then you had the four Wiggles and that was your thing, the dancing with the stars, the human nature and versus the Wiggles.

I don't know why, but I think this sounds so exciting, and if anyone's listening to this, make that happen.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, go on Human Nature and the Wiggles.

How different was this kind of dancing? And I'd really appreciated you in your final dance doing some of those signature moves that we'd seen from Human Nature. It was sort of pulling a story together. But how different is learning this kind of dance compared to that choreography that you would have been learning.

Over the years.

Got way way different, like more different than I even expected. I thought going into this that the experience of knowing well the pop dancing that do with human nature and the boy band stuff and then the motown things. I knew that I would learn the steps quickly, and I knew that I had that sense of rhythm, but I I didn't realize just how small a part of borroom

Yeah, sure she's going to.

Get the melody and the lyrics right, but it's not going to sound like an opera song.

No. No, I think you're right. I mean it is very true that, and I think that's why you can have Paulini, and we can have you. We can have people, and Christy will and Brown, we know we can have people who have experience with stage, but it's still other world to be able to put something like this which is so complex and completely out of your warehouse just as much as anyone else.

That's right.

And even someone like Virginia Gay who came into the competition going, you know, I can't dance.

Yeah, I cannot dance.

And but then the dancing that she did, oh my god, she knows how to sell it. She is a born show person absolutely and knows how to get out there and perform. So the dance steps, whether they were complicated or simple, or difficult or easy for her, that actually, in the end didn't matter.

As much as just how good a show she put on. Her and her partner Ian.

They were so perfectly suited, and she said, looked amazing.

They really did so much.

I heard that she ran away with her dress as well. She was so she loved that outfit so much. She was like, I'm sexy, and she was like, I said, I'm taking you home with me.

Yeah, I probably got it out that, yeah, run away with it.

No, I love Virginities And like I said, she's a born performer, and she did, goingtous so brilliantly.

Yeah, you were.

The only bloke left in the competition for the finale, which is quite unachievement. But this is I want to unpack this thing with you because I think it's quite interesting. Do you think that men often have less rhythm than women? Or is it a confidence thing? Why do you think that you were the only male left in the competition.

I think men sometimes they have to break through an awkwardness, and that's something I guess it's not a generational thing, but what I like, an innate thing that they still Maybe people are slowly starting to break out with that gender fluidity that you know a lot of gen zs and everything. Now they're just so comfortable with being gender fluid and talking about that, you know, and getting rid of those stereotypes, which I think is amazing.

I think for people my age and.

Maybe up, like from maybe thirty and up, it's still there is that innate sense of boys don't dance.

I was thinking about this quite a bit because I was watching you throughout the whole season, and I'm thinking, do straight men have an issue in twenty twenty three about worrying that they're looking camp and that there's that connotation of looking camp? And maybe being gay. I don't know is a native.

Yeah, I think there's probably is still that little bit of discomfort. And I'm not saying that any of the competitors in the show had that heads, but it's it's something almost innate. I think that it's something that men do have to break through at times. Is that that feeling of is this masculine enough?

Is what I'm doing? Is it emasculating in any way?

And I'm here to tell you it's absolutely not, because I mean, let's be honest, I was pressed up against a beautiful female for eight weeks and really there's nothing.

I know where you're going with this, you know, I.

Think're masculating about that in the slightest.

So she looked good, she looked good.

Amazing, actually was amazing, And you know the experience of that was it was just pure joy, It really was. And I think that if there were any men out there watching the show hopefully, I mean, look at someone like James, who's like the most seriously like masculine, look like he's ripped, like you wouldn't believe he's he's so he's an elite athlete. You don't get more masculine than someone like James maguson who can get out there and do these beautiful war wltz's with Natalie and look amazing

There was nothing feminine about it at all.

It was just he looked so powerful because he was quite graceful, and he did it so well. So if there's any men out there that are listening now thinking, oh no, I could never do that.

It's not my thing.

You know, it's too girly for me, Oh bullshit, get out there and do it. It's just amazing.

I thought with you, though, Phil, this is what was so impressive about it was that I watched you give yourself up to it like and that was kind of why to me you got as far as you did in the competition. Yes, you probably took on some moves that were probably not that familiar to you, but your accessibility of that, you still looked like a masculine man,

You know what I exactly?

I think that I was lucky enough with me performing with human nature from being so young.

You know, it started when I was fifteen years old.

That whole thing of masculine feminine disappeared for me at a very early age because we were up. We were up performing and dancing on stage when we were fifteen sixteen years old during a time when we were at a school that was full of farm kids and country kids and sporting kids, sporting boys and stuff who looked at us as if we were the campus most effeminate boys in the school and really told us. They weren't afraid to tell us that either. All that crap got

I'm here for it. I'll be getting up every morning just to watch that dance to get me going in the day. Your dance and that finale is the new coffee.

Thank you, thank you hich is Suddenly enough, that's kind of doesn't quite work out for me, because that.

Dance nearly killed me, It really did. I needed to lie down after that dance.

James said to me. He was like, I'm going to miss the spray cands. He was like, I'm not going to miss that red gumby outfit that he was wearing. He said, that can totally be thrown away. But I wanted to ask you, what are you going to miss about this whole experience. You're going to miss getting into those dance classes and learning learning or executing the dance so brilliantly.

I already missed that. I already missed that. I think the main thing that I'm going to.

Miss is that feeling of camaraderie backstage of you know, putting I'm really blessed that when I perform with the other guys, we still have that. And I think, in a way, when I go into the next Human Nature gigs, I'm going to feel that again. It's like it's given me a new lease on that of being backstage with new people and unfamiliar people and feeling that sense of

There's a rumor. There was a rumor floating round over last week which was this could be Daryl's last season doing Dancing with the Stars. I mean, we still don't know they're renewed it. We don't know any of this, But I wanted to know were there any whispers behind the scenes, because if it was his last show, we might have missed an opportunity to really celebrate that. But was there any conversation about that whilst you were filming or life last night?

No, there actually wasn't at all. No, that's all new to me hearing that rumor. I don't know if that rumor comes from anywhere.

It's definitely not from the dancers because we're not involved in any of those decisions at all. We just we're backstage with the creative types and the executives that make those decisions. They're watching it from somewhere else. So we just stick to what we know and is making a great show. And yeah, we did it. I think we can all look back with so much pride on it.

Sonya also looked like she was really in her element. Was there anything left on the cutting or were all of those sassy comments used? Because I did hear that there was a sassy comment back to Todd calling him a shunt and a few people work on the show was like, is that going to be left in the edit? It was left in the edit, So I'm wondering, is there anything outrageous that was left on the cutting room floor that we didn't see?

Donya is literally peppering with things like that nearly crossed the line the whole time. She's got about ten or twenty different things that she said. I would suggest that ninety percent of the stuff she said doesn't make it to air, and probably ninety percent of that stuff that doesn't make their it gets cut not for time, but because it's just incredibly inappropriate.

She's so inappropriate and at the same time is the funniest woman.

She is just hilarious, and she keeps the mood like up in that skybox and everything, she keeps the mood so light.

There's just a it's a barrel of laughs. She's just the nicest.

Lady and funny in a very rude way, which we all love. So, I mean, Sonya, she's a legend and deservedly so.

She's great.

And you know what I also thought was really good about this season is the judges that we had. You know, they did these opening dances, which you know, we hadn't really seen before really even around the world, because you know, these judges are about to be extremely critical. You know there would be some trepidation in maybe showing their skill set with dance before a performance. What did you think about that? Did you think that there must have been a lot of pressure on them.

They should have let us hold up paddles for them as well.

There's a missed opportunity.

That is they're great. I mean the comments.

Obviously Craig he can be quite mean at times, and Todd, who used to I guess, be mean, but now that Craig's there, Todd's become a bit more brutally honest, which is actually a great thing because he tells it like it is and you hear his comments and there's no point can you say, oh, that's prahp, that's not true, because anything he says, you're like, well, yeah, he got that right.

And Mark and Shanna were just so supportive the.

Whole time, which is great, which it was a really fantastic balance. And in the end, the judges are there to help make a great TV show as well.

And in the same way as.

We're backstage, not really being competitive with each other, because we just want to make a great show.

The judges are the same.

They know their role and they do it really well, and they create drama, they create controversy, and in the end you're getting people at home who are getting passionate about what they're seeing.

And that's the whole point. It's exactly.

It's our job to give the people the joy of watching great dancers, and it's their job to make people oh, it's not my favorite.

Was better than that?

Blah blah blah, and have people actually feel something for the show. So, you know, according to the people here at Channel seven have been discussing the ratings and they're ecstatic. Yeah, they are, so obviously the ratings. It connected with people, which is just amazing. You know.

What I also thought was that you could really see that camaraderie and you've mentioned that a few times, the connection between everyone, and I felt like the dances this season had some performances where these contestants are digging very deep into their own personal life to put that into the dance for us to feel and we felt it. That is that the reason why you connected so much, because you often would discuss behind the scenes that story.

Oh yeah completely, and you could see it in a couple of the dances, like Christie's at the end, and particularly Mary's final Oh my God, that was just like a tear your heart out moment of her with her daughter Jamie, And we knew that story of how difficult it was for her to have Jamie, like she went through twenty something different IVF treatments and never gave up.

So, I mean, what an incredible story. And I think you know, the dancers that I did weren't necessarily like a real personal thing for me. There was there was parts of it, like.

The final dance had a lot of human nature in it, and the Pasadobla was to one of my favorite bands, Queen, so there was there was that personal thing for me, but not as deeply as those people went.

But you, I guess when you put in a room.

Of course, there was times when they're filming you in the rehearsal space and you're talking about the dancers coming up and you're discussing it.

But when the cameras aren't on, it's just you and your partner and.

You've got a lot of time together, and so you do get really personal with each other and you tell you tell things to them. I guess because of that intimacy is that you're dancing so closely together and you you have to you can't be awkward dancing that closely together or it's going to come across on TV that way. So you have to let yourself go and you have to give yourself up to that per and be personal.

What do you think? Do you think that you know, having fresher faces on some of these celebrity shows is better than going to an All Stars I.

Don't know if it's necessarily better, it's just different.

I think All Stars has definitely got its place because you are seeing people that have obviously shown that they have that ability to get through to the final previously, so you're seeing I guess you're seeing better dances from those people than you would expect from someone that's brand new.

Of course, of course, one of the last questions is will you take ash out for dinner with the family to say thank you?

Absolutely well, we actually already did that a bunch of.

Times while we were filming, and just between the last episode. Ashley unfortunately, like two days after we finished filming, ash headed back to London. She's based in London. Oh yeah, she's from Perth originally, but she lives in London at the moment.

But we did get a chance.

To go out and have do it together, her and her fiance and myself and my wife Justine.

We all went out and had a really great dinner together.

And just looked back on the amazing new friendships that we'd made between the four of us and this amazing job that we did together. And when I say together, I don't just mean Ashley and myself, but Ronnie and Justine as well, because the support that they gave us was so important.

And yeah, so to.

Be able to thank each other and the four, you know, to thank all four of us together, it was a really great thing.

And I know we're going to have that friendship forever. You know.

Last night watching the show, we were facetiming and so we had Ashley on the screen watching as well, and we're all in tears when we won.

Of course, of course I want the Ash and phild showbag because I want to get one of those ponytails on the top of my head so I.

Can stiltails Yeah, that was awesome.

It nearly took my eye out on more than on occasion, but I didn't mind.

I didn't mind at all.

The last question to ask you something I ask everyone who joins the podcast TV reload something from behind the scenes, something that we as an audience did not see, kind of like a behind the scenes secret or maybe a funny anecdote from what happened while you were making the show.

Oh well, not necessarily a funny anecdote, but this was the thing that made me like the most positive thing about backstage.

The creative director of the show, Kelly Abby.

She was the one that would come up with the concepts of the dance and you know, the one that was like, okay, Phil, you're going to be a gangster in a pool hall for your passadob Lake. And that

It's all about you doing this great. Now. Visualize the start of your routine and you're getting right. Visualize the end of your routine. You're getting it right.

And she took us through that every night, and it just created this most incredible feeling of positivity backstage amongst all of us. And I think that's one thing that the audience at home would love to realize, is that the sense of team backstage was so incredibly strong. So you've got people online saying, oh it was my favorite was robbed.

Or my dance?

My favorite answer was better than your favorite dancer. I think it would surprise people to know that the dancers backstage actually didn't really care about that at all. We just wanted to all be great for each other and great for the show, a great for the audience. So I think that's a surprising thing to know that it was very much a team backstage.

Phil.

I just want to say thank you so much for your time and your generosity with your time chatting with me this morning. I congratulations. It was so fun to watch you do this season. You were fantastic. And yeah, I think go and have a beer or whatever it is that you need to do to sell us.

Yeah, I might have a couple this afternoon, I think. Thanks Ben, it's been fantastic to talk to you. I really appreciate it.

H m hm