It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast last week The Light Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television. Each episode you will get a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors and casting agents, plus the talent we see on our screens.
TV Reload reloads the shows that you're currently watching and gives you a better insight into our television industry and our streaming services. Today on the podcast, I have the latest unmasked celebrity from Channel tens, the mass singer Australia, and this guest has been in our cinemas and on our TV screens for decades. It is pa Miranda. While the song was an unusual choice for the pint sized Australian actor, it was a great disguise because no one
seemed to guess who was behind the mask. I thought Bindy Irwin, Carla Bonna and so many other celebrities that somehow I missed all the clues that matched with one of my favorite Australian stars. I have loved Pea's unpredictable at times, but consistent career from Looking for Ala Brandy, Secret Life of Us went Worth to Australian Survivor. There is so many iconic twists and turns to Peer's career and what an opportunity to talk to her about it. Today.
We will talk about if she would ever return to Australian Survivor, what song she had planned next from Bachelor Girl, what her family thought of her secret involvement in The Mass Singer, and I will also get a backstory on her famous role as Josie Alla Brandy. However, let's get started with today's special guest. Pea Miranda is here ready to unpack her unmasking on the Mass Singer in Australia.
Who do you think? It is a new and imagine if that was.
You last time on Australia's Wildest singing show.
And there's a little bit of TV magic as far as meet getting it off.
It was an incredible performance.
It was I like some reality I really do obviously, Survivor. It's like.
You've lived in the public eye. Are you were neighbors from when you were a kid. You're looking for Ala Brandy? You want to wards all over the place, what's it been like to be anonymous?
I'm not sure if anyone's going to fall for my nonsense twice.
Frandi where we're neighbors.
Oh my god, you want Survivor.
It's just one of those beautiful moments in your life when he thinks of you just know some really specials.
About Tappan Hypier. How are you?
Hello, I'm good. How are you?
I'm really well? And congratulations on the mask singer. I'm going to start off by saying I had no idea it was you.
I don't think anyone did. Actually, those clues were very random.
And look, you know you've played some amazing characters. Is adding a thong to your resume at this point something you never saw coming.
I didn't think I was going to be wearing a thong on TV, but it was a career highlight for me.
You know what's really funny was watching last night's episode with my Irish friend who is staying with us. He's just arrived yesterday never being here to Australia and had not seen the first two episodes, so I was quickly catching him up on the show. So when I said one of the masks was a thong, he had this really strange look on his face, because in England and Ireland, in Europe, a song is something very different.
It's very different. Yes, so for him it was a flip flop. But yes it was a thong. But maybe when I got to America, I can be like, oh, you know, I wore a song on Telly once.
Being a pair of nickers would have been a little bit risque for the time slot.
Yeah, I think so those days wrote for me.
You know, you mentioned your desire to be on the mast Singer Australia and that you wanted to surprise your kids. How did that play out? Did they work it out before the reveal? Could you keep it a secret?
I mean, I'm good at keeping secrets, and so I did keep it from them. It was really weird because my son and I were sitting on the couch and we thought all the video his reaction, and then just before it happened, I went, who do you think it is? And he went, imagine if that was you, And I don't know why he said that, He's never said that before, and then when it was me, his little brain exploded. He was just like, I said that as a joke. I said that as a joke. So it was the
cutest moment. He's I take can't believe I said it. And my daughter is a teenager, so she was like, yeah, cool.
Don't be embarrassing on TV. Mom.
Oh my god, I go to a school tomorrow and everyone's going to know your song.
Out of all the masks, yours had me stumped with how you were going to even take the mask off, because I was wondering if they're going to lift a panel off the front or is there some sort of line we couldn't see. How hard was it to be in that costume and how hot was it in there?
Ah, it was a big costume. There was a little bit of TV magic as far as you know, meat getting it off, and it was sort of one of those things where I didn't really have much to work with her. I had hands and feet. So the first like run through that we did, because you know, I used to be a dancer, I was like, I'm going to dazzle everyone, my dad, and then I danced my
heart out. Then we watched it back on screen and it just looked like I was just standing there because I was all hips and you know, so I thought, okay, I've just got to do lots of footwork.
Have you had a chance to chat to Lisa or Ryan and swap stories on what it's like to be on the show. Yet.
The cute thing in my package was that they had one of the clues was Ryan it was the night and they had the night and the thong falling in love and Ryan and I were on Neighbors together and I was his first girlfriend on Neighbors. I was Toby's first girlfriend. So I loved that it was in the package, And when I found out he was on it, I'm like, that's so sweet. What a great way to book and neighbors for myself.
That clue made me think maybe Carla Bonna for some reason, right, you know, do you have any idea on who Blowfly is? Just because of what we saw in that battle. You obviously got to interact with Blowfly. Did you hear anything? Do you have any guesses on who you think it may be?
No, I feel like it's a singer because I could. One day, I sneakily heard Blowfly practicing in one of the rooms, a beautiful song with a lovely voice, and then I kind of went into my practice room where I was like n no, no naa, you know what I mean, like singing a pink song. So I feel like it's a singer. I don't know who it is, but maybe not like a pop singer, like maybe someone who's more of a kind of like a country or rock singer.
When you are that close, is there any chance that you can hear each other talking or murmuring or maybe sweating? I don't know. Is there any chance of being able to hear each other?
You can't. I mean, we would all wave to each other, but you can't really hear anything because you have earpieces in your ears that are locked off when you're not performing or talking to someone, so you kind of you sort of can't hear anything, and you can't see anything, and you can barely move. So it's pretty much you're just a lone soldier out there.
And are you now playing along with the rest of Australia? Are you trying to work out who the other masks are? Do you have any guesses so far that you're even allowed to share?
I honestly know as much as everyone else, like, they don't give you any hints or anything like that. You're also quested, so it's a surprise to me so I can enjoy it like anyone else. I kind of felt like one of my things was I saw Kyle Richards out here, you know, from Beverly Hills Housewives, and I was like, maybe she was on it. Maybe that's why she's actually here, because she was just here like meet and greet, and I went, maybe, just maybe Kyle is
one of them. So that's one of my I don't know, weird random guesses. Apart from that, I have no idea.
Do you watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I love that show, you know.
I don't want to out myself, but everybody needs some downtime. And as much as I love, you know, watching a great drama, I also do enjoy watching a little bit of trash every now. And the one I really like is The New Jersey because they're so Italian and that there's some in jokes in that for Italians. It makes me laugh. But yeah, sometimes I watch Jerseys, sometimes I watch Beverly Hills just for a little bit of a laugh.
You know. I've got some guilty flats housewives. Some I like some reality I really do obviously, is like my.
Number one was, Yeah, well, I'm gonna ask you a survivor question at a second, but you know, I just wanted to say, sadly, you were the person leaving the competition. Last night, Ryan and Lisa, as they left the competition revealed what song they had planned next. Can you tell me if there was another song in your playlist that we've just missed out on seeing.
Yes, I was about to sing Bachelor Girl. I was about to sing Buses and Trains.
Oh wow, that was my.
Next song, which I felt like, yeah, it would have been fun to do. But yeah, they were taking the tone down a little bit from Pink and Footloose.
They were still they were so fun to watch, Like, I think there were great selections of songs for you, being that you're not a recognizable singer, you never released an album or anything like that, just your authentic voice. I thought it was very cute.
Thank you. I'm hoping to release a Christmas album called Christmas Songs.
It's gonna be massive. It's gonna be huge, yep.
But I'm available if anyone wants to sign.
I absolutely loved Abby chat Field's comment about looking for Ala Brandy because that Molina Minchedda book was my favorite book as a teenager. I always wanted to know, though, with your relationship with that book. Had you read the book prior to playing that iconic role, Like, what was your relationship with that book?
Yeah, I mean obviously before I did the job, but I hadn't. We didn't have it on the curriculum in Melbourne, so it was a Sydney thing, so we didn't really know about it. The first time I heard about it was when I was walking on the street and I saw bumped into Kick and he was telling me he was auditioning to this film. So when I finally got the audition, Kick lent me his book and that's the first time I read it, which is so sweet, and then I kept it, never returned it, and we both
ended up being Josie and Jacob. Yeah.
You know, I remember when your name was announced for the film, you know, and I remember the audition process. I remember there was a lot of people auditioning for that role. Do you know any of the other actors that you beat out to play Ala Brandy?
I mean I was there on one of those massive cattle call days, you know, when it's like hundreds and hundreds of people and then it was like a dance audition because I used to be dancer. And then you'd go wait and then they'd call out the people who they wanted to see next. So it was really brutal. So I didn't know too many people who were going for Josie, but I did know a lot of people that had gone for Carlin and some of the other roles.
I just remember that it was like it was this huge thing in Melbourne, right across the country with this massive search. It was almost like casting Big Brother or Idol. You know, there was just it felt like that.
It felt like that it was just so many people. It's audition, and then I was really late because I was not in my teens and they just didn't want to see me. And then they didn't realize I had that weird child woman thing going on. It's a bit creepy, but so I was like late in the process. It was hundreds of people, and then you know, by the end of that day, it was just me left at the end, and then Kick walked in and it just
kind of felt really quite amazing. It's just one of those beautiful moments in your life when you think something, you just know something really specials about Tapping.
People who loved that movie are just gonna love hearing you talking about it like that.
So do you know My favorite thing about the movie is that I think I'm really worried as an Italian Australian that grew up in the eighties when it wasn't called to be Italian Australian, I'm really worried that like people are going to forget about the good rooms or the furniture covered in plastic because it doesn't seem to exist that much anymore. And I love in the film, like as an Easter egg that you can go and see Anna's good room. She's still got a good room
and all the furnitures covered in plastic. That was how I grew up, Like a good room that you weren't allowed to go into, but it was the only room with their conditioning, and so you try and sneak in there.
Yeah, because it felt very much like my high school. I went to Doncaster High in Melbourne and basically, you know, everyone was Italian at that school, Like it was so bizarre. So I connected to it a lot because I had friends that had parents that had the good room. You know, sad, the good rooms being phased out.
I know I don't want it to be. I'm gonna have to start it up again.
Also, massive fan of Australian Survivor, so massive fan of this show, and I just wanted to ask how did that happen for you? Because when that was announced that you were part of that show, everyone was like, Pa, Miranda's going to being in Survivor, this is incredible, and then you went on to win it. But how to producers know you were a super fan of that show that you were willing to do it.
It was really random. Obviously I never planned to do reality all of a sudden, I'm popping up everywhere. But it was one of those random things where I was doing an interview with TV tonight and it was one where he asked, you know, you had to do a Q and A and it was like it was on New Year's Even, It was like, what is your guilty pleasure on television? And I just went, oh, obviously Survivor.
And I went on this whole rant about how Survivor for twenty years and I'm really obsessed with it, which I really really was never missed a season. Blah blah blah. I sit on the couch and I reckon I could win it and I'd drive people crazy. And anyway, the next day after it got printed, they called and said, well, actually we're doing a new season. And my heart just sank because I thought, I can't say no, but I really don't want to go do this. Yeah, and Australian
Survivors brutal. You know, it's fifty days, which is a really big difference to America's twenty six. I think South Africa's thirty six. Fifty days is a huge difference as far as how you cope with that mentally and physically, it's a lot. So it was a really you know, hats off to anyone who does it twice.
You got paid pretty well considering you got the prize money, so you'd never go back. You'd never go back.
I would never say never. I'm a huge fan of the South African franchise, which is you can watch on teenplay at the moment if you like Survivor, it's really good. I would never say never. I'm not sure if anyone's going to fall for my nonsense. Twice, Like a lot of my game plan was pretending to people I didn't know what was going on and then whispering in people's ears, going how about you go tell that person to do this,
and then going woll, what's happening. So you know, everyone was kind of onto that by the end, so I don't know if they'd fall for that twice. For someone like me to get to merge in Australia, it is extremely hard because Australian Survivors very much about brute strength in the first half of the game, so it's you know, smaller people tend to get but not so much smaller people, but people who aren't, you know, very athletic. It's really
it's really difficult to make that merge. And there's a part of me that just would love to go to my grave with my torch unsnuffed. You know. I love the fact that my torch never got snuffed. It's just it really means a lot to me. I mean, it was it was a rough journey for me on the Survivor obviously if you were around for that time, but it just means a lot. It really means a lot to me to win that show and to be a part of it. I am a nerdy nerdy nerdy mega fan.
I'm the opposite. Like, you know, I did Big Brother and One Big Brother in Australia, and I always thought, because I'm annoying, that I would be I would get the very iconic it's time to go Benjamin, and so I never got it. So I want to go back and do it again because I want to know what it's like to be evicted, right.
I know what you're saying. There's a little part of me I feel like it wouldn't mean. The only time I would really get like all gooey inside is if Jeff said it to me, you know, if Jeff is like the tribe has spoken.
What did you think of Melbe's comment? I mean she called you a boss bitch.
I just want to say I thought you on and you were like a bad boss bitch.
I watched that series. I just I don't know if boss bitch was what I walked away with.
The super fans really were just so incredible to me on that show. You know, I cocked a light. I think it's really hard to play a game like that as a woman. You know, a woman used to get these just incessant just nonsense on your Instagram and tweeter like you lied, you lied, and then the boys. I don't want to be like boy girl, boy girl, but the boys will get You're amazing. You lied. It's just it gets really hard, and for me it was extreme
at one point. And just to have those super fans just really get your game and really stick by you and really be obsessed with your game was just always something that was incredible to me. But I think people can take your game different ways. Some people see you as a boss bitch, some people see you as like, you know, a cool, sneaky manipulator. Some people just there's lots of nuances in the edit and in how people
see you. And certainly if they listen to lots of podcasts, they pick up a lot more as well, because obviously only like one percent of the show show was on screen. But I didn't mind her saying that, you know, I'll own it.
The chemistry between the panel this year on the Mark Singer is just so amazing. I love all four of those people quite a lot deeply. I really do. Do you think some of those clues were a little bit hard for them?
Ah? Yeah, I mean I'm the same. I feel like the panel of Mark Singer this year is so lovely. There was a lot of warmth coming towards you from that panel. I grew up with Chrissy, so I was really thinking that perhaps she was going to guess me. But I think some of the clues were hard. But then it's one of those things that if you like know who the person is and then you go back and watch the clues, it will make more sense. There was a couple I didn't get. There was one about fish.
I didn't know why I said I loved fish. I think I mentioned once I really love salt and pepper kalamari, so I think that's why they put it in, or maybe it was a survivor thing. There's really cute things, like, you know, they put up Lily James. My kids are called Lily and James. There was like a in one of my packages there was someone wearing an eye patch,
which is a you know, a throwback to Wentworth. There was lots of cute little things, you know, and I there was the night and the thong falling in love. It was just really sweet, little sweet things.
I think, you know, something that we always ask everyone that joins TV reload is what is something from behind the scenes, something that we didn't see that we won't see from behind the scenes of your experience on the Mastinger.
Behind the scenes from Mastinger. One of the things that was really exciting to me, and I know this doesn't sound like a lot, but you've got to remember I grew up as a poor actor, is before you start the must Singer, they ask you what you want in your rider, which is like something that rock stars get asked, you know, like what do you want your rider?
And then you get sunk riss crackers, strawberries, diet coke, you know, bananas, jelly beans, and then you walk into this little room and it's all the and.
They refeel it when you exite a lot, and they refeel it every day. It was so exciting, and I'd just be chilling, because you chill out a lot. I'd just be chilling out in between you know, other people seeing just snacking away. Knowing that when I came back the next day this song going to be really chilled again was amazing. I felt like a rock star, even though I was just all.
Of these people who are refilling the jelly beans and like, did you know that Pia mirandas for jelly beans, and she ate three bags of jelly beans.
Yeah, I was shocking, terrible, like the nuts. I'm just I had no control and little mini snickers. That was the most sense.
It is so amazing to chat with you like this has meant a lot to me because I am a big fan. So you know, good luck. I will always be in your audience as Australia is. Do you ever go back to Survivor? I'm sure that people will love it. Yeah, I'm glad you did the mask singing. Yeah me too, Okay, look after self fair, Thank you. I lovely to chat