I want the fairy tale, I want the prince charming she how.
Do I put this?
Isn't a fan of my kissing style?
Boyfriend and girlfriend for about twelve hours.
He's in a trash bin.
He's non recyclable, catching them up.
I loved being love. I love love.
On today's episode of Where's Your Head Out, we are welcoming to the studio Alex mav, the executive producer of hit Australian TV show Love Island Australia and I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here.
We'll be questioning Alex on how the contestants are selected for these shows, how producers stir up the drama, how editing plays a hand at increasing ratings, and he'll give us his thoughts on this year's lineup of season four of Love Island Australia.
Stick around to hear what goes on behind the scenes on some of Australia's juiciest TV programs. Where's Your Head Out is a podcast that talks all things relationships, breakups, reality TV, trending shows, and everything in between.
This is your new go to destination for laughs, gossip, intimate details, advice and much more.
Hey, Matt, welcome to the show.
Welcome, thank you very much.
Your head up.
How are you both?
We're doing well, good good both in relationships.
How are you?
So? I was going to ask, I saw you got engaged.
Congratulations, thank you, thank you.
Very big life moment for me. So I'm really excited. Thanks.
Not the person who you might have thought. But we just need one.
We just need one couple to stick together.
Yeah, we were going to say it has to be this year. There's a lot of pressure on it's.
Gonna be this year. Look we've got we're going to come out of this season with a few people in love. Let's hope they last more than like what a year?
Wait? And I did? Yeah, and I did just over a year.
I did a year of the hard yard and then.
Enough were you with when they did the blog? Or you split up?
By that point it was like three months after we broke off. I was like, fuck.
You you are you mates? Or you just don't like each other at all?
And no, we're totally civil, like it's you know, it's very very.
What should it better than me? I did what like a week?
Mat did about two days and he was like, okay.
See us duo t we got off the plane.
Yeah, well look, mad, we were on your show Love Island season two and now you're on our show.
Did you think you'd see the day?
No, I didn't. I didn't behave This is what I do. I make stars, you know. Great?
Wow, just in full Just to be clear, we have full editing reign now, so.
The table fully goes around, comes around.
Yeah, just don't frank and grab me.
Okay, now we're going to say you looked after us, so we've got your back.
Don't worry.
You know what, do you know, I'll get this in while I can. Love Land is actually the most honest reality show there is because we don't have Frankly, we don't have time to do all the frank and grabbing stuff that you know. Look, you know your shows like the Back, and I've got nothing but love for all of these shows. And I've got people I respects work on them. You know, shows like Married at First, like
The Bachelor, you know all those other shows. You know they have months in the edit, sweet months, literally multiple suites, multiple editors. We have one night to get our show together. Certainly, when you guys did it, you know, like literally ten hours in an edit sweet, So you are what you are.
I remember when I was with my ex QR. She was messaging you about frankin Bye and you you had some strong words.
To say about it. You hated it. Yeah, you said it's bullshit or something like that, do you.
I mean, look, it's not fair. I agree, I get I get it sometimes, like if someone misses up their words, right, if I was to say, oh, you know, hi Matt and Sue sorry, I mean, and I are doing nice to see you today. Yeah, I've got no problem with you cutting out the yan Sue and blah blah blah and making it high man and Anna. That is that's
fair game because I'm meant to say it. Yeah, But if I say Anna, I you know, I love you, and then hey Matt, I hate you, and then suddenly on television and say Anna, I hate you, that's not fair.
Yeah, it's not.
It's not what actually happened. So it's yeah, essentially it's not fair.
But you know, we've got a job to do. We've got twenty four hours of vision to get down to, you know, one hour, so we're always going to cop it from Theorlanders every single time, you know, any reality TV show producer will cop it no matter what a great job they do, because people will be like, why didn't you show that bit? Why didn't you show that bit?
And that's just like because there's twenty three hours you know, or you know, twenty three hours of the day that are not going to be on television.
So have you guys had a lot of backlash as producers from ex contestants coming to being like, what the fuck is this?
Honestly no, because I believe that the three big reality ses shows that I've done in Australia, Big Brother you know when it was proper Big Brother, I'm a celeb to get me out of here, and love Land, I've all been fast to turn around shows. And even now, even though the Spain is already in the can, our series pause in the can, we still cut it exactly the same, you know, So it looks and feels like love l Like we've shot one episode a day, we
will cut one episode a day. It is exactly the same. So, like I said before, the fact, the fact is on my shows, I don't have the ability to turn you from the hero into the diket, you know. So the answer is no, I have absolutely no doubts. I'm not stupid that people will slag us off behind our backs and go, they really fucking you know, they've done this, and they've done that, blah blah blah blah blah. More with us, it's a bit, you know, it's the dramatic edit.
So like, let's say there's a fire pit, right, I'll give you the example. There's a fire pit and you know, the commercial track is pumping, you know, and the drama you know, and you've got the flames and the moon and it's all you know, and you know, and you cut to a shot of Matt's face. Now we want Matt to be sitting himself because he's about to get dumped, and that's her going.
That's good.
Will we use a shot of him looking serious and five minutes before you better ask your all because you know it's a television show and you know we're building the drama. But again, that's fair because that was how he was feeling at the time, do you know what I mean? Yeah, that is that's that's the limit to what we go. I've heard horror stories about other producers getting absolutely you know, trolled and ripped apart, you know. Yeah, but not me, but like, look, you.
Guys can turn someone who's like maybe not like that much of a likable person into a really good person, like you can give someone like a superstar edit though, right.
Yeah, I mean yeah, but again, we don't have a lot of time to do that. I mean, it's pretty hard to hide a bitch you're a dickhead, you know. On I'm a celeb. We've had some celebs that, you know, it was pretty hard to make them heroes, you know, and there's a show, it's a show about heroes, and we made the decision you know, not to because we're
showing what actually happened. So you know, there were a few and I'm not going to name drop now, but you know there were real dicks in camp, and we showed them being dicks, you know, because that's what happened. I can't think of an example where we turned someone who was, you know, a really terrible human being into a nice person. Well, yeah, sure, we might have to sanitize stuff, like if there is something that is really full on, you know, or can't be shown for classification reasons.
You know, we've had arguments in the Love Island Villa before that, you know, are you know, all fs and cs and screaming and shouting and we can only show this much of this much because if we showed the rest would be taken off air. Yeah, you know, so.
On that, what was the biggest drama you've had to deal with as like a producer?
Like actually on TV?
I mean, look, there's there's sad ones and there's massive ones. I mean, I'll start in love I in terms that the physical fight between Grant and Eden in season one and Spain was full on. You know, there was a guy, one of the bombs called Dom I thank god he was six foot five. He essentially saved that franchise. You know, he doesn't know this, he's probably never heard that story, but he put his body in between these two bull elephants, you know, who were about to rip each other's fucking
eyeballs and stood like this. And because we can get there quick enough, you know, we had security there and they were in pretty quickly, and all the islanders were great, but you know, you had Taylor, Demir and Eron and you know Millie and you know, all these kind of tiny human beings around and these two blokes going at each other and Dom put himself in the middle, and I think, and I'm a fat bastard, and you know I'm The villa was four hundred meters away from the
control room. I was in that villa in two and a half.
Minutes, running for your life. That I feel, don't.
Yeah, I still remember an hour on when you said that you did a mercy run up to the villa when yeah, when Luke said he was going home, I still use that expression now.
I remember. I remember I had to give Luke a cigarette. So there's a little there's a little behind the scene.
Behind the scenes.
I got a cigarette at one point.
Sure n Yeah, I think you're giving a lot of darts here.
Every we needed a relax and at that point anything was give me anything.
I mean.
That's actually one of the questions I had for you.
Why do we only get one alcoholic beverage a night on Love Island when in other reality TV shows they get them absolutely hammered.
Yep, Okay. Well, to really clear answer that question, I'll give you the responsible one First, is that no other show puts you in bed together. Oka. The worst thing that can happen on Love Land, and there's no secret around this, is that someone touches somebody that doesn't want to be touched, or something inappropriate happens and there is a lack of of consent and alcohol blurs those lines.
Yeah.
You know how many times in our normal lives have we done stuff when we're pissed and the next morning woke up and gone, oh.
Ship mate every weekend.
Yeah, so that's why that is the number one reason. The number two reason is I think it makes shit TV because you know, you are slurry, you make, you make poor decisions. I don't want to make a show where, you know, drunk people are screaming each other. I'd rather make a show where scream the sober people are screaming each other. And Love Hold is a show where we want you to look amazing all the time. Who looks
great when they're off their tits? Nobody? You know, you might look great to other people who are off but trust me, you know I made I made Big Brother for many many years back when it was filmed up here in Queensland. And you know they might get four sometimes five drinks a night back in the good old days. And you know when when you go past a level, you can't it anyway because they just they'd look pissed.
It's not you know, it's just not the way to make the TV and it's not responsible, especially with you know, we're putting boys and girls together in an intimate situation and you're all under our duty of care.
So you know, every single year, please we have another beer. Please give another beer, Please with another glass. It's like it's like herding cats, and you'd be like, yes, I want one now. But in hindsight, when you look back at that series and look at how good you looked? Right, Like, how good did you guys?
Look? You know you're never going to look better at any time in your life than you do when you're in love Land Villa. Right, Yeah, you are the peak of your health, the peak of your hotness. And that's because you can google you know, Anna from Love Island, and that's what's going to come up. Do you know what I mean? So do you want to be that? Or do you want to be the pissed girl?
I thank my lucky studs every single day that I wasn't allowed more than one drink in that shark as well things one hundred real quickly.
Yeah, don't think, don't think you're lucky stars thank.
God, thank you.
Do you remember me walking out of the finale? Was like a six pack under my arm. I was like, I haven't heard this.
But once the cameras are off, are off.
Look for people listening at home and they look at you and they're like, wow, he's the executive producer of Love Ireland. Shows like I'm a celebrity big brother, like amazing shows like the best shows essentially in Australia, How do you get there?
Do you study?
Like?
What's the process to getting to where you are? For people who are aspiring to do what you do?
Look starting from the absolute bottom level. So I've been in Australia since film obviously English, I've been in Australia since two thousand and one, so I've been there for a long time now two thousand actually, yeah, twenty two
years now. I did a media degree which was all right. Honestly, in hindsight, going back to whenever that war, you know, a million years ago, nineteen ninety seven or whatever it was, I actually think I probably could have done what I did without it, because I don't know that I learned much and just got myself into debt. And having said all that, I did the degree, but actually a funny story.
And I wrote a letter to a local production company and it was the best letter I've ever written in my life, but probably the most important letter I've ever written in my life. And it basically said, you look I am. You know, I've always wanted to work in television. I knew I've always wanted to work in television. I've always wanted to hear the words that I write, the games I come up with, the things that you know come from my brain on the screen and entertain people
around the world. And they loved that letter and I got job as a runner. I was never asked to show my university degree once. It's still in the loft at my dad's house. It's never come out of the envelope that I got in it. So I could have basically lied and said I've got a media degree in like, you know anyway, I'm not. I'm not suggesting people can go a union anyway. So I write it really.
Do lots coaching even always stay in school. You're like, don't go to school.
Go to school. So I wrote really good letter, but I started at the bottom of the bottom, you know, And I'm talking about you know, a runner's job in television is one of the hardest jobs in the world. You know, you will be driving cars with idiots in the back of them. You know, you'll be photo copying, You'll be making sandwiches, You'll be doing coffee runs. Some of the things the runners have got to do on Love Island, you know, like you know what happens in
that villa. These guys have got to change the sheets, do you know what I mean. It's it's not a great job, but you've got it. You've got to do it because that's how you that's how you get in now. I was lucky enough to be working for a very small budget show and that meant that many people working on it. So but you know, I got to operate cameras and I got to write some funny lines, especially it's a teenage show about you know, teenage issues, and
so I managed to get up pretty quickly. And then I found myself working at the BBC on the Live Hospital Show, which is nothing like what I do now.
Of course, there was a show that round for many years of BBC One, and I remember I worked with an Australian guy and I remember being in the car park at Guy's Hospital in London that was pissing down a rain and our porter cabins were next to the place where they used to incinerate like bits of dead skin, and you know, so you'd have this constant smell of dead flesh in your nostril and it was raining and you could smell like, you know, massacres going on next door.
And then my phone rang and it was this guy and he said it was Chris, his name is And he said, I've just got the job as a series producer on Temptation Island with filming in Fiji. Would you like to come over and be a field producer on it? And I was like, yes, got myself working holiday visa, came over, did the show in Fiji, came back to Australia and honestly, my plan was to you know, drink and shag my way around Australia for six months, honestly, but you know it didn't work out. I met a girl,
I fell in love. I've got a job on Big Brother season two two thousand and two, did a good job and it's kind of all gone on from there. And really, you know, my advice to anyone who wants to work in this genre. Television is just is to understand storytelling and understand casting really because you know, it's all it's all about the cast these shows, and it's all about how much you're willing to put into it
because you've got to sacrifice a lot. People don't think about the people behind the camera as much as they should. You know, we spent so much time away from our families. We work outrageously long hours. And look, I'm not complaining because I love it. You know, I love my job and I believe I work on the best two shows in Australia, So not complaining for a second. But you know you've got to You've got to put in the
hours you really really do. I mean, if you can understand what makes good entertainment, then you're halfway there.
Amazing on that when you got the job for like Love Island Australia, had you done your research and watched.
A lot of Love Island UK? Or how'd you just when?
So I was ICV, I was doing on a celebri it TV. You know, got the tick for Love Islands and I started frantically researching. So you know, I certainly wasn't a fan at the time. But I remember watching the UK season three, that was the one with Kem and Chris and Anbur and Montana. I mean that was the best apart from our seasons. Obviously the best Love Islands ever have been made, you know, And it was just like, I want to make this show for the
rest of my life. You know. It's hot people doing sexy stuff in the best place on earth, and it's funny. What I love about it more than anything, more than any of the rest of the stuff, is it takes the piss out of itself, you know, with that classic voice over, you know, Sophie Monk tongue in cheek, we will take the piss out of all of the Islanders, and we make no apology for it, but we take
the piss out of ourselves even more. You know, Like we're not saying this is the most important dating experiment in history. You know, we're saying, Hey, if you're really hot and you're up for an amazing laugh and you want to mix with other hot people and you want to make some good telly, come to Spain and let's do it. You know that's pretty well.
Look, let's talk about all the hot contestants and what makes a good contestant?
Next?
Okay, mav we have spoken about how to become a producer, but we really want to talk about what makes a good contestant.
Now.
I have a theory that to.
Be cast on a reality TV show, you need to be a bit of a narcissist.
Am I on the money?
There you have? Okay, it depends on the show. Helps on Loveland massively helps on Loveland because you know, I'm a narcissist. I'm not hot like you too, but I'm definitely a narcissist. I don't I don't think it's a portrait. But you know, if you care, if you care about yourself that much, you know, you are always caring about what the public think about you, tick, because that is the show. You know, You've got to win the public. You cannot win love old if you can't win over
the public. Right you care what the I'm going to use you as an example. You care what the boys in the villa think about you? Right? If they choose someone else of you, that is going to hurt your
feelings fucking big time. If you're a narcissist, Right you care about you care about what the other girls think because you've always had issues with acceptance and you know what I mean, like you always want to be like the King Girl, you know in the Girl, Yeah, thank you having some words or sene so yes, it massively helps because if you are a narcissist, you will give us or give us, you'll give Australia the right reactions
to all of those huge format beats. I would say, if you are willing to give yourself up absolutely to what the show is, then that actually makes a better contestant. If you look at the people that have won this show or done very well out of this show, and I include obviously both of you and this certainly and because you ended up winning it, they gave everything that they had to, you know, to what it was. They either were desperate to find love.
That's pretty key for it.
The people that don't succeed, other people that are walking around the day going I wonder how they're editing me. I wonder, you know, if they're going to show that bit. You know, I wonder if if I go and say this will make good Telly, Should I go to the beach Hut and like do a funny joke so I can get into this show? You know, like, don't mean.
I was like I was sitting back and they'd be silly not to show that.
Great.
I remember walking over with the microphone being like, you guys do not want to miss this.
And we'd be like, oh yeah, good one. Everyone on your cameras at Matt. He's about to do something.
You guys are welcome and walk away like you're welcome.
You know. You know what the biggest the thing that ships us the most. I love on the absolutely the most, and you're going to hate this map is this?
Yeah?
Oh yeah, can we filling the marketphone?
Can we get some more beers? Yeah? Yeah, Alex, Alex, did you abrat to cause the five? Hey hey, hey guys, I'm just going to go. I'm going to go and chat Tolana now on the on the day beds over there. You might have followed it, fucking yeah.
I remember you're telling us just don't grab your fucking bike.
So simple, so simple. Don't don't swim in them and don't talking them like this. Yeah, that's in two rules.
Well, when you're choosing contestants, is there like obviously like you have I don't know how many is in the cast this year, Like thirty.
Twenty twenty four, twenty five.
Twenty five.
So are they kind of all sorted out into, like, you know, like the person who you think could potentially win, the funny guy, the villain, Like, are they kind of pre sorted before you start filming?
Certainly not who we think can win, because I'm going to say that we don't give a ship that wins, you know, I mean, you know, we do, we do, we do when it comes down to the crunches, obviously obviously with human beings and people that absolutely deserve to win the people that don't. But when we're casting that, that's the last thing on my mind. You cannot put I'm just going to say the number of ten because
that's sort of how many you start with. You cannot put ten people that are the same in a villa. So that doesn't mean we're looking for heroes and villains. We're looking for people that are going to provoke a reaction with the audience. Okay, you can't put ten bubbly blonde girls in the villa who are a bit sweet and you know, a little bit funny. You can put one of those in, and then you need to put
in the fari brunette who looks completely different. Because let's be honest, you know, it's a TV show and when you put up we call it the bust back as our industry term, when you put up the bus back of the ten Islanders. Okay, you need different colors of hair, different colors of skin, different different heights, different levels of tax different you know everything because viewers and I include myself in this because I'm a viewer too. You know,
human beings. I should say. When you sample a show in ten seconds, you don't say, Okay, that's Anna mackelvoy from Melbourne and she's twenty seven years old, and well you know all that kind of stuff. You don't take the whole backstory and you go, oh, there's a hot blondeing yeah, oh, there's the tall wrestler guy.
And everyone has different flavors as well, so they might see one that stands out to them and they go, oh, I want to see you know that blonde haired one.
There she looks fair.
Yeah. And again with the edit is you can't bring everybody up in episode one. You know you've got to You've got to look at that day as a whole and look at you know who couples up with who and you've you've basically got to go, Okay, We'll save Matt a bit until tomorrow, you know, because he's you know, he tells that hilarious story in the morning, you know,
so we will. We'll pull back a bit on Matt and concentrate on Adam here, and then tomorrow we'll pull back a bit because you can't just go, here's everybody, here's all of your toys. Toys at Christmas. Here's ten toys, and they're all equally amazing, and they're all really expensive, and I want you to play with all ten of them immediately. You've got to go, here's four toys, and we'll keep these six back until Boxing days.
Do you play pre matchmaker though, like do you have?
We've got sweeps, we've got money. Yeah, we put we bet on who's going to win, and we you know, all that stuffer had. I got all of the predicts wrong this year. For one one couple that hooked up on day one, I got correct. I think I did. I think I did the right. I think I did it right. In your season, Actually.
Do you remember anything?
Uh? Who coupled up on day one? Mandy?
I copled up with Vanessa.
I got that. You got that right?
Yeah, I said I wanted a brunette with who was.
Cartio with Jared?
Jared?
Jared? I got that right as well. I think I think I got like literally all of them right on your series. Really the one I was pretty happy with myself.
Actually, take from the part a good couple of underd.
Dollars?
Well, what personality traits as well? Do you look for in a contestant?
They've got to not have their shit quite together? Fuck, because you know, you know, what is the fun going Welcome to Loveland. Here are some really well rounded individuals who have got no problems at all, you know what I mean?
It's so true.
Like, Okay, so when we went on Love Island, and I'm sure with every season that you do, you guys do like a pretty vigorous mental health assessment. Is there anything that you look for specifically that kind of like kicks people out?
Yes, with your psyche assessment, that could be things that kick you out, definitely, because duty of care is absolute number one. And look, you know it is a really full on thing to not only be on television twenty four hours a day. Yeah, like you know, you're on camera. Everything you do, You're put in a situation where you are being chosen from you know, you could get rejected
by a member of the opposite sex. You're putting a situation with a whole load of other people who, let's be honest with you, generally high achievers in life because they're so hot. You know, they've had to do much. You know, It's true, It's true. It is a very confronting thing, and you need to be very psychologically robust to do the Love Island villa. So is the things that can rule you out through the psycho evaluation one hundred percent. We don't cast with the psycho evaluation though.
I think that you know, as you two would both know, you guys are pretty much already in before you did the syite test. The site test is what knocks you could knock you out, you know, and it's a really important part of the process because Love Island starts from the second iPhone you up and say you're in to eternity. Do you know what I mean? Like you two could still you know, get some PTSD or whatever from your loveld experience, and you know, you know, do you know
what I mean? Like it's really for long and it goes on, you know forever, you will forever be a member of a really exclusive group of people that have been in the Love Island villa. And we have had no issues in Australia because of that. Again, because going back to the way I believe the show is fairly edited and the way that we treat our Landers, whether they're in the villa now, or they're in the or they're about to go in the villa, or whether they're
in the villa three years ago. But more important than them all those things is that we won't put anyone in our villa that we would worry about, like, you have got to be tough enough to do this. And I say this to them all the time. You know, when you're in the villa, you're on TV all the time,
and there's pressure to will always look good. There's pressure to be on the show more, and there's pressure to hook up with this guy and this girl, and there's pressure to kiss somebody, and there's pressure to not get dumped after the show. You know, you've got people going you're a fucking dickede or Love old. You know, I don't like your face, you know, it's like, well, you know, are you are you tough enough to deal with that?
It takes a tough person, you know, to ignore, ignore the trolls, ignore all the bullshit and realize that, hey, it was actually a really great experience. It's actually a really great show, and nothing bad can happen here, right, what's the worst thing that can happen? You leave the villa without a partner, you go back and you've got a few hundred thousand more followers, and you go back to your life.
Fine, Yeah, So what type of things rule people out there?
And just out of curiosity?
So like, let's just say I'm like at the very end of the road, I'm about to be in the villa.
What's gonna kick me out?
A boyfriend?
Okay?
Yeah, you want to get around.
A police report that says that you stabbed a granny.
Or something, you know, definitely definitely out with that one.
Yeah. Look, there's more serious stuff that I don't think we should go into with the Cyde reports. But you know, it's pretty obvious that if you have got a long history, or not even a long history, you know, a history of mental health issues, then probably being on a television show you know the films twenty fur hours Day is not not the place. Have you have.
You regretted putting any contestants into the villa?
Look, I regret every every series. Every series, there's always a couple that you go, oh, probably could have done better. I'm not going to know names anything to ask me, but yeah, you're both.
Does that come? Does that come?
Or is it? But you get it wrong every time. I mean, okay, so I'm going to go right back, right back to Big Brother in two thousand and nine when I became a Big Brother and you know, that was the final the first time when I started doing casting tours and talking to people face to face, and you know, and you'd go into a network and go, right, this person is amazing because they're infectious. You know, they're funny. You know, they look you into eye and they talk.
They've got this funny, cute little giggle. Know they you know, they've got an amazing backstory because you know they were born in an orphanage and you know, sorry, they were an orphan and all you know, you sell these people because you're convinced they're going to be great, and then they walk into the house and they do fuckle and you go shp okay. But then you really think about it, and you know you've met them maybe four maybe three times face to face. You know, you've looked at all
their socials, you've talked to their friends. You know, Like we go hard on casting because it is everything, but you can't ever be certain. You can never ever ever be certain and say, hey, this person is going to be the best islander of all time. You know, I've got a lot of experience in this in this industry now, and I still get it wrong. Like you know, I've got a pretty good hit rate. Nine times out of ten, you go, this person is going to be great. Put
them in. You're never going to regret the same. But I'm a celeb as well. You put them in, But every single time, what you're actually doing is God, I really hope this person is going to be as good I think they're going to be. You know, and most of the time we get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong.
Do you remember any thing when you're casting either of us to get us?
I remember we went back and forth with you, Ana as to whether they put you in from the start, whether to make you that first bomb, and we we were arming and ouring for so so so long because we like, we really felt, well, we really felt that you were genuinely in it for love, like you're right,
we say. I remember saying somebody that this girl's either the best actress in the world or like she really really wants this, And so we were then arming and ring as you know, do we put her in the opening ten and you know, have the love story from like you know, from day one, and then maybe she gets her heart broken after a week and it's like, well, no, why don't we give her the best what I think
was the best chances. Let everyone kind of do the feeling out process and bring her in after a few days see what I was in and when it didn't happen straight away and the twins came in and we were just like, god, Maddie without read out inflating your ego too much. So I think I feel like you were in from like the second we meet you, just because like you're funny at fun.
Yeah, some people you just.
You know when you laugh with them and at them, Yeah, you just know. And I was definitely laughing with Yeah.
I still remember a lot of my casting ship and I was like, I left over the face to face and I was like, I've either blown it or fucking done really well, it's like could go one or two ways.
Yeah.
Well, we just had season one. I remember someone saying it's a bit like Justin and I was like, no, I don't think you remember your mate to Justin, don't Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, no, I don't think I don't think you.
No and I have had a chat about it and we both said, like, we think that we got on as well because we're very needy and very like love obsessed and need validation from a partner. Look on that note, let's talk about this season of Love Island.
It's coming out very soon and we're going to talk about that next.
Okay, mav So, Love Island Australia is about to be back.
It's out on October the thirty, first on nine.
Now the lineup has just dropped, Matt, what are your first impressions?
Firstly, the Sicilian stunner, Claudia, she stands out to me.
She turned up a casting from Adelaide, so she went to We didn't go to Adelaide because it was still with Covidy and stuff, and she flew from Adelaide to Melbourne in the tiniest red dress, and I mean the tiniest red dress. And she's walked in the casting in her hairs everywhere, and she sits down. She goes, oh, I'll just come torough the airport. Everyone thinks I'll prostitute. You're like, great, that's amazing.
What about you, Adam? Did anyone stand out to you?
Well?
Look, obviously I'm newly engaged, but I have a pass to be able to give my opinion on this. I think Austin was a bit of a standout for me. I think the man bun did it. He said he was a bit of a hopeless romantic, which I.
Kind of liked. He looked tall.
I don't know how tall he was, but that was he needs to be tall for Anna.
Definitely, as Austin is an exceptional looking man. If it wasn't so rapidly heteroseptal, definitely a crack crack Austin is these magnificence human.
All Right, Well, I'm going to ask you.
I'm going to run through the names and I'm going to get you to tally in a couple of words. It can be one or three words. What you think of each contestant. So we start with Austin.
Uh Latino, Mitchell key We, Jordan Mullet, Connor.
Uh Brah Boy, Bra Boy okay from It's from the Bra and he's got He's got the boy.
Okay, the gangster in Love Island this year.
He's an alpha. He's a big swinging dick.
Okay, okay, Andre Poka Hunters Huns.
We might have to watch, you know.
It looks like it looks like PoCA Hunters Callum Callum Welsh attack, bad boy.
Bad boy.
Okay, all right, So we move on to the girls.
Claudia smoking, infectious, brash and British.
I love a brit.
Jessica, Uh, such a fire cracker you like? Yeah, firecracker Laila very direct? Yeah, ship ship how it is? Yeah.
I've met her out a couple of times. Yeahs from the she slid.
Into the d M.
Yes, she's been in.
This is back when I was single. Obviously.
Of course, phoebe the last one AFL boys.
If you had to pick a fave, who would you pick?
I love all my children. If you had to, I can't because that would tell you. You know, the name I tell you basically means that they don't get dumped first, and they last a long time. Yeah, we pre recorded the series, so I can't be drawn on that. But honestly, it is a ass kicker of a series. So much
shit happens. There are so many There are so many things that happened that I wish I could tell you so many people that are going to come in that you'll just go get the fuck and so many, so many fights, and so much love and so much drama. It is a real great, great series. Wow.
So when you say people are coming in, do you give us any names? There's a famous groomsman coming in, did you?
Yeah?
Who was that? Who's that?
Al Al from Naths married at first sight?
I've never seen it.
You looked to the left and you have the worst poker face I've ever seen.
But it's mirroring.
We've also heard aside from our which Sophie Monk did semi confirm. I think, so we can kind of go with that's happening. We did hear that Josh Moss is going on as you contestant, tell me that's true.
I heard this too, Like, no, no, Josh.
So I don't think this is a secret. So I'm just going to tell you Josh was doing some work for Channel nine. So Josh was in Spain with us, but he was doing social social stuff for Channel Night Right. So maybe somebody saw that he was in Spain and oh my god, Josh Moss is back in the villa. But no, Josh is not like we love Josh and Josh is brilliant, but no, Josh is not.
Any previous Love Island contestants. Uh, oh, it's.
Look, I don't want to give it because I like you know, so no, there's not like there is so much stuff that happens. I don't want to I don't people think, oh, there's no way that's going to happen. But yeah, it's it's a cracker.
Why did they used to say the one thing about Love Island? What do they to say to us in there? It's Love Island, anything can happen.
Anything can And.
That's what I'm talked about before. You're just going to you've just got to give yourself up the experience because you're not going to know what's happening tomorrow. And the reason you're not going to know what's happening tomorrow is that we don't know that that's why it's the best job in the world. Like every other show, you're going with like a whiteboard, this is on this day, we're going to do this challenge, and then we're going to do this, and then we're going to do on Love Islands.
You go in and yes, sure. For the first probably three days, you go in and go, Okay, we're going to start with five boys or five girls, and we're going to bring in a male bomb, and then we'll do a dumping on day four because there's six girls and five boys and you know your plan it up to there, but who the fuck knows after that? You know who's going to walk out, who's going to hook up with who, who's going to couple up with who?
You know, when you have a lower day and you need to put a challenge in, you know, to de spire it up a bit. You just make it up as you go along. And that's what I absolutely love about it, and that's why that's why it is the best show. You just go with the flow.
You know, is there going to be a cassa Amore this year?
Look, there is something in the middle of the series that is enormous, Wow, enormous. It's really hard this because you know what I really want to tell you, like the the you know, for the for the promo and for the hype and for the comments and all that. I want to tell you, but I just can't all ruin the show. So I'm going to defer to I'm not going to spoil this for you and just say, just watch the fucking show you love.
I think everyone's banging to watch it, to be honest, we just we need We're doing a bit of digging for everyone because we know that they're as solutely going to be glued to this season.
It looks amazing.
Yeah, what I love and what I love about the show is, you know, it doesn't matter where it pops up. You know, we've been on Channel nine, We've been on Go this year, We're on nine now, like we could literally be on SBS Hungarian channel and it's still you know, it's still going to do. It's still going to rate
exactly the same on TV. We know that ninety percent of our viewers watch it on you know, watch on catch up either you know, binge five episodes at the time or you know, or they wait, they're desperately refreshing to uploads every single night. That's obviously what we hope people are doing. So you can just view this in so many different ways. And Loveland is not a television show anymore, you know, it's content, you know, and it's and it's not just for Australia, it's for all around
the world. Like you know, every time we put a social post, it's like when can I watch us in New Zealand? When can I watch us in the UK? When can I watch us in America? You know, we've had messages from It's you know, Netflix Asia and all like it's just it's just such a global brand now, it's just on all over the world. What I say to what I say to the crew, now, this is my big hype speech, and I'll give you my little insight.
Like imagine you're a producers just turned up in Spain and you know, you sitting there in some catering tents somewhere, and I'll stand up and I do like the rah rah. But what I'm saying is true. Unless you have worked on the World Cup, the Olympic Games, Eurovision, you know, something that is broadcast to half the bloody world, you are never ever going to make a television that is going to be seen on television content that it's going to be seen by more people than what you're about
to make. Yeah, Love Island is so big. Just look at the YouTube clips. You know, it's over a billion now.
I think it's crazy.
It's so big, So you know, you know, Yes, if you work at the Meredith for a site, two and a half million people are going to watch you in Australia. If you work on Love Island and twenty million people are going to watch you around the world.
It has become a huge thing in itself from like every other country is doing it now and it's just become a.
Full, big Yeah, like what do you call it, like franchise, like just the front of us.
Yeah, if you had to pick an islander from this year's season that reminds you of Anna or myself.
Well that's a good question. Anna, you are Stella, Okay, madam you are Callum.
Okay, let's pull up.
We need to refer to the image.
Yeah, it looks wise or.
More personality?
Was personality?
Okay?
We on first looks we thought like just looks wise. I was like Holly and that was Mitchell. But I guess that was a bit of a stretch.
Yeah, No, I'm reckon. I'm closer to the money than a But then again, then again, I've just been watching them twenty four hours a day for the week.
What's been the most shocking moment that's happened on Love Island for you in all of the seasons.
On, Yeah, I reckon it'd be more interesting.
I'm sorry to go back to it again. But that fighting series one, you know, like you know, I've still got buying the scenes vision which were never released of me running into that villa like calm and Calm and Grant even down and you know, they were they were going to walk, you know, like they were both and we were that close to kicking them out because you know, had they thrown punches and we would have lost our two biggest males and you know, they were two biggest stories.
Imagine what yeah, and imagine that what that would have done to Love and ongoing had we you know, I had to kick them out or be had they have walked. So I was in proper counseling mode that night, you like, you know, it was like not only I had to reprimand them, you know for nearly getting physical, because you know, you throw a punch and love on villa. You're out, you know, end of story, don't We don't condonate at all, Thank god, thank god a punch wasn't thrown, so I
had to reprimand them. But at the same time, be like, don't leave.
Expecting the show to be massive this year.
You said that there's not gonna be a lot of edits, so you guys are turning it over within a day. Can you tell us like one big thing that's gonna happen though, Just like one thing for our listeners where they can be like, fuck, I need to watch this show.
Right, more than one person will walk into the villa that you know and will blow your fucking mind.
Starfer, I'm itching to watch this season. I don't know.
Yeah, now I'm excited.
I'm very excited to watch.
Look, Matt, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on. You know you're extremely busy. We can't wait to watch the season. It's out on the thirty first of October. Make sure you guys check it out. It's gonna be awesome.
Yeah, it definitely got my intrigued. Now I can't wait to watch it.
It's gonna be enjoy it.
It's a belt. It's a real, real good one.