Gretel Killeen and the “feminist men” who changed Australian TV forever
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella podcast. I'm Sarah Lamarquand, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country, because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to Talk About. It was 25 years ago when Gretel Colleen became the very first host of Big Brother, a show that would change Australian television in ways no one could have imagined. As for Gretel, overnight she went from single mum and voiceover artist to one of the country's most recognisable women.
I remember thinking, I'm 38, I've got dark hair, there's no way, and I'm a woman, there's no way in the world they're going to want me.
After decades of continuing to reinvent herself as an author, comedian and artist, she's now returning to reality TV, this time as a murderous mistress of the manor in the new season of The Traitors. Because at 63, Gretel has no intention of slowing down. If anything, she's speeding up.
We have a choice. I can either call myself old and slow down. I want to sprint to the finish line.
On today's episode of the Stellar podcast, Gretel takes us back to those heady days of Big Brother and what she makes of the reality TV stars of today. We also talk about shyness, playing dress-ups and the surprising lesson becoming a grandmother has taught her. Gregor Colleen, welcome to The Stellar Podcast. Thank you for having me. You are returning to primetime television very soon, hosting The Traitors. You step in and out of the spotlight, it seems, from afar in terms of your media career. How does it feel to get back out there at that level again?
I'm a lot older now. And by older, I mean a lot of experiences have occurred. And I think the fame that I experienced with the first big brother that we did was so enormous and so unrelatable nowadays because there are so many more people in the spotlight. There weren't many women in that position. I was young, single mum.
How did Gretel Killeen first become the host of Big Brother and what surprised her about that experience?
I didn't think I was young at the time, but in retrospect, I was young. So this is karma. There are so many more hosts now too. So I feel like I'm sharing the spotlight. It's not so much, what's she eating? Oh, where did she, you know, all of that business that, who's she with? What are they doing? There were paparazzi all over the place and, I mean, I just feel a little bit more separated from that. We were all in shock during that.
It was 25 years ago that you hosted Big Brother. It was really the start of what we would consider the reality TV phenomenon in Australia and It's spoken a lot about how none of those first contestants had any idea what was waiting for them when they came back out onto that stage at the Gold Coast after being evicted. But for you, you weren't the contestant, but you were the first person there and the last person to turn the lights off after they'd left the house. Did you have any idea what was waiting on the other side?
None of us did. I think to kind of put that in perspective, which is it's kind of unimaginable now, but we... We didn't have YouTube, for example. So nobody, unless you were in England, for example, when the show first went to air there, you'd have no idea what it was. Facebook didn't exist. Remember in those days, if you wanted to text, you had to press A four times to get D and all of that business. But the other things... People often think about that it was the first reality show, but there were firsts otherwise too. To have a female hosting, like that was unheard of. Not as a sidekick, but to be hosting a live show that's enormous I remember when I was first asked if I wanted to audition for it I coincidentally had been speaking to someone who was an actor during that time because I was a voice artist during that time and they they were telling me oh you know casting people they get numbers in because they have to get a certain number of people in but most of them they're not serious about and I remember thinking I'm 38 I've got dark hair there's no way and I'm a woman there's no way in the
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:08–2:25
2
How did Gretel Killeen first become the host of Big Brother and what surprised her about that experience?
2:25–20:03
3
What barriers did Gretel face as a woman in television in the 1990s?
20:03–38:11
4
When did Gretel discover confidence on stage and how did rehearsals shape her leadership?
38:11–40:31