Our favourite pocket-rocket and Gold Logie winner, Grant Denyer, is back where it all began – this time as host! He tells Matt Myers about his wild night at Stonewall, hanging with Bieber and Dancing With The Stars!
Congratulations on last year’s Gold Logie win! How has that changed your life?
I’m walking around now with my pecs further out and basically peacocking the world! It’s actually quite incredible. I don’t live for the fame of television or the accolades, but after twenty years in the game, to win an award in this industry is pretty special. It was a very emotional experience, and they were genuine tears I had on stage.
You won Dancing With The Stars in 2006. You’re now the host, but do you feel an urge to get up and dance?
I’m the perfect one hundred percent win or lose when it comes to dance competitions. I’ve won one, but now I’ve walked away. So apart from a drunken night on the dance floor, I didn’t really dance again. It was such a powerful period in my life though, because let’s face it, you start out shit, but the thing about being on Dancing With the Stars is that it’s so beautiful, magical and glamorous. You’re doing things you never thought you’d be comfortable with, which makes you feel incredible. It transforms you!
So what song does get you on the dance floor?
It doesn’t take much! My Karaoke number one go-to is Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, and I’ll dance to anything. It can be something daggy from Smash Mouth to Michael Jackson. If someone gives me that imaginary rope-pull onto the dance floor, mate I’m there in a heartbeat.
So, who’s your diva?
Dannii Minogue. I worked with her on Australia’s Got Talent and she operated at a level I’m not familiar with. She’s such a strong, confident and powerful woman. I was the show’s host and she was a judge, and my first-born Sailor lived under the judges’ desk. She was less than a year old and during the commercial breaks Dannii would play with her. So I have a strong affinity with Dannii. She’s also a knock out singer and looks immaculate. She has an aura when you’re around her and she’s downright gorgeous.
Do you ever hit the clubs with your gay mates?
Yeah, I’ve spent a few nights at Arc, which is intimidating because they all have their shirts off! I also found myself in Stonewall quite a few times. In fact I was actually sent home from Stonewall. I’d been chewing the ear off a Blackberry and decided I’d had enough to drink, and ended up giving my wallet away to people! But the staff very kindly put me into a cab, looked after my wallet and reunited us the next day.
Awhile back there was a naked shot of you paddle boarding, but it turned out to be fake news – when will we see the real deal?
Yes, I put that out there because it was the fake news I wanted! I don’t have a lot of body confidence, so I’d have to work up to the real thing. I was the fittest I’ve ever been last year, but it was a busy time and I find when I’m tired I drink and eat. So I’m working to get back in shape. I watched everybody at work get ready for Mardi Gras and they looked incredible!
Speaking of Mardi Gras, in 2010 you covered the Spencer Tunick nude art shoot at the Sydney Opera House – and spontaneously joined in! That required some…balls!
(Laughing) It was insane. There was this utterly great event and I wanted to cover it live, and this chant started in the crowd. About five people started yelling “Grant, Grant, Grant,” and then there were ten, fifty, a hundred and then it became so loud it overpowered me. I was quite in awe, so the clothes came straight off and the producers shit themselves, because this was live television. It was completely unplanned and I just thought blow it! It felt like a movement with a lot of love in it, and I wanted to be a part of that.
You gave your support behind Same Sex marriage, long before the historic legislation. Thank you for that!
My pleasure. The good thing about it, was that there was a debate. I can understand how uncomfortable it would have been to be judged, when people measure you and have opinions on what your rights should be. But I think it was all a no-brainer. Who gives a shit what you look like or who you are? If you’re in love then you’re lucky, because there’s a hell of a lot of people who aren’t.
You’ve been voted Australia’s Spunkiest Male TV Personality, Sexiest Presenter on TV and Most Dateable Male. Not bad titles to have! How do you feel about the hotness tag?
That was all overwhelming. I never thought of myself as a catch or considered myself super-attractive. The Spunkiest Male was the first award I’d ever won and it blew me away. I found it very difficult to take because I was never successful growing up. I found it hard to find a partner and if I went to a club, no one would look at me. So to win those kinds of awards was like “Oh my god, what is happening in this world?”
You once tweeted “If I ever kissed a bloke, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup would fight over who goes fist. Not gay, love my cars.” Okay, so if you were gay, who would it be?
It would be Jamie any day of the week. I think I’d be a bit too much for Craig. Jamie is clean-shaven, a shit rig and best in the business when it comes to motor sports, for which I have a passion. I’d also say Robbie Williams. There’s something magnetic and fun about him, and the power of someone singing in front of a hundred thousand people is infectious. He’s comfortable in his own skin and there’s something very attractive about that. He’s definitely hot.
Some people probably don’t know about your V8 Supercar racing days, which even involved a bad injury. Are those days over?
Hell no! It’s part of my DNA. I’ve been racing since I was sixteen, and all I really wanted to be was a racing car driver. I only got into television because I tried to find sponsors for motor racing. I lived with my mum and we didn’t have much money, but that was my dream. I’ve now done three Bathurst 1000’s, which is the top of the food chain in motor sports.
You have five Guinness World Records to your name. Please explain!
Only one of them is awesome, the others are lame. They involve the world’s largest underwater dance class and the most kisses on the face, pulling on the most amount of underwear and bursting the most balloons all in sixty seconds. But the proper one was the world’s largest tandem budgie jump, which I did out of a helicopter over Bondi Beach.
You do have balls, don’t you!
Yeah I do! It’s weird because on television you can do things you don’t do in everyday life, and that’s fine because you can climb another level. But half the reason I left Sunrise was because my addition to adrenalin was getting out of hand. I kept one-upping myself to a point where I thought “I’m going to die on national television if I keep this up”. Wrestling crocodiles and getting shot out of a cannon made me think I’d used eight of my nine lives!
Who has been your favourite person to interview or meet?
I had a critical moment with Justin Bieber where we really connected. I was covering a concert in Sydney, and it was so bombarded with fans that we had to relocate to Martin Place. Even as host, I got lost in the wild crowd and was rescued by security. Then when I met the Bieber, we calmed down the crowd together. That was pretty next level and I even ended up in his movie.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Find a reason to smile in everything you do, and everything that happens! Because I think that in every negative situation, there’s something funny about it, or something to be learned.
Family Feud always had the best comic moments. What was the oddest moment you had?
My favourite was when a lady came from the town of Muff in Ireland. I asked if there was an entrance sign saying ‘You Are Now Entering Muff’, and there was! And because it’s a coastal town, there’s also the Muff Diving Club. Now the Muff Diving Club of Ireland has given me an official membership. I heard they’re organising a sign for when you leave that says ‘Thanks For Coming’!
(Laughing) Family Feud had the craziest moments!
Yeah, I even had a lady put her hand down the back of my pants. She tried to put her finger in my bottom!
What? She tried to goose you!
Yes she did! I didn’t quite know what to make of it. People seem to be very comfortable with me. They’ll pick me up and throw me around, but that means we’re all getting along well.
In all your time on air, have you ever had a wardrobe malfunction?
I wear a lot of suits, so there’s not a lot to reveal. I’ve gone out a couple of times with my fly open and undies showing. I’d have five minutes to change for six shows a day, and changing at that kind of pace is like being a stripper. But I’ve even worn mankini’s on television! I remember one time being a little unkempt downstairs and the only thing we had were some nail scissors, so I spent about fifteen minutes trying to trim the area for free-to-air TV!
What’s the story about regularly adjusting yourself behind the podium on Family Feud?
I have a concentration tick where after a joke, I’ll have a reflex and grab myself, and I didn’t know I did this. On Family Feud I used to get it out of the way by doing it behind the podium. Then I did a television commercial for 2Day FM, and when it went to air I was horrified to see I was readjusting the landing gear! I’m doing a full package shuffle from the left to the right, in a national television commercial! It turns out I’m no less than the average footballer!
That said, are you a briefs, boxers or freeballing man?
It’s gotta be briefs. I like a lot of support. I don’t like boxers because you have to be on one side or the other. I like to be symmetrical, middle, front and center!
Dancing With The Stars starts Monday 18 February on Network 10
For more on Grant visit: grantdenyer.com.au
