Tag: Tania Zaetta

First off, what did you learn from hosting Extreme Dhamaka in India?
I have been doing this show for ten years. I learnt a lot about the Bollywood industry because we had the best working with us on the production side. The stunt co-ordinator, director, director of photography have all worked on some of the biggest productions ever in India. I also learnt a lot about the people and the culture.

In fact, I learnt more in one month of touring the country than I did all these years travelling the globe. I must say that I also enjoyed the variations in the food between North and South India as also about the different religions and ways of life.

It was also a learning experience for Deepica and Salil. I told them “Forget whatever you have learnt about television so far. Throw that book out of the window because this is going to be a whole different ball game altogether. We do not have any scripted lines because this is reality. You do not know what the participants will say. It is ad libbed all the way.”

When and how did your journey into television start?
Oh God! That is a really long story. Television hosting is all I have ever done. I started modelling at age 17. By 19, I got my first television show, which was a game show. At 20, I landed up on Who Dares Wins. I do shows all over in London, Australia.

Were you nervous when you first appeared in front of thousands of people?
It is funny! Usually, the number one fears are those of heights and public speaking. The latter is not a problem for me. I love getting up in front of crowds. I don’t really get nervous.

The only time I was nervous was because the crowd was going berserk. I hosted one of Who Dares Wins challenges at an Australian Football League ground. The final was being played and 80,000 people were present chanting my name. It was like being at the centre during the Olympics.

You have been hosting Who Dares Wins with Mike Whitney for several years. Is it a challenge to keep the routine fresh?
The interesting thing with a show like this is that with each segment of the show you are working with different people. So I cannot anticipate what they will do or say or how they are going to act or react.

Since it is live, there is a huge challenge for the production team. There are no retakes. I cannot ask someone who has just finished riding through a burning bus on a motorbike to do it all over again because one camera was slightly out of focus. Another challenge for the stunt co-ordinators is that they are dealing with untrained people. Usually they interact with stunts people. So in our case they have to make sure that the message is properly communicated to the layman who may be a computer nerd.

What, in your opinion, is the single biggest reason for the success of the show?
We don’t humiliate or embarrass people. We never put anyone down even if they fail at something miserably. At best, we might make a light joke about it. They are still winners at the end of the day. After all, there have been dares that I have not been able to finish.

If they say no to a challenge without even trying it, there is no problem. After all, I probably would not attempt it either and I am sure that most people at home wouldn’t, especially when you have something that involves a level of danger. It was also one of the first reality shows to have appeared on the horizon. A lot of stuff that you see today has replicated our format.

What is the most dangerous dare one can perform?
I think that anything involving animals is the most dangerous. You cannot predict their behaviour. Hand feeding the sharks is one that readily comes to mind. We did one where a lady was dropped into a lion pen and she had to do some tricks with the circus trained animal. Once a crocodile moved around unexpectedly and I have never seen the crew run so fast in all of my life.

Could you talk about some of the other shows you have hosted?
There around 25 of them. I have hosted ESPN Sports shows. ESPN had approached me a few years ago to present a series of internationally packaged TV specials, For The Great Outdoor Games I was based out of New York. I also did the 2000 Summer X Games in San Francisco. I have just finished a show in London called Loose Women for ITV.

This consists of a panel of women talking about topical events. It is a big daytime show. Then I have been with Blue Planet a travel show. I also do a sitcom called Pizza in Australia. I play a struggling upcoming model who dreams of making it big as a film star.

Does your anchoring style keep changing depending on the mood of the show?
Absolutely! For instance on the travel show The Blue Planet I would go “Hi! Look I am in Paris right now”. With ESPN Sports I adopt the role of a commentator. I interview all the athletes like skate boarding’s Tony Hawke. On Who dares Wins, I am myself. I am the easygoing, let-me-help-everybody kind of person. I help the participants get through their dares. You also speak and dress according to the dictates of the show.

None of the shows I have done are straightforward. If I was hosting a fashion show, I would be wearing the latest accessories which would be most inappropriate for Extreme Dhamaka where I might be trying to convince someone to roll around in the mud.

Television is one of the most stressful jobs one can be in. How do you manage to sustain your level of motivation with the long hours?
The thing is that you have to love what you do. In whatever you are doing, if you are miserable, it shows through in the outcome. Every day is different. Every day, I am in another place filming different shows. The variety is another huge motivating factor.

Sure, it is hard work. I recently moved from Australia to London. This way I can cut some of the travelling time out. I also did this to figure out what it was like be me rather than being the me that everybody else wanted me to be. I just wanted to go out there and be me. In India, one of the major rewards was the crowd. In a city like Chandigarh, where the heat was touching 40 degrees, they turned out in thousands. That makes the 15-hour days, the sweat all worthwhile.

What do you think about the general quality of reality television at the moment?
It is going to be very contradictory for me to say this. I am not a huge fan of a lot of reality shows. I think that too many of them shock for the sake of it and for the ratings. Many of them promote unhealthy values, which are not good for the kids.

Putting people together to see who will cheat and lie (read Temptation Island) in manipulative ways to win a prize is something I am repelled by. A kid might watch a show and then say “Hey, it is perfectly good for me to grow up and then cheat on my husband.” That is the reason why I will never host certain kinds of shows. People say, “How can you talk this when you also host reality shows?” I have had many offers over the years to host these kinds of shows once I became a recognisable face.

However I do not want to put my name next to them. I am not surprised that there have been lawsuits put forth by participants. The worst part is that the audience who are utterly fascinated and do not realise that there is genuine anguish being felt by the participants and television should never stoop to that level.

So what kind of television engages you?
24 is one of the shows I like. I do not watch too much television. I usually catch movies while on a plane. On television, I watch the news or sometimes just read the newspaper. I also like sitcoms like Friends, Frasier, Sex And The City. A half hour show that tickles the funny bone is my recipe for relaxation.

What kind of a person are you and does that reflect what the average Australian is like?
Your questions are really making me think. I like that. I think that in some ways I am very typically Australian. I am athletic and sporty. I love the outdoors. Australians are very laidback in their attitude. Like them, I get along with everybody. We treat everybody the same, whether it is a Prime Minister or a beggar on the street. We do not take ourselves too seriously. We don’t think that we are better than anybody else. We don’t throw starry tantrums. I have never been late for anything in my life.

There are other qualities that I would hope make me different from the average Australian because that is my personality. I have a genuine love for people. I love hearing people’s stories. I love talking. I love travelling. Wherever I go, I never do anything by halves. When I came to India, I read books about the country, tried to understand the culture and the myriad ways of life that are prevalent.

Is acting something you are also pursuing along with anchoring?
Yes! I am going back to Australia this month and I will be in a few episodes of the sitcom I work on there. I have been receiving a lot of interest regarding Bollywood movies here. I love the entire colour, the sequence, the dance routines. The offers have already been made.

I prefer hosting, though. It is my calling. It is my niche in the market place. It comes very easy to me. I slip in front of the camera and talk without thinking. Whereas, with acting, you are pretending to be somebody else the whole time. I prefer to be me and that happens when you are a presenter.

Is it difficult for you not to get caught up in all the media hype with magazines and publications voting you the best on the basis of your looks?
I do not think that it has ever gone to my head. It is lovely and nice when magazines write wonderful things and put out nice things. It is not pleasant though when a magazine writes nasty things. It is a question of taking the good with the bad and I am a pretty levelheaded person. I still have the same friends I did before I became famous.

You have now come out with a kickboxing video. What is it about that sport that holds special appeal for you?
I have been kickboxing for ten years. It was a great way for me to keep in shape and also a way for me to know a little bit about self-defense. I think that all women should. I have got a series of five kickboxing videos. If anyone is having trouble with the stomach and legs, kickboxing is a great way to workout.

What does the future hold for Tania?
Hopefully, another season of Extreme Dhamaka in India. Granada Television has just finished making a one-hour documentary about my life, my career and the success I have had. That is very flattering.

It is a big thing to find that a network wants to acknowledge all the work you have done and think that you are worthy of following around for a month with a camera crew. There are a lot of big magazine covers, magazine spreads, swimwear, calendars coming up too…