Last year saw Chatfield judge on The Masked Singer Australia and she says she finally got her dream job hosting a dating format as the host of FBOY Island Australia.
“The tone of the show is unique, with real contestants who are there looking for love or cash, whilst the show itself is questioning dating culture as a whole, with some skits in between,” Chatfield tells Spy.
“Being on set is nothing but pure joy, the crew and cast are regularly holding back laughter as we do something wildly inappropriate.”
It’s fitting that reality streaming giant Hayu is bringing Chatfield to Auckland and she will be celebrating a bingeathon coming to Kiwis.
Season one of FBOY Island Australia drops on Hayu NZ on Monday and season two, which Chatfield has recently finished filming in coastal New South Wales, will drop here early next month.
Chatfield is ashamed she hasn’t visited New Zealand before and will be shouting out to her nearly one million Instagram and TikTok followers for the best places to go.
Or Chatfield could ask her boyfriend, Adam Hyde. The celebrity couple has made recent headlines across the Tasman. Hyde is half of Australian electronic music group Peking Duk, who have toured in New Zealand before.
Speaking of headlines, Aussie media described the first season of FBOY Island Australia as rude, raunchy and rogue.
Chatfield thinks the reason the show works in Australia is that it’s perfectly catered to their sense of humour, something she thinks will align well with Kiwis too.
She delightedly points out that one of the leading ladies in season one, Sophie Blackley, was born and raised in New Zealand.
Chatfield is refreshingly honest that life isn’t always easy and last year she sought treatment for work addiction.
As well as being on two reality TV shows, Chatfield was doing a nightly solo radio show, two podcast episodes a week, doing a national live tour of a one-woman show and was running a clothing brand.
“I have had to take a huge step back from a lot of the things that I enjoyed doing,” she says.
“I found it difficult to stop any of the jobs I was taking on as all of them were genuinely enjoyable, and the notion that my career could end at any minute made me want to grab hold of every opportunity that came my way.”
Chatfield, who also has ADHD, says her mental health took a huge hit, and she wasn’t able to be creative in any way.
Still recovering, she says she is now much more gentle on herself and strongly advises others not to push themselves for the sake of work, even if they love it.
“Make taking breaks a priority and put even just 30 minutes of rest in your calendar a day, without distractions or your phone.
“Go for a walk without any music or podcasts to distract yourself.
“I found the worst thing for my brain was the constant distraction, so I never had a chance to check in with how I was feeling. It’s very easy to put yourself on autopilot and not realise the plane is crashing.”
You can stream FBOY Island Australia Season 1 from July 15, and Season 2 coming soon and express from Australia, only on Hayu.
Ricardo Simich is the New Zealand Herald’s Spy Editor. Based in Auckland he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.
