Kiwi Yarns

Today’s guest is actually, quite possibly, the nicest man you’ll ever meet.Sam Smith is a comedian, a writer, a musician (but not to be confused with the other Sam Smith haha), he’s a dentist (yes that's correct), an MC, AND he won this year’s first season of The Traitors alongside Anna Reeve.Not only is Sam one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and has all those mad skills, he lives life with MS and he's legally blind.But as you'll hear - he lets NOTHING slow him down. I am lucky to call him a friend and find him so damn inspirational. You'll love this one. 

Today’s guest quite possibly could’ve learnt to drive before he walked…Third generation driver Jono Lester hails from mighty Palmerston North and was born and raised at the Manfield circuit - set up and operated by his family. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, father and aunty. It’s like he has petrol in his veins!It's fascinating hearing about the highs and lows of his career thus far, and what he's learnt along the way.Hear about how happy he is back racing home with FHK Racing - the New Zealand GT racing team - and their grand plans!Fun facts: he had his first crash when he was nine, and he's also an ultra marathon runner.

Today’s guest is a business owner and body confidence influencer who’s amassed a huge social media following for being funny, honest and undeniably authentic.Ellie Fitzgerald - or Loving Ellies Belly as she’s known on Instagram and TikTok - is someone that can put a smile on your face daily while also reminding you life doesn’t revolve around your fat rolls or what you look like in the mirror.She also runs Abeille Candles with her husband Brett in North Canterbury - and I can tell you the Christmas Pine scent is my all time favourite!

Today’s guest is one of the country’s most-loved chefs - not only because he makes glorious food and has owned a number of fantastic restaurants, but Michael Van de Elzen has also really nailed being a top notch TV presenter on shows like Eat Well for Less, The Food Truck and Kiwi Living.Now, Michael has released his sixth cookbook, Good from Scratch - the same name of his cooking school in Muriwai, west of Auckland city.He shares some fantastic yarns - including an unfortunate chafing incident at the Tate Modern.

Today’s guest is a beautiful, talented young woman who, despite the fact she cannot "smile", brings smiles to the faces of thousands every single day.Tayla Clement is 26-years young and has Moebius syndrome - a one-in-4-million condition.Tayla is not shy of discussing how brutally tough her life has been dealing with all that has come with this.What’s epic to see is the amazing mahi she is doing as a rugby content creator and hosting her own podcast Toe the Line.Tayla is on a mission to make the sporting arena more inclusive and we are absolutely here for that!A warning: we will be discussing mental health and suicide.

Today’s guest is fresh from winning the first New Zealand season of The Traitors (If you haven’t watched it, you absolutely need to - it's on Three Now)!Anna Reeve is a mother of two beautiful boys, she’s a former model, an influencer and a Global Alopecia Ambassador.We discuss how she lost all of her hair when she was just seven-years old and how she has navigated through living with Alopecia.She’s smart, talented and someone I’ve very lucky to call a friend - because fun fact - we were on The Traitors together and basically fell in love!

Reposting one of my favourite chats this week!I've been hanging out to chat with investigative journalist and documentary maker David Farrier for a while now, so this big long decent yarn, best dissected with a long walk or maybe even a nice drink (or both haha).From his hilarious TV3 sign off from back in the day, to chasing Mongolian Death Worms, interviewing Colin Craig in the sauna, to now spending a lot of time looking into conspiracy theories - this guy is just so interesting and awesome.Here's the link to David's Webworm: https://www.webworm.co

Reposting a couple of my faves this week!Today's guest is quite simply, a national treasure.Tammy Wells is someone we all feel like we have a connection with, she is pretty much part of our furniture...and of course the Briscoes furniture too.Tammy is the woman who, with a big warm smile, delights us with that welcome news that Briscoes is indeed having a sale.She's been the Briscoes Lady for a remarkable 32 years - and still loves every minute of it.Oh how delightful this yarn is!

Today’s guest is one of our talented radio broadcasters, and even though he’s still super young it feels like he’s been around the industry for years!Clint Roberts' success has a lot to do with his glorious-natured personality - plus he's a great champion of women in the industry.He’s also an extremely proud dad of two beautiful daughters - and recently launched a parenting podcast with another super cool dad - How to Dad (Jordan Watson) - called The Parenting Hangover.Some truly great yarns in here with a great mate!

Today’s guest was New Zealand's first Bachelor.Back in 2015, Art Green was thrust into the spotlight, where he spent a good chunk of time on television without his shirt on, he got to pash a whole bunch of lovely ladies and got called super cliché things like a “heart throb”. And then, he fell in love on the show with Matilda, he picked her and it really was the start of something special.Now Art and Matilda are happily married, living a delightful life in Warkworth with their third child on the way. He now HOSTS the Bachelor/Bachelorette, he’s a really awesome advocate in the health and fitness space (the good side of it too may I add), and he really loves gardening, and cooking massive bits of meat on the barbecue.He is also - as I discovered - a former Guinness World Record Holder!