And it wasn’t until I got home to the Airbnb, I stood in the shower and literally just broke down. But more than that, it was a lot of time invested in something, it was like the greatest improv of my life, where you didn’t drop character, you just stayed in it. She had to print off all my emails for me on paper so that I could read them like a book. You seem broken.” I couldn’t process what was going on. I went to my agent, Imogen and said, “I don’t know what to do.” She goes, “I’ve never seen you like this. We’ve been watching you closely and never suspected a thing. So having won it, it was like, “Woohoo.” And then it was like, “Okay, pickups. And you always find the juxtaposition of those two things.
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This whole experience is a mixture of a life changing celebrity school camp and having to make a TV show. Just to be able to finally talk about it and be able to emotionally process it, it’s taken me so long to be able to do that. And I’m slowly beginning to cognitively relive it again by watching the show. It has felt like a dream, it’s felt like a nightmare, it felt like it wasn’t real. The Real Pod: How did you keep this inside you?Ĭhris Parker: It’s destroyed me. This interview has been condensed and edited Just hours before it screened, having been given a sneak preview, The Spinoff’s reality TV obsessives at The Real Pod caught up with Parker for an emotional debrief which examined how this funny little show became an enormous hit for TVNZ 2, and how his life has changed as a result of the win.įollow The Real Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider. He plugged away and somehow emerged victorious – and, just as unlikely, the end of a revival of a weird pirate show from decades ago had its cast and viewers wiping tears away. Throughout the finale, as he did through the whole show, he tied his own teenage anguish to the mission of his chosen charity, Rainbow Youth (for whom he won an enormous $100,000), and drew huge strength and inspiration from it. He kept at it from literally miles behind, accompanied by the most charming (and seemingly delusional, given his position) positive self-talk.
As he said in an in-the-moment interview though, “the one thing I am good at is perseverance”. The unforgettable finale saw them race off to an enormous, seemingly insurmountable lead, with Chris looking like he might not only fail to make it to the business end of the treasure hunt, but might not make it past the first obstacle course. Each a physical specimen to match their formidable intellects, and utterly focused on winning. The finale of revived reality show Celebrity Treasure Island saw him pitted against the devious genius of dancer Lance Savali, and the ferocious entrepreneur Edna Swart. Chris Parker was meant to be the narrator, the comic relief (alongside a bunch of fellow comics), another touching backstory to fall along the wayside. The comedian dishes on his enduring bromance with Lance, why he adores Edna and how this silly show somehow became a sensation and changed his life.