Life Uncut - The Best Of The Pick Up - Celebrity Jungle & December Birthdays

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

It's our weekly round up! The best of the week from our National radio show THE PICKUP. You can watch us on Youtube Find us on Instagram Join us on tiktok For more follow @THEPICKUP on socials.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was recorded on Camaragal land. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I am Brittany. My name is and always has been... And always will be. Well, I thought about changing it. Did you? Thought about the paperwork. It's just too much. I haven't even changed my last name since I got married.

There's no point. It's a lot of like damage control and like paperwork and filling it out and new passports and I just couldn't face it. Yeah, like my LinkedIn. I have to change my LinkedIn. I changed it on Instagram though. That's like halfway there. Did you?

I don't believe you. Hang on a second. Yeah, just like in my bio it says Brittany Hockley Seagrist. Hang on a second. One second. Let me just check that out. Also, while Matt's looking that up, guys, this is the Pick Up Our Radio show. So we do this on top of the podcast.

We package it up every week and we bring you the best bits. Have you found it, Matt? Oh, yeah. Seagrist. What does that mean? It's just a name. It's a Swiss German name. What does it stand for?

Does it mean like – I could be very wrong and this might have just been his granddad's job but it has something to do with like ringing a bell. Okay. Is that right, Grace? It means either victorious protector or peaceful victor. Where did you get the bells from? Was Ben's granddad a bell ringer?

Yeah, like they live in a small town in Switzerland and his job was to ring the bell and I think I must have just mistaken that with like a meaning. Sure. Yeah, occupational referring to a church warden so that could be – Oh, maybe there was something in that. Maybe he was a warden and then he got promoted to bell ringer. I don't know.

Did he lose his hearing at all from so much ringing of the bell? That's their version of industrial hearing. Is it Titniss? Tetniss? What's it? No, it's Tinnitus. Tinnitus. I was so close.

Tetniss is when you like step on a neurotic thing. I was so close, guys. I knew I wasn't quite there. I knew that if I planted the clues and you guys would like pick up the treasure. What I can say is Ben and I hadn't really discussed the name change, but he was so chuffed when he saw that I just added it to my Instagram bio. Like he was really proud. Has he put any pressure on you to go, like, the whole nine yards

and do the full transfer across to, like, Brittany Segrist? He would like us to all have the same name, but he also understands it's a bit too hard basket. And, you know, my name, I guess, comes with a lot now. Like, I don't know. I don't want to sound like a wanker, but, like, people know me as Brittany Hockley. I feel like it would be weird to change it.

Yeah, if someone came to me and they're like, oh, my gosh, you did that show with Brittany Segrist, I'd be like, who the fuck are you talking about? And I just put in too much blood, sweat and tears on Dance With The Stars for people to forget that. Totally, totally. I think if we have kids, we'd change it. I knew Laura was never going to change.

I was like – Paperwork's not her thing. Paperwork is her number one. That's her Achilles heel. She's literally never going to do it. I don't even think Poppy's properly registered yet. And I wouldn't want her to, you know. Really?

Yeah, I just – she looks like a burn. She doesn't look – she's not really a Johnson, is she? Well, no, that's because she hasn't done the paperwork. But I don't think it would suit her, you know. I look at her and I'm like, you just don't suit – Do you know what I think I'll do? Hit me. When the time comes, I think that I'll change it legally.

Like if I have kids, I think I'd change it, but I don't think I'll ever change it publicly. So I think I'd keep those two separate. Oh. Yeah, so on a technicality, we've all got the same name, but like publicly I'll still be who I am at my core. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Am I a seagrass?

Producer Grace, have you changed your name? No. I always said that I'd only change my name if it was better than my current name, which is Grace Gard, and I really like it. Grace God's strong. I love alliteration. It's a lot of the same letters as well. Yeah.

Yeah. Also, like, good for the forms. Your wife, what's her last name? Kalkul. Oh, but that's cool. Grace Kalkul. How do you spell that? K-A-L-K-O-U-L.

That's hard, though, as well, when you're like, the amount of times your wife must have to be like, this is how you spell it. Yeah. But then what will, when you guys have kids, because I know that's in your future, what name are you going to give them? I think we'll go with guard, but I think we'll use one

of Diana's family names as the middle name. Does Cal Cool know that you'll go in guard? Yep. Okay. Cal Cool's cool with it. Cal Cool's cool. I like that. But then would you have Cal Cool as a middle name?

No, we'd probably go like one of Diana's mum's maiden name kind of thing. Yeah. What's that? Cerizo. Oh. It's like chorizo. Kind of. Very good.

Very good from Brittany. These are the things when you're in your 30s and your 40s that you have to start thinking about. We need to talk about this in high school, I think. Well, no, because at high school it's like, don't have kids, wear a condom. And now it's like, so the admin that comes with it is trying to fall pregnant.

There's a whole lot that we could have learned in school that we absolutely didn't learn. Brittany, I hate to do this, but I have to cough. Pass the ciggies. It is your last. No one has fucking said, Matt, well done for rocking up sick to work. Because that's just what you, just a bare minimum. No, it's not the bare minimum.

Yeah, coming to work. You can't not come to work on your last day. That's why. Yeah, but like, you know, no one's. Matt, well done for coming to work sick. No praise, nothing. No like, hey, well done. You've pushed through.

We know you're unwell, but you did it. I mean, Laura was working in labor, so you've got, there's high standards for you to keep up with. No, it's fine. That's all right. When you're sick, Britt, and you're struggling, just know that I'm always going to cheer you on. I'm always going to give you some encouragement.

Just know that. I was just about to give you props and say the last 10 weeks with you on air has been one of the biggest joys of my life. Yeah, it was all right. If you're into that kind of thing. It was like a five. It was a five out of 10. Did you have fun?

He's like, no, not really. I would not recommend going to work after a baby is born. If I could change anything about this experience. You wouldn't have done it. I would be doing it before Poppy was born. Yeah, it's tough. It has added a layer of complexity that is not always wanted when you've got three kids.

Yeah. But being here with Izzy, who does our videos, Producer Grace, who steers the ship, and yourself, Brittany, has just been a delight. Yeah. Look, we had some highs, we had some lows, we had some laughs. Let's get into our laughs. What were the lows, Brittany?

Coming to work with you? No. We love you. As a joke, sometimes there's low-hanging fruit and you hand it to us on a platter. These are the parts that I will not miss is being Brittany's punching bag every single day. But you know you can only do that to somebody when it's not true.

Do you know what I mean? You can't say those things to people. When I have my breakdown, I want you to feel guilty, okay? When they're like, I wonder what was it? What was the straw that broke the camel's back? And they'll listen back to this episode and they'll be like, oh, Brittany Segrist. Brittany Hockley.

Yeah, say Brittany Segrist. She was the problem there. Say Brittany Segrist because no one will know who it is. We love you, Matt. Let's get into the last episode. Then you'll have to change your name. Maddie J, you and I have both had our time in the South African jungle. We both hit I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

Neither of us won. We did make it to the end. Like, we made it pretty far. I do actually have a bone to pick with you, Brittany, because I spoke to you before I did I'm a Celebrity, which was this year. Yeah, because I did it last year. And you were like, it's fine. You'll have such a fun time.

Yeah, Matt came and he's like, should I do I'm a Celebrity? I'm like, yes, I loved it. I came out of the jungle and wanted to go back in. I couldn't face real life anymore. Life was easier in there. It was fun. No time, no stress, no bills. Wow.

I was mismanaged so severely. I remember going into it. I thought it was going to be just like fun from the get-go. Within the first few hours, I was thinking, oh, my gosh, I have made a huge mistake. I didn't love it as much as you, Brittany. I was just hungry. It's different, I think, if you have kids because I think there's this pull

at home that makes you miss it a bit more, whereas I live with my dog, so I was like, I'm not going home to anything. Yeah, Delilah, I mean, not the best dog, is it? She's actually, yeah, she's incredible. Well, they're actually, for the first time, they're not filming it live and I have been paying attention to some of the behind-the-scenes producers who are over there right now in Africa. They are filming.

Yeah, right. As we speak, I feel like I'm a detective by sharing that information. Well, they're also, I mean, there's very public information too. They've dropped some very public hints as to who is going into this season and we want to try and work out who it is. So have a listen to this first hint. A rugby league Romeo is going from dodging tackles to dodging frocks. They won't be kicking goals in the jungle.

They'll just be kicking and screaming. Very good from Julia. So a rugby player. Okay, I got it. Okay. And I will bet my life on the fact that it will be Luke, Luke Bateman on the show. The book talk guy.

There she is. I'm getting professional rugby player. He wasn't a professional, was he? Yeah, he was. He played NRL. Oh, did he? Yeah, he played for the Canberra Raiders. Shout out to the Raiders.

Big Raiders fan. I reckon, I guarantee, he's got a huge following because he now, you know, he does his videos where he's like covered in grease on a farm tractor somewhere but also talking about fantasy. The women go wild. Luke Bateman, producer Grace, write it down. Lock it in, please. Okay.

All right. Well, let's go to hint number two. An international supermodel is strutting her way into Africa. She's connected to rock and roll royalty. Wow, we'll have them crocodile rock into something shocking. Do you know who I think this is? Go, hit me. And I'm just trying to think now if she's connected to royalty.

I reckon this could be Tyra Banks. I was going to say Tyra. Because. Hit me, go. She needs the money. She needs the money. I don't know why she decided to make Australia home, but she has. It's like she came here and set up a business.

She has an ice cream business. But I just feel like in Australian media she's been everywhere this year and she obviously was one of the biggest supermodels. She used to run the supermodel show like the I'm a model, get me out of here. I'm a supermodel, I'm a supermodel. Producer Grace, help us out. America's Next Top Model.

There she is. I'm a model, get me out of here. Same thing. Okay, I could be wrong but I agree Tyra Banks will be in, Producer Grace. If it's filming currently though, Tyra Banks was at a pub in Sydney performing her new Christmas song last night. I reckon she's already been kicked out.

Oh. Because it's been filming for a while. And I reckon, I'm going to put two and two to make 16, I feel like she will struggle in the jungle. Okay, I have also just tried to Google if she has a connection to rock and roll and she has been in video appearances in like Michael Jackson and Tina Turner and stuff. I have a list here, Brittany, who I reckon are guaranteed

Indeed. Sarah Harris, former host of Studio 10 and the project. She will be on there, I guarantee. I just saw her get papped on the weekend. Damn it. In the Eastern Beaches. So I don't reckon it's her. But what about Melissa Leong?

Because they've said a MasterChef person. NRL plays and MasterChef, that's a bottomless pit right there. But do you think, there's one that says a jungle princess. Do you think they're bringing someone back that's done it before? Because what else is a jungle princess? No, I don't reckon they would because it'd be so hard to manage because they would know all like the behind the scenes. What could Jungle Princess mean though?

I don't know because for anyone wondering, they are so strict that even the only time you have any contact with a production crew is to change your batteries on your mic pack and they are so strict that they won't even tell you the time. Do you want to know? You know what? Here's some information. I'm going to tell you something that I did.

I negotiated something when I went in that I said I will only come in if I have this one luxury item. Okay, what is it? It was a hairbrush. What? How did you negotiate that? Because I have hair extensions and I said, guys, you have to brush it or I'll end up bald.

Like I'll have to shave my head in there. They were tempted to make that happen. Did people know that you had that luxury? No one knew except for I just told everyone now. Oh my. Can I also just add to my list, Bianca Dye. You may remember her. She was on the radio on the Gold Coast,

on the Golden Bachelor. I think she'll be there. And I also want to say Lincoln Lewis. So that's who you think is the – oh, no, not a 90s pop star. And Matt Zukowski married to Tammy Hembrough for five seconds. But what category would that fall under? Reality TV bad boy. And there is also a reality bridezilla.

That's maths. There's always a maths. Which one? Which one? Could be any. They're all bridezillas. I can't wait to watch it. I'm super, super excited.

Okay, Jan 18. Maddie J, have you seen all the stuff around Quentin Tarantino kicking off online because – I love a bit of gossip, Britt. I love it. There, I said it. I'll admit it. I don't know if this is gossip as much as you said it earlier.

Quentin has woken up and chosen war. He has been absolutely slammed by Hollywood. Like I don't think I've seen so much of Hollywood come out since the picketing riots from the writers' protest. What was that? Well said. I couldn't get my words out. You can tell.

So Tarantino made an appearance on the Brett Easton Ellis podcast where he was naming the 10 best movies of the 21st century. They were just having a discussion on what they loved, but the discussion turned into who they don't love. Have a listen. There Will Be Blood would stand a better chance to be in number one or number two if it didn't have a big giant flaw in it. And the flaw is Paul Dano.

He's just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. Whoa. So isn't that just crazy? There's got to be like he's got to owe him money or something. There's got to be some reason why he's come out and he's so aggressive. No, because he also, it wasn't just that one attack. He also slammed Matthew Lillard who. Who's that?

He was in Scooby-Doo. He was in Scream. He's like a really, everyone knows him to be. Scooby-Doo was a bit, you know, not the best. He was shaggy. He was shaggy. yeah pretty bad um and also interestingly owen wilson he slammed owen wilson as well now i think owen wilson's a great actor but hollywood have just said you know what you can't come out and

slam these like our colleagues out it's almost like this is an unspoken rule where you're just not supposed to do it like you're not supposed to come out unless something huge has happened or somebody's going to prison or someone's done something illegal like you can't just come out when you are i guess as well respected and decorated as someone like quentin tarantino like the world looks at him to be such this incredible inspirational director that's done all these amazing things so when you come out and say publicly how bad an actor is that is unnecessary and unwarranted you're literally impacting their career but it's had a backfire because like anyone who is anyone in Hollywood has come out in force Reese Witherspoon came out

saying Paul Dano is an incredibly gifted versatile actor and more importantly he's a gentleman I love though, how everyone's come out in support of Paul Dano. Those other actors, I haven't seen any mention of them anywhere. Owen Wilson, no one's defending him. I actually had questions about that because we've got Josh Gad and John Cusack, Ben Stiller, so many different people. All Paul Dano. All Paul Dano. Can I just say though, you can't buy this type of publicity. If you're Paul Dano, I mean, you'd be pretty happy with the result right now. I mean, I would love but if anyone out there wants to critique me and my radio hosting abilities, come for me.

But don't you think... Attack me. I actually think it's going to be interesting. 2026 will be Paul Dano's year. You watch. He will be cast in everything as almost a like, we will show you kind of thing. This is an amazing result for Paul.

I think this is honestly the best thing that has ever happened to him. So he will be sending Christmas cards every year to Tarantino being like, hey, thanks so much for those comments on the podcast. That really gave me a leg up. Well, Matthew Lillard has actually come out and made his own statement. He was at like one of those Comic Con events and he said the point is that it hurts your feelings. It really, beep, sucks.

And you wouldn't say that to Tom Cruise. You wouldn't say that to somebody who is a top line actor in Hollywood. And I think that's a good point. And it just sucks that someone like Quentin Tarantino is punching down so much. That's the part I think that's gotten a lot of people offside. But I love to see Hollywood coming out in force. Tom Cruise is a pretty good actor though, isn't he? No one's going to say that about him because he's just so good.

He was so shaggy. Is he though? Sorry, sorry, sorry. Indy Clinton. She is one of the biggest, most followed influencers from Australia. She's got millions, millions across TikTok and Instagram. You've had her on the podcast before, Brittany. Yeah, she's like a, I guess she does like mumfluencing, like mum talk.

She's married a beautiful husband, three kids. Yeah. But one of her children, she has announced that she wants to change the date of her birthday. Have a listen to what she said. My third child, Solina, we have decided to change her birthday to the 12th of December. She was actually just too close to Christmas for my liking

and I just thought going forward, she's never going to know we have officially changed it. Genuinely, I cannot think of a reason why this would be bad. I don't know why more people don't do it. This is kicking off online. Can I tell you, maybe this is controversial. Yeah. I'm not mad about it.

Well, neither am I, to be honest. I think it's sort of okay. Can I just ask really quickly, when is your birthday? I say this, I'm good. I'm August. I'm like the middle of the year. There's nothing around my birthday. Okay.

That is a great time to be born. I am July 6th, which like not mad about it. Apparently, I read in an article, it was done by The Guardian, December 16th is the worst date to have your birthday. Apparently. Why the 16th? You'd think like December 25th would suck way more, or the 24th, or the 26th, or the 31st.

Look, hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you what I heard. but I think December 18th, that's a shocker. Shocker of a birthday. We have someone in the room with quite a lot of experience in this. Producer Grace is actually born on, let me see if I can remember it, the 20th of December. Correct.

Well done. Yeah. So it's Grace's 30th next week. Yeah. How do you feel because you had your party last weekend and that's because no one wants to come to your party five days before Christmas. No, literally my entire life I've struggled having a birthday so close to Christmas because everyone's either having

their family Christmas, their work Christmas party, they're away for the holidays. Oh, my gosh. What was that like growing up? Look, my dad's the 23rd as well. Oh, my God. Generational bad birthdays. So now you had to share it?

No, but my parents were very good at making it feel special because my dad knew what it was like kind of thing. He gets it. And they were very good at separating the events and separating presents and whatnot. It was more just everyone's away. But I think growing up it's like not even the present part because like you're always going to get the extra presents.

But it's like what you just said. It's like when you're a kid, you never really get to have the parties because no one's there. Like you are well and truly on school holidays. Every family is away or they just like they do not have the capacity to take their kid to a birthday party at that time. So would you change the date that you have the birthday party? Yeah, I do often, especially if I've got a big one like a 30th.

I'll just pick a random date in November or the start of December and just go with that. You're not stuck to a particular date? No, no, no. No, Grace called her birthday on the weekend, happy almost 30th. Almost 30th. I like that. Or a fake birthday is fun too.

I think it's okay. I don't think she's legally changing her daughter's name. I don't think she can. But I think she's like, hey, it's not going to hurt anyone if I just celebrate it a bit early. But people are kicking off about it. My only bit of criticism here is she says, well, she's never going to know.

She'll have to know. I'm like, well, look, at some point she will get an ID card and be like, hang on a second, December 12th. Yeah, because I think her kid, I think Sol, the kid she's speaking about, I think she's like three maybe. She's very little. But like you can't just lie to her forever. Like the truth has to come out at some point.

And to everyone out there who was born in December, my heart goes out to you. Can you just tell me why, does it say why the 16th is so bad? Because I just feel like there's worse days. I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't have the answer there. I'd love to know as well.

I'd love to know as well. I would have loved you to Google that when you brought that fact. Producer Grace is Googling it. I can tell. Apparently December 16th is the worst birthday It falls too close to Christmas No, there are worse dates than the 16th Sorry, that's so dumb

I don't believe that Brittany, you may remember Last week we celebrated a very special occasion In the Johnson household It was, of course There was a dance recital And there was a graduation Yes, big week

And one of those events Has rubbed people up the wrong way I did a video It was a little cut down from our podcast us two dating dads. And I was talking about the fact that I got a little bit emotional at the daycare graduation of Lola. Yes. You cried. It was all the feelings. It was a whole big thing. Now, a couple of people reached out and had some thoughts on the event. One in particular got my attention. I'm going to read you the message from Brad Smith 8. He says,

it's freaking daycare. That is not an achievement. Parents are out of control. If they think it's important to celebrate nothing with a kid kids need to start learning that it's okay to lose they need to start learning that life is just life seriously what the actual and i was like that also feels like there's something deeper there because it's like saying that you shouldn't be celebrating this and they need to lose and stuff like they they just finished school what's he mad about i mean we're not like wrapping the kids in bubble wrap and saying that they can never have any disappointment i mean we're just celebrating daycare look i do understand that people may be like well why are you celebrating that it's not that much of an achievement to graduate daycare

it's not like there's no kid that doesn't graduate if you're just in that year you just by default you don't like fail the sand pit yeah exactly like sorry timmy you're gonna have to spend another year finger painting that finger painting was so bad that was not good that was a shocker sorry he cannot graduate this year he's 15 yeah he's like he just he's just not doing it he's not he's not little timmy's pretty big he's struggling but it does seem a bit ridiculous do you know what the thing with me is like i think it's important to celebrate those little things do i think that we are in the like participation era where everyone gets an award for trying and i think it's important to try but i do think that like when you're in a running race i get that if you come

last it's important that you tried it is but everyone shouldn't get a medal because you do have to learn because life isn't that isn't life right like there are clear winners in life at certain things and that kind of stuff it's okay for them to be like i'm not as good of a runner like that's okay you're going to be better at something else i hear you and i think you want to build some resilience in your kids absolutely i agree with you and i think when it comes to sport I'm absolutely not opposed to giving first, second and third the little ribbon, a little medal, if you will, and the rest can then try harder the next year.

But I think when it comes to, we're talking about five-year-olds here and I think does it need to happen? Probably not. Do the kids really love it? Did Lola get super excited the fact that we like built it up to this big occasion, it's the end of daycare? Did she then look back at the photos and did she reminisce and was it a nice chance for all the parents to get together?

It was. Here's a question because sometimes I do think it is a lot Like for me, for example, when I look at that, I'm like, yes, I think you should celebrate graduating and going off to school and making it feel special. Do I think you need to have graduation capes and graduation hats with the tassels and like that all seems like a lot. Do you have to pay for that as a parent?

No. Because you know at uni when you graduate, you have to like buy your graduation outfit. So they provide the graduation stuff. I mean, I was paying $180 a day for a daycare. So I'm sure at some point those fees for the capes and the hat are swallowed in there somewhere. It's only going to get worse.

But they reused those capes and do you know what? It's a bit silly, you know, the fact that they are standing there in capes and they're five years old. But it just adds a little bit of theatre. And when we talk about the graduation process, all that happens is they sing two songs, they then each get a little certificate, they then like throw their little hat in the air and that is it.

It's over in about half an hour. And then you give the capes back. And then we've got to give the capes back. And that is it. So to you, Brad. Brad Smith 8. Yeah, Brad Smith 8. I said, tell me if you think this is a good comeback or not.

I said, tell me you don't have kids without telling me you don't have kids. And he said, I have three, actually. And he goes, but I don't have the brats that you'll have. And then which I replied, well, if they're anything like their dad, I beg to differ. Oh, mic drop. Cape drop. Hank, can I just.

Graduation hat drop. Can we, like, round of applause? Okay. That was perfect. Oh, God. I don't know if we should be encouraging online troll fighting, But, like, congratulations, Lola. That was a civil fight.

And if anyone wants to come at me for daycare graduations, I will come at you with the wrath of a thousand tired parents. Okay, all right. Brittany, one thing we haven't spoken about this week, which I think is a real miss, is Miss Universe. Yeah, we have been chatting about that the last couple of weeks. There's been a lot of controversy. I think we've spoken more about Miss Universe in the last couple of weeks

than I have my entire life. Yeah. Which is a great thing. What's happening now? I can't get enough. Okay, I want to talk about former Miss Jamaica. Her name is April Jackson. Now, she does something with her kids that has outraged people online.

Parents are now coming for her. Guess what she doesn't give them? What doesn't she give them? I hope she gives them love. She gives them love. Okay, I'll tell you. She doesn't do any gifts. She doesn't do birthdays, Christmas or whatever.

And she says here, I quote, I want my girls to value people, not things. I did actually see this. This is kicking off, right? Like a lot of people got angry about it. A lot of people calling her selfish and like you're only not spending money on your kids because you want to spend it on yourself. Which, like good on her.

I don't know if like what I'm about to say is the minority or majority opinion, but I kind of get what she's doing. I kind of think if you are giving your kids that many experiences, because she said she's been traveling the world with them, like giving them loads of – Yeah, they're living a great life. Living a great life. I kind of think that like if somebody asked me if I would rather like travel

the world and have experiences or just get like a gift that I'm going to use for a week and then never use again, I'd be wanting to travel the world. I do think when people feel outraged enough to come for another parent, knowing that these kids look happy, they're healthy, they're safe. They're in Barbados. Yeah, they're having a pretty good life. Like, let's, you know, focus on the more important things, the kids that are in danger.

But can I ask you something, Brittany? Yes. Do you have a core memory at all from your birthday or Christmas? Was there a particular gift that stands out as a great memory for you? No. Let me tell you this. We should be coming for Brittany's parents. No, because I can tell you all the cool holidays that I had

and this is maybe why I'm leaning more into I understand what she's doing. I saw a video last night. I'm going to share it with you, Matt, after this, because it was very powerful. And it was just coincidental that this came up in my algorithm. It was a mom. She has three kids that range from like four to eight or something like that. And she goes up to them all and she films them. And she says, hey, what was your favorite present from last year's Christmas? And no prompting nothing. She just asked the question. They think about it for a while. And the first one says, I don't remember. I'm sorry, mom. I don't remember. And she's like, that's okay. And then she says,

what was your favourite holiday we took last year? They start rattling them off and she asks all three kids and not one of them can name one gift they got the year before but they all name the holidays. She's obviously getting pretty bad gifts, isn't she? No. Needs to up her gift game. It's true.

It's true. You forget as kids. You forget. As a kid, I was raised by a single mum. There was five of us. We didn't have a lot of money at all in our household but there would be one big gift that we would get each year and I remember vividly what these were.

Like one was a cricket bat. I wanted it so badly and I had to wait all year and finally on Christmas morning I got that cricket bat. There was a new bicycle as well. I remember getting – no, don't get me wrong. I got a great gift from my parents but what I'm saying is I remember the camping trip that we did over the Christmas holidays more so than I remember what I got on that Christmas,

if that makes sense. It's a beautiful thing, the anticipation of a child when you're counting down the days to your birthday or Christmas. I loved it. I loved it. Like, do I enjoy holidays? Absolutely. But I think you can just give them one little gift.

I agree. Sorry, I didn't mean to talk in baby voice. I promise I will never do that again. That was the maybe feeling viscerally uncomfortable. I agree. A little bit of a Christmas present. A little bit of a present. I agree that you shouldn't be going sans gifts completely.

Do I think that we do too much? Yes. You see those videos online now where there's like 100 gifts wrapped under a tree. Too much. Your kids are not going to remember it. You're doing that for you, not them. Wind it back a little bit. Give them something that they've really wanted.

But then I think it's about experiences. And I'm not saying take them on a holiday. Like, that's crazy. We can't all do that. April, the former Miss Universe from Jamaica, she says she doesn't do any gift. Nothing. That's hectic.

Nothing at all. I mean, like, you do you. But I want to give my kids. I want to give them something. Yeah, but if my parents said, hey, you can have a cricket bat or go to the Maldives, I'm going to the Maldives. Like, I'm sorry. I mean, cricket bat's like a couple hundred bucks.

But that's my point, right? Like, these kids are doing just fine. Some people need to lay off them. As a parent, you'd be like, please choose a cricket bat. Come on. Bat, bat, bat, bat. Can't afford those flats. Some oldies.

Brittany, I want to get your thoughts on whether you think this is a red or a green flag in a relationship. You're a big fan of Travis Kelsey. Engaged to T-Swift. I'm only a fan of Travis because I'm a fan of T-Swift. He's a great guy. I don't know him personally, but I'm not an American football fan, so I hadn't really heard of him until that.

I don't think you need to be a fan of football to appreciate just how amazing he is. So handsome. Really? You have a crush on him. I like him a lot. I'm a huge fan. He has a podcast.

And a recent guest they had on the podcast was George Clooney. Now, he said something that was very surprising to me at least about his relationship with Amal Clooney. This is what he said. You claim that you and your wife haven't gotten in a fight in 10 years. That's right. Are you lying? No, I'm not lying.

Travis shall we ask you the same questions well it's only been two and a half years and you're right I haven't gotten an argument alright never once honestly you know neither of us are going to win the argument so why get in it

firstly his laugh is very cute also sorry Amal would always win an argument if George and Amal were in an argument 100% he's going down that is why he doesn't try and argue is she a lawyer what does she do again Yes, she is such an incredibly intelligent woman. And I think that's why he was attracted to her in the first place.

She definitely runs that ship. Do you think that in 10 years, not having any argument at all, that's got to be some kind of conflict avoidance issue, right? I don't believe it. I would like to know what they categorize as an argument because I think there would be disagreements of such, but maybe they have great conflict resolution. But do you know what I say to that?

Go on. And it is hard because it's not their fault. They are billionaires. They are uber rich. She's a literal billionaire. So the things, if you think about the day-to-day things that a couple argue about, it's finances, it's division of labor, it's who's cleaning up, but they've got cleaners.

They have people doing their shopping. They have people cooking for them. They just have to be together and enjoy their life. Do you remember the last fight that you and Ben had? Yeah. What was it about? It was like two days ago. What happened?

Well, I just told you guys I was moving to Italy and I asked him would he ever come here if he didn't have a football job. oh go on and he said no what yeah well and I understood it and it wasn't a proper fire it was and I never would ask him to he's like that would be asking me to give up my entire career that I worked my whole life for and it was a hypothetical question you know it's that time of the month and sometimes girls are like would you still love me if I was a frog yeah it was like that kind of a thing and he did explain it and I was like yeah cool that's actually wild to say would you give up your whole career to come here and do nothing and so it was like an argument over that but we

don't argue a lot either but that's because we live on the other side of the world to each other but i know that you guys have you you and laura have a couple of tiffs we have fights all the time my last fight was about the fact that i said to the kids that they cannot watch any more tv they too much tv during the day and don't say laura put it on for them and well yeah that's where this is going i said no tv i'm putting my foot down absolutely not the reaction from the kids was a huge meltdown i then went upstairs and i heard laura go don't worry i'll turn it on and I said, Laura, we've got to be on the same page here. That's like everyone knows that's the number one rule to parenting

is to even if you don't agree, you have to get on the same page. And so on a Sunday night after a weekend of parenting, the weather wasn't great so we're stuck indoors all day. That is what we had the fight about. But I agree, it's more important. It's not about the fight, it's about the conflict resolution. Totally. It's the communication afterwards.

And I just hope for George and Amal's sake that they are having those fights, that maybe they just weren't being honest about it on the podcast, but they're resolving it in a very amicable way. I actually think Clooney's a billionaire too. So, of course, they're not fighting. I'm not fighting with my billionaire husband either. What do billionaires fight about? Nothing.

Honestly, did you refuel the jet? I don't remember. Yeah, totally. Where's the caviar? Yeah. All right. Must be nice. Britt, did you ever have an elf on the shelf in your household during Christmas?

I don't think they existed when I was a kid. I think they're like the last decade kind of thing, aren't they? I feel like they've really blown. Producer Grace, did you ever have an elf on the shelf? No, I didn't. No, we're too old, Matt. Okay, well, we were never lucky enough as kids growing up to have an elf on the shelf come into our household.

But would you believe it? Just recently, this year, an elf on the shelf appeared in our household. That's crazy. It's really crazy. And... Very exciting. Do you know the rules about elf on the shelf? Well, they just sort of let themselves into the house

and they play tricks or something. Is that it? Well, the thing is, you cannot touch the elf on the shelf. If you touch the elf, it loses its magic. So the kitties can't touch it. Well, Marley was touching it for a while and we were saying, Marley, if you touch the elf at nighttime, it'll have no magic left so it has no ability to move around and be cheeky.

So it will just stay there. And so then Marley was like, all right, well, I'm just going to give it one night where I don't touch the elf. The magic came back and apparently I've also heard if you get a little bit of cinnamon and you sprinkle it next to the elf, that allows the magic to come back in addition to not touching it. Does it? Is that true?

Yeah, that's true. That's true. I wonder what the cinnamon does. Is that because it's like a Christmas nutmeggy kind of thing? I think it's just like, yeah, it's a bit of a Christmas spirit. It's like their fuel, if you will. And is the most exciting part that the kids wake up and they're like, where is he?

What pranks he done? It is amazing, Brittany. The things that this elf has gotten up to whilst we're all in bed, I mean, one night it was on the toilet paper where they were all over the floor. And at the time it wrote Merry Christmas in flower on the kitchen bench. Does it ever play a trick where it's like,

I'm actually not going to move? I'm going to stay here tonight. Well, the only time that was a bit tricky was when we had our cleaner come and they cleaned the house and then the kids came home from school and they were like, oh, my God, the elf has moved during the day? It only moves at night time. and we were like, oh, that was.

Accidentally, no cinnamon. We got the cinnamon now. So I get the cinnamon. But I think the best thing of all is the fact that the kids can tell the elf what they want for Christmas. The elf can listen but the elf can't talk. Okay. For those wondering.

So it's so important for the kids to tell the elf what they want because the elf will talk to Santa Claus at the end of each night. That's really wholesome. It is amazing. What are they asking for? Weirdly, Lola wants a light up glitter water bottle. Oh, okay. I don't know if Santa, so Laura did tell me that

and I don't know if Santa can, if Santa can't bring that, we have actually located one. Go on. Laura was talking about on the podcast saying the Santa's list and that sometimes the gifts are pretty tricky for Santa and they can't do everything. So Laura was also on the hunt for it just in case Santa did it. Imagine if we didn't have Elf on the Shelf.

we wouldn't have that vital information in the lead-up to Christmas. And I just want to say, just someone who was a little bit apprehensive about the thought of having a roommate move in in December, an elf on the shelf, it has been the best thing that has ever happened to our household. Better than Poppy being born. Let's not put that on there for you. So if you're unsure, get an elf on the shelf.

It'll change your life. Manny J, you are three kids deep. I think that you're done now. I don't think there's any more. When you were having your kids and Laura was falling pregnant, did you plan what time of year that they would be born? No, I didn't. And I think it's a good question.

We didn't give much thought to it. We kind of just got caught in the moment. We just kind of started doing the horizontal dance and we thought when it's going to happen, it's going to happen. But my brother is born on December 6th, I think. You don't know? You do have a lot of siblings. Yeah, I'm one of five.

I know my sister is Jan 6th, my brother December. and December's like when you're the fifth kid and you're like the last one in the year, no offence to my brother David, I love you very much and so does everyone in the family but it doesn't get a look. No one cares anymore. We're over it. Yeah.

We're over it. You're the fifth kid, you're born at Christmas, you don't get a look in. You know Tanya Hennessy? Yeah. I think she's due on Christmas Day. Which is really cute because. Is it?

Well, she spoke for so long about not being able to fall pregnant and she's had really, like, really tough fertility problems. I feel like that's like a little bit of sprinkle of magic, you know? Like, it's a gift. It's her literal gift. It's, I mean. It sucks for the baby. That poor kid.

Great for Tanya. Terrible for that kid growing up. My husband, Ben, and I, we don't have kids yet, but we do speak about it often. And it's been difficult because we've been in different countries, etc. But I'm nearing my late 30s and I do need to get a wriggle on if I'm going to do it. But I didn't know this was a thing.

When we were talking about it recently, he was like giving me the months of the year that it has to happen. And I was like, what do you mean? Like why are we – like I think it will happen if and when it happens. Because maybe he wants you to give birth when he's off season so he can help more? So, yes. There were two things and they changed, right?

So originally it was like, well, you need to give birth around May, June because that is the only time off of the whole year. My husband's a footballer, if you guys don't know. He lives in Italy. But that's the only time of the year they're off. And there are plenty of footballers that miss the birth of their children because, I mean, some teams are good. A lot of teams don't care, right?

They're like, we're paying you to play. Yeah, you've got to be there. Yeah, if it's a big game, a lot of coaches are really good and they let it slide. So it started to be around that, right? It has to be in the off-season. But then he's recently come back and changed it. And he said, now that I need to give birth in the first three months

of the year, so Jan, Feb, March. Maybe it can push to April because studies say that having a baby or being born earlier in the year increases your chance of being a professional footballer. So now he wants his kid to be a professional footballer and so now I have to have it at the start of the year purely so that it has a better chance. I'd love to know who's done this research

and how does it benefit the child? So I can tell you. I mean this study was based on footballers but it's a lot of athletes and the reason is and it does make a lot of sense they're bigger well no they've got more time to develop their skills in the year but they're in the same age bracket as a kid that's born in december so if you're in jan and another kid's in december and you're up against the same age group you've technically almost had a year of like training or skill development or whatever it is on top of other people in your year so it does make a lot

sense. It's like a biological cheat code. Yeah, it is a biological cheat code. And that's why I was never an athlete because I was born in July. It makes so much sense now. Do you reckon that's it? That's the only reason. That's so annoying. I'm blaming my mum for that. Okay. Well, we love you, Ellie. So anyway, watch this space. It's going to have to be January, February, March. And then if I do that, and in 15 years, that kid is not a professional, I'm going to be dirty. We'll be right back.