Life Uncut - The best of THE PICKUP -25th June

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

It's our weekly round up! The best of the week from our National radio show THE PICKUP. On today's show we chat  - How did you ruin a wedding? Maddison Cottle, Miss Universe Australia living with MS diagnosed in your 20's Mitch is moving home See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life Uncut podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. This episode is recorded on Gadigal land of the Aurora Nation. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. This is our radio show where We get all the best bits of the pick up and we put it in the one tight little neat spot for you I'm Brittany and I'm Laura and I'm Mitchell. Hi Mitchell. Hi guys. Sounds like we're on 60 minutes And on today's news, I reckon if anyone would be good at it, to be honest, Laura, you'd be so good at 60 minutes

Why do you say that? And I feel like Britt is offended. No, of course I am. I knew instantly she would be offended Because it's always Laura, Laura, Laura. Why can't I do 60 minutes? You know Mitch did say one time it caused a really big rift in our friendship that if he was gonna have sex with one of us It would be me, and Britt never got over it. Would you? I mean, look, if Mitch wants to have sex with you, I'm okay with it. No, because do you know what happened? Actually, let me just remind you what happened.

Mitch said if he had to pick someone, it would be you. I was offended, so offended that Mitch said, fine, I'll change my mind, and then you got offended. You were like, hang on, you can't dump me for Britt. Guys, I'm so gay. It's never going to happen. Sorry, it's never going to work. Even I'm single now, and it's still not going to happen.

We just love you and we want to be close to you, but we do not want you inside us. Do you remember the justification to why it was you? Not really. I think you panic picked. Because I'm into men. I mean, I am more masculine. No, I'm saying.

And I have a flattered chest, so if that means anything. I've got bigger boobs than you. Okay, continue this conversation. Let's talk about what's on the show today. My mum gave me a beautiful gift. She gave me the gift of something she'd been holding on to for a really long time. She gave me all my report cards from school.

And what I came to realise is that I wasn't very good at school. Oh, I don't think that's fair. You were five. No, yeah, I was satisfactory, standard. Low average. Catholic school, right? Yeah, Miss Byrne, she was a cranky old nun. Miss Gillis wasn't an old nun, but she was cranky.

A young nun? She was just old. Just a nun. Not a nun. Do you know what? They probably weren't that old, but when you're five, like 21 years old. They were literally 30. I know.

Isn't that so funny? Our teachers would be 28 and we're like, they're old. They're ancient. I think she was. Ancient, yeah. Her name was Mrs Byrne and she was a nun. She was pretty old. Oh, you're Byrne.

Oh, my God. I know, everyone used to tease me and say it was my mum. I used to get really upset. Anyway, okay, guys, you tell us what you don't do on the show. Well, I talk about the fact that I'm moving back in home. So I announced it on the show, on this show, a couple of weeks ago that I'm going for a break-up and I've decided I've made the choice to move home for a couple of months, which was met by a resounding

aww with you girls. I thought you'd be supportive. No, we are supportive. We just think that you should be paying rent, that's all. To live at home when you are in your mid-20s, I feel like that there's some sort of payment that should be received. by your parents. 100%.

No, they want to help me get on my feet and, you know, save to get a house and build up. I reckon you'll still be there in three years' time if you get it for free. Yeah, you're staying for sure. I'm not going to stay because I want to slay. I'm a health and fitness error. I'm not going to stay because I want to slay.

That was what you just did. No, it didn't. It was really cute. You two said to me today, you both said concurrently, I think you're going to have a slut error soon. And I just don't think you're going to end up bringing anyone home. I reckon you need to live on your own in your own home so you can do what you want and you can bring them into your house.

And, yeah, you ride that into the sunset, boy. I'm excited for you. Maybe I need my era. Yeah. I want what she's on. Same. Anyway, what did you bring to the table? We do have a really great guest on today, Madison Cottle.

Now, she is 22 years old. She was a Miss Universe Australia finalist, and when she was only 20 years old, she was diagnosed with MS, multiple sclerosis, which when you hear that term, you think death sentence. you think that it's going to be debilitating and horrible, and it can be, but it's really cool to talk to Madison because she has a different outlook on life

and she's had a really, really positive reaction to the drugs that she's been given. So it's sort of like stopped MS in its tracks. It's amazing. It really is. She's very inspirational and she's all about advocating for your own health. But there's so much more on the show and let's get into it.

Britt, Laura's still got her bandaged fingers. I think she's going to be bandaged for a while. I'm here. I've got my pointer finger and my thumb all bandaged up because I set myself on fire on the weekend, everyone. So I had a friend's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and I was put in charge with lighting the sparklers, which seems like an innocent enough job.

But I took it really seriously and I tried to light an entire pack of sparklers at the same time and they went up like a bomb. You ruined your friend's wedding. I almost set the place on fire. I set the wedding cake on fire and I set myself on fire in the process. And you were bandaged to tell the story. You know, to make yourself feel better, you got me thinking. I ruined a wedding once.

I was at my friend's wedding and I wish I was making this up. She'd had the ceremony. We just got back to the reception. We'd only just started to eat the main meal, so we're pretty early into the night. I obviously was feeling happy. God only knows why I decided to drink red wine. But I went up to her to congratulate them and hug them,

tripped, and my entire red wine went down her wedding dress. You're kidding. The groom. The bride. The bride. The groom's dress. No, you had a minor stroke. Britt, that's horrific.

The bride. The whole, and I. Down the front of her. I started crying. I stood there and I started crying. I was shaking because I was like, you get one shot, maybe one shot, you get one shot at this day. And I was beside myself and I was like, don't make this about me.

And I was like, what can I do? The wait staff, she was fine. She was like, it's fine, doll. We got the photos. And I was like, it's not fine. It's your wedding day. Anyway, we poured litres of soda water. They were getting sold.

I'm sure she loved dancing around in a wet dress for the rest of the night. That would have been even better. Can you believe that? I feel like it's the ultimate thing besides setting the whole venue on fire. So good. Is putting red wine on someone's wedding dress. Well, at least they didn't set the bride on fire. Yes.

Did you try to find any nice in that story? At least she's alive. At least she's alive. It was just the cake and not the person. Grace, what happened at the wedding? What went wrong? Oh, okay. Well, this wasn't me.

This was actually what my brother did at his own wedding. He got a little bit excited the night before and had a few too many drinks. and he was so hungover that he actually missed the ceremony. His own? His own. His own wedding. Oh, my God. Look, he did like, you know, we waited for a few hours

and it was like, oh, you know, we're kind of all in damage. This is a few years ago now and we're all sort of in damage control and, you know, we got to the reception and he came to the reception but he looked like an absolute zombie. Like his, like, eyes were all like bloodshot and everything and we're trying to just make it. this really, like, chill situation to cover what was just an absolute awful, awful morning. Wait, how do you even go to the reception when there hasn't actually been a wedding?

They're not married. Well, you paid for it. You've still got to go partying. You paid for it. Well, look, a lot of money had been spent, so you've just got to kind of roll with it. Wait, what did his fiancé do? Well, I don't know what happened behind closed doors, but, look, it wasn't great. There was a lot of apologies.

There's been a lot of, like, you know, I'm sure making it up a lot over the years. Oh, so they're still married. Are they still together, Grace? They are still married. My sister-in-law is obviously the best. Oh, my God. See, Laura happens to other people too. No, that's worse.

That's so much worse. Jo, hey, how did you ruin the wedding? What happened to you? I didn't ruin a wedding, but I was a wedding planner. So this was about 10 years ago. and I was given the CD from a bride who I was told to put on at the start of their ceremony. So as I put the CD in, having not checked it, everyone was gasping

and when I looked up at the four big screens that was above all the wedding guests, it was actually a video of the groom that was standing there and the bridesmaids having it off together. Oh, no! Wait, the bride gave it to you and you played it for everyone? Yeah, well, it was supposed to be a montage of photos of them, you know, in their life together before getting married and, you know, beautiful images and whatnot.

And it was a very standard thing. It was actually something I suggested. I said, oh, a lot of brides do this. You know, if you have, you know, some images and pop us a CD and we'll put it up for the ceremony. And I'd actually had a CD given to me a couple of days before at the rehearsal and it was legitimate of their images. So I didn't think anything to check it again.

And, yeah, the CD she'd given me the second time around It just happened to be this video that she captured of her soon-to-be husband that wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't an accident, Jo. Like, you didn't accidentally get this footage. The bride knew what was happening and thought, I am just going to outage. Oh, my God, this is amazing.

Oh, 100%. She ruined her own wedding. Well, no, she actually had a really good time because her whole family and friends were obviously mortified, got up and left. And she continued to have the reception with just her friends. Oh, that's iconic. And the bridesmaid was there too.

This is a movie. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Amazing. I love that. I need to sell the rights. It was tricky at the time, but we got there. My mouth is on the floor.

I can't. I love that. I feel so absolved of my mistakes, of my accidents that I did. No one invite me to your weddings. I'm a liability. I have an amazing guest for you guys today, an amazing, amazing young woman that I saw on Instagram. Now, her name is Madison Cottle, and she's 22 years old.

she unfortunately has been diagnosed with MS and she is on a mission to spread the word about it so people know more about it what it is the causes it's taken her two years to get to that point she's a beautiful young woman she was Miss Universe Australia finalist and she's on the line Madison Cottle hi Madison hello thank you for having me no thanks for coming on look as I just said I was so intrigued by your story and obviously the mission that you're on to spread the word is working because I saw your story come up and I was affected by it as someone that's just a healthy person I thought wow what this young girl must be going through talk to us about your diagnosis and what that looked like at the time of course so I'll take you back to June of 2020 I was 10 months

into my first business venture I was a happy healthy 20 year old or so I thought and I woke up one morning and I was limping I was just struggling to walk and I wasn't injured at all I wasn't in any pain and I thought it was quite strange because other than that I'm usually quite healthy um so I did get go to the doctors and receive a MRI and we were in lockdown at the time so I did receive the news that I had multiple sclerosis over the phone and that was definitely the most scary and the worst phone call I've ever received and no support around you when you get that call of course it's I was so scared for what my future might look like and it's often that we see a lot of older people with this diagnosis so I didn't know of anybody my age with the diagnosis

and also that I am 100% symptom free but I didn't know that would be the case wow so Madison I guess when it hit you and if you're happy to talk about this i mean what thoughts ran through your mind i mean do you i would get it at that diagnosis and i think it's a death sentence i'd be terrified what was your thought process when the diagnosis came in 100 so we often see um worst case scenarios it's not often that people speak about it when they are symptom free so straight away my mind went to oh my goodness i'm going to end up in a wheelchair by the age of 25 and i'm going to have disabilities but I am so lucky to now live in Australia where we have modern day technology and medication where we can pick it pick up on it so early and lots of people are able to live

a completely normal symptom-free life but I obviously didn't know that at the time how common is it for people who are so young who are in their 20s to be diagnosed with MS so the average age of diagnosis is between 20 and 40 years old so I was 20 so I was the youngest yeah and Madison further we should have done this at the start but for those that are listening that might not know about it can you explain what is MS? Of course so multiple sclerosis is when your immune system attacks your nerves and it starts shutting down your body so your some common symptoms are your ability to walk, your bladder, your vision. So my ability to walk was obviously compromised in the beginning, but I was able to be given medication to reverse them side effects. So I have no

permanent side effects. And since being on that medication, I have had no progress. So when you say you're on medication, does that mean that daily you have to do something in order to continue to block this? Otherwise it would progress. And what does your day to day look like now, being that you're symptom free, but in terms of how you medicate and how you take care of yourself, what do you need to do? So day to day, I live a 100% completely normal life. If you met me, you would never, ever, ever know that I have multiple sclerosis every four weeks. So once a month I go to the hospital and I get an infusion and being on that medication, it just suppresses my immune system a little bit so that it weakens and it's not attacking my body.

Wow. So do you mind me asking, Madison, the prognosis? Have you been told by doctors or specialists that you'll live a full, normal life staying on these medications? Yes. So it's extremely, extremely unlikely that I will have any further progression being on this medication. And it's so common now for younger people to live a symptom-free life because we have these strong medications and the research and the technology. so madison do you know is this because you were diagnosed so early so for people that were diagnosed further along with more symptoms can those symptoms be reversed or is it a like we'll stop it from progressing but you live with what you've already got and you just don't get

further yes of course it changes case by case but for me i got on top of it pretty quickly so it didn't get to the point where it was irreversible so i suggest if anybody does have symptoms that they get on top of it straight away because i was so lucky that i got on top of it and now it's reversible and i live completely symptom free so what are the main symptoms i mean it's obviously affecting the brain and then a spinal cord so it would be it'd be sort of motion skills yeah yeah so your mobility um often people are also fatigued um experience headaches things like that it's funny because i feel like there's such sorry funny is the wrong word but i feel like the symptoms it's difficult because a lot of people have fatigue and headaches i have fatigue

I've had headaches my entire life. And then, I don't know, it's a scary thought because you think, well, do I need to go get checked? There's so much crossover with other conditions. They're very broad symptoms. But can I ask as well, like how does someone get MS? Is it a genetic thing? Is it something that you catch a virus?

Like how does it happen? At the moment there is no cause and there is no cure. Some research shows that it's genetic. Other research shows that it's just your living situations, but there is no official cause. I don't know. Wow. I've got to commend you, Madison, for being so brave

and so open and vulnerable talking about it. I mean, I live with a chronic illness. I have a brain condition called Chiari malformation and it's got very similar symptoms to what you live with and it can be debilitating physically but what a lot of people don't talk about is the mental strain that isn't actually being caused by the symptoms of the condition.

It is the toll that it takes knowing that, I mean, I guess. Or the unknown. The unknown but also, I mean, it took you two years to talk about it, Madison. And I had a similar situation where I was like, why does this happen to me? You know, especially when it hits you when you're in your 20s. It hit me when I was in my, when I was 19, I was diagnosed. And I don't know if you went through a similar thing to what I'm experiencing.

Yes, definitely. I'm so sorry you're also going through that. But I question myself every single day, why me? Why me? For the last two years, I think that I'm a happy, healthy woman. I put so much good out into the world and it's so easy to question why me. But that's why I did apply for Miss Universe Australia because I've decided that this is my why.

My why is to educate, to advocate, to do everything in my power to make a difference to the mental health of people that receive serious medical diagnoses. That's incredible. Madison, you're just gorgeous. An incredible young woman. Inside and outside. Yeah.

Oh, thank you so much. Keep spreading the word. Keep fighting the good fight. And we, you know, all of our love's going out to you and we hope that you stay happy and healthy. Thanks, Madison. Thank you so much. Oh, bless.

What a sweetheart. I guess it's also good for everyone listening. Like if you have had persistent symptoms and you're in that age bracket, just go and get an MRI. Talk to your GP. Get an MRI. But what's also good is like that chat then with Madison takes the fear-mongering out of it because I think a lot of people,

you hear something like MS or you hear, you know, this disease name and people don't know enough about it. So all of a sudden you think the worst. You think your life is over and, yeah. And I think it's important that this is not just for MS. No one's going to advocate for your health the way you need to. Exactly. So if there's something that's niggling,

if there's something that's affecting you, go and get it checked out. So the other day I went down to Wollongong and I saw my mum and she gave me a big bag of some belongings from my childhood that she's been holding on to. Oh, she's doing a clean-out. She did a clean-out. I hate when my parents do that. Yeah, but 37 years.

She was like, oh, I went through the garage and I found some things that you might want to keep. And she gave me this massive bag and it was full of literally every single certificate, every single award, Any note that my teachers had written Every report card that I'd ever gotten All my piano adjudicator notes She kept them

Parents keep the weirdest stuff My mum kept my foreskin I feel like that trumps everyone That trumps everything that any parent Has ever kept My mum kept these four massive diaries Full of all of my accolades As a young child

And I got really excited because I thought I'm going to take them home And I'm going to read through these Because obviously my mum's kept them because they're special and, like, you know, they're telling me what a good kid I was. I wanted to read out one of them to you. Oh, no. Because the overarching thing that I discovered from these four folders of memories from my childhood is that I was actually a pretty average kid.

Is that I am actually satisfactory. Is that I am pretty bad at pretty much everything. I'm sound. I always thought I would be a singer. That was my real aspiration for life. I didn't know that. Did you know that, Brit? Laura actually can sing.

Not well. No, you know a dancer. but, like, you can hold a tune. Can I, though? Yeah. Can I? Okay, so these are your report cards from what year? What's the date?

Well, no, this one isn't a report card. I used to go and I used to perform. I used to go and stand up in front of an adjudicator and I would compete in singing lessons. I was a singer and I did piano. It makes me feel uncomfortable thinking about it. Me too. It's so awkward.

So when I was eight years old, I sang Winnie the Pooh, not just the normal Winnie, not the theme song. Which one? Which version? It goes, Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh. Can you put some effort into it? A cuddly little tubby all stuffed with fluff. It's Winnie the Pooh.

I stood there and I sung it and I did these beautiful arm gestures and my mum never gave me this little report card at the end of it. It's the first time you're seeing it. What does it say? And here it is. Winnie the Pooh, Laura Byrne, eight years old. This was clear and there was some feeling for the meaning of the song, although your actions could be far more refined

and a little bit more concise so the audience can actually concentrate on what you're singing. Except for some false I think this says Intonations Not sure what that is Except for some false Intonations at the beginning

Your singing Was mostly Fine How old were you? I love the fact that It's the arm gestures That get us She's like

Put the arms down girl She's still doing it Because she still does it We saw her on Dancing with the Stars It's the jazz hands It's what she does She distracts with the hands

I was eight or under I have never read anything More like unencouraging In my entire life I went through this box Because you brought this box in And I found this one Britt I have an actual report card.

What's that? West Wollongong. St. Therese School, West Wollongong, Laura Byrne, Class 5B. I love the tagline of the school is, love can do all things. Except sing. So this is, I've got all your marks, okay? So it's A-M-S-R. A is always, R is rarely, S is sometimes.

In religious education. We'll know the answer to that one. They've ticked rarely, but the teachers then got a stick of white out, Whited it out and gone sometimes. I don't want to be too harsh. He didn't even go and get a new report. It's the very first tick on the entire. He could have just started again.

But he wanted me to know that he marked me down and then thought about it. What about this? Personal development. He's ticked sometimes. Then gone to rarely. Ticked rarely. Whited it out. Gone back to sometimes.

And then just written in red pen. It varies. He did. It varies. He can't make his mind up. Shows self-discipline. Varies. Accepts responsibility.

Rarely. Respects rules and authority. She still doesn't accept responsibility. Rarely. Never. Completes tasks and is focused and punctual. Rarely. Yeah.

This is checking out. Apparently, I can follow directions. Satisfactory. That's the lowest. We can't get above that. Can I just say, the best score you've got, Laura, which is so funny. Ready?

In library, you've scored always for shows interested in borrowing. What does that even mean? Oh, bless her. I didn't want to peak too early. She wasn't checking the Bible out because that was real. No, she wasn't. That's so good. We love you, Laura.

All your flaws. Look, guys, this is what it says. If you did really poorly in primary school, there's still hope. You might end up in radio. Exactly. Get into borrowing. It's the end of the week. I've got one more week, guys, before I move out of my house that I'm currently living

in alone because I announced it on the show a few weeks ago. Me and my partner of five years split up. Yeah. It was shock split up. Some things happened. I was blindsided. We were out of the relationship, and I'm now single for the first time in a very long time.

I had some choices to make, and I have decided. I actually haven't told you guys this, but I wanted to announce it on the air and get your hot take. Your new boyfriend. I am moving back in with my parents. Oh. Oh. That's cute.

Cute, yeah. Yay. I love this reaction. Yay. Yay. This is not the reaction I expected. No, that's a big, big, big life-changing decision. Wait, are you going to move back into your old room?

How old were you when you moved out of home? I moved out of home at 22. I'm 27 now. How do you feel about moving back home? It was my choice. I'm not being forced to. I'm so sad about the breakup. It's really rocked me.

And it's only going to be for three, four months, six, 12, 18 months. Four years. However long I need to just get back on my feet and be in. I'm going on a health journey as well. I want to get back into a better headspace and then get back out there in my single area. There's also been a rental crisis, so that didn't really help trying to find a new apartment, hey? Oh yeah, I went to 12 open houses, didn't find anything, so I called mum and dad. Mummy!

Okay, I want to know, is the bedroom still like it was when you left? Or has your mum and dad reclaimed the bedroom and now you've got to put your stuff back in? They turned it into the guest bedroom, but the Tiffany Blue feature wall is still there that I painted on my 21st birthday. What were the posters you had up? I'm guessing like Backstreet Boys, Hanson. Yeah, no, no, I didn't do posters. You know, I was a minimalist. I was very, you know, beyond my years.

How do your parents feel about the fact that you're moving back in? Because I remember when I moved back in for a stint in my 20s and my mum was very happy to have gotten rid of me and not so happy that I'd moved back in. No, I'm so lucky. Mum and dad, Mark and Michelle, Churi, they are good parents. They're pumped to have me back. Hang on.

Was it last week or the week before? We had a pretty heated discussion on here about kids paying rent when they're adults and they live with their parents. We did. I was very much the adult should pay rent if they move home and you are very much that you shouldn't pay rent. Are you going to be paying any rent? I just want to say that I didn't have that point of view

because I knew I was moving in with my parents. This is very sad. No, I don't think children should have to pay for many reasons and I haven't spoken to mum and dad about it, but no, they won't make me pay. They won't be there. Are you sure that your mum's not going to make you pay? I don't know if she's on board with that.

What do you mean? Michelle would love to have me back. We're great friends. No, I'm going back. I'm not paying. But have you given her a time frame that you're going to stay for? Because I feel like you get a couple of weeks to maybe a couple of months rent-free. And then if you stay for too long, that's when board starts.

No, no rent-free. You pay for a contract. You know what? I don't like this. Let's get Michelle on the line. Michelle, I've already called her. Here she is. Surprise.

Mitch's mum, Michelle. Here she is. Welcome to the pick-up. Mrs. Jury. Hi, Mum. Hi. Hi, everyone. Hi, Michelle.

Hi, Michelle. Michelle. Oh, Mum. Your son has just informed us that not only is he moving home, but that he's not going to be paying you any board. Are you across this? I am. I am.

And, in fact, that was the deal that we'd arranged with Mitch. But I think Mark and I have had to review it, and we may have to change that situation, Mitch. We may have to actually ask you to contribute in some way with board. I mean, you're on a good salary now. Radio pay's not too bad. You know, he's doing okay. He's doing okay.

We're very excited about him coming home. How much are we going to charge him a week? Oh, I was thinking like $150. Oh, mum, listen. If there is anything you are not, mum, it's an actor. You've been worded up by these little ratbags. Michelle, are you going to give him pocket money, like $5 if he does the dishwasher?

Mum, you're not. I'm not paying. I will if you want me to. Is this real? You're being a prince now. No. Michelle, do you know what I want to know as well? What are you going to do when Mitch starts bringing home some love interests?

Some hot, sexy men, we're saying. Go out. You need to play the away game. Yeah, absolutely. He's going to have to give us the heads up, and then we're going to have to find other plans. But we're not home a lot, so don't be scared. You could do a walk around the block, Mum, and I'd be done.

That's all you need. Just check the letterbox while I'm a dog. Get the letters. And we'd be over. Michelle, if there's a cowboy hat on the door, you know not to go in that bedroom. We've got to come up with something like that, Mitch, to say, yep. A cowboy hat.

Some cool signs. A cowboy hat, yeah, exactly. No-go zone. But I would never walk into his room anyway. No. Without knocking or without. Gosh, that could be scary. We need to set up those ground rules, definitely.

We need a contract. Do you want me to pay rent? Yes, pay your mother rent. Okay, how long can Mitch stay for? Well, he's sort of said three to six months, so I think that's fair and reasonable. Look, I think he needs to contribute towards food at least, because, you know, he does like his food, as all the cheeries do.

That's fair. You know what? That I can cop on the chin. That I can take. Yeah, yeah. I'll buy a barbecue chook a week, Mum. Deal. $600 worth of food a week, I reckon.

Yeah, a little scallywag. I'm excited to come home, Mum. Can't wait. Thank you. We're excited to have him home. So it should be some interesting stories. Oh, I can't wait. Thanks so much, Michelle.

Good luck, you lot. Thank you. Love your mum. See you. Modern family. Yeah. She's pitching. It's your own son.

No, she's pitching a reality show. She'll have her own segment in no time. This is stage mum. Hey, our next guest, ladies, we'll know, obviously, as his time spent in the MasterChef kitchen, as being one of Australia's biggest, most beloved foodies, and now a co-contestant with Laura Byrne on Dancing With The Stars, the one and only Matt Preston is here.

Hello, Matt. Hello. Hi, hi. I think it's really unfair to class me in the same territory as an excellent dancer like Laura. Oh, Matt. I mean, we all know that you're truly just the competition. I think you were robbed watching your dance on Sunday.

It was so good and the scores did not reflect how good it was. I was so proud of you. That's not what you just told us, Laura. Very different story when you weren't here, Matt. That is not what she just told us. You know what? The reason for doing the show is not to impress the dancers for me. For me, it's about the joy and the pleasure that you get

from dancing with someone and hopefully the fun that other people get from watching you dance, whether they're laughing at or they're laughing with. If Laura's laughing at, that's just as valid as laughing with. I would never laugh at you, Matt. I was laughing with you. How was your family? How did they respond when you first told them

you were going to do Dancing With The Stars? Did you have some supporters in your kids? No, no, no. I know the absolute opposite of supporters. I told each of the kids individually and they all went, oh, that'd be great, Dad. And then the next line was, that'd be great because you're a really bad dancer. It'd be really funny to watch.

So I filmed the performance on the telly on Sunday. And you can hear my daughter in the background going, wow, what a surprise. It's so cool. It's so amazing, though, isn't it? Because you get all these people who most of us have never ever danced before and it's so outside your comfort zone. It requires so much confidence and, like, you're really putting yourself out there to go and do a foxtrot.

And especially you, Matt, you hurt yourself at the very start of this whole training experience. Yeah, did you roll your ankle? What happened, Matt? Yeah, yeah, I popped the two tendons that run down the outside of your ankle. They sit in a groove and they kind of ping down. and I couldn't really put any weight on my ankle for 10 days. But as soon as I could, I was back training.

In a way, though, it takes some of the pressure off. You're going, okay, I've lost half my training time. We've just got to do what we can do to get on that dance floor, to do the first dance, and that's what it's about. And I think that's why, as Laura would have told you, the training is brutal. I think I was training five hours a day, seven days a week. That day I danced, I'd flown down to Melbourne the day before,

to host a sellout show with Nigella Lawson. I then got up at six to do my radio show. I then got back on a plane and at 11pm that night we were dancing. So it was brutal, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was such a great thing. I actually found that I didn't find the physical side. And the physical

side, you're acclimatised to. You just keep building up. I think because we were having to strap the ankle and favour the ankle. But I found the mental side of it really hard. I don't know about you, Laura, but the dancer, you know, I've got a brilliant dancer in Jess Raffer. They say, okay, They just do this and you go and you tell your feet,

your brain tells your feet to do that and your feet just don't know what they're doing. I found that really frustrating. Matt, is it true that you lost a whole bunch of weight in the training, like 15 kilos? Yeah, well, look, you know what? There's a very simple rule. If you exercise the whole time and don't eat anything, you will lose weight. In science says. I'm going to write that one down.

It's more about things like posture and flexibility and all those other benefits that come from it. I think as you get older, you know, we train, but we never do that thing of actually looking at how we look. And you suddenly realize you're starting to slouch. And just pushing those shoulders back as they tell you to do, all that stuff makes such a huge difference to how you move around and just things like, you know, springing up from the couch

or stuff like that become much easier. Now you're like Foxtrot up. You sound like a slouch. And actually, I did it yesterday. I trained with Jess this morning. and then she taught me the jive. So we're still continuing to dance together and she's continuing to teach me

and I'm still continuing to go through the same. I don't understand it. Every one of the celebs dancing is carrying some form of injury and probably more, you know. Bruised or broken ribs. Laura's is all mental. She cries in the studio daily. I think mine was more my bruised ego.

But we'll see that on Sunday night. Definitely will. I'm excited. I'm excited because I didn't see you dance. And again, because we last gone on this Sunday, watching all these guys and what they've achieved, watching James and Natalie and what they achieved with their cha-cha was phenomenal. You know, you can try something you've gotten out to do and actually have fun doing it. And that, hopefully, is the message that comes through.

That, you know, for us lesser dancers like me or Gavin or Charlie Albone, the joy comes from actually trying something you never thought you'd do and finding, actually, surprisingly, you really enjoy it. Matt, I think we have to ask Gavin and Charlie how they feel about the fact that you just bundled them all in together there. I think they know. They know. Charlie, Gavin and I have had this conversation.

We know where we sit. And we've all seen the show. We know that's where you sit. Dancing with the Stars continues 7 p.m. Sunday on Channel 7 and 7+. Of course, get Matt Preston's, his new book, his memoir, Big Mouth. Get a load of that. There's a lot of interesting stuff that you've been through in your childhood that's a great read.

All right, Matt, we love you, buddy. Thanks for coming on the pick-up. You are glorious, and I can't wait to watch the next dance. I can't wait till Sunday, Laura.