Chatterbox talks shop

BY CATH BENNETT

PETRA Bagust is very aware she has carved out a niche as New Zealand's favourite girl-next-door.

 

While the tag sits comfortably with her, there's a part of this slightly mischievous presenter which wants to shatter that perception and be confrontational, controversial and caustic.

The problem, however, is her naturally wholesome and sweet personality and the fact that her public persona is simply a magnified version of the woman behind closed doors.

Having branched out into talkback radio almost a year ago, the 37-year-old is aware that the qualities which have made her so popular in television, could hold her back on the airwaves.

"The best talkback hosts are blokes who are allowed to be reactionary, grumpy old men," she explains to Sunday News. "Can you carve out a niche as a female talkback host? And what shape does that take do you have to be reactionary and extreme?

"If I suddenly want to change, I have to be prepared to sacrifice that persona as the girl-next-door and that's a price I have to decide to pay...but the public could then say: `We don't like this opinionated, argumentative persona'."

Speaking quickly, posing questions then answering them herself and often wandering off the subject into a stream of consciousness, Bagust seems to let whatever she's thinking come out of her mouth.

She arrives at the Shaky Isles cafe in Auckland's Kingsland one of her local haunts quite late, and for the first 10 minutes of our interview seems distracted.

This could be attributed to an exhausting schedule promoting her latest TV project What's Really In Our Food which kicked off a second series on TV3 this week.

A departure from her roots in children's and travel television, it allows Bagust's journalistic streak to shine, as she interviews experts and unravels myths about what we eat.

"It's a particularly tiring time of year when you have a show starting," she says. "There's lots of publicity so you have to look good, sound good and remember things."

It isn't until we get onto the subject of her Newstalk ZB show Sunday Sunday, which Bagust took over from Oliver Driver last year, that she starts to unbend and wax lyrical about what makes a good talkback host while musing on the fact she'll "have a great face for radio in a couple of years." A graduate of fine arts, Bagust toyed with the idea of being an artist before television beckoned.

Presenting shows including Ice TV, Hot Property and Time of Your Life, she was quickly embraced by a viewing public who were enchanted by newspaper reports she was a Christian who had vowed not to have sex before marriage.

"I did struggle with being boxed as `a celebrity Christian virgin,' I felt there was a level where it was impossible to do an interview without it being mentioned," she says.

Obviously this issue was solved when she tied the knot with her cameraman husband Hamish Wilson a man she describes as half introvert and half extrovert who indulges his wife's chatterbox tendencies. They went on to have three kids, Venetia, six, Jude, four and two-year-old Theo.

Bagust prefers not to refer to her beliefs as `religion', opting for the word `faith', but she is comfortable talking about it and is hopeful her children will adopt her love of the church.

"Like any parent, if you discover anything that really adds value to life then you want to pass it on," she explains, adding that she takes the kids to Sunday School.

"Growing up as a Jesus freak, I'm not embarrassed about what I believe."

There's a lot Bagust is not embarrassed about. When asked her age, she volunteers her weight as well (62kg).

She talks candidly about her decision to have all three of her kids at home. "Hamish wasn't sure if it was safe and my mum was worried about the mess it might make in the house," she grins, adding that she did her research including checking her hips were big enough.

Bagust took a couple of years out to focus on raising her children and, while enjoying her return TV, it is clear she struggles with sacrificing time with her family for work.

In the future, she'd like to come up with her own concept for a TV series, possibly a chat show.

Having been nominated for a Qantas Award for Best Presenter earlier this month and beating Coronation Street in the ratings war when What's Really In Our Food screened on Tuesday, there is no doubt Bagust is highly regarded in the industry.

TV3's Head of Factual Sue Woodfield says: "Petra is `everywoman'. "She is lively, great with people and she genuinely cares. Her enthusiasm is infectious."

And Bagust says of herself: "At work I'm slightly bigger, slightly louder, but it's still really who I am. Sometimes I worry that I'm a talker and I'm open, but that's just who I am and I've always been like it whether I'm on telly or not."

What's Really In Our Food is on TV3, Tuesdays at 8pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News