It’s a case of ‘grumpy white man’ sounds off as The Block NZ’s Mark Richardson talks work and family.

Mark Richardson (The Block NZ, The AM Show) tells how the fallout from his on-air clash with Jacinda Ardern affected his family. Sarah Nealon reports.

He has a reputation for saying exactly what he thinks on camera but Mark Richardson has a quick answer when asked if he ever regrets anything he says on television.

“No, I don’t regret it because personally I don’t think I’ve said anything that’s been harmful to anyone,” he says.

“Plus, what I say isn’t going to change the law. I’m just some old white guy sounding off. You know, wanting people to hear. We’re in a gig where our job is to be heard and we’re all trying to do that a different way.”

However, that ‘sounding off’ has had adverse affects on his family.

“The only time it’s been difficult was when there was a lot of fallout over my initial spat with Jacinda – which wasn’t a spat, it was a discussion,” he says.

“Because after the cameras stopped rolling, she just got up and said, ‘Great debate. We’ll see you next week’.”

That exchange took place last year on The AM Show when Richardson clashed with Ardern over whether women should tell potential employers if they plan to have children.

“If you’re the employer at a company, you need to know that type of thing from the women you’re employing,” Richardson said on the show.

Ardern disagreed and the story blew up in the media with many criticising Richardson.

Even Richardson’s two children weren’t immune to the controversy their father’s remarks caused.

“They came home from school and they were in tears because everyone hates their dad and I got a little put

out by that. And this is a different story which I don’t want to go into past this,” he says. “I just felt that I was totally and utterly misrepresented. It was tough but this is an occupational hazard of what I do.” But how much of the real Mark Richardson do we see on television? Is his sometimes grumpy on-camera persona just an act? “It’s not an act but it’s a magnification,” he says. “When you present TV, if you just present it as you would in normal every day life, it just comes across as flat. You sort of have to be a slight magnification for it to actually hit the level. “You can’t be over the top. I hate us sports people trying to be ESPN presenters. I even don’t think in New Zealand being slick and perfect, actually sits well with New Zealanders. “You’re better off being a jibbering idiot that people like than slick and doing the mechanics brilliantly. It’s a magnification but I don’t act. I say what I think.” Richardson is hosting the latest season of The Block NZ as well The AM Show where he presents the sports news. “I love the role I’m in because I’m allowed to talk politics, which is far more interesting than sport, and I can say what I think and voice my frustrations,” he says. “I tend to side with the National Party’s side of political ideals. That’s not that extreme and that’s not that right wing. But at the moment it’s probably not on trend to voice that. So someone has to voice it.

“Only one of the articles written about me upset me and that was when I was accused of trying to be Paul Henry or Mike Hosking because I’m not. I’m just being me. Politically I happen to sit right side of centre.” It’s a busy time for Richardson as he juggles his morning TV show with The Block NZ which is now in its seventh season.

He says he was “majorly” disappointed on auction night last year when the teams didn’t make as much money as expected.

“I think there was a sense of entitlement because what had happened the season before that, and with the way that everybody was talking about the Auckland property market, and that you go on The Block and you make lots of money regardless,” says Richardson.

He’s hopeful things will end differently this year.

“Now we’ve got some great jeopardy because this is now a competition again where people are playing for $100,000 – which from my understanding is what The Block is really about,” he says.

“It’s a show in which people renovate a house to try to make the most profit. The goal of making the most profit being you win $100,000. I think last season it might have got forgotten and the profit became what it was all about.”

Prior to becoming a television personality Richardson was an international cricketer and before that toyed with idea of becoming a pilot.

“I tend to side with the National Party’s side of political ideals.”

– Mark Richardson

“I wanted to be a Black Cap and that was the driving force but also as a kid I had a genuine interest in planes,” he says. “Long story but I ended up learning to fly a plane. This was at a time when I thought I might not make it into the Black Caps. This would be early 20s. And it was a time when all of a sudden Sky [TV] had just got the rights and we had Cricket Max and there was a little bit money being pumped into domestic cricket “I was also working but getting a secondary income via cricket and using that income to pay for my pilot’s licence. That was the plan. If the cricketing didn’t work out, I wanted to be a pilot. I was leaving it slightly later than the rest but I was going to work pretty hard at it. “I did try to get into the airforce actually but that’s when I realised my eyes were stuffed. I had astigmatisms in both eyes and they didn’t accept me which was probably a blessing in disguise. Shortly after that I had a breakthrough with cricket.”

However, Richardson’s interest in flying hasn’t abated and when time permits he jumps in the cockpit of four-seater plane.

“I’ve got a mate who actually owns a light aircraft,” he says.

“He’s a captain with Cathay Pacific. It’s strange that a captain flies for a living and then just loves flying when he comes home. He’s got quite a cool plane and I can fly that around with him. It’s quite fun. It just scratches the itch.”

Richardson remembers watching a local television series about flying and feeling quite envious.

“I used to be really jealous of Jim Hickey when he did that show Flying Visit,” he says

“It just made me really jealous because I always wanted to be a weatherman too. That was another thing. For some reason I loved the weather. I think when you’re a surfer and you’re a pilot you have an intimate knowledge of how the weather works so that’s always been an interest as well.”

Surfing is another of Richardson’s hobbies along with golf, running and jetski fishing. And it appears his children (he has twins, aged 12) are keen on outdoor sports too.

“My daughter’s got into surfing,” he says. “She wants to be a professional surfer. So that was my excuse to go out and buy a new surfboard.”

When it comes to his son’s sporting interests, Richardson reveals his son is more enthusiastic about rugby than cricket.

“He’s not really a cricketer. He does it because his mates play. He loves his rugby and he’s quite a good little rugby player actually.

“He’s braver than his old man I think.”