Gunning to win:
Jason Gunn appears in All Star Family Feud: North vs South All Star Family Feud: North Vs South – Three Thursday alongside Bob Parker. But the presenter tells Sarah Nealon he found one particular celebrity contestant hard to handle.
Jason Gunn reveals why he was a reluctant captain of the South team on Family Feud.
Jason Gunn is used to being a TV frontman, but he is not necessarily the star attraction in his latest small-screen appearance.
The seasoned media personality, who has hosted shows such as Dancing With The Stars and You’re Back In The Room, is a contestant and team captain on game show All Star Family Feud: North Vs South.
His side consists of South Islanders Bob Parker, a former television host and ex-Christchurch mayor, and Brett and Angel Renall from Married At First Sight’s first season. The southerners are raising money for the charity Diabetes New Zealand.
The opposing team of North Islanders are actor James Rolleston, country singer Tami Neilson, television presenter Amber Peebles and Newshub’s Paddy Gower, who is captain. Their chosen charity is Women’s Refuge.
Gunn admits that while his All Star Family Feud appearance brought out his competitive streak, it was nothing compared to that of Gower. “Paddy Gower brought his A-game,” says Gunn. “He was aggressive. He took no prisoners. I think you’re going to see another side to Paddy Gower, the likes of which have not been seen on television before. He got to me. You’ll see a broken man. That’s all I’m going to say about that.” But there was a less competitive silver lining. “If you said to me ‘What was the highlight of that show?’, (I’d say) getting Bob Parker on television,” says Gunn. “Now there’s a storyteller right there.” Parker was the mayor of Christchurch for six years (including during the city’s earthquakes) but well before that, he was a presenter on local television shows such as This Is Your Life. While Gunn enjoyed sharing screen time with Parker, it did put him under pressure.
“I’ve played a lot of sport over the years but I’ve never been given the captaincy role – for many obvious reasons,” says Gunn.
“So that was something I didn’t take lightly particularly when you’ve got Bob Parker on your team.
“Here is a man who led us through some of Christchurch’s darkest times so when you’ve got a team that needs to be led on Family Feud, why would you give the reins to Jason Gunn for God’s sake?
“Bob didn’t say it but I think we were all thinking it so I felt quite a weight on my shoulders. I struggled a lot with that position. I’m more of an impact player.”
Gunn’s appearances on TV these days are sporadic. His main job is the weekday drive-time radio show he does with Jay-Jay Feeney on More FM.
He has also been busy setting up a business venture which draws on his decades of experience in television. He’s offering media training and assistance with things like public speaking.
“I’ve spent 35 years in broadcasting and I’ve realised that a lot of people struggle with the idea of standing up and just saying a few words,” he says.
Also keeping him busy is the
production company he runs with his wife Janine called Whitebait Media which makes children’s series What Now and Fanimals.
The couple, who have four children including Janine’s actress daughter and former Shortland Street star Grace Palmer, live on a Canterbury lifestyle block which is also home to the family’s dog as well as a pig named Donna.
“She’s named after my late father Don,” says Gunn. “Don was a great lover of pigs. He collected small pigs.
“Sadly, it turned out that I just didn’t check the pig enough and that Don, in fact, was a female pig. So that really wasn’t fair to call her after my father. So Don became Donna.”
At present, Gunn is considering adding to their animal family.
“We’ve lost all of our chickens of late which is sad but we’re thinking about getting into some cows,” he says. “That could be a game changer.
“There is farming on my mother’s side of the family but I wouldn’t say it comes naturally to me. I think it would be a small number of cows.
“I just have this vision of me having to ring a real farmer in the middle of the night with the question ‘What am I supposed to do?’ But we’ll wait and see.”