Rhys wrestles with his idol pick
We never really saw Rhys Mathewson’s true potential on Dancing With the Stars after a positive Covid test forced him and dance partner Phoebe Robb out of the competition.
But if his comments from an interview published today on Stuff are anything to go by, producers of any new reality TV show ought to sign up the standup comic and tap into the choreography that goes into the professional wrestling he admits he loves so much.
Now 34, Mathewson was crowned the youngest ever Billy T Award winner at just 19 and has gone on to scoop nearly every prestigious award in New
Zealand comedy and become a regular funnyman on 7 Days and Seven Sharp.
But when asked who he’d like to swap lives with, his answer is pretty left-field, choosing New Zealand pro wrestler ‘‘Switchblade’’ Jay White.
‘‘He is one of the only New Zealanders I know of who has sold out Madison Square Garden,’’ Mathewson says. ‘‘He’s a professional wrestler based in Japan, working for the second largest pro wrestling company in the world. He’s incredible. Like, he is a top-tier athlete who’s performing at the top of the world class level and not enough people know about him.
‘‘Also, I mean, those abs, come on. who wouldn’t want those abs.
And if I swapped now, I wouldn’t
have had to do the work to get those abs. I would just do a workout and it would be so much easier. I’d do a pull-up for the first time in my life.’’
Mind you, the idea of staying as fit as a pro wrestler might be a little out of Mathewson’s reach after his admission as to what he’d love to eat every day for the rest of his life. ‘‘Yeah, that’s a tough one because I know what the right answer should be, I know I should say fruit and vegetables and healthy stuff, but boy, would I just love every single day to eat a huge bowl of fries. Yeah, that’d be the dream.’’
And as for where he’d like to live?
‘‘New York City. All day every day. What a dirty, efficient place. And I think that perfectly sums up my comedy, dirty and efficient. I quite like busyness, and I like being surrounded by people, but I don’t want to talk to them. And I feel like New York is also like that.’’