At the end of last year after being somewhat unceremoniously let go by Melbourne radio station Kiis FM, you might have been forgiven for thinking that Chrissie Swan was at the end of the road in terms of a show biz career.
But, with new radio appearances and a gig hosting The Great Australian Spelling Bee, premiering tonight on Channel 10, things look to be going pretty swimmingly now.
“Pretty early on I worked out that you can’t look for self-esteem at work. You just gotta get in there and do your job and then go back to where your real life is, which for me is at home with the family. I think you’re on a slippery slope if you try and get your self-esteem from your job,” Chrissie tells me.
I can hear Chrissie’s youngest, two-year-old daughter Peg, in the background as we speak and I ask her how she goes juggling work and family.
“I’m currently making a bottle as we speak!"
“My philosophy is every day is a new adventure. Trying to get a routine with three kids and being a working parent is a fool’s errand. I make sure I’ve got what I need to do my job, that’s important because I’m the bread winner,” Chrissie says. She also advises, “get help if you need it.”
Channel 10 are heavily promoting The Great Australian Spelling Bee. It’s up against Hotplate, and Restaurant Revolution on Channel 9 and Channel 7 respectively.
“I think it’s going to be fun. I’ve only seen as much as everyone else has seen in terms of promos and stuff. It looks like they’ve captured the loveliness of the kids.”
The promos look like it might just be the most heartwarming thing on TV right now. “It really is. I just love that we’re saying it’s cool to be clever. One of the great things about getting all these kids together is that I don’t think they’ve ever been in a room with 52 of themselves before."
Chrissie says the kids haven’t always had peers that understand them. “Now there’s a whole room of people who understand them, that they can talk to about books and algorithms and stuff.”