Despite only lasting a handful of days, it seems former Geelong AFL player Billy Brownless got the reality TV bug from his 2020 stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!.
The 57-year-old tells TV WEEK that ever since his time in the jungle, he’d been looking for another reality role to come his way.
“I was always on the lookout for shows without too much physical work, so certainly not SAS [Australia] or Dancing With The Stars,” Billy explains. “The Amazing Race appealed to me, because you actually don’t have to run throughout the whole series.
“[The producers] said you can bring someone from your family. And I thought, ‘I’ve got just the bloke. Oscar’s been travelling for the last year-and-a-half – he would be fantastic.’ And what a good chance to spend some very close time with your son.”
Oscar, 24, says he knew they had the right dynamic for the show.
“We’re both pretty easygoing,” he tells TV WEEK. “So I knew he’d be a great one to do it with because any challenges where there was a bit of pressure or stress, we’d both be quite relaxed.”
However, Billy does reveal there were some limitations to their father-son bonding.
“There were a couple of times at night when Oscar would go down and have a drink on his own or catch up with the other [contestants], so I think he’d just had enough of Dad, which was fair enough. And when we got to our accommodation and there was only one double bed in the room, Oscar would put the pillows down the middle. He wasn’t sure about sharing the bed with his dad!”
“Because you snore,” quips Oscar. “I’ve heard it for months.”
“Well, I’ve never heard it,” denies Billy. “So I don’t know if I do!”
