To fulfil his duties as the exuberant weatherman on Sunrise, Sam Mac averages more than 100 flights per year. As a regular passenger, he knows the safety briefing all too well and admits he has frequent flyer points that he’ll likely never use. You won’t hear him complain – in fact, he knows how lucky he is. But as he journeys into fatherhood, Sam is feeling the tug of home more than ever.
In the lounge room of his home in Sydney’s inner west, TV WEEK is looking into the faces of Sam, his partner Rebecca James and their six-month-old daughter Margot. The similarities between Margot and her parents are easy to spot: fair skin, bright blue eyes and a camera-ready smile. But beyond that is an ease with people. Surrounded by a room full of doting strangers, Margot doesn’t shy away from attention, babbling loudly to the team as though she knows them – a social trait inherited by her dad, perhaps.
Sam’s life has changed dramatically since his first child Margot arrived.
(Image: TV WEEK)Margot’s arrival on September 11, 2022, signalled a new chapter for the couple. They renovated the house and reassessed what they wanted for their future. For Sam, it was fulfilling a dream he thought may have passed him by.
“Margot changed everything,” Sam says on the front porch of his two-storey home. “I always knew I wanted to be a dad. But I was getting on a bit [in age] and it hadn’t eventuated, so there was a little doubt about whether it would happen. Then I met Bec [they began dating in 2020] and, thankfully, we were both on the same page. It happened pretty quickly but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
.jpg?resize=380%2C285)
.jpg?resize=380%2C285)
Sam, whose media career began in Adelaide on local radio before moving to Sydney to pursue TV opportunities, says he has changed a lot as a person throughout his career, but more recently when Margot was born.
“Your whole perspective shifts. It makes you stop thinking about yourself in a healthy way,” he says. “The first thing that stood out to me [when Margot was born] was that this is forever, which is an amazing feeling,” Sam says. “But also, work drops down in your priorities. You still love your job but your child is so much more important.”
“Bec is an absolute superstar,” Sam gushes about his partner.
(Image: TV WEEK)Finding a balance in television isn’t easy, and despite habitually waking in the early hours for Sunrise, Sam admits his work day began “off the back of seven or eight hours of uninterrupted sleep [laughs]!” without the responsibility of another human being.
“Bec has taken on most of the workload, as mums often do, particularly in the first six months,” he says. “There’s a lot of pressure physically, mentally and emotionally on the mother, so I try to do as much as I can during the day to make it easier for her. Bec is an absolute superstar.”
Bec, a stylist originally from Melbourne, says it’s more important than ever to find the time for each other amid the chaos.
“We make an effort to kiss each other every day and be there for each other,” Bec says. “Every morning as we run about, I say, ‘Quick, kiss me!’ [laughs]”
In preparation for Margot’s arrival, Sam spoke with the executive producers at Sunrise to reduce his travel schedule and allow full weekends at home. The result included a new role as host of Sydney Weekender, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary episode featuring Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“I’ve built up a lot of goodwill and appreciation from the audience and the team, so I didn’t want to leave but I also couldn’t continue at the rate I had been going,” Sam says. “We just had to find the right balance.”
As he talks of finding stability, the presenter acknowledges these conversations likely happened in his childhood home, but he never realised it.
“We grow up and think it’s normal, ‘this is our house, our food’, but you don’t think about the emotions that Bec and I have just gone through with bringing a small human into the world, and how they [my parents] did it too,” he says. “It made me stop and say, thank you.”
From bungee jumping on his first live cross to completing an A to Z tour of cities around Australia, Sam has endless stories to tell. Among them is the 2019 TV WEEK Logie Awards, which Sam describes as “one of the best nights of my life”. The popular host was nominated for the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian TV – a feat yet to be achieved by any other Sunrise presenter.
“It was incredibly surreal to be thrown into that category as it was still early on in my TV career,” Sam reflects. “I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to follow this career, leaving Adelaide behind and missing out on a lot of family time. My whole family just love to see me do well, so it was special for all of us.”
Sam lost out to Hard Quiz host Tom Gleeson, whose controversial speech delivered mixed reviews from the crowd. But the presenter isn’t holding grudges.
“I think it’s awesome he won,” he says. “The industry can be a little too serious at times and you need to poke the bear. The most important thing was Tom was being Tom.”
Sam with his fellow Gold Logie nominees.
(Image: TV WEEK)“I think it’s awesome he won,” he says. “The industry can be a little too serious at times and you need to poke the bear. The most important thing was Tom was being Tom.”
With the 2023 Logies fast approaching, Sam hopes to see his friend and new colleague Dr Chris Brown take home the coveted award. The vet and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Here host recently announced he had switched networks and would appear on Channel Seven from July.
“Contractually, I have to say that [I hope he wins],” Sam jokes. “But he is one of my best mates and an amazing talent.”
While Sam says he wasn’t directly involved in luring Chris to the network, he admits they spend a lot of time together – “I know that he’s jealous of some of my trips, put it that way [laughs]. Maybe he wants a slice of that pie.”
The idea of a joint project isn’t out of the question either with both keen to work on ideas.
“I think people are confused by our friendship,” Sam says. “They’ll say, ‘Hang on, they’re on competing networks, Chris is a vet and Sam is pretending to be a weatherman, how does this add up?’ But that’s the fun of it.”
The Channel Seven Sunrise team.
(Image: Seven)As the clouds loom above us, talk segues into his credentials. Sam doesn’t claim to be a meteorologist but knows that in between the bungee jumping and small talk, there’s a certain integrity he has to uphold.
“When there is a big weather event such as bushfires or floods, I do study up because I need to pass on all relevant and safety information. I’m passionate about that when there’s events where we can provide help,” he says. “But day-to-day, it’s mostly whether we need an umbrella or a jacket, thankfully.”
As the photo shoot nears its end, and Margot’s eyes get weary, the social circle seemingly disappears as she snuggles into sleep. If you didn’t know better, you’d assume Sam, Bec and Margot had been here the whole time without anyone else. And similarly to his line of work, Sam feels the same. He may be a weary traveller at times, but his final destination is home.
“Even if you have a tough day at work, there’s something about coming home and laying with Margot on the mat. You read a book or blow raspberries on her and you literally forget everything else in the world, which is the magic of, I guess, parenting, isn’t it?”
