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Ten years ago, when Matt Dalton was just a Melbourne dad working for a healthcare company, and not the frank and funny patriarch of the Dalton family on Gogglebox Australia, he had reservations about the show.
Not the kind that many people first recall having about a show that is essentially people watching television - “Why would you watch that?” – but because Dalton’s daughters, Holly and Millie, were in high school.
The Daltons, (from left) Holly, Matt, Millie and Kate, have been part of Gogglebox Australia since the show’s beginning.
“Millie had braces and was not confident, so it was a concern for me and my wife, Kate,” Dalton explains. “How they’d be accepted at school was very important. We had to tell the principal. We’ve got a good relationship with our kids, so if there was ever any bullying, they had to tell us straight away. There’s a lot of hate that happens around reality television, especially from a social media perspective, so it was a big concern.”
As it turned out, Dalton was the only real target of online criticism, occasionally accused of being a “mean dad”. “I knew I didn’t have to be ashamed about anything I said,” he says.
Such is the popularity of the Goggleboxers, which this season includes fellow OG couch critics the Delpechitra family and grandparents Lee and Keith, plus familiar faces from season nine, that the Daltons are often approached by fans in public. “There’s a lot of love for the show,” says Dalton.
The show’s producer Howard Myers, who heads Foxtel’s unscripted content, says that, as with the UK original and the 14 other international versions (which include Slovenia, China, Norway and the US), the magic of Gogglebox is the casting.
Faye Kontas (left) with her best friend and fellow OG Goggleboxer Anastasia Katselas.
“It’s actually quite hard [to cast], because people think they’d be great on Gogglebox, but what we’re looking for is everyday people who don’t know that they’re so entertaining and insightful. It’s those people who shine,” says Myers.
You look at the cast that have stayed with us over the 10 years, and they’re absolutely real people. It’s not an act. I call it a soap opera because as much as it’s entertainment, we’re following the lives of these people. We’ve had people pass on, unfortunately. We’ve had babies. Also, just those everyday moments that we see of their lives on their lounges, it’s a joy to be a part of.”