For fans who have been incessantly bingeing Kath and Kim on Netflix, they may not like what they’re about to hear.
In a new interview with News.com.au, Peter Rowsthorn, who played Kim’s husband Brett on the hit ABC series, has revealed that he got the part by the skin of his teeth.
While IMDB trivia states that Russell Gilbert was his competition, it was actually another Australian celebrity who almost pipped him at the post.
“It was actually Marty Sheargold,” Rowsthorn said during the interview. “It was between him and I in the end.”
According to the actor, the ABC “didn’t want a comic actor to do it” because they wanted a proper actor to play the iconic role, however, Gina Riley and Jane Turner had their heart set on him and Sheargold.
“I’d worked with Gina and Jane a lot since the ’80s. They knew I was easy to work with and that I’d do what they told me,” he told the outlet.
“They did an audition process and basically said no to anyone that looked like a real actor and ended up getting down to me and Marty, and I got it.”
Rowsthorn also revealed that he and Glenn Robbins — who played Kath’s husband Kel — filmed several nude scenes where their “natural arses” were shown, however, the ladies, used “stunt bums”.
We both had to have our penises and testicles put inside a pouch which was stuck to our bodies. I remember I had to do a nude scene where I was coming in the back door nude. There was a little bridge nearby and a crowd gathered and could see in the backyard as I was standing nude with my d**k and balls in a pouch and they were cheering. There was no sheet to cover me, nothing – just humiliation,” he told the outlet.
While he is the first to admit that he was “the last cab off the rank in terms of popularity”, the star said that he still to this day gets work out of the show.
However, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the star lost more than $50,000 worth of work and all of his gigs cancelled for the next year, prompting him to get his truck driver’s licence to work at his brother’s gold mine.
“I got a fright and thought, ‘F**k, what am I going to do because the bills don’t stop,’” he said.
Now, Rowsthorn is with Gumtree on the Gummie Support Network, an initiative designed to bring together those in need of essential items and services amid the pandemic with those able to provide them.
“It’s good if you want to help people out in your local area and it’s just a nice thing to have amid these strange times,” he said during the interview.
You can watch every episode of Kath and Kim on Netflix now.