Abbie Chatfield‘s star has been on the rise from the moment she went viral for telling Bachelor Matt Agnew she was a Gemini after he said he was an astrophysicist.
With a podcast, a radio show, a clothing brand, a pilot for Network Ten, being a judge on The Masked Singer Australia and just this morning, announced to be co-hosting Fridayz Live alongside Fatman Scoop, Chatfield is the definition of booked and busy.
Chatting to The Latch over the phone ahead of The Masked Singer Australia‘s premiere on Sunday, August 7, Chatfield said that things have been “crazy”.
“It definitely feels like every month there’s something new being announced, I’m in my announcement era!” she exclaimed with a laugh.
With a nearly all-new panel of judges on the lineup this season, Chatfield said that the new judges “for sure” felt pressure to fill the shoes of departed judges Dannii Minogue, Urzila Carlson and Jackie “O” Henderson.
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“I mean, we’re replacing a Minogue and Jackie O, You know? And Urzila, who is so funny,” she said.
“Obviously I’d watched previous seasons and I adored those four judges, and I really admire Dannii and Jackie and Urzila, so it was very scary, but I think we’ve kind of created our own dynamic that is very different from last year,” she said.
When approached to become a judge on the panel, Chatfield said that she felt like it would be a good way to actually commit to the guessing process.
“I’d always watched the first few episodes but I’d get really frustrated because I couldn’t get it in like, the first few episodes, which is like… the point,” she explained. “I’d be like ‘oh my God, I don’t wanna do this, f**k this, I’m giving up!’
“When I got offered the role, I thought, ‘well I have to stay, I have to figure it out, and I have to stick it out’, that was my main motivation!” she explained.
Calling it “a really fun show to be a part of”, Chatfield added: “there’s no villains, there’s no storyline, it’s just fun!”
Of course, a major part of that fun can be credited to her experience working with the other judges, Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes, Chrissie Swan, and Mel B.
“We had a lovely time, it was like working with really good friends that you’ve known for 10 years,” she said. “Chrissie, I absolutely adore so much, it pains me! Hughesy’s great and Mel B is such a delight.”
She laughed. “I mean, it sounds so boring, but we just got to work each day and got to laugh together!”
As for what’s in store for viewers, Chatfield teased that “there are actually a few twists” coming this season that even the panelists didn’t see coming.
“I WISH I could talk about them,” she said. “They’re big into secrets on this show!”
Here’s what she could say, though.
“There are BIG names, I cried at one of the reveals!” she said. “Obviously they’ve revealed that one of them is a Grammy award winner, there’s a multiple Logie Award winner, there’s someone with a few million records sold, so it’s big names.”
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Although she has a history of giving up when it comes to guessing the people under the mask, Chatfield said she “really buckled down” this season and that she’s “become really competitive” in the process.
“I’ll just close my eyes and think ‘if this was a Like a Version on Triple J, who would this be?’” she said of her guessing strategy. “Because they obviously aren’t singing their usual genre, so it makes it even harder! So then I try to make the clues fit, and if they don’t fit, you know, at least I’ve given it my best shot! They often do not fit!”
Calling Chrissie Swan “an inspiration”, Chatfield went on to say that Swan had “even bought a glue stick” for her dossier of clues.
“She went to the arts and crafts store and got a glue stick and made a folder, like the school captain in high school would do,” she explained. “She was writing things down, printing them out and glueing them into sections in her book.”
It was a strategy for cracking the case that Chatfield said worked well for Swan.
“We’d have a few nights where we’d just call each other screaming, or texting being like ‘look, this clue matches up with this person, it’s all making sense!’, or we’d find a photo from 2015 and we’d just scream,” she said. “I think I did pretty well, but I think you’ll see Chrissie is the ultimate, because of the glue stick, I think!
“I really want to get the answers and I really want to be right, but I think this year we’re definitely working as a team, and a win for one of us is a win for all of us, so that’s what I’m loving, as well,” she added.
As for Chatfield’s next move?
“I really wanna host, like, a shiny-floor show, like a game show or maybe a dating show,” she said. “That’s kind of the goal, so if any network execs are reading this, hit me up!”
The Masked Singer Australia premieres at 7.30pm on Sunday, August 7th, only on 10 and 10 Play on Demand.
Want more Masked Singer Australia? Click here to read all our content, and check out the stories below:
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- Masks Up! ‘The Masked Singer Australia’ Has an Official Premiere Date
- Meet the Characters Competing on The Masked Singer Australia 2022
- The Masked Singer Australia Announces Three New Judges, Including Mel B
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