Australian Celebrities who have worked in a call centre
You might just be surprised by the celebrities who have worked in a call centre.
For those of who work in call centres though, I doubt its surprise to learn that its a breeding ground for actors and future celebrities.
Your typical call centre contains people from all walks of life – from budding actors and university students through to retirees who have decided to re-enter the workforce.
And with over 250k people reportedly working in a call centre somewhere in Australia the odds are that one of us just might make ‘the big time’!
So who are the Australian celebrities who have worked in a call centre?
Channel 10’s The Project celebrities Peter Helliar, Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore revealed they worked in a call centre.
Even Ruby Rose, former MTV host and star of Orange Is the New Black, also started her working life in a call centre.
In an article on www.news.com.au this week it was also revealed that Sam Mac, Sunrise’s weatherman got his big break while working in a call centre (Article below).
So there are a few celebrities to get us started – let us know if you are aware of any other celebrities who have worked in a call centre and we’ll add them to the list.
How Sunrise star Sam Mac cheated his way into showbiz
SUNRISE weatherman Sam Mac has revealed how he cheated his way into showbiz.
The 34-year-old, who landed the Channel Seven breakfast show gig in January, opened up to news.com.au about the slightly shady way in which he got his first big break.
“I won a competition in Adelaide on a radio station which at the time was called SAFM (now Hit 107),” Mac said.
“The competition was called Who Wants To Be A Co-Host On Air. It was a very ‘clever’ play on the name of a popular TV show at the time, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.”
Mac, whose real name is Sam McMillan, was one of 10 finalists in the competition along with another budding star, Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann.
Over two weeks, each of the wannabe’s was profiled on the breakfast show and at the end of the campaign, the public had to vote for who they wanted to remain on air.
“I was at uni at the time and I happened to be working part-time in a call centre,” Mac said.
“The call centre was full of middle-aged women who loved me because I used to run quizzes in the call centre in the downtime. We used to play this game called The Thesaurus Game where I’d say a word and they had to say a synonym for it. Very nerdy.”
As any charismatic 22-year-old would do, Mac charmed his co-workers into helping him win.
“They put this thing up on the board in the office that meant I had a whole call centre calling SAFM and voting for me,” he said.
“We completely rorted the system and I won the competition. The prize was to go to the Edinburgh Fringe and review acts and when I got back they offered me a job.”
The gig was a dream come true for Mac who had always wanted a career in the entertainment industry.
“I once got banned from high school for using the school’s video camera to make our own version of Home and Away instead of for assignments,” he recalled.
Since landing the SAFM gig in 2002, Mac has hosted radio shows on both Southern Cross Austereo and Nova stations and has appeared on numerous TV shows such as Wake Up and The B-League.
“I particularly enjoyed The Project,” said Mac when asked about some of his favourite jobs.
“I worked with them for about four years in various roles. I was doing the Whip Around from Perth and then I was doing various live crosses and I filled in for Charlie Pickering hosting from the desk. I loved it and it was a really great TV grounding for me because my background really was radio.
“In terms of radio, before I landed a show on 92.9 in Perth I was working with Wil Anderson and Lehmo on their drive show on Triple M. That was a really big part of my development because I got to work closely with Wil and write comedy sketches with him.”
Mac’s vast media experience made him the perfect candidate to replace Edwina Bartholomew as the Sunrise weather presenter.
“To be honest, I was a little bit shocked,” Mac said about getting the job.
“I filled in for a couple of weeks for Edwina towards the end of last year. I didn’t really approach it as an audition, I kind of just did it and did it in my style. They were looking at other people for the role, I knew that.
But at the start of the year, they called and it happened very quickly.”
Mac revealed he’s signed on for the “dream job” for a couple of years and has been “amazed” by the experiences he’s had on air so far.
“My highlight was probably going to the high country in Victoria where they shot The Man from Snowy River and we basically camped out there in a swag,” he said.
“I thought swag was just something Justin Bieber had, but no …”
Another of Mac’s highlights from Sunrise was when they drove through the Victorian town of Bright.
“The main street has about seven buildings,” he said.
“And we saw a restaurant that was an Indian and Italian restaurant. It just blew our minds that these two things were available in the one restaurant. It turns out the two business partners, one was Indian, one was Italian, and they couldn’t decide which restaurant to open so they said, ‘Why not have both!’
“We actually made an ad for them and played it around Australia. Their bookings were full within an hour of that going to air. Stuff like that really amuses me.”
As for his least favourite moment so far …
“That was when I allegedly pushed a small child off a hoverboard in Adelaide,” Mac said.
“My second least favourite is when one of the producers made me do a bungy jump on my first day. Just on a side note, Edwina (Bartholomew) was sent to a cotton farm on her first day.”
Which celebrities who have worked in a call centre do you know?
Let us know in the comments below.
Recommended further reading: Why working in a call centre can be awesome for your career
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