With just Jenny-May Clarkson and Chris Chang on the Breakfast couch this year, things are looking a little different. Photo / Robert Trathen
With just Jenny-May Clarkson and Chris Chang on the Breakfast couch this year, things are looking a little different. Photo / Robert Trathen
The Breakfast co-hosts reveal the importance and joy of sharing Kiwis’ stories.
“I mean, Jenny-May has been the host of Breakfast for, what, 25 years now?” jokes Chris Chang, sitting next to co-host Jenny-May Clarkson on the revamped Breakfast set as the pair sit down with the Weekly fresh off a morning broadcast.
“Sometimes it feels like it!” says Jenny-May as the pair break into laughter.
With just two presenters on the Breakfast couch this year, things are looking a little different. But one thing is for sure: the natural rapport that viewers tune in for, that secret sauce that is the lifeblood of any early morning show, is alive and well in the TVNZ studio.
Jenny-May and Chris – or “Changy” as she calls him – are now the two main hosts of Breakfast, shepherding in a new look for the household-favourite show, along with a new producer, Carol Hirschfeld. The two are extremely open about what it’s like to be working in a field that has been under the shadow of mass redundancies for a long time.
“After last year and everything that went on with the media, we both just want to enjoy this year,” admits Chris. “There’s nothing more humbling for your own professional existence then having the whole industry flipped on its head … So we had a conversation about how we both want to get as much out of this year as we can.”
Jenny-May and Chris are now the two main hosts of Breakfast. Photo / Robert Trathen
Jenny-May agrees there’s a “bittersweet” feeling to work this year, with so many of their beloved colleagues losing their jobs or leaving the industry in the past few months. But there are no mixed emotions about being back on the Breakfast couch.
“It’s cliched and every Breakfast team would tell you this, but it’s the best job on TV, as far as I’m concerned … with the worst hours,” says Jenny-May. “The conversations that we get to have – it’s humbling and there’s lots of joy in it as well.”
In her sixth year as part of the hosting team – and, yes, setting the ever-present 2.30am alarm every weekday – Jenny-May says she never takes the job or the opportunities that come with it for granted.
“To be able to have a platform to allow people to have their say, to have their story told … I’m very grateful for it.”
It does, however, mean having to be aware of the events of the world – both on a global scale and on a small-town New Zealand scale – all the time, and both Jenny-May and Chris say it requires a tremendous amount of effort to switch off.
“Really getting those boundaries in place is important,” insists Jenny-May. “There are now only two of us and Breakfast is intense – it always was – but this year even more so because there’s just two of us. It’s that need to ‘shut the laptop and have a break from thinking about work’.”
Because, as she says, that fixated energy will always come at a cost to something else: family or health.
“We’re both perfectionists, we both want to do the best we possibly can,” she says. “So it’s easy to get sucked back into work, but then that bleeds into the rest of your day, which has a cumulative effect. And when you get to the end of the week and you’ve got absolutely nothing left, that’s not very cool for your family when you’ve got the weekend coming up.”
Her twins with her husband Dean Clarkson, 50, Te Manahau and Atawhai, are 9 this year and if you’ve been in the vicinity of a 9-year-old boy recently, you’ll know they require a tremendous amount of energy to keep up with.
Jenny-May is now in the throes of perimenopause. Photo / Robert Trathen
On top of that, Jenny-May is now in the throes of perimenopause, which – like parenting twins – is also not an experience for the faint-hearted.
When this topic comes up, Chris sits forward with great attention.
“Oh, are we going to talk about menopause again?” he jokes. “I’m happy to talk about menopause, then you can take the question after that, Jenny-May.”
“It’s something that we should be talking about and I’m still trying to figure things out,” she admits. “I love talking about it because it doesn’t just impact women, it impacts their partners …”
Chris interjects, “their co-hosts too”, which gets a huge belly laugh from Jenny-May – “and the impact it has on you is massive!”
It’s not just mood, she says, but also the fluctuation in body size and energy.
“Ultimately, I’ve come to a place where I just have to accept that this is happening to me and I’m going to do the very best I can to mitigate some of the impacts it has,” reflects Jenny-May. “But really, I’m just making it up as I go. But it’s such a hard thing.”
The fact Chris seems so well-versed in perimenopause is indicative of just how well the pair get along – as well as an excellent shared sense of humour, there’s a tremendous level of respect and trust between the pair.
“I have complete faith in Changy,” says Jenny-May. “He’s an intelligent and funny guy. I know he’s a brilliant broadcaster, so I feel safe with him sitting next to me about where we’re going – I don’t have to worry about whether or not he can cope with someone, because I know he can.”
She points out that the organised chaos of Breakfast – having to fill three hours of live television with a host of different guests, topics and tonal shifts – can often mean being told on no notice that a guest has fallen through, and she and Chris must now make small talk for the next few minutes while a plan B is concocted.
Both Jenny-May and Chris are very clear that even though they’re the faces of Breakfast, they’re there representing the work of a much wider team. Photo / Robert Trathen
“There’s no stress with that – one of us will start talking,” she says. “But that takes trust that the person sitting next to you has the capability to do that. I feel very lucky to have that with Chris.”
It’s a two-way street of admiration, clearly.
“Jenny-May has worked with much better broadcasters than me – the best in the business,” says Chris, which gets him a friendly “stop it” swat from Jenny-May. “I’m lucky that we can go into the year as a duo knowing that there’s somebody next to me who’s got that experience.”
Both are very clear that even though they’re the faces of Breakfast, they’re there representing the work of a much wider team, including a lot of young staff members who are navigating the unpredictable waters of working in media for the first time. It’s incredibly important, Chris says, that he and Jenny-May show leadership in that regard as well.
“We have to set the tone for it – if it’s a bit of a slog, or, like last year, if times are a bit tougher, then they will naturally look to the more senior people in the team,” he explains.
There is a downside to being a public face in New Zealand, as any broadcaster will tell you – an ever-increasing amount of criticism and negative feedback that comes via social media or other channels. Chris has a very simple solution: “Don’t read it!” he exclaims, which Jenny-May nods in agreement with. “Everyone’s got a thought about the people they see on TV – and that’s great, they should have that – but don’t get too high when times are good and don’t get too low when things aren’t going so well.”
Once the TV lights are off, the duo goes back to their regular lives at home. Photo / Robert Trathen
Adds Jenny-May, “It’s very important to understand who you are and what your values are. Changy and I front up every day, doing the very best that we possibly can – sometimes it goes great, sometimes it doesn’t, but the effort is always there to try and get things right.”
Once the TV lights are off and the presenter outfits are gone, they both go back to their regular lives at home.
“I go home to cleaning my house and picking up dog poo, just like anyone else,” tells Jenny-May. “Ultimately, what really matters is the health and wellbeing of your family, and knowing that keeps things in perspective. This is what I do, and I try and do it to the best of my ability. Yep, you’re going to get criticised, but no matter what you do, there is always going to be that. Like Changy said, don’t buy into it.”
At a time when overseas headlines are getting scarier, there’s a real importance to come back to our own communities – and the role of Breakfast in having a place for all those stories has never been more necessary.
“Our best stories – the stories that people most resonate with – are often the ones where we go into a smaller town and talk about what’s happening with them,” says Chris. “It’s the local stories that people want to hear more of.”
When asked what stories she enjoys telling the most, Jenny-May says, “All of it. The good, the bad and the ugly. The uplifting ones – the hopeful ones. Every story has something that sparks within me. And it might be something that you think is mundane, but then there’s something you connect with.
“You’re always trying to find that connection – it doesn’t matter who it is, you’re making a connection to that story and taking it to the audience. That’s what brings me back every time and why I’m still here five years later.”
“Five years?” questions Chris, joking. “I thought it was 25 years!”
