“I look so tired!” beloved comedian Hayley Sproull wails, pulling at her face and smoothing out invisible bags under her eyes. It turns out the busiest woman in New Zealand entertainment is just like your average Kiwi woman – concerned she looks as exhausted as she feels, and struggling with her confidence and body image.
Not that you’d know to look at her. Fresh-faced Hayley, 34, constantly appears full of energy, despite her alarm always being set for 4.15am to host the ZM Breakfast show with Fletch and Vaughan. And now, the multi-talented comic, presenter and actor can add Taskmaster NZ contestant to her list of many TV credits.
“It was a dream job!” Hayley exclaims. “It’s so freeing to go into a situation and not plan. It’s the most wild ride.”
Hayley says Taskmaster director and 2022 winner Josh Thomson offered her some sage advice before the show.
“He was like, ‘Don’t try to be funny. Just do the task.’ But then, after you’ve done it, you start analysing all the cool stuff you could have done!” She shrugs. “You just have to be like, ‘Well, it’s done now.’”
It can be confronting, she admits, watching yourself on a giant screen in front of a studio audience, but it’s something Hayley’s been trying to overcome for the 14 years she’s been in the industry.
“I used to have this thing in my head where I always wanted to be in the best shape for TV. Every time Bake Off would come up, I’d try to lose a bit of weight. When I did Golden Boy, I lost so much weight. No one asked me to, by the way!”
In the past couple of years, Hayley has put on 25kg. She went into a familiar tailspin before Taskmaster started filming.
“It’s just part of life,” she says. “Then the job I’ve wanted for so long came along. My first thoughts were like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so out of shape!’ Then I was like, ‘Hayley! How very little does that actually matter?’
“I had lots of fun doing the tasks, but then on my first day in front of the studio audience, I felt like I didn’t look my best and I struggled big time.”
Relatably, Hayley went straight to her team of BFFs, which included 2022 Taskmaster contestant Justine Smith.
“I messaged my girls and was like, ‘People are gonna think I’m pregnant!’ And they were like, ‘Queen. Shut up,’” she laughs. “I just chose to be like, ‘Who cares I don’t have a flat stomach?! Is that really the worst thing in the world or am I having fun, being funny and doing the dream job?’”
It might come as surprising to her legion of fans that the seemingly confident, outgoing star struggles with her body image. “I think it’s a battle,” she admits from her West Auckland home.
“I outwardly try to be a really body-positive person and preach it,” she says. “But it’s hard to practise it all the time, especially when you’re looking back at yourself when you’re not feeling your best. After that little pep talk from the girls, I was like, ‘Actually, just get over it. Be the thing you say you are’, which is confident in every size.”
Radio may seem like the place to be when you’re not feeling particularly happy with your appearance, but even that format isn’t immune any more.
“They film it now!” she groans. “I made a big effort when I started. It’s just not about that. It’s about being entertaining and helping people pass their time in the morning – not ‘Do I look snatched in this video?’”
The ZM radio co-host struggles with polycystic ovary syndrome, which comes with some gnarly symptoms. She’s recently come off the oral contraceptive pill to deal with them naturally.
“Sure enough, my hair’s fallen out quite a bit. I’ve also gained a bunch of weight and my skin’s broken out,” she reveals. “But I’m trying to embrace it and say, ‘OK, this is actually what’s happening’. It’s time to confront what my body’s actually doing in its natural state.”
Hayley confesses it’s sometimes hard work, but “being off the pill makes me happy and horny, so I’m way better in my head and I just have to deal with the physical stuff.”
This all made for the perfect fodder for her latest live solo show Wild Flutters, which was nominated for the Best New Zealand Show, or The Fred Award, at the NZ International Comedy Festival this year. She’s touring it over the next few months and is also heading off around NZ with 7 Days Live.
For now, the national treasure’s enjoying feeling liberated again, even if it means working on her body positivity is ongoing. “It’s so nice to feel a bit of bloody vivaciousness,” she grins mischievously.
Taskmaster NZ airs 7pm Tuesdays and Wednesdays on TVNZ 2 and is available to stream on TVNZ+.
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