There were tears when beloved One News reporter Matty McLean revealed he was leaving TVNZ after nine years at the network.
But although his colleagues are certainly upset by his impending departure, the sobs were those of Matty himself. The 29-year-old chose his performance review last month to hand in his resignation.
“I had this whole spiel worked out, where I’d tell my manager how it’d been my dream to work here since I was 11 and that it really has been the best job ever,” Matty tells. “But I got part-way through and started crying.”
So why is he leaving TV One then? “It’s not like I’m having an existential crisis,” Matty explains to Woman’s Day. “It’s just that I’m turning 30 this year and it’s made me think about what I want to do with my life. I’ve spent 10 years building my career while I’ve seen my friends go out into the world to travel and explore. That’s something I want to do and now feels like the perfect time.
“I’m not married with children or a property, so there’s nothing tying me down to Auckland. It just makes sense to pack it all up and leave. Last year, I spent a couple of weeks with my brother in London and I didn’t want to leave, so that’s where I’m going. I want to be able to hop on a $29 flight to Barcelona for the weekend!”
It was a “super-hard decision” that took Matty six months to make. “I did wonder whether I was throwing away a decade of hard work,” he admits. But the former Breakfast reporter is excited about a new life in the UK.
“I leave at the end of April and I’m going to visit Jack Tame in New York, where we’ll be getting up to some shenanigans, then I want to chill on a beach in Central America before hitting the ground running in London. I love media, so I’d love to stay in the industry, but I’m open to all job opportunities. I’d love to work in production for a reality show like The X Factor UK.“
Having shed an impressive 14kg, Matty’s ready to take on the world. “Now seems like the perfect time,” he smiles.
Weigh to go!
It’s going to be a whole new life for Matty – and one he says he wouldn’t have had the confidence to embark on had he not lost an incredible 14kg. He reveals, “To set a goal and see that I could achieve something like that did really set me off on a path of thinking, ‘If I set my mind to it, what else can I do?'” It was in 2013, when he tipped the scales at 87kg, that the cuddly Queenstown-born journalist decided to go on a fitness kick.
He tells, “I’ve always been bigger and I’ve never felt confident about the way I look. I’d experiment with diets and fitness things, but nothing ever stuck. I’d eat chips, chocolate and takeaways all the time.
“But suddenly it was summer and I realised I’d enjoy it more if I was confident enough to take my top off on the beach. I suddenly thought, ‘I’m sick of feeling this way. I need to change something.'”
Lean machine! The slimmed-down star is happily snapped in Ibiza with his bro Rob.
That year, Matty trained for and completed the New York Marathon alongside his mother Tracy, 52.”It was the proudest I’ve ever been and to do it with Mum was so cool,” he smiles.
In January 2015, his fitness kick cranked up, with the openly gay, single journalist enlisting personal trainer Jivan Cleary to help him tone up for a trip to Europe to visit his brother Rob. His goal? To be able to whip off his shirt on the beach and take a picture standing next to his six-pack sibling, 26, without feeling self-conscious – something he achieved in Ibiza last August.
“It might sound silly, but my brother is naturally quite ripped, so it was kind of a big deal for me,” laughs Matty. “It felt really good. I was proud of myself and what I’d achieved.”
The workouts have continued and Matty’s down to 73kg. Jivan, 28, tells, “He’s progressed so much and I can really see it, but I don’t think he sees it as much because he’s quite hard on himself. Matty’s got big goals. He’s ambitious in all areas of his life.”
After stripping away the fat, Matty is now focusing on building muscle and has been enjoying compliments from viewers about his new body. He smiles, “People compare me to the fresh-faced, chubby 21-year-old reporter I was on Breakfast – I’ve grown up a lot since then!” Indeed, since he was a “naïve, wide-eyed, inexperienced junior” at TVNZ, Matty has gone on to become a respected reporter and one of the network’s most loved personalities.
And while his suits may now be smaller, he’ll leave big shoes to fill.
