Images: Emily Chalk
A s a presenter on Fair Go, Pippa Wetzell is used to being on the right side of justice and there’s one oft-maligned group of society that she’s very passionate about sticking up for – teenagers. Her eldest two children, daughters Brodie, 17, and Cameron, 14, are both smack-bang in their teen years and Pippa is here to tell you that the bad press that age group gets is very unfair.
“I just think teenage girls are the most awesome people on the planet,” she enthuses. “They’re so on to it. They have so much coming at them, but they’re clever, creative and sociable. I know it’s not the same experience for everyone, but I’m loving these teenage years.”
There’s a heightened sense of appreciation to this time, partly because it’s so different to how teens are usually presented in the media and partly because there’s the very real possibility that this is a finite time of family socialising.
“I’m very mindful that we’re probably not too far away from them choosing to go elsewhere in their lives, so I’m making the most of it.”
Pippa’s youngest son Taj only turned 13 early this year, but Pippa is similarly optimistic that he’ll continue on the delightful teenage trend. In fact, when asked about the biggest thing giving her hope these days, the TVNZ star is quick to answer – the young people in her life.
“Every generation of teenager gets so much flak, but I just think that they’re going to change the world,” she says. “They’re going to shape and change the planet, and the amount they’re dealing with is so much more than my generation had to deal with.”
The rate of change, Pippa adds, can feel overwhelming. With Brodie in her final year of secondary school, the conversation of paving a career path is naturally front and centre. But how do you do that when so many paths are veering off course in ways no one can predict?
Pippa muses, “In the back of my mind, it’s like, ‘Is that job still going to be around soon?’ It’s the same with subject choices – with the way things are just steamrolling forward in the world out there, like the rise of AI, I have no idea what the future looks like. On top of that, they’ve got climate change, plus a whole raft of big global events. The teenagers I know give me hope. My kids give me hope.”
‘Camel mode’
In early 2023, a US writer coined the term “camel mode” for the phase of life that parents and caregivers go through when their needs take a backseat so they can do the full – time crisis management of raising small children.
It can take months or years to come out of it. For Pippa and her husband Torrin Crowther, there was a long stretch of parenting three children where “divide and conquer” was the name of the game.
She explains, “I had Brodie just before I turned 30, so when I turned 40, it felt like quite a milestone because I went, ‘Wow! It’s been a decade with the children in my life.’ And it was a wonderful decade, but you do feel like you’re in it.”
There was no definitive stage where she left camel mode, she adds, but Pippa can remember one morning where she and Torrin where having a coffee with no interruptions, and it was such a rare event, it still stands out years later.
These days, not only are their three children so self-sufficient that they’re organising themselves, but they’re also organising their own social lives as well. “And sometimes they do that and then forget to loop me in,” she laughs. “We need to start coordinating diaries!”
Though Pippa jokes that it goes both ways. “I’ll tell one of them something three times and then not tell the other two!”
Towards the end of 2023, she and Torrin went away for a family member’s birthday – a rare child-free weekend – only to spend the majority of the time missing them. “When they were little, the idea of going away, just the two of us, would have been such a treat and now I just want them to be with us because we have so much fun with them,” Pippa smiles. “I mean, they may not agree, but we really do.”
Thanks to having a toddler nephew, Pippa says she’s getting to live vicariously through the baby years once more. “But with the wisdom that if he wakes in the night, it’s not my problem!”
Pippa’s extended family is a multigenerational one, meaning there are always younger kids to hang out with. “It’s this lovely cycle of life,” she says, adding that her younger cousins, teen children and her Fair Go colleagues keep her across each age group’s trends.
Pippa jokes about referring to TikTok’s viral “clean girl aesthetic” (ask your nearest Gen Z) at work and being met with blank faces. “I was like, ‘Do you not know what this is?!’”
But TikTok, a video platform aimed at those under 30, is more relevant to the world of Fair Go than you might think. In fact, the long-running consumer-rights programme still has such cross-generational appeal that they get submissions via TikTok as well as handwritten letters.
“We need to be able to reach everyone in the way that they choose to reach us,” she says. “I think we must be one of the few programmes in the world that still gives out a postal address.”
It speaks to the heritage of the Fair Go name and the mixed-blessing reality that there is still such a strong need for it. Pippa estimates that they receive hundreds of letters and emails a week from frustrated people who need help navigating what feels like an increasingly unfair society.
“We get a lot of stories from people who feel like they’re not being catered for as the world progresses – people who feel like they’re being left behind. So even as Fair Go is moving with the times, we’re never going to leave anyone behind.”
Loss & laughter
The TVNZ 1 show’s team is famously close-knit and there is one major change on the horizon for this year – Pippa’s beloved co-host Hadyn Jones hasn’t returned.
“I’m really, really gutted,” she says. “I loved working with Hadyn, but there was so much travel and he just made the call that he wanted to spend more time with his family, which I totally get. He’s such an amazing dad.”
But while Pippa is devastated to lose her workmate, she’s excited about a new move, which will see her team of Fair Go reporters host alongside her in Hadyn’s place. It harks back to her own memories of the show when she was a young viewer herself.
Pippa recalls, “When I was watching as a kid in the ’80s, it wasn’t just one presenter – it was a team of presenters and I can remember them all being on set, all very much a part of it. So returning to that is wonderful.”
The joy of working alongside such a special group of people who “fight and fight and fight” for justice is a real privilege, says Pippa. “When I first started on Fair Go, someone said to me, ‘This is some of the most robust journalism you will ever see,’ but because the stories are often handled with such a light touch or with humour, people don’t always realise the depths to which our reporters have gone to ensure that what is shown on screen is accurate and fair.
“The hours and hours of work that goes on, the negotiations that go on… Even with the smaller, lighter stories that are a bit of a laugh, there’s so much that happens behind the scenes because these are situations that can affect someone’s entire livelihood.”
Fair Go is a show that encompasses everything from getting a family’s entire home rebuilt, to representing someone who “didn’t get the free burger they were entitled to”, says Pippa. In an often-fraught world, this show is something of a haven, where justice prevails and the good guy does win, even if it takes years.
“There’s a huge amount of satisfaction with what we’re able to achieve… It’s a rare thing.”
Talking about fairness is more complicated when it comes to raising children. Pippa credits the “wide-ranging” conversations at their family dinner table for providing the space and time needed to discuss everything – and anything – the kids are experiencing.
“As much as you go, ‘Ugh, I don’t want my kids on social media,’ they are really informed – and often it’s because of Instagram or TikTok,” she explains. “I’m astounded sometimes by some of the things
my 13-year-old will be aware of. But then navigating reliable sources is another job as well.”
Pippa gives an example where Taj mentioned something he’d read online and she went to fact-check it. “I ended up proving myself wrong,” she laughs, noting that even the way her kids source information is different.
On a recent family trip, a delayed flight meant more time to explore a new city and Pippa suggested they check out some op shops. “I went to google it, but they don’t use Google – they use TikTok as a search engine,” she says. “They wouldn’t even think to google something, like, ‘That’s so old-school!’ I try to give them some logic and sense, but then they turn around and give it right back!”
That, of course, is the good side of social media – community, information, finding things to relate to… But it’s also where the devastating news events of the day sit alongside cat videos. How, as a journalist and a mother, does Pippa find leading her kids through that?
“There’s so much information to take in – and for them, it must be almost double that due to the speed with which they scroll,” she says. “Part of me likes to think that they process things differently.
“It’s great that they’re interested in the world and I’ve never really tried to restrict what they’re seeing, perhaps because I felt like I was going to be fighting a battle I couldn’t ever win. But I’ve always tried to be very clear that if there’s anything they find uncomfortable or confronting, we talk about it.”
There are enough real-life friendships and activities to keep them off their screens, so Pippa feels the kids have a good balance. “So far, so good! But I do love that they have an awareness of what’s going on in the world.”
Health is wealth
This year, Pippa turns 47 and though she’s not someone who “ever really thinks forward enough to imagine anything”, she has learned the lesson that we all must learn and relearn as we age – that health really is wealth.
“As I get older, my friends get older and my family gets older – there are always health blips with people close to you,” she says. “It’s lovely when you’re in a position to help support people through that and the reality is that there’ll be more of that.”
That reminder has meant a shift in priorities when it comes to her own wellness, adds Pippa. “It’s less about what you look like and more about how you can function in the future.”
A focus on longevity has taken centre stage as the star heads into her late forties and beyond. “A friend said to me that you want to be able to lift luggage and run around after your grandchildren.”
With her eldest only 17, this might be some way off, but the speed with which those 17 years have gone has made Pippa realise that the next 17 might also go as quickly.
“Each season goes so fast,” she reflects. “I want to do everything I can now to make sure I stay as strong, fit and healthy for those years. That’s been a realisation for the latest part of my forties because you can’t take your health for granted – you’ve got one body and you want it to function as well as possible, for as long as possible.”
It’s a strengthening of the values that Pippa has always held dear – family, health and good friends. For all of her adult life, those things have formed her definition of success and it’s a set of values she’s sure her children will prioritise as well.
“It’s also about feeling like you’re doing your part to make a difference,” she muses. “I know we’re really privileged and we actively try to make sure our children understand that. I’d like to think they can make some choices in their lives to help make a difference.
“It’s important to understand what you have and that not everybody has had that – and in some cases, they may not have had it for generations. So if you have that understanding and you’re sharing that understanding, it’s a wonderful thing. I feel like our kids have that – and that is part of that success.”
Fair Go screens Mondays at 7.30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+.
