Photography: Emily Chalk.
Storm Purvis and Andrew Mulligan pose back-to-back on the Eden Park field – the former Silver Fern admittedly must bend her knees to come down to his height – and waste no time giving each other grief.
It’s their professional love language. The longtime co-hosts of alternative sports news show Crowd Goes Wild are renowned for giving each other lip on screen. But the banter isn’t always taken that way.
“I often run into people in public who ask, ‘Do you actually like Mully?’” Storm, 33, says.
“People assume we hate each other because we’re quite mean to each other on air. But it’s just a role we play. “He’s my favourite person to bully, to take the piss out of, without a doubt. But he seems to take a lot of joy in winding me up too.”
Andrew retorts, “I have a little sister, so it’s just like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Off camera, they’re mates.
“We’ll confide in each other about work or stuff outside of Crowd,” says Andrew, 50.
“We’ll be each other’s allies and pump each other up.”
Back in the hot seat
That doesn’t mean they spend their spare time together. Two days a week in the studio, when Crowd Goes Wild airs on Sky Sport, is enough.
That routine is about to change. As the show celebrates its 20th anniversary, Storm and Andrew will spend 10 straight days together in the Auckland studio, fronting Crowd Goes Wild’s 7pm Commonwealth Games edition on Three – the show’s first run on the channel – introducing their unique dynamic to a wider audience. Fellow host James McOnie will be reporting on the ground in Glasgow.
“The adrenaline of live television will be terrifying and exciting,” admits Andrew, who’s hosted the show since it first aired in 2006 and covered 10 Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
The perfect pairing
Storm joined the team as a part-time reporter eight years ago, while still playing professional netball in the ANZ Premiership. After retiring from the game, she became Andrew’s regular co-host in 2022 – and now balances her broadcasting career with raising two daughters under three.
Her workmates have become “one big, happy, dysfunctional family”, as Storm puts it.
Andrew laughs, “I feel like I’m the silly uncle.”
Adds Storm, “But you’re kind of the cool uncle. The one who’s always the best dressed and knows everything about American sports.”
Andrew deadpans, “Dad went out for milk and never came back. And he left us with the lighter.”
20 years on air
Twenty years on, Andrew is surprised the irreverent show has become an enduring part of New Zealand sports culture. The dad of two boys never expected it to still be on air.
“I genuinely thought two years would be a good stint and then back to the grind.”
He was then working as a breakfast radio host at The Rock – a role he still has today. But he’s witnessed huge changes in television over the past two decades, particularly in the way people consume sport.
“It’s completely different now – it’s on your phones, where 20 years ago, there were no streaming apps and YouTube had only just started,” he explains.
“Appointment viewing is no longer a thing. You have to have a 24-hour presence. “Our show’s a lot different too. It started out five nights a week. We’ve been moved around a lot of different time slots. A few decisions made over the years weren’t in our best interests. Now we’ve wrested back control of the show.”
Storm says the show’s approach to telling sports stories – cheeky, audacious but still informative – hasn’t changed over the years.
“At our core, we just want to champion and celebrate the people we interview, and the sports we talk about,” she says.
“When you’re out in the field interviewing an athlete and they see the Crowd Goes Wild mic sock, you can feel them instantly relax then start talking to you. You feel the brand is able to get the most out of athletes.”
The magic of Crowd Goes Wild
Over the past two decades, the show has been a launchpad for TV talent, giving the likes of Hayley Holt, Mark Richardson, Anna Willcox, Josh Kronfeld, Wairangi Koopu and Chris Key a platform.
“This show has allowed people to develop, grow and be personal, rather than just be a robot behind a desk, a plug-in presenter,” says Andrew.
James, with the show almost since it launched, has “a beautiful brain with such deep sports knowledge and amazing ideas”, enthuses Andrew.
“You’ll never have a show like this anywhere else and that’s the beauty of it. I’m too scared to leave, it’s too good. No other show in New Zealand has come close.”
The pair is also quick to point out the importance of the show’s creator and original executive producer Ric Salizzo.
“He gave me a shot – he gave most of us our shot – and we’ll always be grateful,” tells Storm.
She has had friends ask if she’d like to host the TV sports news.
“And respectfully, I say, ‘Why would I leave this job? This is my dream job.’”
Andrew quips, “We’ve got 24 minutes to do what they do in eight.”
Behind the confidence
He’s watched Storm evolve into one of New Zealand’s most respected sports presenters – who’s hosted netball, league and Olympic Games coverage for Sky.
“Storm is really polished – one of the best,” he says.
“She’s also the voice of reason sitting on my shoulder. I look at the way she approaches the show – so organised and researched. I’ve never met someone so diligent with her preparation. She’s so good at being herself, but she questions herself too much.”
Storm says self-doubt is hard to avoid in broadcasting.
“On Crowd, I’m too much myself, which makes me cringe. If I’m hosting a sports event where I’m more polished and serious, I’ll watch it back and critique. But with the show, I just can’t watch myself.”
Andrew adds, “I can’t watch you either! What’s said is said, what’s done is done. Like Steve Hansen said, ‘Just flush the dunny and move on.’”
A chapter beyond sport
For Storm, Crowd Goes Wild has been the perfect next chapter after being a professional athlete – broadcasting now feels a greater part of her identity than sport.
She had to quickly learn on the job how to interview, write scripts, shoot and produce a story.
“It was sink or swim, and I couldn’t be more grateful,” Storm says.
“If, God forbid, anything ever happened to Crowd, I now have the skills to go somewhere else. I’m not just an ex-athlete with a microphone.”
She’s also been learning a very different role: as Mum to two-year-old Daisy and Indigo, eight months. It hasn’t been easy – she suffered from post-partum depression after both pregnancies. But with a strong support network around her, including her husband Dan and their parents, Storm has gradually found her feet juggling the two roles.
“I still do work out in the field and I can take the girls with me if it works around nap times,” she explains.
“They love it and the talent loves them too. They’re still cute and relatively well-behaved. “That’s another reason I would never leave this job. As a mum, I get to spend a decent chunk of my week with my girls.”
Life beyond the studio
Andrew’s family life looks a little different now his kids are older. In the run-up to the hectic schedule of the Commonwealth Games coverage, Andrew and wife Emma have taken their sons, Cooper, 12, and Miller, six, to Queenstown. They’re a snow-sports family – Emma was even a snowboard instructor in Colorado. But after knee surgery last year, Andrew won’t be joining them on the slopes.
While his boys know what he does for a living – and his other passion, basketball commentating – Andrew says they don’t watch Crowd Goes Wild.
“My wife doesn’t even put it on the TV at 7pm!” he says with mock disgust.
“My husband does,” says Storm.
“I want to move in with you guys,” replies Andrew.
Storm says, “That’s fine. Dan actually messages Mully more than he messages me. They’re in a fantasy NBA league together.”
Beyond the laughs
Behind the jokes, Andrew is conscious of the responsibility that comes with being in the public eye.
“My kids know what I do – they’ve grown up with it. But I’m very mindful now about what I say as a broadcaster, especially on radio, and in Instagram reels and clips. I don’t want my kids affected by that.”
For Andrew, the moveto a prime-time slot on Three during the Games is recognition of how far the show has come – and the trust it’s earned over two decades.
“We’re indebted to Sky and the people at executive level who’ve always believed in the show and valued its importance to keep it going,” says Andrew.
“And for trusting us as well,” Storm points out. “Sometimes we laugh that we’re like a bunch of kids who love sport, making a pretty important show.”
Andrew and Storm will present a special nightly edition of Crowd Goes Wild at 7pm on Three for the duration of the Commonwealth Games.
