In Suzanne Paul’s home office, competing for wall space – among her many framed Weekly covers – hangs a small corkboard filled with photos and glossy magazine cut-outs of, well, a luminous life.
There are the inspirational quotes you’d expect, along with pictures of cruise ships, balmy locations, products she likes, Suzanne windsurfing in a bikini in the ’80s (it’s a reminder to stay fit) and scenes from her past TV triumphs.
Just like in the iconic Australian movie The Castle – where anything worthy goes “straight to the pool room” – in Suzanne’s house, anything that sparks her imagination goes straight onto her manifestation board.
“I look at it every day!” she says, chatting from the coastal home she shares with husband Patrick Kuhtze, 62, and rescue dog Matty, north of Auckland.
When the vision board comes to life
“It fills me with energy and inspiration. I had a photo of an ocean view on there. So when we were looking to rent a new house and I walked into this one, then saw the Pacific Ocean from the deck, I turned to Patrick and went, ‘Hello, this was on the board!’ “I don’t call it luck when things happen and I get asked to host a cruise, for example, because I’ve got these things in my mind all the time and I hustle for them. A picture of the ship had been on my board for five years! “The car out the front was on the board, even when there was no chance of me affording it for a long time. Writing another book had been on it.” (We’ll get to that later.)
This year, Suzanne, 69, also had a picture of a chat show up and initially envisioned herself as the Kiwi alternative to Oprah Winfrey, interviewing stars for a television series.
“Recently, my make-up artist said to me, ‘The only thing that didn’t come through for you is the chat show,’” she tells.
“But I replied, ‘Well, now I’ve got a podcast! It’s the same thing – just not on the telly.”
An unlikely duo that works
The podcast, Fork’s Sake – which is out now – is the brainchild of singer and keen cook Andrew Papas, 31, who approached Suzanne with his idea of chatting to prominent Kiwis about food. She agrees theirs is an unlikely pairing.
“You would think, ‘These two have nothing in common,’ but it’s exactly why it works!” she confesses.
“He and wife Megan [who is a breakfast co-host on The Hits] used to own a very successful café, so he loves cooking and I don’t. He’s young and a great singer – I’m not. He has two small children and I don’t. “But the fact I’m not a foodie makes for a lot of humour,” she explains.
World apart in the kitchen
“Many of the things that I love, Andrew thinks are quite disgusting. My favourite meal is a mince pie with a cup of beef Oxo over the top. “It soaks it all up and looks like mushy dog food. I do chips in the air fryer and put gravy on them… That’s the extent of my culinary expertise! Whereas Andrew likes to cook four-course dinners and fancy cakes. It sounds like a right palava to me!”
Every episode, Andrew – a vocalist in the Ten Tenors – cooks for the guests. In the first episode, he whipped up some vegan dips and homemade crackers for comedian Tom Sainsbury. They all sit around a little dining table and if it’s a “posh guest”, Suzanne brings in her Versace tablecloth.
A podcast built on banter
“People know if they come on our podcast, it’ll be a laugh and they’ll get fed,” she jokes.
“Andrew and I like to take the mickey out of each other too. “When we recorded an episode with former politician Paula Bennett, I mentioned we were on TV show Give Us a Clue together. Andrew had never heard of it. I told him if he was on it, they’d have to call it ‘I haven’t got a clue!’”
Throwback tales from the 80s
She also likes to bring up stories from the ’80s, when her podcast co-host wasn’t even born.
“Andrew recently asked me what my favourite home-cooked meal was as a child and I had to tell him I’d never had one!” she shares.
“It might have been a jam sandwich because in the olden days, we didn’t have a toaster. “By the time I was in my teens, I’d reconnected with my mum and lived with her on and off. She used to be the manager of a Freezer Centre, where people would come in and select their frozen dinners. I lived off those for 10 years.”
Before her appearance on last year’s Celebrity Treasure Island, Suzanne admits she’d had a few years of being in a career slump.
Pushing through the quiet seasons
“Nothing was happening, despite me pitching here and there,” she concedes.
“That’s when most people give up. I knew I had to keep pushing through and hope things were happening behind the scenes that I couldn’t see yet. “So I’m thankful that Andrew got in touch. He’s such a lovely young man. I love his work ethic. He brings all his notes from the Google machine. And I like being around younger people because that keeps me young as well.”
Suzanne has always been a firm believer that the right people come in to your life at the right time. It was while she was selling a sleep supplement product at a health expo that she sold one to a woman and noticed her email address was for a well-known book publisher.
Writing her story of resilience
The two got chatting and Suzanne ended up pitching an idea for a book. A deal was made. She’s now currently halfway through writing 20 chapters for a “motivational-type book” about resilience and failure that will come out sometime next year.
“Again, it’s not luck,” she states.
“I’ve had a book on my board too! Everybody knows my life has been a huge roller-coaster ride. “I’ve found a lot of people get into that ‘down’ bit and think that’s where they’re going to stay forever. They tried something and it didn’t work, so they feel like there’s no hope after failure. If you keep doing your best and showing up, things do get better again.”
The journey that started with just $18
In 1991, Suzanne famously arrived in New Zealand with just $18 in her pocket and dogged determination to rebrand herself as anything other than “little Sue Barnes from Wolverhampton”.
Coming here alone and starting with nothing is what she calls her greatest success. From sunbed salesperson to television host, dancing star to declaring bankruptcy, the plucky infomercial queen has lived a lot.
A life of reinvention
“Everything I’ve done has led to something else,” she reflects.
“I was approached in the mall the other day by a group of teenage girls shouting, ‘It’s you! It’s you!’ “They hadn’t seen Dancing With the Stars or any of my ads for Natural Glow. No, they told me, ‘You’re the Chelsea Sugar lady off TikTok!’ Thirty-five years of everything I’ve done and that’s what I’m known for now, apparently.
Suzanne has recently become the face of the Kiwi sugar brand, offering Agony Aunt-style advice to viewers’ problems while flour flies everywhere.
Defying age and expectations
“I didn’t think I’d still be having these opportunities on screen at 69 years old,” she admits.
“Because I hit a brick wall with work after I turned 50 and it was hard to get anything in the television industry. That’s when I noticed the ageism around. “But now it seems to have gone the other way. With the likes of Dame Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda, people are going, ‘They’re an inspiration – still fit, healthy and working.’ That’s how I want to be!”
A birthday to remember
For her 70th birthday in November next year, Suzanne will be celebrating by hosting a “Cruise with Suze” on board the Azamara Pursuit, in partnership with House of Travel. Setting sail from Auckland on December 19, 2026, she and Patrick are looking forward to spending next Christmas cruising Milford Sound, before seeing in the new year on Sydney Harbour. Then, as she’s done every year, she’ll
start a new vision board.
“Every January, I ask, ‘What do I want happening for myself this year?’ as well as being grateful to the universe for all the things I already have,” she shares.
But wait, there’s more… “Ooh, do you know what I’d love to do? To appear on Celebrity Traitors. I am obsessed with it. Right, I need to find a picture from that show. It’s going straight on the board.”
Quickfire with Andrew Papas
Why did you pick Suzanne to host a podcast with?
I asked her because she’s such a pro and a hard worker. I wanted someone who would put in as much effort as me. Also, I love that we have different views on things. She’s a bit older than me, so she’s had a different life experience. Plus, I love to cook and she loves to eat – we make the perfect pair!
Growing up, food was…
I’m South African, so at every family gathering, food was the centre of everything. Think a braai, potjie pots… There was always lots of meat! I like that, though. Some of my best memories are around amazing meals we’ve had or events where food was present.
Where did you learn your culinary skills from?
I’m self-taught and I learned a lot from my mum. You can learn so much watching other people, then just giving it a go at home. I worked with this one chef called Santiago once and I probably spent more time at the chef’s pass asking him questions than actually doing my job!
What’s your go-to dish when cooking for your family or hosting a party?
During lockdown, my Greek neighbour shared her Greek roast lamb recipe with me and I have not stopped cooking it since! Imagine a lamb leg stuffed with rice, bacon, cranberries, rosemary, pine nuts and glazed with balsamic reduction. It’s actually so delicious.
How do you feel about Suzanne wanting to put gravy on everything you cook?
She’s gravy- mad. I don’t mind, but let’s hope by episode 10, I would have taught an old dog some new tricks!
Has she influenced you in any way?
She’s got me onto fake tan! I’ve only used it once, but I got lots of compliments – it was the middle of winter!
Listen to the podcast Fork’s Sake.
