No-one can ever accuse attention seeker Terry Frisby of being camera shy. The Kiwi funnyman craves the limelight so much that he’s appeared on 21 TV reality and game shows, here and in the UK, including Wheel of Fortune, The Weakest Link and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
“I’d do anything to get on TV. It’s true,” says the Auckland stand-up comedian. He says the addiction started when he was a youngster on a Kiwi TV institution.
“When I was five years old, I was on Telethon in Invercargill. I got to present a cheque on behalf of my scout group and when I saw myself on telly I thought it was pretty awesome. I was hooked.”
Terry’s next appearance on TV was in 1990 on the Kiwi game show Jeopardy, and the credits have piled up since.
Terry even met his first wife, Joanna, on a Kiwi TV dating show called Revel With a Cause, hosted by PR guru Fleur Revel-Devlin, in 1998.
The couple moved to the UK two years later, where Terry’s addiction may have resulted in their separation.He was the first straight man to get a makeover from five gay guys in the debut episode of the UK version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The show’s stars even gave him relationship advice.
“At the end of the episode they told me they didn’t like my wife. All she did was laugh at me, despite my romantic gestures. She thought it was a joke. It was in that year that we broke up.”
Another UK show the pair appeared on was Your Face or oine, where a couple would have to choose whether their loved one was more attractive than a random stranger. If their choice was the same as the audience’s, they won money.
When Terry said another woman was hotter than his wife, it caused problems.
“She over-rated me, and I was too honest. She didn’t take it so well.”
The shows Terry has been on range from a Judge Judy-like court show, where he sued a colleague for crimes of fashion, to one where he was tortured while answering questions. He’s won more than $100,000 in cash.
When he appeared on Wheel of Fortune he was five times carry-over champion and won $20,000 in prizes, including a year’s worth of pantyhose.
Terry shares his secret to getting on TV.
“You have to make stuff up,” he laughs. “on most of the shows, you go through an audition process and they want to see something interesting, something unique.
“I would say I was into hypnotism and juggling and was training to be a priest. It was always a task of mine to make sure I had something different at each audition.”
Since returning to New Zealand from the UK last year, Terry has had trouble finding enough game shows to appease his appetite.
“There are not enough shows here to apply for,” he explains.
“I went to apply for oasterChef and I can’t cook,” he says. “The application process was the most strenuous of any show I’ve ever been on. All I wanted to do was stuff up cooking bacon and eggs and get on TV.”
Terry says he’s creating his own work and has pitched ideas for his own show to various TV production companies.
“I’m always coming up with ideas about what would make a perfect game show.”
What Terry is best at is being funny, and he’s drawn on his experience for a comedy show he has already performed in New Zealand and hopes to take overseas.
And of all the many prizes he has won, Terry says his ultimate catch is his new wife Ania, who is Polish, and who he met not in a TV studio but on the internet.
And despite what happened with Terry’s first marriage, Ania is right behind him and his passion. “She knows about my obsession and is always looking for game shows for me.”
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