Charli Robinson gears up for 'It's A Knockout' on Channel 10. Picture: Craig Wall Source: Supplied
IT isn't meant to be like this for Charli Robinson.
Dressed in a sumo-wrestling suit, nearly expiring in the 32C heat and almost 100 per cent humidity of a steamy Malaysian night, the glamour of a TV career seems, right now, lost on her.
The job co-hosting the return of family game show favourite, It's A Knockout is not what a teenage Robinson imagined for herself.
"The daggiest thing happened the other day - I found an old diary I'd kept during HSC (Higher School Certificate) and I had written that I wanted to be a serious Shakespearean actress," she says.
"My desire was to play Ophelia in Hamlet these were the aspirations I had for myself."
As fate would have it, within a few months the wide-eyed graduate auditioned for new children's entertainment troupe Hi-5.
"I got it and that was my life for 10 years."
Fast forward to the production lot of the French-owned Knockout, outside Kuala Lumpur, and Robinson finds herself even further from the world of high-brow art, playing dress-ups once again.
"Honestly, I am loving every minute of it," the still perky 31-year-old tells Switched On.
Loved by millions of pre-schoolers for her colourful, energetic role in the wildly successful kids' entertainment group, Charli is as wide-eyed and enthusiastic about her latest job as she's ever been.
"I've got an annoying amount of energy," she says.
"So it's great to work in a show where that's OK."
Teaming with comic legend HG Nelson and sports anchor Brad McEwan for Channel 10's retro revival of the popular challenge show has been a revelation for Robinson.
"I've realised I wouldn't suit being Ophelia now she can't smile the whole way through a play.
"And I am having way too much fun on this show. It's hysterical."
Having loved the show as a child, revealing she used to recreate some of the quirky challenges with her big sister in the family's backyard near Newcastle in NSW, Robinson was initially won over by the nostalgia factor.
The Knockout role also marks her return to television after a diversion into radio. (She has recently signed to host breakfast for Sea FM on the Gold Coast and presents a nightly gossip show, The Dirt, on the Austereo network.)
So finding herself back on TV, after a few years trying to establish herself as an adult performer, she has surprised herself by jumping heartily into the role of crash test dummy for Knockout.
This bubbly, self-confessed klutz, could not be more perfect for the job.
"When you see the set, it's so colourful and just like Hi-5, I get to play dress-ups again."
With the Malaysian audience of Knockout filled with ex-pat Australian schoolkids, Robinson was instantly recognised as the Charli they had grown up with.
"Some of these kids, who are grown up with kids of their own now, groan, must look at me and think, 'Wow, Charli, you just don't change'."
While she left the Hi-5 family three years ago after 10 years of exhausting touring, her return to TV, she says, has been surprisingly easy.
"I didn't realise how much I missed TV until I hit the set. I felt like it was coming home.
"In front of a (radio) microphone I still always feel nervous. But put a camera on me and it's almost like I exhale. It's certainly more comfortable."
Still, the quirky nature of the show doesn't mean comfort equals boring.
With four teams competing in crazy contests from wacky water sports, to endurance tests and obstacle courses there was never a dull moment when the return series was filmed in six breakneck days (or rather nights, with filming scheduled in the evenings to avoid the extremes of the tropical Asian heat).
While McEwan and Nelson keep to the relative safety of the commentary box high up in the grandstand, Robinson gets down and dirty on the sidelines and pool deck with the contestants.
In the first season, four state-based teams will battle it out for the title, winning money for their organisations: Queensland lifesavers, Victorian firefighters, NSW ambulance officers and a combined Team Maccas, raising funds for Ronald McDonald house.
And if you think this is all just for laughs, Robinson says the players took it seriously.
"In the Malaysian heat, it took competition to another level. I really thought I was part of the Olympics or something - sweat pouring everywhere, all these serious athletes and, of course, HG Nelson, an absolute legend."
A little starstruck by one half of Australia's beloved comedy duo, Roy & HG, she says: "I found myself, even when were sitting down for breakfast, I'd just start staring at him.
"Even when he talked about what his hotel room was like and, when it rained, condensation after his airconditioning broke down, I felt like the luckiest person in the world witnessing a one-man comedy show.
"He will make this show. His Olympics commentary was legendary.
"It's him to a tee."
It's A Knockout
Channel 10, Sunday 7.30pm
