‘Next Actor’ on Jono and Ben is one of their most well-known segments, placing a famous New Zealander into a regular pleb job and letting chaos ensue via an earpiece and a fervent need to destroy. When it goes well, you get Phil Goff blowing up a condom at New World. When it goes badly, you get Rachel Hunter making poor decisions as to who she forces to shoplift at Hallensteins.

Friday night’s edition was a little different, infinitely more exciting and extremely representative of the current “television eats itself” climate at TV3. Tammy Davis was sent down to Queenstown in a beard and a fake nose to wait upon TV3’s finest at a fancy wine and bread party featuring a giant pool. Paul Henry is there rocking transition lenses, David Farrier and Samantha Hayes clearly are at the ‘cool’ table and Hilary Barry is hooning the wines in the corner.

It’s a dream scenario on its own, and becomes even better when Tammy is let loose.

Taking ‘Next Actor’ into the luxury bread-lined belly of the beast is a very good move, if only for revealing subtle insights behind the curtain into television land. Sam Hayes will help a stumbling waiter, David Farrier does not enjoy pepper in his wine, and Hilary Barry loves a cheesy pick-up line as much as the next lady. Overheard on the Paul Henry table is the mysterious advice, “but you’re right, you’ve got to dictate that shit”. Who knows what else they could get their stars to reveal?!

The next natural step in the MediaWorks cross-brand-cross-platform-hot-cross-bun would be to get an incognito celeb to go undercover, and worm their way into the panel on Paul Henry’s breakfast show… oh wait.

Jono and Ben airs on TV3, Fridays at 7.30pm