The international model and star of The Traitors NZ shares his love of Dynasty wig-snatching and how he ended up on Xena.
He’s currently captivating viewers with his steely gaze in The Traitors NZ, but Colin Mathura-Jeffree has long been one of the most fascinating figures in our local celebrity-sphere. A television host, actor and international fashion model who has worked with Versace and Jean Paul Gaultier, he’s also a prolific and strangely profound Google reviewer. “I love weaving history into my reviews, because we all have history with places,” he told The Spinoff earlier this year. “We can’t live in the past, but we can wear the memory like a jewel.”
Perhaps the most vivid Mathura-Jeffree memory jewel for most will be when he burst into living rooms around the country in 2009 as the innuendo-dropping, eyeliner-wearing, lamington-throwing host of New Zealand’s Next Top Model. Since then, he’s worn a meat dress to the music awards, hosted Hottest Home Baker, competed in Dancing With the Stars NZ and acted in several movies. He’s also a massive pop culture fan with an enormous action figure collection, and has always fostered a deep love for all things television.
“TV is wonderful,” he told The Spinoff. “TV is a real Aladdin’s cave of treasure. I don’t think people really give it the respect it deserves, because they are so distracted by TikTok.” So, without further ado, please enter Colin Mathura-Jeffree’s cave of TV memory jewels.
My earliest TV memory is… This question makes me smile. We would always watch television shows together as a family. Wherever we were in the house, our names would be called to hurry up and we’d know the ETA of whatever we were watching. We would lounge in our favourite chairs with freshly brewed masala chai or coffee and some delicious homemade cake, or occasionally a snack of Murukku or potato chips.
The TV show I used to rush home from school to watch was… I didn’t really rush home to watch telly because I was always with my friends playing Battlestar Galactica or Buck Rogers. In my mind, I would always play Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter. You do the math.
The TV moment that haunts me the most is… Watership Down. A really emotional journey for me as a little Colly Woggles (my parents’ nickname for me). The most wonderful animation of a group of cute little bunnies bouncing through the most hauntingly tumultuous journey of life and death, culminating in ‘Bright Eyes’, the most beautiful song by Art Garfunkel.
My earliest TV crush was… I really was entranced by Robin of Sherwood and its beautiful soundtrack. I remember finding Robin Hood (Michael Praed) to be so handsome. I’m sure it was a crush but I also wanted to be just like him. A secret hero. Fun. Open. Fighting for justice. A good human. Even as an adult I have my own fancy bow and arrow set and still take delight in exposing bad people.
The TV ad I can’t stop thinking about is… My favourites are Fruju’s “Ooh ahh” and Cadbury Creme Egg’s “Don’t Get Caught“. As a model I can say it’s rare to do an advert you’re proud of, but they do pay exceptionally well.
My TV guilty pleasure is… Travel shows – trains, planes and “celebrity explains”. I watched Joanna Lumley in India with enormous jealousy. I think travel shows are so healthy for the soul. It isn’t about rubbing someone’s nose in elitism, it’s about sharing the diversity of life on Earth.
My favourite TV moment of all time is… I loved those big fights on Dynasty. They’re just so enormously silly and hilarious. I said to Ricardo Simich once that we should have a fight in public like that. I’d wear a bald cap and wig and in the fight he could pull the wig off of my head. He just smiled and said “Yessss Colin…” then edged away from me in case I initiated it enthusiastically right away.
My favourite TV character of all time is… Currently Chicago P.D.’s Hank Voight, played by the husky voiced Jason Beghe, who also has the world’s best jawline on an actor. He’s a formidable cop who dances on the line of the law and gets justice done right.
The most stylish person on TV is… Wonder Woman. Remember when she would throw her arms out and spin in an explosion of disco music and lights and become the most glamourous hero of the hour? I remember when her younger sister tried and failed the spin, but at her second attempt exploded into a star spangled Wondergirl. I was so inspired by what I saw, I tried it too and spun thunderously into my mother’s expensive crystal, shattering the glassware. It’s amazing I’m still alive.
My most used streaming platform is… I don’t know – I’m not an astrophysicist.
My favourite TV project I’ve ever been involved in is… In the 90s I flew back from modelling in Asia and no one was home. I lazily rolled on the couch, turned on the remote and Xena Warrior Princess was on. I groaned, but suddenly the scene changed and my old friend Daniel Sing appeared on screen with an evil sneer on his face as the Emperor of China.
I sat up and drank it all in, saying to myself “I want to act, I want to be just as fabulous.” Exactly six months later, I was riding into the Xena set on horseback as the silk-pyjama-wearing, sword-wielding Maharaja of India trying to save my kingdom from an evil conquering force.
The TV show that defined my lockdown was… The news.
My most controversial TV opinion is… That TV is healthy to watch. It’s a great moment of escapism when life is hard, where I can shut the door, turn off my phone, put on my pyjamas, open the fridge to find the right snacks, lounge under a duvet and flip on the TV to fall into another universe. I find it can always shake off any self doubt and give me a positive spin on the real world, just like a reboot.
The last thing I watched on TV was… I watch 80s music videos all the time, they are just so invigorating and centering to me and remind me of being a teenager again. As a 51-year-old man, I can tell you that life doesn’t get easier but it also doesn’t get worse. I’ve got all these tips and tricks which pull me back and lift me up, and 80s music videos is one of those tricks. That’s what The Traitors did for me as well, it lifted me up and also blew my head off.
As told to Alex Casey
You can watch Colin Mathura-Jeffree in The Traitors NZ on Monday and Tuesday night on Three or here on ThreeNow.