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Men in Kilts in Aotearoa (Design: Tina Tiller)
Men in Kilts in Aotearoa (Design: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureAugust 17, 2023

Outlander may be over, but we’ve still got Men in Kilts

Men in Kilts in Aotearoa (Design: Tina Tiller)
Men in Kilts in Aotearoa (Design: Tina Tiller)

The travel show starring Outlander’s Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish is back for a second season – and this time they’re exploring Aotearoa.

What’s all this then? 

Men in Kilts is the travel show hosted by two stars of time-travelling TV drama Outlander, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. In Outlander, Heughan and McTavish play a feuding Scottish nephew and uncle from the 18th century, but in Men in Kilts, they’re two best mates exploring the world’s most scenic places. Season one saw Heughan and McTavish travel around Scotland, and now they’ve climbed back into their campervan of dreams to do it all again for season two, this time in New Zealand. That’s right: two men in kilts are about to go Zorbing in Aotearoa. 

What’s good?

Men in Kilts begins like a horror film, which is a vibe you don’t see enough in travel shows. A lonely Heughan pines for his old mate McTavish, while McTavish is living in New Zealand, working through some PTSD from being made to abseil around Scotland in season one. There’s a tense phone call between the two. A shadow looms at McTavish’s front door and the door handle rattles creepily. Who could it be? It’s tenser than the time Jamie Fraser ate a bad bannock. 

Luckily, it’s not the ghost of Black Jack Randall at the door, but Heughan, who has travelled through the stones all the way to Aotearoa. “Ready to go on a road trip?” he asks. Um, was Jamie Fraser’s season seven wig the best one yet? You bet your hairy sporran we’re ready, Sam Heughan. 

On the road again

It’s the only nightmarish moment of episode one, although scared-of-heights McTavish probably wished he was dreaming when he flew across a 100m high zip-line in Central Otago. New Zealand is McTavish’s “home away from home” (he moved here after filming The Hobbit films in the 2000s), and he’s taking Heughan on a campervan trip around his adopted land to show him some of the country’s most relaxing and inspiring places.  

Heughan, however, has other ideas. He plans on throwing himself into every high-adrenaline adventure activity Aotearoa has to offer, from shark cage diving in Foveaux Strait to walking on a glacier in Milford Sound, and of course… visiting a milking shed? Sure, why not. Heughan’s energy and enthusiasm is the perfect foil to gruff, grumpy McTavish, but the banter never stops and it’s obvious the two are great mates. 

The show has plenty of in-jokes for Outlander fans, including McTavish’s Outlander theme song ringtone and the pair referring to Jamie Fraser as “Big Balls” (suspicion: confirmed). But you certainly don’t need to have watched seven seasons of Outlander to enjoy Men in Kilts, because these blokes aren’t just one trick ponies. Sometimes they’re Men in Wetsuits, or Men in a Helicopter, or even Men Shitting Themselves While Ziplining Over A Cliff. 

Welcome to our country

New Zealand is the perfect place for Men in Kilts to continue its travels, particularly because the country has such strong Scottish connections. The last episode of the season explores the Scottish influence in New Zealand, with other episodes themed around adventure tourism, Māori culture, and cuisine. The series will also showcase New Zealand to a global audience, including thousands of thirsty Outlander fans around the world who will probably be Googling “Sam Heughan pineapple budgie smugglers” quicker than they can step through the stones. 

What’s bad?

Men in Kilts is all over the place with its continuity, with one shot showing the campervan driving along Otago Peninsula and the next along Oriental Parade in Wellington, while Heughan and McTavish chat about an activity they’re about to do in Fiordland. It’s likely that only New Zealand viewers will notice this, so much like the time Jamie Fraser wore two different ginger wigs during one Outlander scene, nobody will really mind. 

What’s the verdict?

Watch it. You don’t have to be an Outlander fan to enjoy Men in Kilts, though it will help. This is a light and cheery show with plenty of easy charm, and it’s refreshing to see a New Zealand travel show that doesn’t just visit all the usual tourist hotspots – although they will make the obligatory celebrity visit to Hobbiton, of course. 

Season two of Men in Kilts is on Neon, with new episodes every Monday. 

Keep going!
Image: Tina Tiller
Image: Tina Tiller

Pop CultureAugust 17, 2023

Remember when Carlos Spencer got his kit off for a Toffee Pop?

Image: Tina Tiller
Image: Tina Tiller

It was the horniest biscuit ad the nation had ever seen, and became one All Black’s defining pop culture moment. We revisit the Toffee Pop ad starring Carlos Spencer and a whole lot of lust. 

First published in 2017

The Real Pod

Remember When: Carlos Spencer got his kit off for a Toffee Pop

We look back on the All Black’s racy ad campaign for choccie biccies.

The best shitty made trash cookie that you can buy in a supermarket, in my opinion, is the Toffee Pop. A plain biscuit with a thick caramel on top and coated completely in milk chocolate.

As a luxury cookie, you don’t get a huge amount in a packet, just enough to share with your favourite workmates – or to eat alone at home in one sitting after a slightly disappointing breakup. The first experience I had with Toffee Pops was watching this frightening ad in the early 90s:

That evil laugh haunted my childhood for years, until I was saved by the new Toffee Pops ad. It was the go-go 90s, the new millennium was fast approaching. Hair gel and lip liner was all the rage. Television advertising was arguably at its peak before a fast decline towards the 2010s, when streaming TV and file sharing was the new hottest illegal craze.

Back then, agencies had big budgets to create huge hype around their clients’ products, products to sell to someone the industry might call “the household shopper”. This person doesn’t necessarily earn all the money, but is most likely in charge of it and is usually also in charge of the running of the home.

Traditionally, advertisers assumed this person to be the mum in a family or a single woman living on her own. She is 25-54 years old, loves to unwind, has a sweet tooth and enjoys romance and tasteful sexual situations.

It is true for this world that sex sells. With the success of this old Diet Coke ad and sensual Moccona heft meer mMmmmMmm ads, Toffee Pops also went with the rule and created their own sexy advert with pretty it boy Carlos Spencer. If you’re under 30: imagine Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams without social media and a cheaper haircut.

The commercial starts off with a woman aged 25-54 years, unwinding in what looks like a very expensive house, satisfying her sweet tooth with a Toffee Pop.

Suddenly, Carlos Spencer walks in – abs first – wearing loose white undergarments and a silk robe. He saunters down a white staircase lined with open candles (fire hazard).

The scene is intoxicatingly erotic and heavy lidded. As it goes on, bosoms heave faster until the hallucinatory effects of the Toffee Pops wear off and the woman is confronted by the true form of her husband. Short, balding and portly, he is a far cry from the hairless marble-bodied Carlos Spencer.

End the most arousing television ad of the 90s. And if you were left wanting more, they also made the double Carlos ad for the Toffee Pop Extreme biscuit:

The ad was such a hit, Griffin’s went on to search for the next Toffee Pop Hunk of the Year. Many names were thrown into the competition from the public including Hercules’ Kevin Smith, gold medalist Rob Waddell and young spunk Jeremy Wells (all of whom said no). The promotion was so controversial there was even a formal complaint laid with the New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority claiming that it was “offensive to men”.   

These days, Toffee Pops adverts are far more family friendly, and the days of erotic food and half-naked athletes have made way for the new era of no-nonsense Steve Hansen commercials

Follow The Real Pod presents: Remember When on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts – new episodes out every Thursday. And subscribe to The Real Pod Extra on Substack for even more.

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