She's our treasure! MELODIE'S 50 & FAB

The sports broadcaster tells us why she's kicking up her heels and how she never imagined this life at 25

- Donna Fleming

Melodie Robinson doesn't do things by halves. It was her 50th birthday last week and there was no easing quietly into the new decade for the former Black Fern. Instead, she celebrated the milestone occasion with an epic birthday bash.

"It was awesome," says the former sports presenter and journalist, who is now TVNZ's general manager of sports and events. "We had such a good time, but I still managed to make it to work two days later!" Her husband, former golf pro turned coach Marcus Wheelhouse, turned 50 a couple of weeks earlier, so instead of separate parties, they had a joint "100th", which kicked off with a series of games, dreamed up by Melodie and her best friend Nevak Rogers, TVNZ's Acting Director of Content. TV presenter Stacey Morrison was the games master, overseeing the fiercely competitive red and blue teams, headed by Melodie and Marcus.'

The evening was kicked off with a boat race drinking game won by Marcus’ team, but Melodie’s triumphed in the arm-wrestling, sing-off and an event that involved sucking up lollies through a straw, so they were the overall winners.

“It wasn’t rigged!” Melodie laughs, although she concedes the games might have been chosen because they are things she excels at. “We had arm-wrestling because I may or may not have wrestled everyone in our department one year and beaten every single female.”

Melodie performed her party trick – dropping into the splits – but the highlight of the evening was the speeches. Melodie was roasted by TV personality, mental health advocate and good mate Mike King, who took part in Celebrity Treasure Island with her last year.