Granddaddy Jason ‘I'VE GOT MY JOY BACK!'

The TV and radio personality opens up about his career change of heart and why, in the two years since, life has never been better

- Rebecca Barry Hill

If there’s one value that Jason and Janine Morrell-Gunn strive to uphold, it’s authenticity. The golden couple of children’s TV have always kept things real and today’s no different, whether they’re teasing one another about their mutual love of talking or laughing about what they wore for the Weekly shoot.

“Trust me, I’ve had 30 years of this,” quips Jason of being dressed in something out of his comfort zone. “I’m laughing because Janine looks like a billion dollars and I’m like, hey, I’m just heading off to the beach!”

The presenter is typically upbeat today, but when he found himself in an uncharacteristically moody place two years ago, it was the couple’s 18-year-old son Louis who helped him make a life-changing decision. At the time, Jason was hosting a radio show on More FM and despite having worked behind the mic for years, the job was no longer fulfilling him, something Louis had obviously cottoned on to. “I didn’t realise how much stress I was bringing home,” he says.

After quitting the airwaves, Jason embraced the newfound flexibility that allowed him to watch Louis in his last year of school rugby. “Before every game he would come up, give me a hug and say, ‘This is what success looks like.’ That’s pretty powerful. That Louis is a wise old soul.”

Now, not only has Jason answered his calling to help people through his communication coaching business Easily Said, but producer Janine’s science-based animated children’s show Darwin & Newts is gaining traction overseas, selling into 50 countries in eight languages including te reo.