Covid, kids & coping PIPPA'S YEAR OF CHANGE

With milestones to celebrate, the Fair Go presenter is making up for lost time

- Wendyl Nissen

Pippa Wetzell has just come out of home isolation after she and her children came down with Covid along with thousands of other New Zealanders in recent weeks.

But she looks happy and healthy, and admits she is quite keen to get out to the supermarket after leaving it up to husband Torrin Crowther, who managed to escape the virus.

“Our daughter got it first and then we all came down with it,” she tells. “When you have three children, there are just so many more opportunities for the virus to come home. I wasn't too bad; it felt like a nasty head cold, and it was nice to stay home in bed with it actually, to rest and recover."

For Pippa's family, like many, dealing with Covid has meant spending more time together and for her that's no bad thing. During lockdowns she did a lot of filming around the house for Fair Go, and so her children Brodie, 15, Cameron, 12, and Taj, 11, were often used as props.

"Taj had to dress up as a superhero for one piece," Pippa laughs. “I was just grabbing what I could on the iPhone and so they all helped out quite a bit over those times. But mostly they were quite mocking of my abilities at filming with my iPhone. There was a lot of humour involved.”

As Pippa, 45, heads into this year, it will be her 10th working for the consumer advocacy show, and it will be the 45th year that the programme has been on air.

“I was looking through some old footage the other day and it was quite scary how quickly the time has gone,” she admits.

Pippa and Hadyn are proud to be part of the Fair Go family

Pippa started work at Fair Go after spending three years presenting Breakfast and she says right from the start she felt the job could be something she would do for a while.