Gretel Killeen

As a performer, writer, and presenter, Gretel Killeen has been making Australia laugh for over 30 years. She is perhaps best known for her role as presenter of Big Brother Australia, the controversial reality show that took the world by storm in the 2000s. The seven seasons fronted by Killeen, when it achieved its highest viewing figures and won a Logie Award for Most Popular Reality Programme, represent the show’s heyday and established her as a leading comedy voice.

Killeen became a comedian by accident. Having dropped out of studying law at university, she was reading a serious poem at a poetry night when she unintentionally made people laugh. It was a lightbulb moment, and she took to comedy writing, contributing material to national radio station Triple J. Since the 1990s, she has been a prolific author for both adults and children. She has over 20 memorably-titled books to her name, including My Life is a Toilet, The Night My Bum Dropped, How to Live with a Sausage in a Bonnet, and My Sister’s a Sea Slug.

Killeen has frequently used her position to give back and highlight relevant issues. In 2007, as part of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she directed a documentary about Zambian AIDS orphans that was aired on national TV. She has also frequently travelled to warzones to entertain Australian troops. As a corporate events host and keynote speaker, she has worked with organisations as varied as the New South Wales Police Force, Salvation Army and the Small Business Champion Awards.