C4's Joel Defries is so, like, 2007!
Over the last few years Joel Defries has been told he's fathered a child live on national television*,become the poster
boy for the word "polarizing" - (dividing the nation in the process) made hearts flutter, tempers rise...and come from
nowhere with the confidence of a telly veteran...! He made David Hartnells " best dressed " at 21. Offended, impressed,
shocked and amused. And...we'll be sad to see him go.
That's right a home sick Joel Defries is leaving his second home of the C4 office and heading back to the motherland. To
the UK - and to Muswell Hill to be exact. Muswell Hill, the same place (Joel points out) that Nadine from Girls Aloud
lives...and the place where the Kinks hail from. He also claims that Ricky Gervais lives in his apartment building. This
we'll never know. He also claims that he inspired Ricky Gervais's comedic style. This we highly doubt.
Nonetheless, as surely as Joel has of course managed to offend each and every one of us at some stage during his C4
years - we at the C4 offices will miss him greatly. He is cherished, much like an untrained lap dog, that yaps
constantly......yet you just can't bear to leave it outside at night.
Joel has been beamed into the homes of New Zealanders every weekday at 4pm since February 28th 2005. During that time
not only has he been "the face" of Select Live (Vodafone Select Live since mid 06), he's also more recently hosted Live
at Yours and C4's Big Day Out specials 2006 and 2007 - and been a Cleo Bachelor of the Year finalist (with the calendar
to prove it). He also tried his hand at stand up comedy ( we all headed along to support him but were so taken by the MC
- a certain Mr Dai Henwood, we left with a new presenter...and well, kind of just forgot all about Joel's routine) He's
also, bless him, been doing his bit for the health of New Zealanders...telling us that no-one is smoking anymore, and
it's so " like 1997 " . And he posed in a Cat Rescue calendar - dressed as Mozart . As you do.
He's interviewed and, according to himself become best friends with Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, Lukas Rossi, Silverchair,
Rihanna, Good Charlotte, 30 Seconds to Mars, Chingy, Weird Al, Ne-Yo, Westlife, Fergie and My Chemical Romance. They've
all fallen prey to the Defries charm. Joel swears Rihanna was keen for a bit more than an interview...and recently he
flew to Australia to interview Pink. She refused to be interviewed by him again in New Zealand.
Or anywhere in the world for that matter.
Likewise unimpressed was the viewer Joel ran into in Queen Street one night. After the viewer demonstrated just what he
really thought of Joel as a presenter, he was left needing to take a week off work for the swelling to die down.
No-one could say he hasn't made his mark on NZ. Joel is currently a finalist in the Air New Zealand Screen Awards 2007
(Presenter Entertainment/Factual)
So, ladies and gentlemen....next year we'll be saying "Joel Defries is so like, 2007" and we say farewell to Joel in
August.
And who, you ask, is his replacement? Well that would be telling! All will be revealed, watch this space!
DISCLAIMER * Joel had not fathered a child. He has no illegitimate children.
ENDS