‘Let you in on a secret’: Paul Vautin reveals exact moment he wanted out

NRL icon Paul “Fatty” Vautin has detailed the exact moment he realised he wanted out of the NRL in the middle of a game.

Paul Vautin has revealed the exact moment he knew his time behind the microphone was coming to an end.

The rugby league cult hero was celebrated across every corner of the sport after confirming his TV career is over after 33 years in front of the camera.

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The larrikin commentator known as “Fatty” said he had “run out of petrol” to continue his job with Channel 9 into 2025.

But in an interview on SEN’s The Run Home with Joel and Fletch, Vautin, 65, detailed the exact moment he realised it was time to walk away.

“Something changed this year. I’d be driving up in three hours of traffic on a Friday afternoon going ‘oh my god what am I doing?’” he said.

“In the end I just felt as though I’d rather be at home watching the footy on a Friday night than working on it.

Vautin revealed the moment he knew it was over. (AAP Image/Steve Pohlner)

“I still love the game immensely but I just thought ‘you know what I think I’m done’.

“There was one particular moment when the Brisbane Broncos were playing the Roosters on a Friday night at Suncorp and look it was a pretty good game, I was commentating with Joey and we were having a good time.

“Then 20 minutes into the second half I was looking out at the field going, ‘Oh my god I am so bored’.

“I drove home thinking wow that had never happened before and I knew then it was the beginning of the end.”

The Channel Nine Footy Show crew: Beau Ryan, Daryl Brohman and Paul Vautin . Picture : Gregg Porteous

While Vautin has been involved in countless moments of hilarity, thanks to his time hosting the NRL Footy Show, he said one moment stands out above the rest.

In 2001, the entire panel ate raw chillies. But it was a year later when they decided to do it again that stuck out the most to Vautin.

“The chillies was very funny, that was really hilarious,” Vautin said.

“The funniest thing that happened was when chief (Paul Harragon) couldn’t go on with it and he got off and someone yelled at him that there was milk in the fridge and to have a sip.

“The milk had been sitting there for three weeks so he was sick and vomiting.

“The first time we ate the chillies it was a bet gone wrong and we had to do it.

“They told us about three months later that about eight doctors had rang the studio saying ‘listen, get them to hospital right now because what they’ve done they could die’.

“They never told us that. The skins only just growing back on my freckle 20 years on.”

Fatty attempting to eat a chilli.

Chief before it all went wrong.

While fans are hopeful the NRL icon will reverse his decision and return to commentary, the 65-year-old says he has no intention of working again.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret. I will never work again. I’m done. I’m not looking for work,” Vautin said.

“No way. I don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to do radio, podcasts. I don’t want to do anything. I’m happy.”

Vautin finished the 2024 season still one of the most-loved figures in the game, but in one eyebrow-raising comment, he also appeared to suggest he is walking away because he does not like the direction the game is going down with recent rule changes.

“The players are unbelievable, but there are things about it now that irritate me, like the six again and dropouts that are contested,” he said.

“I don’t want to become that cranky old guy who complains about a sport that made him what he is.”

One of the great pairs Australian TV has known.

He has singled out legends Wally Lewis, Ray Warren, Peter Sterling, Phil Gould, Andrew Johns and Cameron Smith as colleagues he felt honoured to work with.

He also spoke with affection for former Footy Show co-hosts Steve Roach, Matty Johns, ‘Chief’ Paul Harragon, Darryl Brohman and Mario Fenech.

“What really gives me joy though, is running into people to this day who say nice things about what we did,” he said.

“It makes me quite emotional when I meet people, and it happens often, who say to me, ‘That show brought my family together’.

“I remember meeting a guy recently who thanked me for the relationship that he and his dad had because they bonded over watching The Footy Show. And when you hear things like that, that it brought families together, and kept them together, that’s better than anything.”

Originally published as ‘Let you in on a secret’: Paul Vautin reveals exact moment he wanted out