Neale Whitaker and Andrew Winter’s cheeky bromance on Love It Or List It
NEAL Whitaker and Andrew Winter have a cheeky bromance — but they strike the perfect balance in Love It Or List It as viewers lap up their chemistry.
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WHEN Andrew Winter is asked where he first met Love It or List It co-host Neale Whitaker, his answer perfectly sums up their relationship.
“I think it was on Tinder, wasn’t it?” he asks, without flinching.
“I knew you were going to say that, I was just waiting for it. Yeah, I swiped the wrong way!” Whitaker laughs.
“He was a huge fan. I wasn’t so much a fan of his work, but he was a huge fan of mine,” Winter quickly adds.
Property expert Winter, who is also the host of Selling Houses Australia, and style guru Whitaker, who can be seen on Channel 9’s The Block, are Australia’s newest TV bromance and viewers appear to be lapping up the chemistry.
Love It or List It delivered Foxtel’s Lifestyle channel their biggest series launch audience when the show premiered last year and the pair have just wrapped up a much anticipated second season.
The format is simple: property owners who can’t decide between selling their house or staying put enlist the help of Winter and Whitaker.
The odd couple then do their best to convince them one way or the other, with Winter presenting them with alternative properties he believes are better suited to the owners’ needs; while Whitaker oversees a renovation he hopes will win them over and convince them to stay.
While the show has tapped into our current obsession with all things property, the chemistry between the two hosts has been instrumental in its success.
Their natural banter and clever barbs aren’t forced and aren’t so regular they take away from the main purpose of the show.
And they’re exactly the same when the cameras stop rolling.
Sitting down on set during filming at one of the house they were fighting over, the pair were like a couple of kids after a few too many cordials.
“Because you’re here today,” Winter tells TV Guide, “we’re sitting at the same table but normally I’d be out there.”
Whitaker chimes in: “we speak through our lawyers usually,” before clarifying “we’re joking, of course, we get on really well.”
Winter’s not convinced, quipping: “Really? I don’t like you.”
One point to List It.
Asked about how the pairing came about, Winter doesn’t skip a beat.
“It was a last minute thing because Love It or List It Australia cast me for the host and we nearly had another host but Neale offered to do it for half the price or a load of free cab charges so they thought ‘how can we resist?’.”
It’s not long before Whitaker gets his revenge and scores a couple of points of his own.
Talking about his co-host’s recent Gold Logie nomination, the former Vogue Living editor smiles: “he’s gone from insufferable to more insufferable.
“I had a lady from The Netherlands on my Instagram feed just this morning wanting to know how she could vote for you. I looked up Dutch for don’t bother.”
Winter was overwhelmed by the Gold Logie nomination.
“I hadn’t realised at the time but nobody from a non free-to-air channel had ever been nominated so it was a huge deal and a massive pat on the back to Foxtel. In that respect, it’s brilliant,” he says.
And he didn’t miss a chance to take cheeky digs at his fellow nominees, including Grant Denyer, who would go on to win the award.
“I’ve got no idea who the other nominees [were] to be honest - Tracey Denyer, is it? Grant Kershaw or something like that? A Current Feud,” he laughs.
There’s no doubt both hosts love to have a laugh at the other’s expense, making the whole ‘love it or list it’ spectacle all the better; but competition aside, Whitaker says the families involved are the only ones who can really make the right decision.
“At the end of the day it’s about these people’s lives. If they decide to list and not love it, I can’t get upset because I know they’ve made the decision that is the correct one for them,” he says.
Winter’s not so forgiving.
“If they make the decision to love it, then I’m in floods of tears and I’m an emotional wreck for weeks,” Winter says.
“I really take it personally - I’m a real estate agent, I sell the dream and they haven’t bought it!”
* Love It Or List It airs 8.30pm, Wednesday, September 26, on Foxtel’s Lifestyle.