Sunrise’s Nelson Aspen: ‘I want Kochie to manscape more’

HE’S been on the tele for years but there are a few things in the past of Sunrise host Nelson Aspen that will raise eyebrows...

Nelson Aspen, Channel 7 Sunrise Hollywood reporter.

SUNRISE’S gossip guru, Nelson Aspen, is willing to dish the dirt about his famous friends and reveal some showbiz secrets.

The popular TV personality is bringing his one man show, The Songs, The Stars, The Scoops to the Sydney Opera House for one night only in May.

“This is an opportunity for me to tell stories, sing some songs and basically answer the most common question that I get which is, ‘How did you get such a cool job as an entertainment reporter?’” Aspen told news.com.au.

So which celebrities can the audience expect to hear juicy stories about?

“Whoever they want to ask about. It’s very intimate and I’ll get to interact with the audience. A little game I play is ‘Two Degrees of Separation’. Name a living celebrity and I can connect to them within two degrees, whether personally or professionally.”

Aspen, who has been on Sunrise for more than 12 years, expects some of his TV family to be in the audience, but that doesn’t mean he won’t share a bit of goss about Channel 7’s morning TV stars.

“Kochie keeps his nose pretty clean,” said Aspen, “But I’ll dig something up. I keep trying to get him to start manscaping more. I want him to be a little more metrosexual.”

For many, the fact that Aspen is also a singer will come as a surprise.

“I was a child actor and my original career goals were performance based as an actor and a singer,” said Aspen.

“When I moved to Hollywood as a young man, I thought that was going to be my career path and I got sidetracked as you do when you’re trying to make a living.”

In fact, he got so sidetracked that he ended up becoming an aerobics instructor, “back when aerobics was cool,” he said.

“I was a very popular instructor and a British journalist, who was connected to Princess Diana, turned on her trainer to me and said, ‘You’ve got to get this guy over to London to instruct them in the hot new workout, step,’” Aspen said.

“So off my mullet and I went to London and I did the whole vetting process and once I got there I ended up training the whole royal staff.”

It was during his time in London as a trainer that he was asked to appear on a British morning TV program to do a segment on celebrity workouts.

Aspen was a hit on the show, and they offered him a permanent role which launched his career as a TV personality.

“I went around the world doing different breakfast television shows until I ended up on Sunrise and a love affair was born,” said Aspen.

“But my singing went under the shelf.”

Not anymore. Aspen will perform his show, The Songs, The Stars, The Scoops! at the Playhouse in the Sydney Opera House on May 17.

Tickets are on sale now at www.sydneyoperahouse.com or www.ticketmaster.com.au

Originally published as Sunrise’s Nelson Aspen: ‘I want Kochie to manscape more’