Sam Armytage on the truth about the Logies red carpet

TV host Samantha Armytage has come clean on how she checks out the photos of her “opposition” on Instagram after the Logies — and what she realised in doing so.

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“The Logies” and “inspirational” are three words you don’t usually hear in the same sentence. But believe it or not, last month while up on the Gold Coast, I had a realisation.

It wasn’t inside the ballroom, but later in my hotel room over Instagram, as I scrolled through the red-carpet looks.

In the spirit of TV’s night of nights I vainly checked my own shots first, making sure I’d properly credited all the people who prepped, preened and literally pushed me onto the carpet earlier that evening.

And then I noticed something. Despite our Texas-sized egos in television-land, everyone else had done the same.

Because, as we all know on TV — or off it — no woman is an island, and we all need a bit of help sometimes.

“I didn’t wake up like this”. Armytage gets honest about who helps “grown women get dressed for the Logies”. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

Samantha Armytage knows it takes a village to raise a child... and an adult. (Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar)

None of us were pretending that, as grown women, we’d actually dressed ourselves, or that we’d mastered the art of eyeliner, or that our blondeness or tans in July were natural.

And I kind of liked that (not literally, of course, this was quiet-midnight-Instagram-stalking of the opposition’s frocks), but I felt a camaraderie and honesty for my colleagues that would warm the cockles of even the toughest TV presenter’s heart.

“It takes a village” is a phrase commonly uttered about raising a child. But what about raising an adult?

In an age when 40 is the new, um... 15, who helps the grown-ups get out the door and cross the road without getting run over? And on all the other nights of the year that are not Logies-related, who helps you get dressed?

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As a child growing up in the country, it was easy to have a sense of community because it was literally all around you.

No-one locked their doors, your parents never knew (or cared) where you were and if you needed help, the neighbours would sense it and they’d drop over a casserole before dinnertime.

Now, as a grown-up living in the jungle that is a major, modern city, you could be forgiven for thinking it was every man, woman and red-carpet diva for themselves.

Your parents still don’t know where you are, but now we’ve swapped casseroles for Uber Eats and, for some, a smart phone may be all the sense of community required.

However, I like to think you get from a city what you put into it. Like Crocodile Dundee before me, I’m determined to bring a little bit of the bush to the big smoke in the quest to form a squad of sorts, to ensure I get through my days as happily as can be expected when you have a mortgage the size of a small African nation’s GDP (thank you, Sydney house prices).

Samantha Armytage’s column is in Stellar this Sunday.

There’s Julie my dry cleaner, whom I adore and always exclaims what a great time I must have at parties when she sees the state of my clothes.

There’s Tom, my shoe-guy-near-work who good-naturedly fixes my dog Banjo’s handiwork when he puts the “chew” in my Jimmy Choos.

My lovely neighbours, who have a house key, regularly babysit the dog and often just come over to watch Netflix.

From the gym to my local bottle shop (I need to replenish electrolytes), I find my inner-city tribe and I chatto them... hard.

If life is like one big Logies red carpet (some ups, some downs, plenty of boney elbows), I’d like to thank my village for getting me onto it — and my parents, for sometimes knowing where I am.

Samantha co-hosts Sunrise, 5.30am weekdays, on the Seven Network.

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Originally published as Sam Armytage on the truth about the Logies red carpet