What you need to know about Gold Logie nominee, Andrew Winter

HE’S one of the six contenders for this year’s Gold Logie, but even Andrew Winter himself is well aware that a lot of people have no idea who he is.

WHEN the six nominees for this year’s Gold Logies were announced yesterday, many people asked the same question: Who is Andrew Winter?

As host of Selling Houses Australia and Love It or List It Australia, Winter made history yesterday by becoming the first Foxtel personality to be nominated for the coveted Gold Logie which is awarded to the most popular person on Australian TV.

Winter is up against Amanda Keller, Jessica Marais, Rodger Corser, Tracey Grimshaw and Grant Denyer, and he told news.com.au he’s well aware that he’s not quite as well known as the other nominees.

“They’re massive names,” he said.

“Really I feel like a little bit of a cheat standing there, really ... I looked on social media last night ... no one was mentioning me. This one person went, ‘sorry, this might be a little rude but who is Andrew Winter?’

I know the #LogieAwards have lost their charm over the past few/several etc years - but who the hell is Andrew Winter ?? Nominated for a Gold Logie. Honestly their taking the p155 with these awards now surely. @BrendanFevola25 should be up for best new talent

— Cory (@Cozza_76) May 27, 2018

One story I'd like you to tell is "Who is Andrew Winter?"

— Matt Reddin (@mattreddin) May 27, 2018

“I’m not surprised to be quite honest. But it’s a massive honour for me and for the whole of Foxtel. It’s a big coup for us. We’ve got a bit of recognition in the mainstream world of media so we should all be pretty excited I think.”

So who exactly is Andrew Winter?

After many years as a successful real estate agent in London, Winter and his family decided to move to Australia in the mid-2000s.

“I came over here first as a youngster and did a year out and loved the place,” he told news.com.au.

“When I met my wife in the late nineties and discovered her parents had moved out to Australia, we came over here on holidays and it rekindled my love affair with Australia.

“A few years later we looked at each other and said, ‘you know what, maybe we should make the big move’. We finally did that with three kids in tow in 2005 and we knew nobody. My wife’s family were living in WA and we settled in Queensland. We didn’t know a soul.”

Just a few years after the move, Winter was thrust into the spotlight when he was approached to star in Selling Houses Australia which debuted on Foxtel in 2008.

“Our success rate over the last 11 years is probably 80 to 90 per cent of the time we sell the houses,” Winter said.

“It’s TV that’s real. Of course we have a little bit of poetic license, but it’s real people, real stories and maybe that’s what resonates with people.”

Now in its 11th season, Selling Houses Australia is the highest rating show on Foxtel’s Lifestyle channel and Winter also appears on the second highest rating show, Love It or List It Australia, which is currently filming its second season.

“I’ve had the privilege of going to the Logies for quite a number of years because Selling Houses has been nominated numerous times, and always beaten ... and I’m not bitter about that at all,” Winter joked.

Andrew Winter hosts Love It or List Australia with Neale Whitaker. Picture: Foxtel

The show is once again nominated for Most Popular Lifestyle Program this year, but it’s the first time Winter’s been nominated for Most Popular Presenter and for the Gold Logie.

Unfortunately he had to miss the announcement ceremony on the Gold Coast yesterday, even though he lives nearby, due to an incident of Bell’s Palsy which he suffered a fortnight ago.

“It just means you think you’re having a stroke and half your face leaves you and goes down towards your shoes,” he joked.

“It’s beginning to raise. I don’t look quiet so bizarre now, but for my job it’s not ideal, obviously.”

Winter should have fully recovered by the 60th annual TV Week Logie Awards which will take place on July 1 at The Star Gold Coast. And one of the things he’s most looking forward to is getting roasted by Dave Hughes who has taken aim at all the Gold Logie nominees in his hilarious opening monologues for the past couple of years.

“He’s very sharp and kinda doesn’t care what he says,” Winter said about the comedian.

“I don’t care [if Hughes targets him], I love all that.”

Winter told news.com.au he won’t be writing an acceptance speech because he’s “better off the cuff”, but also because he thinks he’s a long way down the list of favourites.

“Tracey’s [Grimshaw] been sitting behind that A Current Affair desk for so long, you’d think she’d have a go,” Winter said when asked who he thinks could win the Gold Logie. “Or Grant Denyer ... probably those two.”

The public can vote for who they think should win the Most Popular categories, including the Gold Logie, from June 25 right up until the end of the red-carpet telecast on July 1 on the TV Week Logies website.

And if you’re still want to know a bit more about Winter before throwing a vote his way, we asked him to share one final fun fact about himself.

“That I’m no fun,” he joked. “I’m absolutely obsessed with houses. I’ll spend my evenings looking at realestate.com.au.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I won’t be looking at houses. There you go, that’s how boring I am.”

2018 Gold Logie nominees (from left) Tracy Grimshaw, Rodger Corser, Andrew Winter, Jessica Marais, Grant Denyer and Amanda Keller.