Emma Watkins turns her attention from toddlers to teens in new TV gig

Former Wiggle and children’s entertainer Emma Watkins is used to playing for the under-threes crowd, but her new TV gig is very different indeed.

By her own admission, former Wiggle and children’s entertainer Emma Watkins is used to playing to the under-threes crowd.

But in her latest role, as new host of the ABC series Teenage Boss: Next Level, Watkins meets up with teenagers as they’re placed in charge of their family’s finances for one whole month.

And it turns out 15 to 17-year-olds are just as starstruck by the former Yellow Wiggle as toddlers.

“When I’ve opened the door, I’ve seen a few shocked faces. Which is lovely … but it’s a reminder of how old you are,” Watkins told news.com.au, describing her role on the show as part host, part “bigger sister.”

“I only really perform to under three-year-olds, and then in the middle [age group], sometimes I’m uncool. So now that we’ve skipped to an older age group, I’m actually nostalgic!”

Watkins finds she’s “nostalgic” for the subjects in Teenage Boss: Next Level.

Watkins says she’s like a “big sister” to the teens on the show. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

This third series of the show takes viewers inside ten Australian families as control over their finances is handed to each family’s resident teenager for four whole weeks.

I spoke to Watkins midway through filming the season, and she confessed she’d already had to placate some very “stressed” parents as they watched their children make major changes to the household budget.

“The parents have to give over full control of all the spending money. Food, spending money, water and gas, electricity – they have the ability to change it all if they want,” she explained.

And they do want. Watkins watches on, biting her tongue, as the show’s subjects “slash whole rows in the budget.”

But it’s one thing to make big cuts, and another to live with them for a month. And Teenage Boss is also steep learning curve for the teens, as they’re confronted – often for the first time – with all the boring, unavoidable costs of running a household.

“Food, they’re always shocked by. Public transport. Petrol gets them every time. Water, gas, electricity. Some of the children are like, ‘Yep, just get rid of that!’ It’s insane.”

It’s not all about schooling the children, though – there are also lessons to be had for some parents, who realise they have been overspending in some areas once a new set of eyes look at their monthly outgoings.

“I never knew I would be a Wiggle, ever.” Picture: Jane Dempster/The Australian.

The hosting role is just the latest string Watkins has added to her bow since leaving The Wiggles in 2021. Since then, she’s introduced a popular children’s entertainment character of her own (Emma Memma), competed on numerous reality shows, released a steady stream of children’s books and toured extensively across the country.

And she knows she owes it all to her eight years rocking a yellow skivvy. ​

“I never knew I would be a Wiggle, ever. I was teaching children dance and I wanted to be a ballet dancer,” she said.

“But of course, I look back now and I know The Wiggles was what I was meant to be doing.”

All episodes of Teenage Boss: Next Level are available to stream on ABC iview from 7am Friday October 11. The show will then air weekly on ABC Family from 7:30pm Saturday October 12.