Australian Story: Nov 6

What ever happened to Elle McFeast?

In Monday’s Australian Story, performer and broadcast Libbi Gorr reflects on her satirical TV persona, and the fallout of a notorious television interview.

The trailblazing comic character burst into football locker rooms and onto our TV screens in 1991 on the ABC’s Live and Sweaty program, shocking audiences with her mix of saucy humour and rollicking social satire.

Singer Tina Arena recalls the first time she saw her friend on TV; “I thought she was beautifully dangerous. At last, a woman doing her thing in a man’s world.”

The anarchic alter ego of entertainer Libbi Gorr, McFeast was born from a desire to push back on the Elle McPherson supermodel stereotype of what a woman should be.

“That’s the woman we all are, you know, the hamburger version of the supermodel,” Libbi tells Australian Story.

Updated: As McFeast’s reputation grew, Gorr went on to produce a series of award -winning programs and became one of the first women in Australia to host a national tonight show. 

But in 1998, Libbi Gorr’s career took a tumble when a controversial interview with self-confessed killer Mark ‘Chopper’ Read triggered a wave of outrage.

“Television didn’t want me, I felt like I was cancelled before cancelling was invented,” remembers Gorr.

“It was a horrible time,” says friend Julia Zemiro.

In a candid interview, Gorr talks about that notorious interview, the identity crisis that followed and why, at the age of 58, she’s embarking on a new adventure as morning host of a new digital radio station.

As we go behind the scenes of the station’s launch with pop legend Bob Geldof and Libbi Gorr, she recalls the highwire act she once performed as McFeast and why she relishes a new start.

“I still believe in risk,” she says. “Without risk nothing changes.”

8pm Monday on ABC.