It’s hard to imagine any performer more synonymous with their character than Emma Watkins was with the Yellow Wiggle. And while she wouldn’t have been the first star to find her career options limited after becoming typecast, three years after she handed back her skivvy to the universally beloved children’s group, Watkins is thriving.
This week, the 35-year-old entertainer is back on the small screen as she takes over hosting duties of Teenage Boss from Eddie Woo. In Season 3 of the reality series, Watkins visits the homes of several families as a teen in each one is put in charge of the household budget for a month. It’s a responsibility that Watkins isn’t sure she would’ve been good at when she was that age.
“I think I would have spent all the money on buying up hermit crabs, fish and guinea pigs,” Watkins admits to WHO with a laugh. “I remember when I was a kid, I saw a goat at the Easter Show and I really wanted one. So I was saving up all my coins in a little piggy bank to buy one.”
It appears her spending habits haven’t changed over the years. When Watkins left The Wiggles, she also packed up her life in the city to move to the country with her now husband, Oliver Brian. The pair call a property in NSW’s Southern Highlands home and share it with an assortment of dogs, rabbits and, finally, her longed-for pet goat.
“I’ve become a complete country bumpkin,” Watkins admits. “As soon as I start the drive to Sydney now, I can feel my shoulders start to go up to my ears because there is so much traffic on the road. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful little town.”
Having met when Brian, 36, started working with The Wiggles as a musician, the pair continue to mix business with pleasure. They are in the process of touring with their children’s act, a new character for Watkins called Emma Memma.
Striking out on their own is something she calls “the best decision” they’ve ever made.
“In the last three years, with having our own business and being able to use what we’ve learned from The Wiggles and bring it together with doing children’s entertainment in the way we have always wanted to do it, it’s been an incredible couple of years,” she says.
Without her former trademark yellow skivvy and now having the freedom to wear a wide variety of colours, Watkins may not be as instantly recognisable on Teenage Boss, but the families taking part in the experience were definitely familiar with her. Just a few years ago, the youngsters were her target audience and grew up getting wiggly.
“At first glance, I think most people were surprised to see me at their house and realised, ‘She’s a real person,’” says Watkins. “Then we get down to business with the budgets – and the stakes for these families was quite high, so I think being so familiar to them, it helped both the parents and the kids welcome me in as if I had always been part of the family.”
While most of the parents seemed horrified as the kids took charge of the finances, Watkins reveals there are more then a few surprises in store during the series.
“It was amazing for me to watch these kids as they went through the process and started to realise how their decisions affected their parents or their younger siblings, and how they made the tough decisions,” she says. “I walked away with a new perspective on finances and family.”
The series also gives Watkins the opportunity to share something else she is passionate about with the public: raising awareness of Australia’s deaf community. After growing up with childhood friends who were deaf, Watkins has a Diploma of Auslan and recently completed her PhD at Macquarie University, focusing on the affective and artistic integrations of sign language, dance and film editing.
Thanks to her input on the show behind the scenes, Teenage Boss will feature a deaf family for the first time.
“In that episode, you’ll see me signing to the family and I’ve done a voice over afterward,” she says. “Visual communication is a big part of many households, so it is great that they’ll have a chance to see families like themselves reflected on TV.”
(Teenage Boss: Next Level premieres Sat., Oct. 12 at 7.30pm on ABC)
