When watching the national broadcast of the Logies ceremony, you’ll spot famous Aussie actors alongside leading TV presenters and top producers watching from their designated seats, champagne in hand.
But among them, potentially making small talk with your favourite star, is a group of everyday Aussies you likely don’t even see, working to keep the magic of television alive.
Dressed and ready, these volunteers wait in the wings of TV’s night of nights until an actor needs to leave or a comedian needs a bathroom break – their cue to step up and momentarily fill their seat.
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There’s a group of everyday Aussies recruited to mingle with the stars. (Getty Images for TV WEEK Logie A)
Francois, who was a seat filler for the Logies ceremony over the weekend, spoke with Nova’s Ben, Liam & Belle about the gig that allowed her to brush shoulders with some big Aussie names.
“It was so much fun being a seat filler, I didn’t realise it would be that awesome,” she told the radio hosts on air last night.
Francois said she and a group of “30 to 40” seat fillers lined up in a “tunnel next to the stage”, taking turns at filling empty seats in the audience on a “constant rotation”.
At one point, she had the chance to sit next to celebrity chef Poh Ling Yeow and spent the majority of the evening sitting next to the presenters of Sunrise.
“I was mainly with the [Channel 7] presenters,” she explained.
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Francois says she had the chance to sit with Poh Ling Yeow at one point during the ceremony. (Getty Images for TV WEEK Logie A)
“I went back to their table a few times because you get rotated throughout the night”.
Seat fillers are often used at big events like award ceremonies to keep the audience appearing full on television, even when guests need to leave their seats, and it sounds like a well-oiled operation.
“[How it works is] you basically line up in the tunnel next to the stage and then there are people on the floor looking out for where there’s spare seats cause you don’t want to have an empty seats on TV, god forbid,” Francois explained.
“So then you get ushered to the seat and then you’re a seat filler, seat warmer.”
Francois added that there were strict rules not to touch anything on the table or ask for any autographs but noted that the guests she sat with were “lovely”.
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Francois also sat with the Sunrise crew. (Getty)
She also wasn’t paid for the gig but the experience was more than worth it for her.
”No payment, just the glory,” she said.
Gemma, a former seat filler, who “had a good six or seven year run” filling seats at the Logies up until 2018 also called in to share her experience in the gig.
”There’s a number of times when they… need to leave the room or they want to go out and have a smoke,” she said, explaining that’s where the role of a seat filler comes in.
While the seat-filling gig didn’t pay, Gemma did reveal she had an exciting job that came with a bit of a cash.
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“We didn’t get paid but I had a secret second gig that I was getting paid for where over the rehearsal weekend I was getting paid to go up and accept all of the awards,” she said.
The former seat filler even claims, she sat next to Harry Styles “the first time One Direction was in town” years ago.
“I absolutely drop that into conversation once a week that was 2013 and I am still talking about it,” she said.
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