{"id":463044,"date":"2026-06-05T22:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/463044\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T22:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:20:08","slug":"daniel-faitaua-on-loss-life-lessons-and-new-tvnz-role-on-tipping-point-nz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/463044\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Faitaua on loss, life lessons and new TVNZ role on Tipping Point NZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loss, new jobs and a hard return to New Zealand. Recently, TVNZ\u2019s Daniel Faitaua has experienced a lot of big, sometime difficult, moments. As Bridget Jones discovers, each of them have reminded him of one thing: life is too short to worry. <\/p>\n

Daniel Faitaua is apologising. <\/p>\n

\n He\u2019s five
\n minutes late. He would have been early, but he\u2019s spent the past seven minutes cornered by a delighted older couple who insisted on telling him, with great enthusiasm, just how often he appears in their bedroom … on TV.\n <\/p>\n

As he slides along the bench seat of our deli booth, he\u2019s still tickled by the conversation. Apparently, it happens a lot.<\/p>\n

This is the version of Faitaua most people know. Whether on Breakfast, Seven Sharp or a 1News bulletin at either end of the day, his face has been beamed into our homes so often his presence feels both oddly domestic and unmistakably public. <\/p>\n

He is recognised everywhere \u2013 on the bus, on the sidelines of his kids\u2019 sports games, in restaurant doorways \u2013 and, almost unfailingly, he stops and has a natter. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a fine line between being known and feeling like you belong.<\/p>\n

When he returned to New Zealand in 2022, after three years in the UK as TVNZ\u2019s Europe correspondent, he expected to slot back into his home and his life. Instead, he struggled to feel like he fit. Even now, many people assume he\u2019s back for a holiday not for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the New Zealand I remembered,\u201d he says of those early post-Covid years back on home soil. <\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Faitaua on “Breakfast” with Hayley Holt and John Campbell. Photo \/ TVNZ<\/p>\n

The moment that stays with him came early. He was at a bus stop with his sons, not long after arriving home, when a woman turned, looked at them, and said: \u201cGo back to your f***ing country.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a second, he wanted to turn around and bite back. But his boys were beside him.<\/p>\n

Instead, he bit his tongue, pointed something out across the street and kept walking. He grew up learning to be polite, not reactive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I was raised, you know, respect, having manners, the please and thank yous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shock still lingers; he had never heard words like that, directed at him, before. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big eye-opener,\u201d he says. \u201cNot just that, but people weren\u2019t as friendly. You\u2019d say hi, and it just wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today he has a tight-knit group of friends he affectionately calls \u201cthe St Heliers Catholic Mafia\u201d, but things can still feel off, despite being such a familiar presence – and a bit of an open book.<\/p>\n

He takes the bus to work most mornings. He wears headphones, but not for long because often someone will sit beside him and start talking. As we sit in a busy restaurant, people\u2019s eyes go wide with recognition. Some wave, one gently pats his shoulder as they walk past. He doesn\u2019t seem to mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just Daniel,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m a people person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cIt\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the New Zealand I remembered.\u201d Photo \/ Corey Fleming<\/p>\n

There is a perception in some quarters that perhaps Faitaua is \u201ctoo nice\u201d for parts of his job. He wonders if his warmth is mistaken for softness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes people can have that perception when you\u2019re a journo,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo there have been moments where people compare you to other reporters or other journalists … But you can be nice and still gain the respect and the answers from people \u2026 [Respect] goes a long way.”<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a particular scrutiny that comes when you work on TV. Suddenly, every move you make \u2013 or don\u2019t make \u2013 is speculated about. People have opinions, start Reddit threads, run polls on whether you are fit for a job you might not even want. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s challenging when you \u2026 become public property. Like everyone has this right to talk about you, and talk about where you should be, where you shouldn\u2019t be, where you should go, what you should do, what you should not.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you need a thick skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t read the comment sections, but his wife does.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe TVNZ Breakfast line up in 2016: Brodie Kane, Jack Tame, Hilary Barry, Sam Wallace and Daniel Faitaua.<\/p>\n

Faitaua\u2019s path into journalism wasn\u2019t a straight one. By the time he went to study it, he was already in his late 20s. Before that he worked (in no particular order) as cabin crew, tried some university law papers, and earned a BA in American history and Japanese (he is fluent).<\/p>\n

But Samoan was his first language, the only one spoken at home with his grandmother, who helped raise him. English came later, learned at school in Christchurch, where he was placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, partly because he\u2019d convinced his grandmother it would help him to translate Days of our Lives for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always have a quiet chuckle when I read the news,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause I just think, who would have thought that kid who struggled with the English language \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentence trails off, but the point remains. Faitaua\u2019s is a voice that had to be learned.<\/p>\n

His three boys \u2013 they are 19, 17 and 14 \u2013 speak Samoan with him now, even if sometimes, they forget who taught them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think they\u2019re quite cool being teenagers and use the swear words a lot. I always like to remind them there\u2019s more to the language than just swear words, boys \u2026 And I can understand.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the sort of thing you notice more, perhaps, as your children get older; what sticks, what doesn\u2019t and what you\u2019re trying to pass on.<\/p>\n

Faitaua has redefined the mark he wants to leave as he has gotten older, too. <\/p>\n

\"FaitauaFaitaua with one of his sons, on holiday on the Greek Island of Mykonos.<\/p>\n

Milestone birthdays can feel loaded, as markers of success or maybe of endurance. But early last month, on the night of his 50th birthday, Faitaua was tucked up in bed by 10.45pm. <\/p>\n

There was no blow out party. Instead, he spent the day wandering Melbourne\u2019s art galleries and the Victoria State Library with his wife. They watched a musical (The Book of Mormon) and drank over-priced, delicious coffee. A few days earlier, Hilary Barry made him a banana cake (one of his favourites) which he devoured in the TVNZ newsroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think reaching 50 is a privilege,\u201d he says. \u201cMy brother, he never reached it. And many other loved ones too.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother Anthony died of cancer in 2020 aged 47, when Covid kept our borders tight and Faitaua was on the wrong side of them, living in London. He couldn\u2019t get home. <\/p>\n

A year ago this week, his father died after living with Parkinson\u2019s disease for decades, and later suffering a stroke and pneumonia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss him,\u201d he says, simply. <\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Faitaua and his brother Anthony. Photo \/ Instagram @danielfaitaua<\/p>\n

That feeling hasn\u2019t dulled in the way people keep telling him it will either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the grieving process ever stops. And when you lose your two male role models in your life it\u2019s hard,\u201d Faitaua says, thumbing away tears. <\/p>\n

\u201cLife is really, really short. You just don\u2019t know what\u2019s around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of sentence that could feel like a cliche. But can something be a cliche when you change your whole life because of it? Because Faitaua has. <\/p>\n

Grief has stripped away the illusion that time is owed to any of us and hesitation feels like a risk now. <\/p>\n

Which is sort of how he ended up becoming a game show host. <\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Faitaua is the new host of Tipping Point NZ.<\/p>\n

When the email came through asking him to audition, his response was immediate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, are you kidding me?\u201d he says, grinning.<\/p>\n

The show was Tipping Point, a format \u2013 three players, general knowledge questions and a giant slot machine \u2013 he had come to love while living in the UK. On screen, it offers a version of him viewers don\u2019t often see.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere I go people are like, oh it\u2019s the news guy. But I\u2019m more than a news reader. I think this is an opportunity just to show a bit more of what I can do. And it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s due a bit of lightness in his world. But is he fun? He says his wife probably thinks so. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll my mates are just like, \u2018how on earth did they get you reading the bloody news? We all know what you\u2019re like\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am quite funny, Bridget,\u201d he says. It turns out Faitaua uses people\u2019s names a lot when talking to them and it\u2019s both unnerving and sincere. <\/p>\n

He certainly looks the part for his new gig. On the telly his hair always looks slick, but in person \u2013 well in person, it\u2019s an absolute work of art. <\/p>\n

\u201cI always moan about how thick my hair is,\u201d he says. \u201cBut yeah, I\u2019ve got a good mop.\u201d<\/p>\n

(For the record, it\u2019s naturally curly, but Faitaua insists the routine is getting it thinned out once a week, then \u201cjust a hairdryer, running your fingers through it and that\u2019s it\u201d.)<\/p>\n

There are nerves, of course. Tipping Point NZ starts with four celebrity specials, but Faitaua hopes for more. When the promos started to air, his sons had one desperate request.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease Dad, don\u2019t be a dick,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cDon\u2019t embarrass us. Please don\u2019t embarrass us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He probably will \u2013 he\u2019s the dad of teenagers, after all, but for Faitaua, the difference these days is that he\u2019s trying, and that is worth the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a risk taker,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen opportunities come up, I just go for it. Sometimes you don\u2019t get it, sometimes you do \u2013 but that\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrity Tipping Point NZ screens Mondays, 7.30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+<\/p>\n

Bridget Jones joined the New Zealand Herald in 2025. She has been a lifestyle and entertainment journalist and editor for more than 15 years. <\/p>\n

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