KEY POINTS:
The new after-school face of C4. The former TV2 Saturday Disney presenter picked up where Joel Defries left off last week.
How's the job going?
It's been really good, eh? Surprisingly okay. I thought I was going to have an absolute disaster - well it may have
been an absolute disaster - but it felt all right. It was good stepping into Joel's big feet.
Big ... or should that be cheeky and fast-talking?
I'm not quite as smart-arse as he is. I'm more like a happy dude, a friend who sits next to you on the couch. I'm quite different in chemistry. I'm all about the good times.
Happy birthday for yesterday. Is this where you thought you'd be at 24?
It's strange how it came about. I'd just finished recording a bunch of singles and finished a music video and right on the release of that I got offered Joel's position. I was like, "Oh man, what do I do?" Before I was like, "I think I'm done with presenting, I'll go and do some music now."
Ever tempted to break into song or dance on the show?
I get told, whatever you do Jermaine, just don't dance. And move your hands as little as possible. My Disney background is all about big hands, jazz hands. So it's like, mellow it out.
How do you mellow it out in such a blinding environment?
I actually like the white studio. It's simple but it does the job because the show's about music videos and I'm pretty much just the link in between. But because the walls curve up, you don't know how deep it is. Joel said that after a couple of years you start to go crazy. Like you're being locked in your room for three hours.
Disney has a squeaky clean image. C4 - well, it's not exactly squeaky clean.
I had so many experiences where they'd be like, "Nup, we've got to do that link again because a little bit of your bicep was showing." It would get a bit ridiculous sometimes and you're scripted completely. It's been really good to write my own scripts and talk about artists the way I want to talk about artists, rather than being slapped on the hand and saying, "No, you can't say that. It's not under the Disney umbrella."
You have 666 in your phone number. Should we be worried?
I know! I hate telling people my phone number because they might go, "Oh geez, you don't want to mess with this guy". I feel stink because I'm not that kind of guy. I like doing my tai chi and I'm very grounded, spiritually.
Did you ever text in to the show yourself?
No, I'm not much of a text-show-competition kind of guy. I just like vegging out and watching music videos.
Such as?
Let's go to the 90s first. At school I was a metalhead. I was the only brown metal guy at school and then mufti day came round and I was like, "Yes! I get to wear my Metallica T-shirt." Now I'm more open-minded. I'm getting into most of the new rock stuff, R&B. I'm a gigantor Michael Jackson fan, I'm just like everyone. Anything poppy, anything good.
Sorry we couldn't put you on the cover but there was already a Jemaine there.
I was actually talking to OK Go! recently and they said I was the first Jermaine they'd met. I met a Jermaine here at C4 but really I haven't met that many Jermaines. My mum's a singer and she performed with the Jackson 5. She met Jermaine Jackson and was like, whoa, that's an amazing name. Both Ma and Pa were professional musicians. They've been in the business for a long time and they've both done TV so it's just kind of the norm to have stepped into it, I guess.
* Leef appears on Vodafone Select, weekdays, 4-7pm.
