There’s nothing else Tāmati Coffey would rather be doing than being a stay-at-home dad to his two adorable children, Tūtānekai and Taitimu. Photo / Tracey Scott
The Celebrity Treasure Island star reveals he’s still got talent after putting family first.
Tāmati Coffey has a diverse CV. He’s been a TV presenter, a business owner and a Member of Parliament. But now there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing than his current role – that of stay-at-home dad to his two adorable children, Tūtānekai and Taitimu.
Just how much fatherhood and caring for others has become a core part of who he is became apparent when he headed off to Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel to film the latest series of Celebrity Treasure Island. He noticed that his paternal instincts came to the fore in his interactions with his team-mates.
“I found myself wanting to make sure that people were looked after, that they were talking to each other and that we had positive relationships to role model for kids who’ll be watching the show,” says Tāmati, who first found fame as a host of children’s TV show What Now. “I think that was reflecting my reality of where my life is at now.”
Tāmati, 44, has been focusing on family since his bid to become MP for East Coast in last year’s election was unsuccessful. He’d previously served two terms in Parliament as a Labour MP. He and husband Tim Smith had sold two businesses, a restaurant and a bar, they owned in their hometown of Rotorua in 2022, so Tāmati found himself in the fortunate position of being able to stay home with son Tūtānekai, five, and daughter Taitimu, 18 months.
“It’s such a pleasure to have this precious time with them,” he smiles. “It can be pretty relentless – it’s a bit like Groundhog Day sometimes – but it’s just beautiful in other ways. It’s the job I want for right here and right now.”
Still, when he was approached about being on Celebrity Treasure Island, saying yes wasn’t difficult.
“I think they got me at the right time,” he reflects. “I was feeling ready to show my face again after some time away being a dad and it sounded like fun.
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve made any TV and I thought it would be cool to be able to sit down with the kids and watch it together. And I think like lots of things they watch over and over, we’re going to be watching lots of re-runs of Dad on Celebrity Treasure Island!”
Tim, 44, covered for Tāmati while he was off filming, with support from Tāmati’s parents, Gerald and Rangi, who live downstairs.
Tāmati’s involvement in the latest series of the long-running reality show was top secret, so he had to be very careful about what he told Tūtānekai about his absence.
“Now that he’s 5 and at school, I couldn’t explain what I was doing in case he came out with it. So I said that I was going off on an adventure looking for treasure, which was kind of true.”
After filming began, Tāmati quickly realised Celebrity Treasure Island has a lot in common with being an MP.
He explains, “It’s very similar because you’re part of a team and all kinds of dynamics are happening. You have different characters and personalities, and you’re all trying to achieve the same thing. That’s where I found I could offer some experience, bringing together the team. We were all fighting for a common goal, while keeping an eye over our shoulders for what was happening behind us. A lot like politics then!”
He became closest to infomercial queen Suzanne Paul, 67. Their paths had crossed before the show, but becoming friends was a highlight, he says.
“Suzanne is brilliant, fabulous and funny, and I want to be like her when I’m her age,” he enthuses. “She brings so much light and positivity. She’s got her own story, with ups and down, and in the quiet times, we were able to share some of that stuff. But she made me laugh and I loved hanging out with her.”
The hardest part of being on Celebrity Treasure Island was being isolated during filming and not knowing what was going on in the world or being able to contact loved ones, he says. And having a camera in his face much of the time was also challenging.
“I was used to being in front of the camera, but when you work in TV, you don’t usually have it on you when you’re waking up or going to sleep, or having a ‘shower swim’ in the sea,” tells Tāmati, who was also a host on Breakfast and New Zealand’s Got Talent. “It was always there.”
The best thing about being on the show was the experience as a whole.
“It sounds kind of cheesy, but just being a part of it was amazing. You’ve got drama, you’ve got intrigue, you’ve got that celebrity factor and you’ve got those cameras on you 24/7.
“There’s a lot of people that put a lot of work into making this so Kiwis can have some good light entertainment in these particularly hard times, and it was great to be a part of that.”
As much as he enjoyed filming Celebrity Treasure Island and the chance to have a bit of a break – “No nappies!” he grins – it was nice to come home to his family.
He’s back into his daily routine, which involves being up at 6.20am, getting the kids bathed, then sending them downstairs to his parents for breakfast and quality time with their grandparents.
Tāmati then does the school run, first dropping Tim, a law and commerce teacher, at work, then taking Tūtānekai to school and Taitimu to daycare.
“We’ve just got one car at the moment, so I’m chief chauffeur,” he explains.
Then it’s back home to get on with some side hustles, including environmental consulting for his iwi Ngāti Tarawhai and chair of a large Māori land block in Papamoa. Before heading out to do pick-ups and take Tūtānekai to after-school activities like gymnastics and swimming, Tāmati also finds time for household chores. In a previous interview with the Weekly, he joked that Tim reckoned housework was not his forte and he didn’t even know which compartment of the washing machine to put the fabric conditioner in. So does he know now?
“Not only do I know where you put the conditioner, but I have Marie Kondo-ed the whole laundry so that everything is in its place,” he says proudly. “I even have labels in the laundry cupboard to show where the flat sheets, fitted sheets, pillowcases and mattress protectors go!”
But he adds that he’s not fanatical about getting jobs done. “There are times when being with the kids is more important than folding washing or making beds.”
Tāmati says he still has “pinch-me moments” where he looks at Tūtānekai and Taitimu, and marvels that he and Tim are their parents. Being gay, they didn’t expect to have children, and are incredibly thankful to the woman who donated eggs and was a surrogate for them.
“There will be moments when we’re sitting there on the couch together, and Tim and I will look at each other and go, ‘This is so cool’.”
Pushing for reforms to outdated surrogacy laws was one of the things Tāmati was most passionate about during his time in Parliament and the Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill is now at the public submissions stage, with the closing date September 18.
“The thing I get stopped in the street and talked to about most is surrogacy,” says Tāmati, who chose Fertility New Zealand as his charity for Celebrity Treasure Island. On a recent trip to the post office, a woman opened up to him about her experience of being a surrogate.
“It was so sweet that she felt it was safe to share the fact that she’d carried a baby for a gay couple with me. She said it was something she’d always wanted to do and she was proud of herself. I said, ‘Thank you, that’s beautiful.’ It’s so good that we can talk about this more now.”
But Tāmati doesn’t wish he was still an MP.
“I don’t miss politics,” he insists. “It was a time and a place, and I’m in a different time and place now. I still care about what’s happening in this country and I feel very privileged that I had the opportunity to be involved in government for the time that I was.
“I’ve got a tattoo on my arm that says, ‘Everything is as it is supposed to be right now.’ I accept with gratitude all the things that have happened and let go of all the things that didn’t happen. Everything is as it is supposed to be.”
Given his latest on-air experience, could a return to TV be on the cards?
“Oh, I do like the camera – just not right in my face all the time! It is my old friend. But TV has changed a lot, and the way people consume media has changed and I don’t know if my wisdom is still valid, or if AI is taking over and they don’t need old presenters. If the right opportunity came along, I probably wouldn’t say no. But for now, that’s not up front and centre – my family is. I’m living the good life right now.”
Celebrity Treasure Island screens on TVNZ 2 on Mondays at 7.30pm and streams on TVNZ+.
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