The Big Feed: Meat the Need’s 14-hour rural telethon in full swing

The Big Feed hosts Dave Letele (left), Matt Chisholm and Wayne Langford. Photo / Meat the Need

The Big Feed live rural telethon kicked off at 6am today, aiming to raise money to buy as many mince and milk meals as possible for more than 110 foodbanks across New Zealand. Last year’s telethon resulted in a collective 1.2 million meals being provided to foodbanks.

It’s also hoped The Big Feed will raise awareness of food insecurity in New Zealand and bring rural and urban communities together, while also providing a bit of fun with some hilarious challenges and competitions, say organisers.

The Big Feed is hosted by TV personality Matt Chisholm, former boxer Dave Letele and Federated Farmers president and Meat the Need co-founder Wayne Langford.

It will feature live interviews with celebrities and sports stars across the country, including fishing expert Matt Watson, comedians Te Radar and Dai Henwood, influencer Erin Simpson and broadcaster Duncan Garner, to name a few.

Panel discussions and interviews with food banks and community organisations, as well as researchers, will highlight and raise awareness around food insecurity in Aotearoa.

Watch The Big Feed live here.

Meanwhile, live entertainment includes host-versus-host challenges, such as an assault course, an egg and spoon race, burger-making competitions, apple bobbing, cake decorating and much more.

Jamie Mackay fans should make sure they tune in at 3.05 pm to watch The Country’s host get his legs waxed live by executive producer Rowena Duncum.

This epic footage will be posted to The Country’s Facebook page afterwards for anyone who can’t witness it in action.

The hosts of The Big Feed won’t get much of a chance to laugh at Mackay’s misfortune, as they will also be put through their paces.

As the telethon raises money and hits fundraising milestones, Chisholm, Letele and Langford will be forced to partake in several dares - live on air - such as engaging in skits, dressing up, and getting crazy hairdos or even a tattoo.

Even though Langford is keen to raise as much money as possible, he’s not so pleased with a few of the challenges.

“If I can avoid the tattoo dare, then that’ll also be a win!” he said.

Donations for this can also be made through a Pledge Me campaign.

Meanwhile, the Hickey Tour got under way at 4am this morning, with dairy farmer Colin Hickey hitchhiking from Auckland to Lincoln for the event.

With live crosses featuring throughout the day, the hosts will be catching up with him, seeing where he’s at and what landmarks he’s been hitting.

How to support The Big Feed

Anyone can call the Meat the Need team on 0800 632 884 from 6am this morning.

• Donations of livestock, milk, virtual animals or funds can be made online at meattheneed.org.
• Donations can also be made by texting “feed” to 3493 to automatically give $3.
• The Big Feed will be streaming live on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and at meattheneed.org.
• One hundred per cent of all donations will be turned into mince and milk meals for food banks nationwide.