This Sunday night, The Voice is back for season nine.
And while the judges remain the same, with Delta Goodrem, Guy Sebastian, Kelly Rowland and Boy George in the red chairs, we are getting some new (ish) hosts.
Things I say watching The Voice. Post continues below.
After Sonia Kruger’s departure last year, it was announced that the Scottish-Australian presenter, Darren McMullen who was previously the host from 2012-2015, will be back alongside, Renee Bargh.
Renee is most commonly known as the weekend co-host and correspondent for Extra in the US, having interviewed almost every celebrity you can think of. However, there is plenty more to the 33-year-old Aussie.
Here is everything you need to know about Renee Bargh.
Renee Bargh was born in Southport, Queensland, but spent her childhood living in sunny Byron Bay.
After graduating high school, Renee moved down to Sydney to study performing arts at Brent Street. While doing so, she was picked up by Sony to join the pop group, Girlband.
“I don’t speak about it often. I was so naïve and unaware of what I was getting myself into. We did fly to Mumbai to shoot a music video and record a theme song for a Bollywood film,” she told Stellar.
However, while her music career was short-lived, it opened the doors to the entertainment industry and helped her land various hosting gigs including National Bingo Night on Seven and Surfari on Channel Nine and later, her TV presenter role on Channel [V].
In 2010, while working Channel [V], Renee received a phone call.
“Extra called, said John Travolta is in Australia, and asked: could I do an interview with him? His wife Kelly was due to give birth any day. And I said [during the interview], without thinking much about it, ‘Have you thought of a name?’ and he told me,” Renee told Stellar.
“The next day I woke up and it was news everywhere: ‘John Travolta reveals baby name.’ My now bosses were like, ‘Congrats, you just got us a huge exclusive.
“So I got to LA, landed at 9.30am, and was on a red carpet interviewing Russell Crowe by 5pm. The next day, Extra offered me a three-year contract.”
To this day, she says it was John Travolta who got her the job.
Now, Renee has lived in Los Angeles for the past 10 years as the weekend host and correspondent on Extra, alongside Mario Lopez. She has interviewed basically everyone in Hollywood, including Brad Pitt, Oprah, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Cruise.
Oh, and she has won an Emmy Award for doing such a stellar job.
And when she interviewed Tom Cruise for his film, Mission: Impossible Fallout, dating rumours began circulating.
However, in recent days, when chatting to Kyle and Jackie O on their radio show, Renee put those rumours to rest.
“We just had a couple of great interviews on a red carpet, I think in Paris, and then someone wrote that article… it came out of nowhere,” she said.
Now not only did she get to interview some pretty amazing talent through her job, but she also found a life-long friend in another Aussie celebrity, Delta Goodrem.
The two met while in Australia and but became friends once they both moved to Los Angeles. They became so close they even moved in together.
“We have a pretty incredible story. The first time we ever met I was doing backing vocals for her at the Aria awards around 2006. We didn’t connect properly until I moved to L.A. and we were both very new to the city.
From the start, we were just kindred spirits and I felt like I had a sister for life. She’s been my rock and my number one supporter,” she told Marie Claire.
And then, Delta became one of the hosts of The Voice, and the two discussed how incredible it would be if they could someday appear on the show together.
“I’ve been begging [to host The Voice] for years. I lived with Delta when she started doing The Voice and we always were like, ‘Oh this would be so amazing to do together,'” Renee told 9Now.
“I took a couple of meetings late last year and the offer came through very recently. It has all been pretty quick and fast but I feel like it’s something that I’ve been manifesting for a long time.
“We both just kind of looked at each other like, ‘Wow, we did it.’ We’ve been talking about this for so long and we’re just so excited to get to go to work together every day,” she shared.
Now, Renee is preparing for her first night as The Voice co-host (well, the first night we see on television) alongside Darren McMullen. Luckily, the two get along very well.
“We’ve been friends for a long time and we have a bit of a brother-sister relationship. We can definitely rile each other up a little bit,” she shared when speaking to Sydney Morning Herald.
And when asked how working with the rest of the crew is going, she shared it has been nothing but positive.
“It felt like a family reunion on the first day. Guy and I have been friends for over 10 years. He put me up in his apartment when I first moved to LA – he’s like family to me. I’d actually met Kelly in LA through Delta. We’d hung out and I’d interviewed her for Extra a few times.
“She and I started working out together as soon as I got to Sydney. I can’t believe how cool and down to earth she is. She’s one third of Destiny’s Child! And Boy George – it was the first time I got to meet him. He’s so sweet and funny. I felt embraced from the first day,” she said.
The Voice premieres on Sunday night at 7pm on Channel Nine.
Feature image: Instagram/@reneebargh