Beau Ryan: Sport stars aren’t just handed media gigs

It’s not uncommon for sporting stars to end up on TV and radio.

But sometimes it’s not a natural fit and the transition ends up being anything but smooth.

That hasn’t been the case, though, for former NRL player and KIIS FM regular Beau Ryan, who it seems was destined for a media career.

Beau – who’s now hosting The Amazing Race – tells me on the latest Food Bytes podcast (being released tomorrow) that being in front of the camera is his happy place.

He remembers his early days on the NRL Footy Show, doing his first piece to camera.

“It gave me this rush I’d never felt. It was a feeling I couldn’t explain. I enjoyed. I loved it. I knew it was my passion.”

“I knew that it was what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to put time into it.”

There’s often perception that sporting identities or reality TV stars are handed media gigs on a silver platter, simply because of their profile.

In Beau’s case, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

During his playing days – while his mates were heading to the golf course – Beau was heading to the studio, studying other presenters and learning the craft.

“It wasn’t like I just played footy and got a gig. A lot of people think ‘Oh, you just transitioned to TV because you’ve got a profile.’ It doesn’t work like that. Firstly, you’ve got to be passionate about it. And obviously you’ve got to have some talent. And if you don’t have the talent, but you’re still passionate about it, then you’ve got to work for it. And that’s what I did.”

Beau also shares a story about his almost-encounter with one famous person he’s ALWAYS wanted to meet … Canadian rapper Drake.

The moral of this story, Beau says, is ALWAYS answer your phone.

“I love Drake. I’ve met a lot of people and Drake is the only person I haven’t met that I really want to meet. In 2016 he came over for a concert – he was performing in Sydney.”

“One day I had three or four missed calls from a friend who owns yachts and cruise ships in Sydney. I didn’t see them until later. I said ‘Oh, I’ll ring him tomorrow.’

“I rang him the next day. He had Drake on the boat! And Drake had said to him ‘It’s going to be a shut down boat. No phones. But you can have ONE friend on the boat.’”

My friend said “I rang you because I know you love Drake.’”

“I think about that day every day.”