Chaser fame has brought Issa Schultz all sorts of (sometimes odd) attention, but still hasn't delivered the life-long partner his heart desires.
Chaser Issa Schulz has been grilled on every issue under (and beyond) the sun, but there’s one topic journalists return to again and again: when will the Supernerd find love?
Sometimes the question is even blunter, like the time a pair of radio jocks demanded to know when he’d last had sex. On that occasion the sweet-natured Schultz asked to see a calendar and then rejected the one they produced as being from this century.
So far so well in keeping with the nerdy role Schultz plays on The Chase. But is it a really a role? Zooming in from Sydney, he explains how when Channel 7 in Australia first presented him with the Supernerd concept, he hesitated. But then he weighed the potential downside of being stereotyped against a clear upside: Matt Smith as Dr Who had recently made bowties very cool.
And then there were all his undisputedly nerdy traits. “I went home from that meeting and promptly played my Nintendo, which I always do. And my housemate said to me, well... this is you. This is who you are. I think he meant it nicely. So it's just an amplification on air, really. I mean, everything for telly is obviously a bit bigger.”
But not that much bigger. “I play video games a lot... I like going to the library to read, you know. I just pull up a chair and read a book. I'm a lot of fun, a lot of fun.”
Certain members of the Australian public would appear to agree. Phone numbers have been slipped to the producers of The Chase by those hoping to be the one to break Shultz’s notorious romantic drought. “But there's a policy or something, they can't pass them on,” he says.
And anyway, he’d rather not meet someone that way because he says they’d have a “bias", meaning expectations based on his TV persona. “I’m much more boring outside the outfit.
“I’m a very laid-back sort of normal person, you know? My interests are nerdy but I’m really like anyone else."
Schultz points out the difference between himself and fellow Chaser Anne Hegerty, who famously relishes the single life. “I’m quite different to Anne. She likes being alone,” he says. “I do like being alone at times, but not all the time. So I hope it happens. I'm sure it will. I’m sure it will.”
There’s something charmingly guileless about Shultz. Discussing his fear of online dating sites (again he worries about the “bias” his fame could invite) he mentions the trouble he sparked when he became a public figure but hadn’t yet turned his Facebook settings to private.
“So truckloads of messages came in... And then the requests were getting quite bizarre. It was sort of, you know, come to my house in Adelaide, and I'll put you up overnight and make you breakfast. And, silly me, I'm thinking 'oh they run a hotel'. No, they don’t.”
A friend came to Schultz’s rescue, stressing the need to keep his social accounts private and be on the alert for weirdos. “And sure enough, I've had a couple of incidents over the years,” he says. “I've been followed a few times to different pubs.”
Another time, an admirer found out the address of his building, though not which of its 20 apartments was his. They wrote 20 letters and mailed one to each apartment, knowing one of them had to reach Schultz.
“It was very embarrassing,” he says. “Because I knew some of the people in the apartment block. I said, ‘Yeah, I'm sorry about this’. And they said, ‘Do I have to worry about anything?’ I said, ‘Look, I hope not’.”
'Cup of tea love?' Adapting to Australia
Schultz lives in Brisbane, a big brash beachy city that feels a bit incongruous with Supernerdism. It’s easier to imagine him mooching around the moody cafes and second-hand bookstores of Melbourne. But Brisbane is where Schultz’s family landed 30 years ago, fresh from Cornwall, when he was 11 years old.
“We made the local paper in Cornwall at the time, because people don't even go to Devon from Cornwall, which is the next county, they just don't leave. So we made a paper, saying: Cornish Family moves to Australia.
“It was tricky,” he recalls. “Because there were six of us, my three siblings and my parents, and the only one who wanted to move was Dad. He was born in the Blue Mountains. He was a wonderful father, but it was basically what-Dad-says-is-what-goes, you know. And I just have this image of arriving at Brisbane Airport and Mum walking up to this window and resting her hands, gazing out at this unknown country and [giving] this big, long sigh.”
Cornwall and Brisbane (or the Sunshine Coast where the family first lived) are both by the sea, but while one meant grey skies, pebbles, gentle waves and sand castles, the other brought harsh sun, the novelty of a rash shirt, a boogie board (‘is that what you call it?”) with an awkward harness, wild surf and, worst of all, jellyfish. Shultz had barely entered the water when someone pointed out one near his foot. “And I went, okay, I'm done now. That's the end for me. No more beaches.”
Then there was meeting his Queensland classmates as a pale-skinned Cornish boy with an accent. “Everyone was mocking me, going ‘Oh cuppa tea, love? Cuppa tea?’ And that's quite scary when you're trying to make new friends... But I got through it, and there's no regrets.”
Schultz says his whole family eventually found happiness in Brisbane, except for one sister who returned to Cornwall. He visits her every year without fail.
Is he English or Australian? He hesitates, not wanting to offend either nation and admitting that, when it comes to sport, he backs whoever’s winning. But then he loves English culture, the humour, the galleries and museums of London, the countryside and wildlife of Devon. If he wants to laugh he goes on YouTube and watches Would I Lie to You?
“So yeah, I’m English sorry... I’ll keep it our secret for now, but everyone else will find out soon. But I love England, yeah.”
He clearly enjoys his life in Australia too, not least his job, and some of his many nephews and nieces (he has ten). But kids of his own is Schultz's ultimate dream. “I would love kids... I'd be happy with either gender, but just to have a young boy and sort of get him into the gaming or quizzing or any pursuit, I would be immensely supportive...
“But of course, you need two to tango... So, if it happens, it happens,” the 41-year-old says. I'm patient. I mean... Dad had me in his 50s. My parents were 20 years apart and had a very long and happy marriage. So why can't I?”
Maybe his luck will change in New Zealand, he suggests. He did just learn the te reo word for love. With his appearance on Monday on The Chase New Zealand, no doubt Schultz's fan base here is about to expand. But please: don’t send letters.
Watch the Chase New Zealand, Monday, 7.30pm on TVNZ 1, and streaming on TVNZ+.
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