He’s the television veteran who has been entertaining and informing Australians for more than 20 years.
Aside from his long career on the Aussie small screen, this dad of three is also a author, businessman, horticulturalist and landscape designer.
Having been at the helm of some of Australia’s best-loved home improvement series, the star has also appeared in a total of 50 design shows around the world.
In fact, his US series, The Victory Garden ran from 2007 to 2010 on PBS and is the longest-running gardening show in the station’s history.
His stint in the US also included a stint as the visiting expert landscaper presenter on the Oprah Winfrey Network
Can you guess who it is? That’s right, it’s none other than Jamie Durie.
Jamie Durie (pictured) looked completely unrecognisable as he transformed into a zombie for Kia Australia’s latest ad campaign
The ad, promoting Kia’s new EV5 and EV9 range of cars, shows actress Tess Haubrich, deftly navigating her Kia electric vehicle through a terrifying apocalyptic landscape lettered with zombies
The presenter, 54, looked completely unrecognisable as he transformed into a zombie for Kia Australia’s latest ad campaign.
The ad, promoting Kia’s new EV5 and EV9 range of cars, shows actress Tess Haubrich, deftly navigating her Kia electric vehicle through a terrifying apocalyptic landscape lettered with zombies.
With the walking dead drawn to noise, the whisper quiet car allows the driver to head out and do the shopping, despite the world being overrun by zombie hoards.
One of the zombie hoard is former the former Block host, who told Daily Mail Australia he had a blast filming the eye-catching ad.
‘I’ve gotta say I’ve never dressed as a zombie before – the makeup was unbelievable’ Durie said.
‘Even some of my best mates, didn’t recognise me.’
Durie added that he took on the role as Kia’s EVs dovetail with the environmental messaged he is always keen to promote.
‘I said to my agent at the time: ‘I’m going to prove to you that I’ll go to any lengths to get the right environmental messages out there, even if it means dressing up as a zombie.’
Durie told Daily Mail Australia he had a blast filming the eye catching ad
‘I’ve gotta say I’ve never dressed as a zombie before – the makeup was unbelievable’ Durie said. ‘Even some of my best mates, didn’t recognise me’
Despite having a blink-and-you’ll miss it cameo as a zombie tradie, Durie revealed his convincing makeup took an eye-watering seven hours to apply.
‘We started in the makeup chair at 5am and I didn’t get out until midday, he said.
‘I had to be led around because I was wearing these crazy eyes, these contact lenses as well. So it was kind of it was kind of scary to my kids, but it was quite fun.’
Despite the long hours in the make-up chair and impact on his young children Beau, 3 and Nash, 2, that he shares with fiancé Ameka Jane, Durie said it was worth it as he was promoting a product he truly believed in.
‘They’re, they’re incredible cars. I think the technology is amazing,’ he said.
‘What’s really interesting is that here are up 18.7 per cent on last year’s sales with EVs, so Australia is really listening to the electric car revolution.
‘It’s just so much more affordable for Australian families to have luxury EV Vehicles. You know, saving money, contributing less emissions to the planet and and still having all of the luxury mod cons that you could you you could possibly want.
He continued: ‘We just love them. We we think they’re amazing. And, the proof’s in the pudding that, you know, Kia is selling something like 10 of these a day.’
Despite having a blink-and-you’ll miss it cameo as a zombie tradie, Durie revealed his convincing makeup took an eye-watering seven hours to apply
‘We started in the makeup chair at 5am and I didn’t get out until midday,’ he said
‘I had to be led around because I was wearing these crazy eyes, these contact lenses as well. So, it was kind of it was kind of scary to my kids, but it was quite fun’
Durie added the EVs also dovetail perfectly with his ambitious six-story mega-mansion at Sydney’s Avalon beach – the construction of which formed the basis of his latest Channel Seven series Growing Home.
‘I think the toughest struggle was building a house without compromise that treads lightly on the planet,’ he said.
‘You know, the geothermal system that we had to put in place where we’ve got seven probes going, 120 meters into the ground – learning about that process, coupling that up with 40 solar panels and huge off-site batteries that can also charge the Kia electric cars.
Durie continued: ‘ Also in reverse in future, where the cars charge the house and the house charges the car.
‘The the technology is moving so quickly and I think Kia really ahead of the curve. It’s been actually quite quite good to work with them because the charging stations are, quite accessible.
‘It dovetails in with everything we’ve been doing in the house in terms of making the best decisions we possibly can for the future and for our family for the environment and for the hip pocket.’
