The grip of inflation

Three's new balloon-art show is latex-sensitive and comes with rivals who pump each other up.

- RUSSELL BROWN

BLOW UP, Three, Mondays & Tuesdays from April 17, 7.30pm Two questions immediately come to mind watching Blow Up, a show in which New Zealanders compete to twist balloons into winning art. Firstly, what happens to all the old balloons? And secondly, there are people who actually do this?

"The first thing I said to the producer was exactly those two questions," says co-host Jaquie Brown from Los Angeles, where she and comedian Tom Sainsbury are flatting together and having meetings about their respective film projects - she has two of her own scripts in development.

"Before I even signed on, my biggest concern was the environmental one." Brown recalls. "We can't be doing this, really? But the thing with these balloons is they are latex, so they are biodegradable. And yeah, the other thing was, do we have enough balloon talent in New Zealand was my big question. Do they even exist? They do!"