Biography
Walt Collins.
Walt Collins' TV career was already predetermined by the universe from an early age! Born and raised in Sheffield, UK, Walt began his extraordinary journey.
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At 14 years old, something was brewing inside him, it was a need to film something... anything... and tell stories through his unique point of view.
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It wasn't long after begging his mum for a video camera that Walt began something which would undoubtedly change his life forever. He worked out that boosting a small transmitter, connecting it to a wok and positioning it over the neighbourhood, he was able to broadcast a signal from his bedroom to his village in the Northern part of the UK. This evolved to be a live 2 hour show every Sunday night with him as the 'producer and host' and his mum forced into the co-hosting seat. It was a real-life "Wayne's World". The station was a hit with a number of houses tuning in, taking part in live phone-ins and even submitting their own videos in the hope they would see some airtime.
Walt would make mini-documentaries about his local area, exploring issues which were the domain of the big networks. The station was illegal of course, but as a teenager that was just a minor detail at the time. The station ran for some time and was a big part of his life when Walt received an unexpected call from a documentary film maker. A documentary called WalterVision was made about his station, his mum and their journey... and Walt's career was born.
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​ ​During the last part of school, Walt's voice was being heard across various local radio stations, hosting morning and late night shows. It wasn't long before he'd landed his first job in the internationally acclaimed documentary department of the then Yorkshire TV, (ITV group). Starting as a runner, Walt learned the ropes of cut throat television, appearing regularly in promos, segments and ads. A stint with the BBC in the 'international content' department, saw him work on documentary development (the youngest person to work in that area according to his boss) and again, appeared on camera in various clips, shows and ads.​
Walt moved to Turkey for year in 1997 and worked in TV and radio on the country's English speaking content, before settling permanently in Melbourne, Australia.
His late teens and adult life has been dedicated to Australia. Again, Walt familiarised his city with his voice across numerous radio programs, including presenting breakfast with local celebrity Jacinta Stapleton back in 2002. Working his way through the ranks of television, Walt was a young achiever, working for most of the big TV networks in Australia, a few ad agencies and then launched his own company, working as a producer.
Walt Collins has produced award winning content, with a long stint producing and directing TV commercials, but his love for hosting has never gone away. He loves telling stories through his eyes and translating that into television. In 2007, Walt hosting his first documentary, an emotional story about homelessness in regional Victoria. The documentary was a success and a further five were commissioned, each exploring people, life, trauma and joy with Walt fronting the series, shot over as many years and screened on satellite television in Australia.
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Some of his work regularly reached national and international headlines.
A series of TV commercials tackling homophobia in sport and work were front page news for a few weeks, even the Prime Minister of Australia made comment at one stage. After working in various countries around the world, including Moscow, the US, UK and Asia, Walt Collins has become a fiercely independent 33 year old with a resume envied by many senior producers. Walt plans to use his wealth of knowledge, experience and people skills, to continue to develop and host, a variety of TV content for national and international audiences.
In June 2013, Walt Collins fronted two new lifestyle TV series on FreeView across Australia and was cast as the face of Australia's largest mobile mechanic brand in a series of TV, print and web campaigns!
In 2014 Walter hosted a live cross on Channel 4 in the UK for a Stephen Fry show called Our Gay Wedding: The Musical. Walter was on the steps of the Opera House in Sydney and represented Australia in the broadcast. The program was broadcast around the world.
Now Walt is a successful regular TEN Network talent, co-hosting TEN's lifestyle series Healthy Homes TV Australia 12 seasons. He's a dab-hand at being a DIY handyman and has attracted a strong following on social media for his cheeky and down to Earth style.
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Walt was signed to host a new series on house and land called Buy to build and that is now in production with season 6.
Country House Facelift is a new spin-off series that followed Walt renovating an old farmhouse in country Victoria through the pandemic. It was a ratings hit as viewers got to know Walt more personally during his journey on the reno. Season 2 is now filming.
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Walt has just announced that he has been appointed as host of a new show on NINE Entertainment's 9LIFE about backyard pools and spas!
He is the owner and principal of BSTV - a lively production company which produces television content, commercials and lifestyle series.
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In 2023, Walt launched Executive Media Training- an in-demand training course helping corporate executives handle the modern media landscape through a unique training and simulation course he developed.
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Oh, and he went viral in 2017 with 98 million people watching a video of him
installing a clever cat proof fence which was picked up by UniLad, Vice, ViralThread and other online platforms!
Not a bad list of achievements for someone who used his mum's wok as a satellite to launch his career.​
