Miriama Smith’s 10-year-old son had some words of wisdom for her as she headed off to take part in Celebrity Treasure Island.
Rauaroha told her, “This is your strategy, Mum. Go and be you. Be the loud, funny, boisterous person and then bring the fierce.”
The actress smiles as she says, “He’s got it figured out!”
Miriama nearly said no to being on the show because it means being away from her son for his birthday, but Rauaroha was adamant she should do it. “He said, ‘No way, Mum, you have to go. We can celebrate when you come home.'”
Miriama, 47, admits not being able to speak to her boy while she’s taking part in Celebrity Treasure Island‘s tough, but she’s excited to be on the show and hopes to get a lot out of the experience.
“It’s an opportunity to try something outrageous, and to be challenged and to learn to get along with people I’ve never met before. I want to lean into finding the inner child because this is a game – how do you tap into being a kid when life is so serious?”
Miriama has an idyllic life with son Rauaroha.
It’s also a chance to shake up her daily routine, which hasn’t exactly prepared her for having to survive in testing conditions. Miriama lives in what she describes as the “safe and nurturing environment” of Waihi Beach in the Bay of Plenty, and when she’s not working as an actor, being a wedding celebrant or teaching yoga, much of her time is spent going for long walks along the beach with her son and dog, and just generally enjoying being outdoors. It’s a wonderful lifestyle, but Miriama thinks it’s time to step outside her comfort zone for a bit.
“As I’m getting older, I find myself liking my things and getting set in my ways,” she admits. “Then I see myself and I’m like, ‘That’s not you yet, don’t go there yet.’ I’m not ready to settle into comfort yet.
“I know my life is great and I live in a lovely, idyllic seaside town, but I’m not quite ready to lean into full ‘Sleepyville’ yet. I’m ready to take on new challenges. I get to dance in all the worlds where I’m marrying people or I’m in an acting scene and I can be someone else, so I explore different shades of my personality. I go, ‘What haven’t I explored yet?’ And that’s what this show is.”
Witnessing joy as a wedding celebrant.
Miriama believes her biggest strength is being “pretty good at navigating tumultuous things”. She adds, “Hopefully, I can be the voice of reason. But I’m going into peri-menopause, so the pragmatism might not shine through when I don’t have sleep, a good diet and stability!”
Perimenopause so far has been a “rollercoaster and an out-of-body experience”, says Miriama. “I’ve had to change my exercise to be less intense. I have to listen to my body and get more rest and better sleep. You have to be more mindful so that when the shifts happen, you can pause and reconnect your mind and your body again. Yoga has been great for me and so has living by the beach.”
Her seaside home has led to her choosing Coastguard New Zealand as her charity. “It’s such a necessary service,” she says. “There were some tragedies last summer, so it’s a key service that needs lots of support.”
She realised last summer just how easily things can go wrong in the water when Rauaroha and a friend went swimming at Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, where Miriama had been officiating at a wedding.
She recalls, “I looked away for a second and when I looked up, they had moved quite a bit. They didn’t realise they were being pulled out.”
Thankfully, she and other people on the beach were able to get to the boys before they were swept further out to sea, but the Coastguard was called just in case they were needed, along with an ambulance.
“Fortunately, the boys were okay, but it was a wake-up call,” adds Miriama.
Along with raising some money for the Coastguard, one of Miriama’s main objectives is to have fun.
“Life is serious,” she reflects. “I’m running my businesses, raising my son and paying the bills – that’s all very grown up and what life requires us to do. Sometimes you have to lean into the chance to explore and play. This doesn’t have to be all about the winning and the fame, it can be as simple as having fun.”
She’s also hoping Celebrity Treasure Island will lead to some personal insights. “I want to learn something new about myself. I want to be surprised by myself. I don’t know what that might be and that excites me.”
Celebrity Treasure Island screens Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
