Greg Stubbings

Greg Stubbings (born 4 August 1980, Wairoa) is a New Zealand TV producer, reporter, writer and comedian notable for his work on Prime TV's The Crowd Goes Wild and various other productions.

Personal life
Stubbings was born and raised in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, and attended Wairoa College.

He was both Head Boy and Dux of the college in 1998. Stubbings also received the Hill Cup for 'overall sporting achievement' that same year.

In 2011 he married Dr. Laura-Lee McLay in Nelson, New Zealand. Stubbings and McLay currently reside in rural Auckland, New Zealand.

Academic career
Stubbings attained an 'A' bursary in his seventh form year at Wairoa College. He studied only science and maths subjects at bursary level, despite previously achieving highly (earning a '1' grade in six form certificate) in English. In 1999 Stubbings began studying engineering at the University of Canterbury, but did not go on to complete his degree.

In 2001 he switched career paths to study TV production at the New Zealand Broadcasting School and earned a Bachelor of Broadcast Communications.

Later, Stubbings returned to tertiary education to earn a Diploma in 3D Animation from Aoraki Polytechnic.

TV work
Stubbings began his television career as a creative director at Southland TV in 2003. During his short stint in Southland he created, producer and presented the off-beat comedy magazine show 'Meat TV' which was recorded live at a local Invercargill bar. After pitching the show to TVNZ, Stubbings received development funding from New Zealand On Air to create a short, re-worked pilot episode.

Following Meat TV, Stubbings worked as producer and/or director on documentaries aired through TVNZ and funded by New Zealand On Air. He also wrote TV comedy on spec, as well as working as a freelancer around New Zealand.

In 2007 he set up his production company, Recalcitrant Media Ltd. After completing a diploma in 3D animation, he worked as broadcast manager (and in general production roles) on an award-winning fishing show in Northland, before returning to Christchurch.

Stubbings worked in freelance production in Christchurch and in March 2008 began featuring as The Crowd Goes Wild's South Island Correspondent. In 2010 he also took up the role of head tutor on Aoraki Polytechnic's Diploma in Television Production.

TV appearances
In 2008, Stubbings began appearing as The Crowd Goes Wild's South Island Correspondent - producing 2-minute field stories for the show. Stubbings acted as reporter, editor and (much of the time) as his own camera-operator. .

In 2012 he relocated to Auckland to take up the role of the show's associate producer, field reporter and occasional presenter.

Independent comedy productions
Stubbings is notable for his creation of several low-budget comedy productions (including pilots) throughout his television career - often with friends from his Broadcasting School days.

Dogs
Stubbings is known for his love of dogs, and currently owns a miniature dachshund named Dougal and an Irish wolfhound named Alfred. Both dogs regularly feature in his work on The Crowd Goes Wild and in other productions he is involved in.

Cryptozoology
Apart from his TV work, Stubbings is also an avid amateur cryptozoologist. His primary focus is the 'New Zealand otter', or waitoreke. Stubbings has written an (unpublished) book on the subject, has spent many weeks in the field attempting to gather evidence, and hopes to one day produce a documentary on the 'otter'.