Matthew Bruce McLean (born 29 September 1986) is a New Zealand journalist and television presenter. He is a presenter on Breakfast, and was previously a 1 News reporter. He has also worked on the television programmes Seven Sharp, 20/20 and Close Up.
Television
In 2007, McLean, aged 20, started working at Breakfast. He has also worked on 1 News, Close Up, 20/20 and Seven Sharp. On 8 April 2016, he left TVNZ to travel overseas. He returned to Breakfast in 2017.
In an interview in 2018 McLean said that the he writes his weather scripts and broadcasts on Breakfast between 6am and 9am. In 2020, when presenting Breakfast, McLean left mid-show after realising that he got the times wrong for a flight to Nelson. He thought that the flight time was 10:45am, but it was actually at 9:25am. In 2022 McLean started the podcast Out The Gayte with two other gay men who are members of the NZ Falcons Auckland rugby club. It discusses gay issues and is adults-only.
In 2023, McLean accidentally dropped an "f-bomb" live while presenting Breakfast, after thinking that the programme was on an advertisement break. He also let out a "c-bomb" on the same show in 2017 after attempting to say the word "country".
In 2023, McLean was the winning contestant on the Fans vs Faves season of the reality television show, Treasure Island. He won $60,000 from the series, and donated it to Zeal Education Trust. On 5 October 2023 on Breakfast, he and Chris Chang wore the same outfit. The two also completed each other's sentences to act as twins.
Personal life
McLean was born on 29 September 1986, and was educated at Wakatipu High School. He also attended the New Zealand Broadcasting School at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. As he approached high school, McLean realised that he was attracted to men. He said that it took "a long time after that" until he came out. His friend helped him come out to his mother. He was the first married gay man to appear on the cover of Woman's Day magazine.
He is gay, and was married on 31 December 2022 on the Muriwai Beach, after being proposed to by his husband, Ryan Teece, in February of the same year. They met on Tinder in 2015, but it was only until 2017 when they first met in person. In 2023 McLean said on his podcast Out the Gayte that the two were considering starting a family. In 2012, before same-sex marriage was legal, McLean made a personal plea to Parliament to legalise it. In 2023 Teece became an ambassador of Auckland Thoroughbred Racing and starred in a television show.
McLean has a pet dog named Otis, and became a wedding celebrant in 2014.