Posts from — July 2010

Above is an interview with Andy Cohen, Bravo TV personality and executive, with Stephen Colbert, their reenactment of the Kelly Bensimmon and Bethenny Frankel fight from season two of The Real Housewives of NYC is hilarious. (Thanks Injera)

Kristalnacht appears to be happening on American Idol with Ellen De Generes and Kara Dio Guardi to be gone from the show.TMZ say Kara has been fired, and Ellen “left”. Nigel Lythgoe is coming back to produce the show and strong rumours are that the judges will be J-Lo, Steve Tyler and Randy Jackson.

Matt Lee former judge from So You Think You Can Dance Australia will be happy with the review the musical Mary Poppins received in todays Herald Sun.

Sammi from Jersey Shore has lost 15 lbs because she wanted to look hot in Miami. (Source: Huffington Post)

Real Housewives of Alanta Lisa Wu Hartwell is quitting the show because Bravo want more scripted drama in the show. (Source: Reality Blurred)

The upcoming season of Survivor set in Nicaragua will have the tribes split by age, with one team under 30 and the other over 40. Also Reality Blurred has some spoilers on the cast. There is also a weird rumour circulating that Boston Rob and Russell Hantz will be back the following season to go head to head again.

Masterchef USA hosted by Gordon Ramsay had a solid debut with 5.9 million viewers.

Claire Winton Burn who came third on Masterchef Australia made headlines for her love life as well as her cooking.

Now the show is over Claire talks about how this effected her and her family to TV Week.

The article said:

On cloud nine after her recent engagement to partner Trevor, last girl standing Claire Winton Burn says she hopes to start a family with her man in the future.

“I’m in a really happy, committed relationship and with that comes all of the things that everyone wants, including children, but at the moment I’m just focusing on what’s next for me career-wise after Masterchef,” Claire, 31, tells TV WEEK. “We are talking about getting a puppy though, which is exciting.”

After having her personl life dragged through the press and being branded a homewrecker, Claire says she feels terribly guilty for exposing her loved ones to the scrutiny of the spotlight.

Being eliminated right before the big finale has also been hard to digest for the former lawyer, who risked her career and put her family through the media wringer by attracting attention on the hit show.

“The thing that does upset me is the way it has affected Trevor, his family and my family, as well,” Claire reveals. “It’s disappointing because while I may have signed on for this, it’s the people who haven’t who have really suffered and I feel responsible for what they’ve been through. It’s especially hard because I’m not there to support the in person.”

Claire found her relationship with Trevor dissected after it was reported he left his wife and newborn baby to set up home with the former lawyer, who he met at work.

“There have been a lot of factual inaccuracies and it’s certainly been a difficult time for Trevor,” she acknowledges. “but he’s been incredibly strong and amazingly supportive. He’s been behind me 100 per cent. It hasn’t put any strain on our relationship at all.”

As for the bashing she’s received on many online forums, Claire is doing her best not to dwell on the negativity. “It’s obviously hurtful and affects you,” she admits. “but everyone is entitled their opinion. I’m not going to win everyone over. I have lots of support, but I have lots of detractors, too. That’s just the risk I’ve taken by putting myself in the spotlight, but I’m focusing on the next chapter.”

Season three of Masterchef Australia is already open for applications, and soon auditions will take place all over the country for the chosen few to be given the chance to appear on the highest rating show on TV in Australia.

But for the production company how do you ensure that Season 3 is going to continue to captivate its audience and make the show even better.

Here are a few ideas (obviously some have been mentioned in comments previously by various readers):

• Blind tastings to ensure no favouritism from the judges, however if you are Jimmy it would not matter as they would always know which dish was his;
• In the beat the chef challenges make sure it is an “independent” dish not the chef’s signature dish to make it a more even playing field;
• Not allowing the peanut gallery to shout out advice when the pressure tests ie the elimination challenges are occurring, they should have to live or die on their own merits;
• Better editing – not making it so obvious what dishes are going to be tasted or who will be in the top or bottom three, and show more of the dishes;
• More prize money – the $100,000 is starting to look a bit low rent considering the amount of cash this franchise is raking in. Also casting is key  $250,000 would ensure high quality contestants would apply. Also more cash could ensure the knives are out and people play a bit more strategically;
• Don’t let the other contestant’s decide who will be given a second chance. I think Jimmy got back in because he was a safe option, they knew what his limitations were;
• If they are going to show house footage show more of the contestant’s interacting with each other not just to camera or the obiquous bathroom shots;
• In the final’s week  - no advice should be dished out by the judges, particularly with menu planning or cooking techniques. It is a competition, Courtney was just about told by Matt Preston to cook pancakes with lemon curd for dessert in the mystery box challenge in final’s week.

Also one of the great things about the show is the challenges, and there were some crackers this year like the army challenge, the cruise ship, and even the dreaded CWA debacle.

So here are my ideas for some challenges for the next season:

• A catering event or meal to be judged by food bloggers – this would have two pluses, as they would be articulate and knowledgable about the food, and they would generate plenty of publicity through their readership;
• A hospital food challenge, see if they can plate up something palatable within a limited budget;
• A vegan challenge, I know they have done this on top chef, but it always send the chefs into a spin;
• Restaurant wars – Ok I know another one pinched from Top Chef, but then about 50% of the challenges are anyway – the two teams have to open a restaurant, devise a menu and then deliver to the public and the judges. This is on each season of Top Chef.
• A wok challenge  - more asian food challenges please, I think this could be a good elimination challenge;
• Cooking something from an aisle in Coles – Again a Top Chef one (sorry I am not coming up with a lot that are original) where each contestant is given an aisle where they can only choose ingredients from that section to cook a dish with;
• Get teams to make some products like sauces, chutney’s, jams etc, and see which team sells the most at a local Farmer’s Market. A cross between The Apprentice and Masterchef; and
• Another wedding challenge, including cake, that was fantastic from season one.

What do you think the producers should do to mix it up a bit for Season Three? What challenges would you like to see?

Australia’s Next Top Model judges Alex Perry and Charlotte Dawson have again created controversy by using the social media to have a stoush.

This time is with a student Lucy Blunt who set a facebook page called Alex Perry is a C**T. However the groups name was changed to Alex Perry is a T**t.

What I don’t get is why Alex and Charlotte bothered to respond to this girl’s offensive group. There are some things I really like about Charlotte Dawson, as she is open and direct, but seriously why bother engaging on this level. Also I am not sure why living in the Western Suburbs is such a negative thing.

The Nine MSN article said:

Sydney student Lucy Blunt set up the anti-Perry group in September last year, shortly after he appeared on Celebrity MasterChef.

The war of words began when Ms Blunt wrote last year: “Masterchef were after celebrity cooks, Alex Perry signed up, he thought they were after c-cks!”

Perry discovered the group and joined, referring to its members as “f—ing losers”. He told ninemsn he did not know Ms Blunt before the random attack, which he said left him deeply offended.

“I have a right to my opinion and others have the right to theirs but there’s a certain level of decency you have to uphold,” he said.

Dawson was among those who leapt to Perry’s defence, calling Ms Blunt a “sad attention whore who is loving winding everyone up”.

“Some suburban fattie [sic] with too much time on her hands and a dirty crack pipe has had her jollies creating this page,” Dawson wrote.

“Some fame whore … suburban moll wanting to brag to her mates about calling you a twat.”

Dawson, who also called Ms Blunt a “westie scrag”, said she had no regrets about defending her friend to online “trolls”.

The debate about this and other issues related to Australia’s Next Top Model has moved to a very interesting blog post by Melinda Tankard Reist. She discusses this Facebook incident as well as questioning how Sarah Murdoch can host a show like Australia’s Next Top Model, and be Chairperson of a Body Image Committee. It is something that has crossed my mind as well.

Anyway Charlotte Dawson responds in full to the issues in the comment section of the blog post. Not sure I agree with everything she is saying, but hey it is nice to see a personality/celebrity give a full and frank opinion without a publicist nearby.

There is something endearing about this show where people come on a reality show genuinely looking for love, and Farmer Wants A Wife has proven it works, with marriages, engagements and ever long term relationships even if not all of them have worked out.

But it does amuse me how they think true love will conquer all. Seriously they this will make living in the middle of nowhere be worthwhile.

This season there will be five guys farmers and 1 female, and this time only six dates were picked for the speed date and not the usual ten.

Farmer Becky works and lives in the middle of nowhere South Australia, and has an 8 year old girl. All her blokes looked a bit similar – stocky and very strine. She picked Gavin, Steven and Joe.

Devon who lives in a town of 300 in Victoria had a different strategy for his speed dates by using a questionnaire which could have been a bit off putting but at least he did not have any awkward pauses like Charlie the 25 year old from NSW who could barely string two sentences together. In fact he didn’t manage it. He picked Sophie, Alison, and I missed the third girl. Devon took Leila, and Christina, and Jess back to the farm.

Devon talks about his experience on the show to the Herald Sun and says he would do it all again.

Shaun the 31 year old from WA is definitely the hottie of the series. He has previously been married but is looking for love again. Shaun piced Michelle, Elisa, Cathy and I think he dodged a bullet by not picking that deluded blond chick who said she had never been unlucky in love. Huh? Then what is she doing on the show?

Jamie is a 40 year old pearl farmer, and he had one girl pull out after the speed date, as she said she did not think she would fit in with his lifestyle, this was code for your not doing it for me. He ended up picking Lyn, Vanessa and Emma.

Nathan is a drover in the middle of Western Australia, his closest neighbour is over 150 kms away. Apparently he can sometimes be away for weeks at a time. He chose Jemma, Tessa, and Amanda to take back to the farm, and at this stage they don’t know where they are going.

The show only gets interesting once they get to the farms so things hot up next week.

After watching three and a half months of Masterchef Australia and feel you can serve up something better then microwave chicken, but would need a bucket load of alcohol to help with TV nerves well Come Dine With Me is the show for you.

Lifestyle Channel and Granada are currently looking for contestants for season 3.

The show follows amateur chefs competing against each other in hosting a dinner party for the other contestants. Each week over five nights, five total strangers take it in turns to cook up their idea of the perfect evening for the other four. Each believes they can cook up the perfect evening and hopes their unique style will clinch them the title of best host and the cash at the end of the week.

Ok so you don’t get a cookbook deal but you only have to cook once, then you just have to turn up drink, tell a few jokes, and then bitch to camera about your fellow contestants.

So think you can mix a mean martini whilst flambeing a steak go to www.lifestylechannel.com.au to register.

Now if you are wondering hang on Season 3, where was Season 2 – relax  - Come Dine With Me Season 2 will be premiering on Lifestyle on 23 August at 8.30pm.

If it is anything like season one then it will be must watch TV.

Also go to the official website www.comedinewithme.com.au for more info about episodes and recipes.

It seems to be a part of the Australia’s Next Top Model formula now that there must be a bogan on there to be looked down on and laughed at.

I actually find it a bit classist, with both the contestant’s and judges looking down their nose at the uneducated working class girl Kimberley.

They get to pick on her manner of speech, her dress sense, and her personality. She in turn wanders around looking perplexed and alone as everyone ignores her. Why is being working class so wrong on this show, is it because it is every thing that is the anthesis of fashion?

This sector of society does not get in a lather over a $1000 pair of shoes or a statement handbag. Also it appears if you are a bogan you are automatically thought to be stupid. Kimberley looks like she is struggling with the competition, and it all appears to come to a head next week.

On the other side of the coin, I don’t find her at all model like and think she may be being kept in because of this friction in this house.

Last week I was prepared to give the girls the benefit of the doubt for not knowing Grace Kelly last week, but Brooke Shields? I thought Brooke was an icon that crossed generations, and she is not THAT old.

The girl’s first challenge was a genes for genes day grab to camera for a viral marketing campaign. And if you did not get that this whole episode was sponsored by Levis then who did you think was sponsoring it? As the beaver was nowhere in sight.

Erin McNaught was also there and was coaching the girls from behind the camera. She told the girls they must “inject your own personality into it” and they must “enunciate their words”.

Erin really liked Kelsey, and I wonder if it was because they look alike.

Up next was the Channel V challenge where the girls had to style themselves and talk to camera with V Jay Danny Clayton.

This test was to see if they could read from an autocue, and putting up with Danny taking the piss out of them. He was in his element as it was probably the first time he felt more intelligent then the person he normally stands beside on camera.

Jessica ended up winning the challenge, and probably because she knew the meaning of collaboration.

Sophie struggled a bit with toning down the cheesiness, and  Charlotte said Kimberly needs to know about fashion. Could Charlotte also tell this to Josh Flinn when she see him as the short sleeve denim shirt with the sparkles was not great.

Next it was on to the photoshoot where they were to be photographed wearing denim on some scaffolding. Kimberley was told she was unprofessional as she was talking and joking between shots. Chantel was all legs akimbo and Megan just looked plain dull.

The bottom two were Megan and Kimberley with Megan going, something the Jez Smith was opposed to.

It is taking me awhile to get into ANTM this year but hopefully after a few more people are eliminated the entertainment factor might ramp up again.

For three and half months, six nights a week Masterchef Australia has invaded our lounge rooms and lives. Whether you liked it or not  Season Two continued the success of season one. In fact it bumped the election debate. With over 5 million viewers watching last nights finale it should be the most watched show of the year.

They are already starting on next year’s show as applications are now open for Season 3 here. If you apply please let us know how it goes. Also come back to the blog later in the week for an blog post on What You Need To Know To Win Masterchef.

Now lets look over the highs and the lows of season two.

The Highs:

• The challenges continued to be big and put the contestants in all different cooking scenarios with some truly amazing chefs.  The highlight for me was the Heston Blummenthal challenge, followed by The Amazing Race style episode of London to Paris.
• The contestants – whether they could cook or not it was a great balance of contestants, with big personalities v quieter personalities, and a good mix of different cultures.
• The production values Masterchef showed that not scrimping on this made the show a better viewing experience.
• The guest chefs there were some major names and some fantastic talent Tetsuya, Peter Gilmore and Shannon Bennett just to name a few. Were there any big name chefs not on the show? Also Maggie Beer proved why she is a national treasure.
• Gary Mehigan, always the less showier then George Calombaris and Matt Preston, or as I say the tortoise versus the hares,  but when he was out for a few weeks with his bung knee boy did we then realise what he bought to the show. He was the balance between the more exuberant George and the ham actor Matt.
• Jono eliminating eight contestants, and talking back to the judges;
• Alvin’s personality, Marion’s smile and cooking talent, and Aaron’s rock god confidence mixed with a 10 year old boys vulnerability.
• Irmguard being eliminated prior to the top 24.
• The immunity pin was much better then being fast tracked to the final’s week for winning the beat the celebrity chef challenge.
• The blog commenter’s and twitter verse whose observant and witty remarks made the show even better and more entertaining.
• Also props to Channel Ten and the fabulous social media support they give to the show, particularly the official Masterchef website, where recipes were put up as soon as the show had finished.

The lows:

• The number of spoilers that kept on occurring. People up for elimination were time and time again were shown in future episodes which indicated they were safe. The biggest clanger was 20 minutes in on a Thursday night elimination with Aaron and Marion up for elimination there was a preview which showed Aaron cooking in the Sunday night show. This foretold one of the biggest upsets of the season. In my delusion  I kept on hoping it was the editing department playing a trick on us.
• Other clangers were the Daily Telegraph tell readers who was going to be live blogging the following day in finals week, the person about to be eliminated was always that person.
• Kate’s microwave chicken which told us these were not the top 24 amateur cooks in Australia.
• Also the Channel Ten publicity department seemed to have a formula that the person who was to be eliminated on the Thursday would be in the weekly mags and in a big story for the News Limited press. Funny the Joanne Zalm death threats story managed to break the week she was eliminated.
• The Joanne Zalm facebook site and some of the comments said about her did go too far, seriously she is a reality show character who was given some pretty poor editing by Channel Ten.
• Claire Winton Burn was probably the most controversial contestant this season with conflicting rumours about her love life circulating, it probably did stop her getting to the finale. However I don’t believe the New Idea article where a source close to Claire said that her lamb dish was  not the worse from the GG challenge.
• Marion and Jonathan not making it to finals week which meant we had to put up with the less talented Aaron, Courtney and Jimmy leaving it really a three horse race in the last six episodes.
• The non-elimination round where both Jimmy and Adam got to stay even though the Coq au Vin they re jigged did not look like they deserved to.
• Matt Preston became a parody of himself and over acted, who can forget throwing the plate on the floor? However when he was his “normal” self and enthusiastically described the food in front of him it made us remember what we loved about him in Season 1.

I am sure you have your highs and lows of the season as well, also stay tuned for blog post, what Channel Ten need to do to make Masterchef even better…

If you have children who are currently wondering what to do with their lives DON’T let them read this blog post.

Recently I have been reflecting on whether I had made the correct career choices in my life considering I could have learnt to have make a killer martini and become a cocktail waitress. Going on the recent payouts for Rachael Uchitel, Sarah Larson, and Ronaldo’s mother of his child, I would be retired by now.

However if balancing drinks on trays and dodging wandering hands from leery old men does not appeal appearing on a reality TV show should be considered.  Particularly after I learnt that the cast of Jersey Shore earn $10,000 per episode. However this was not enough and they went on strike to get more. The LA Times Blog suggests they are now earning close to $30,000 an episode.

Seriously for that money I would gladly go out get pissed make sure I danced so my crotch would have to be pixelated, and snog guys with IQ’s of about 90. Would you?