Is Claire Winton Burn Collateral Damage In The Masterchef Media Feeding Frenzy?
Masterchef Australia contestant Claire Winton Burn has found out just how tough reality TV can be as her love life has made national headlines, and has been gossip mags and blogging fodder.
But is she this year’s whipping girl by the publicity departments to feed the ferocious appetite of the media for Masterchef news?
When you go on a reality TV show the production company and casting agents look at the massive application forms to find people with a interesting story. Also part of this process is looking in detail into their personal lives which will be used to promote the contestant’s and the show throughout the series.
Hence this week there is a staged picture of Courtney and her partner. Also earlier there were the wedding pictures of Jonathan Daddia and his wife.
Rumours are now circulating that maybe the publicity departments added fuel to the fire on the Claire Winton Burn saga when they could have killed the story straight away, however did they decide to keep the story going to ensure Masterchef Australia media saturated the market?
The story went from a married man leaving his wife after she had just given birth to their third child, to him only having one child and the marriage was over prior to the legal colleagues taking up a relationship.
Claire has definitely become collateral damage in this whole scenario, something she has acknowledged to Woman’s Day.
In the article she believes her chances of winning Masterchef has been compromised by claims she is a “home wrecker”. She also says all the attention over her relationship with a married man is an “unwanted distraction” as it reaches the pointy end of the competition.
She has declined to comment on claims she caused the breakdown between lawyer Trevor and his ex-wife, Narelle. However friends insist the marriage was over before they met.
She said to Women’s Day “It’s obviously a difficult conversation for me to have,” and “But my private life is private and that’s the way it’s going to stay.”
The person who has kept a dignified silence under this intense media pressure is the ex-wife Narelle, because if she had an axe to grind now would be the perfect opportunity to do so.
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81 comments
This is Chris B all over again. DISGUSTING! The contestants cop enuff flack from BLOGS without our ever reliable unbiassed Oz meedja crapping on at their private lives as well. At least most people blogging only comment about the contestants show performance and not their private lives. course there’s alway a few sad sacks who want to try and bring their private lives into it!
A family based show exploiting a family breakdown for the sake of their ratings. I wonder how their sponsor Coles feels about this?!
Would be much happier with the show if they focussed more on the food, (taste, feel, flavour, smell, cooking technique, origin of ingredients, etc etc) and less on the contestant’s private lives and feelings.
I heard a rumour from a guy at Fremantle who said the same thing. He said they were trying to set Claire up on purpose and leaked stuff that would have the maximum media impact. I think it’s disgusting.
Media are only catering to their audience. If nobody wanted to read this sort of stuff then it wouldn’t be printed.
Wish it was different of course.
Paul – there is such a thing as integrity. Sadly lacking in the current rush to maximise short term revenue I know, but surely contestants are entitled to think that the show’s production team will endeavour to protect them not throw them to the wolves.
But given the consistent distorted portrayals and onscreen bullying of some contestants we shouldn’t be surprised at this I guess.
NT Kate,
Lets not jump to conclusions here. It is more than likely that NI or Womans Day just sniffed out the story themselves without it getting fed to them. Or they just made something up to sell a few more magazines.
No audience for this stuff and then there are no stories like this. Thats about as simple as it gets, I’m afraid.
Its extremely wishful thinking though as people are curious about public figures and their private lives. And the more ‘scandal’ the better.
There were many many great cooks who auditioned for MC this year who were turfed out on their iphone frameability. If you could construct the leaning tower of yo-yos but if you happened to looklike Susan Boyle that would have been the end of your journey
Paul – isn’t that a bit of a chicken and egg argument? The media prints what they think people want to read. If I had to read about Claire (which I’d prefer not to) I would rather read about what made her want to enter the competition, her thoughts on food etc, then who she sleeps with and how they got together.
Looks are completely irrelevant spend a penny.
Lest I remind you that Julie Godwin won last year and she is reasonably close to Susan Boyle. None of the top 10 this year are exactly model material. Even the top 20 was a pretty ordinary photogenic lot.
If anything , last year they overdid the ‘cutesy’ factor and so they went back to a more basic looking contestant this year.
1. You need a story.
2. Helps to have a personality although not a pre-requisite.
3. You can’t be too similar to another contestant.
It is disgraceful to think that MC would exploit somebody like that on purpose. Call it a family show and then try and rake up muck on somebody’s family for ratings. That’s shocking.
Suzanne,
yes it is a bit like that.
I think it’s a shame that MC started out innocently by promoting itself as being all about food, but then ends up getting into the same game as the trashy likes of Big Brother. Thanks a lot MC Producers and Fremantle Media. You keep this up and it will die like Big Brother.
It’s appalling someone’s private life, which has zero to do with their cooking, would get embellished and then sensationalised at the opportune time to swell the show’s ratings.
I like your point Jenny Dalglish, I won’t be visiting Coles any more. They’re killing the Australian producer anyway.
Again, before people jump to comclusions it’s more than likely that the gossip magazines either :
a) got the story themselves OR
b) just made it up anyway
The contestants surnames are well known. Not hard for a ‘journalist’ (and I use that term very lightly in regards to these magazines) to find out where they live and work and ask a few leading questions.
Not much hope of Fremantle Media or Ten stopping that, I’m afraid….
I just think Freemantle Media, MasterChef and Coles have a responsibility to their target audience: the Australian family. If they want to generate fanciful stories about sex, adultery and family strife then they should find a different target audience (i.e. trashy people with no life). I thought MasterChef was supposed to be about families sitting around the TV having their evening meal together and talking about food! Now it’s just another reality TV show about sex. I certainly don’t let my kids watch it anymore…..
Who’s got the most to gain?
The ‘journalists’ who get a little egg on their face with an inaccurate story, or MC to get the advertising levels up? Pretty sure it’s MC who need to pay the big bucks.
I take your point Paul, but I don’t feel I’m jumping to conclusions on that one.
Come on Kevin,
90% of the stuff in the Womans Mags are inaccurate.
They couldn’t care less.
Advertising has all been mostly booked and paid for. Nothing to gain by generating stories this late in the game. Besides, its rating 2 million plus now. Generating stories like this has no benefit from a risk v reward perspective.
Even if Ten or Fremantle didn’t leak the story, their PR department could have been out there puttng out the real facts and killing it dead quickly. They didn’t. But they should have.
Jenny,
Don’t buy the trashy magazines then.
The show itself certainly doesn’t talk about sex or the clients personal lives. Can you name examples ?
NT Kate,
The actual story about Claire was put out about 3 days later.
Unfortunately, people believe what they want to believe and the first story stuck.
Women don’t like Claire and when they hear the first story it resonates with them because it supports their initial opinions of her.
First of all I am also culpable of all of the above, this blog aka me is known at times to “bottom feed” on stories such as these, as it does drive traffic to my site. One of the biggest search hit on my blog at the moment, is Claire Winton Burn, as well as Masterchef australia spoilers.
So does that make me want to put stories up about her to get hits? You bet it does.
I do think the Fremantle and channel Ten do have stories in mind to tip of the media. For example the Joanne cyber bullying story broke the week she was eliminated. The story would have lost it’s currency after that.
Maybe I do think the publicity departments are more macchivalean (sic) then they actually are. However there job is to keep their show in the media, and if you can stop people writing about the other shows on the box so much the better.
Paul: I think the point of this blog is that MasterChef PR is feeding the media with these stories to increase interest in the show. So the show itself doesn’t need to talk about the sordid sex stories that it’s PR department appear to be spreading.
I think Reality Raver has uncovered this point in his/her blog.
Paul, it sounds like you might be from MasterChef! How do you know about the ratings figures and the way the advertising works?
Jenny,
The ratings come out by 9am each morning and are easily accessible to anyone. Ditto with how television advertising works.
What are the sordid sex stories ?
You must have a vivid imagination because I certainly haven’t heard anything of the sort.
Again can you name examples where the show itself has delved into these sort of stories ?
RR, of couse they surrepticiously leak info – not disputing that at all. But by and large it would be of the ‘feel good’ nature or one such as the Joanne story where we are being asked to feel sorry for a contestant.
However we must also credit other media orgainsations with the ability to source stories on their own too. And the Claire one stinks of the sort of stuff we get in NI and Womans Day on a weekly basis.
PS : It cracked the 2 million mark again last night. Mondays seem to be the big night for Masterchef.
Interesting! I’m sure I heard a couple of people talking about this on a flight to Sydney last week. I reckon they were journos. Don’t know if it’s true, but I reckon it’s pretty suss. Mind you, I don’t really give a toss!
Paul – so why are you accessing ratings information at 9am on a Tuesday morning? You’re obviously from MasterChef so we’ll take your comments with a pinch of salt.
David,
Yes obviously (rolls eyes).
The ratings are available on an open forum. Honestly, a 5 year old who is semi computer literate can find out what they are.
And three days to correct a story is forever in the modern 24 hour a day news cycle.
RR – once something is in the public domain, I think it is a lost cause and probably fair game for comment in the context of the reality money-making game, though personally I hate the gossip mags and wish they would die. And I think you make a fair point about those who enter these competitions knowing what they are in for.
My real problem is with those who initiate calumny and detraction – false rumours or true simply to make money and take people down. It is nasty, bullying behaviour.
I agree with the view that these sex/scandal having nothing to do with the show, are unnecessary and can be hurtful when they go to far. However, lets be real and recognise that these trashy magazines exist (and thrive) on publishing these types of stories about anyone in the public eye including the casts of every type of televsion show. I’ve dealt with a reporter from Today Tonight (not a mag but same DNA). They (these reporters/journalists) are nasty pieces of work and will stop at nothing to tell the most scandalous story they can irrespective of the facts.
If the facts about Claire’s relationship came out three days after the NI / WW article was published, was that 10′s doing? If so, they are doing their job and trying to correct the story.
Hasn’t Claire since been in some positive publicity efforts organised or at least permitted by Ch10 – ie the WW glamour shoot.
I think the most interesting point in the summary provided by RR is that she quotes Claire saying: “she believes her chances of winning Masterchef has been compromised by claims she is a “home wrecker”.
The public doesn’t vote to pick the MC winner. So if Claire thinks the “home wrecker” claim is going to compromise her chances of winning then she must buy in to the theory that the winner is picked not on cooking ability alone but based on their saleability and media friendliness. She makes a separate point about the “home wrecker” scandal being a distraction to her performance on MC so this is not what she is referring to: she is acknowledging the contest is rigged!
NT Kate,
Thats a fair point. Maybe it took them by surprise but I agree it should have been nipped in the bud immediately.
I agree about the nasty rumours. Its pretty poor but don’t kets just stop at the media organisations. Contributors to internet forums and blogs are just as (if not more guilty) than anybody else.
Jenny’s, ‘sordid sex story’ posted above for a start is just completely made up. However, people read this, don’t analyse it and think its true. As are all the myriad other unsavoury rumours that swirl about.
Forums and blogs are great but its a bit like the wild west. Basically anything goes and people can say what they want with impunity and anonymity. And unfortunately there are susceptible people who actually believe everything they read and refuse to consider anything that doesn’t agree with what they want to believe. Hope that makes sense.
This particular blog is just a parking lot for all the various news snippets about reality shows. It doesn’t go out initiating gossip. But it can act unintentionally as a conduit for more nastier rumours and innuendo via the comments section.
Paul from masterchef, re your comment number 10 above, are you saying your previous winner Julie is ugly?
Top blokes and top PR work.
CG,
Your comprehension skills again !!!!!!!
Claire said her ability to win has been compromised because it is a distraction to her performance. As it would anyone.
jono,
Umm no – how do you get that idea ?
Read what I wrote again. Slowly and carefully…..
Paul, you are a real piece of work. Through your various posts today you have now managed to insult everyone who enjoys this blog and RR.
As for your ongoing attack on my opinions, my comprehension skills are just fine. I have not read the source article and refer to RR’s summary. The part I quote is here:
“In the article she believes her chances of winning Masterchef has been compromised by claims she is a “home wrecker”. She ALSO says all the attention over her relationship with a married man is an “unwanted distraction” as it reaches the pointy end of the competition.”
Unless RR has made a mistake in summarising the piece, Claire is making two separate points as denoted by the word ALSO. She is worried that her alleged reputation as a “home wrecker” will mess up her chances of winning AND acknowledges that the whole thing is a distraction to her performance. This may be a deliberate attempt to discredit Ch10 and the juding or it may be unintentional and subliminal, if you will.
CG,
She has been compromised because the claims are an unwanted distraction. Its not that hard, you know.
You’re the one that has been saying the more nastier stuff about Claire anyway and who has been clinging desperately to the initial story.
Paul – I’m sorry what planet are you on?! If you don’t think that stories about a married mad having an affair whilst his wife is at home having just given birth to their third child is sordid, what is?! It’s all since proved to be untrue hasn’t it? Isn’t the standard line that it’s one child and the marriage was over by the time Claire and her man got together. So, Paul, either your moral compass is in the gutter or your comprehension skills are lacking. Either way, you seem like an unsavoury character and I can’t be bothered wasting my time engaging with the likes of you. The fact that someone like you is defending MasterChef just confirms that I no longer want to follow it. It was fun last year. This year it’s gone too far.
LOL – I’m an unsavoury character.
I have been defending Claire valiantly for the past month whilst people make up rubbish about her and revel in her shortcomings.
Sordid sex stories – what a load of garbage.
You make it sound like she was having threesomes with Tiger Woods.
Paul, you are a fucking tool and I have had enough. In my post above I defended Claire and disparaged the whole lot of reporters and journalists who perpetuate these “scandal” stories. How am I “clinging desperately” to the initial story?
You are the one clinging desperately to your mission to convince everyone you encounter that the show is not rigged. It is clearly an obsession with you and is either part of your job (I hope it is and this would explain your manic-ness) or you have a real problem (checking ratings every morning at 9am and attacking strangers so ferociously over the issue).
Paul, you’re an idiot
CG,
See the good thing about the interwebs is that you can easily find out things.
Like this comment from yourself regarding Claire from about 2 weeks back.
“This woman – Claire – is really screwed up. She has gone on national television and told us numerous times how she hates practising law and hates her career. Now she is giving credence to this soap opera story about her love life by providing a response.
This woman cannot go back to her career at Clayton Utz. She will be blacklisted as an emotionally unstable freak who is not interested in a law career if she seeks a job at another firm.
Her dreams about running a restaurant on a winery are fanciful as she has not proven she can cook other than basic bistro fare largely taken from family recipes.
What was she tdhinking?? I seriously don’t think she is stable.”
Or this comment :
“Holy Crap: call ‘em as I see ‘em. Sounds like you might be a friend of Claire’s trying to undo the damage she has done to her career and her reputation. As someone who comes from the corporate world, I am certain Claire is done. I’ve seen it before although not on such a public scale. You don’t trash your employer and profession, get involved in a soap opera like she has and then think you can go back or even be employable. The woman is simply not stable and needs help. Winning MC is not the answer to her problems.”
So is she still an ‘emotionally, unstable freak’ ?
Paul
as I said above, most of the bloggers, on this site at least only comment or gossip about what’s shown in the show, as i also said there will always be drongos that want to search into and reveal peoples private lives and get their jollies by airing the dirty linen. The prime example last year was all the IRRELEVENT JUNK that came out about Chris B’s life, that nothing to do with his chffing ability/inability, and probably contributed to his not winning when a large number of viewers (see any other blog site) thought he should have.
I do agree though that you have stoutly defended Claire, and good on you for that! I certainly hope it does not ruin (maacca) her chances.
Anyway I think a 1 month boycott of all these gossip rags by everyone would go a long way to fix the problem. Lets face it, the media can be scum, and can lead to suicides and death, look at poor princess Di with a drunken driver trying to escape the wretched paparazzi, and (I am not a royalist by the way but I felt sorry for the whole family).
ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT ALREADY!
Paul, I stand by those comments. Do you have a problem with comprehension: Claire HAS commented numerous times on the show how much she hates her law career. IMO you cannot trash your employer and your profession on on national television and expect to go back into the professional world. This is just common sense and Claire was very silly IMO to do this no matter how much she hated her job (Peter K. is also a solicitor and has managed to express his love for the food business without trashing his current profession and employer). Claire DID respond to the “home wrecker” stories which gave them credence and as RR said, if you have these events in your background you have to expect that they will come out when you go on a reality show. And yes, I don’t think Claire is a very good cook. And yes, I don’t think she is emotionally stable as evidenced by the decision to trash her employer and in more recent weeks where she has come across as very, very fragile. I also note these comments were made several weeks ago and I haven’t brought her up since. So how is this “desperately clinging” to the story. Get a life, Paul.
Thanks sour and I agree – never bought one of those mags in my life (must admit though have been guilty of sneaking a peek at my missus copy or at the doctors when I get a chance though – LOL).
Why is it accepted that the affair started after the marriage was finished? I haven’t actually seen anyone say that. And also, I am not sure why it makes any difference whether he had 3 kids or 1 when he started the affair? and finally … it’s a little too late for Claire to play the privacy card don’t you think!!!!
Paul
No worries
I sneak a look at the rags sorry mags at the dentists for the T & A. (Tragedies and Anecdotes)
Ella
All that may be true, but what right does the media have of magnifying it?
Ella, I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that the marriage was dead in the water by the time the affair started – I may be wrong though. I accept that 1 kid or 3 doesn’t really make a difference, but it does sound more dramatic to me for some reason. It also shows that the media (and MasterChef PR team????) are, at best, careless with their facts. Of course, the media would never try to be deliberately misleading – after all, they are only dealing with people’s lives here!
The fact that we’re all delving into these very personal issues proves to me that MasterChef has become more about scandal than about the food, which is sad. It will surely put your average decent family off MasterChef – parents don’t want their kids to watch a show associated with these issues (even if they’re not mentioned directly on the show itself, Paul).
Jenny
We are not all delving into the personal issues. We are trashing the fact that unfortunately the meedja does.
Certainly MC has become a trashy parody of itself , but it’s probably what make psychological dunderheads like me watch the wretched show.
A pox on all their houses!
What you don’t know about reality television would fill a warehouse, Paul.
Enlighten me then BDD.
I’m all ears.
You know, I could actually know a bit more than you think……
Hmm. Seriously? If you believe anything that magazines such as NI and WW write, then you’re pretty naive. You always have to take things with a grain of salt in relation to such publications.
Look at the Tracy Grimshaw interview for her 50th Birthday the other month in, what, WW? She tweeted the day it came out that she hoped she sounded intelligent, as she never gave an interview or even talked with them. Media Watch later contacted her about it, and she revealed that the quotes from her were a mix of things plagiarised from other publications, or completely made up.
They’re called trashy magazines for a reason – all they do is talk trash.
Media outlets, no matter their origin, love a good story – something that will sell. Whether it’s the truth or not doesn’t matter – if it gets buyers, or people visiting their website or blog, then they’ve done their job.
It’s the same with Masterchef. The PR department wants the most advertising they can get without paying anything for it. What show doesn’t? So of course they’re going to leak certain details. But to accuse them of maliciously feeding the rumours regarding Claire is not fair. While yes, they could have been quicker in responding to them, they did eventually.
I find a lot of comments on here distasteful. Name calling and personal attacks aren’t something that is called for, and it makes me wonder as to the integrity of this blog if such people are constantly using its’ comments system to attack one person whenever they have a differing opinion.
I sincerely doubt their is a huge conspiracy surrounding Masterchef. While yes, the judges and producers will have favourites on who they want to win, it doesn’t mean that they rig it to make sure they do. All those that have been eliminated were because at the time of elimination, they completely sucked at what they did.
While yes, there may be some contestants eliminated wrongly, but the only time I can think of is by a technicality regarding a herb. Every other contestant has deserved their elimination, based on the elimination challenge they undertook and failed at.
Some people think there is a conspiracy, while others don’t. Does that make either right or wrong? No. They’re opinions, and we all have them. People shouldn’t be attacked for their opinions, no matter what side they are on.
Regarding the ratings, I also look at them when they come out. I do so because I like to know how my favourite shows did the night before. When they do well, I’m elated. When they don’t, I’m saddened and hope they do better next time.
People have opinions. People have lives and lifestyles that differ from others. People have likes and dislikes. People shouldn’t be degraded for believing or doing something differently.
Grow up.
Should I bother with pretentious types like yourself that can’t spell “surreptitiously” while at the same time mocking others for their comprehension skills? Nah.
I”ll leave you to make a “Leave Claire Alone ” video to put on You Tube,Paul..
Kaylen – I think you make some good comments here.
A case in point is a go out to lunch and I come back and there is 51 comments on the blog, however take out Paul’s and CG’s and I would probably have 25!
Paul and CG – FFS you two just move from one post to another. At times I am amused by it, but sometimes not so much. Anyway this time I will clarify my comments re: the Claire situation. As it may have been clear. I believe Claire’s chances of winning have been diminished because of this scandal. A friend of hers who contact me also believes this to be the case, and I think Claire thinks this is the case. Whether we are right is yet to be seen.
However Claire should utilise the amount of publicity she is generating in a positive way. In a sense that was one of the reasons I was disappointed that Joanne Zalm did not come back as I think she would have seen a lot of positivity towards her.
In a sense viewers are a bit like lemmings, I include myself in this and I switch who I like and dislike over the course of the show on how they have been edited. Jono has been my fave for awhile, but I think Adam is my favourite at the moment. And in the last week chances of me swinging behind Marion are high.
Paul or brain dead dave….
i’m curious to know if the contestants get regular access to a councilor?
i remember that the the Big Brother house mates did.
it’s getting harder to watch as some of them appear to fall apart.
would love to know more about the behind-the-scenes production,
it’s such a mysterious machine.
RR,
highly amused by the blogites, now taking blogging to the next dimension….is a quote from a previous blog not in the current crop of blogs a ‘blog from the bog’?
DN – good point , would be interesting to see the quals for the MC “life coaches’ My first word would be ‘actually you need a life”.
Moreover I can see some bloggers may need counselling once MC finishes – taxi drivers, check out chicks, parking officers and assorted customer service operators steel your loins as I feel a fireball of unvented angst approaching in about 2 weeks time
Duke Nukem – I think they do have regular access to counsellors. I think one the issues at the moment is they are all exhausted, therefore there coping mechanisms are non-existent.
Pollywaffle – I’ll be going to a bloody day spa after Masterchef finishes as it is like a blogging marathon. But what else are people going to talk about at work?
AW: I didn’t get the pre-edited post you refered to as I don’t subscribe to the comments. Can you post it, tell me what the gist was or email it to me?
RR: any chance of adding a PM function?
For a moment there ‘comprehension’ became the insult buzz word.
Not to start anything big now that it seems to have calmed down, but Jenny, I think what Paul (and I) are questioning is whether you need to stop your kids from watching masterchef because there is some bad publicity around it. Watching the show isn’t going to expose them in any way to any of the “scandals” currently surrounding it
CG -What is a PM function?
Zibb – Personally I don’t think kids are going to be harmed by watching Masterchef, however you may run the risk of them asking for an ice cream maker for xmas or finally working out how bad a cook you are (the reason my kids don’t get to watch it).
I think after the whole Chris B thing last year I think anyone thinking that there personal life was going to remain private was deluded. With the way the social media is these days, anyone who knows you can post something about you, both good and bad.
I suppose Claire has been the unfortunate one in this case. But as I said she should use it to her advantage, as everyone is now interested in her, and she certainly not flying under the radar.
I should add I wonder if a reality TV contestant, particularly a masterchef one as they do seem to more articulate then the average reality star will one day write in detail about their experience on the show. I think that would be a bestseller. In fact anyone reading it I am more then happy to ghost write it for you.
PM = Private Message function.
Strange that certain posters would be interested in this……
I think PM functionality is only available to the bigger open forums like Vogue or Big Footy. And I’m pretty sure (but don’t quote me) that you have to pay for it.
Zibb,
Thats exactly what I meant.
RR,
I’ve always wondered why a Big Brother contestant hasn’t written a book. The franchise is dead now so I don’t know what harm it would be unless their contract has tied them up for decades.
RR, you could ask Alvin Wonton Burnout if he’s interested in coauthoring your Masterchefology Edition
RR, PM = Personal messages; allows blog members/users to take off topic questions “offline” and quibbles as well, so as not to distract and bog down threads. Pehraps the blog format you use doesn’t allow for it which is cool. Some other boards I frequent use it and it works a treat. And leave it to Paul to make take my innocent question/suggestion and try to stir up sh*t with his response. Sigh.
CG how do you slam the door in a thread?
I disagree with the kids comments. Kids don’t just watch these reality TV shows in isolation. They talk with their friends about all the gossip surrounding them. So when that gossip turns sour, that’s when a show stops being a family show, in my opinion. Take other family themed entertainment for example. What if salacious rumours started circulating about the Wiggles? Would parents still be happy to let their kids watch them – because what happens off air is irrelevant? No way! It would put us parents off. These shows come as a package. They’re not just what’s seen during a 7.30 – 8.30 time slot. They’re everything else that comes with them – in the press and on the internet (why do you think MC has its own website?). So it’s wrong to think that kids watch these shows in isolation. And it’s wrong, I think, of MC to circulate stories about Claire’s personal life (if that’s what they’re doing) when they know that kids will pick up on it.
Besides, I thought this blog was all about Claire being bullied and exploited by the media because of Master Chef’s PR team? Isn’t that what RR was originally suggesting?
Hi Jenny,
Understand what you’re saying now.
For me , little kids (under 10) probably aren’t interested in the outside goings on and more just the show itself so IMO there is no harm in letting them watch it.
Older kids will gossip about the rumours – yes I agree. I guess its up to the individual parent. Me personally – wouldn’t really bother me that much. But I’m not going to judge on what you feel is best in that situation.
Still think you need to understand that is is pretty unlikely that MC itself circulated those stories about Claire. There is no benefit to them for the reasons you mentioned with your own kids.
If they did do it – then its wrong.
But did they do it ? Very, very unlikely.
Paul, as a matter of fact, I have a friend at Freemantle Media and the friend let slip a few nights ago that they do actually (and deliberately) leak information about the contestants. Like you say, I’m not sure what’s in it for them because IMO it’s counterproductive. But there you go. I’m only repeating a rumour mind you, and I wouldn’t want to get my friend into trouble by revealing any more. But my friend seemed to feel quite bad about it. They mentioned that there might have been a leak about Claire’s parents’ names recently and they felt that was going a bit too far, to involve the parents etc….
Charles,
Of course they leak information. Never disputed that at all. It would be a strange production company that didn’t. That does not mean that all information about MC contestants comes from them though. Only certain information.
Anyone would be able to get hold of Claire’s parents names if they really wanted to. Nothings a secret these days. Just look up Winton Burn in the phone directory and work from there.
Insiders leak all the time, in the Woman’s Day article there was a quote I did not put in because I thought it was taken out of context.
An “insider” which could mean anything ie contestant, or production crew, or media team, said that Claire received a letter from her parents which made her cry. They in the article they seemed to imply they were being critical of her, but my opinion the parent’s probably wrote her a letter saying how proud and supportive they were of her.
Jenny – Well actually there was some salacious gossip about The Wiggles earlier this year….. as you can tell I am a huge buyer of the weekly gossip mags, all for blogging purposes of course.
CG – Sorry CG PMing is way beyond this blogs capabilities and mine.
Pollywaffle – Alvin would be perfect or Claire in fact there is probably a “fictional” book in this. I know Ben Elton did his fantastic satire on the Big Brother. I reckon there must be clauses in the contracts that stop them from talking about the production of the show.
RR you’ve got to call the book ‘Princess and the Pea ‘
Pollywaffle – Great title, I will dedicate the book to you.
Charles
its all part of the set-up. DUH! When ten decided Chris b was not to win last year all the bullshit was leaked out and all the pathetics that had some sort of a whinge cut him to shreds. Obviously this gave the excuse to ten to bone him
Sourkraut – I don’t think Ten knew about the multiple women. But they or the other contestants probably leaked the romance between him and Julia Jenkins.
sour,
I’m almost certain that the stuff about Chris and the multiple women only came out after the series finished.
Even his fling with Julia was only a vague whisper almost the whole series.
RR – love your blog btw
Ben Elton also wrote a ripper about X Factor/Idol – Chart Throb I think it was called.
I also think Tim Brunero has spilt quite a few beans over the years about his time in BB. Not sure if he has written a book, but he should.
I think if anyone takes RTV at face value they are nuts. It is so contrived. Unfortunately contestants are fodder for anyone and everyone. So, as you say RR, make it work for you.
Fiona
Agree RTV is UN-RTV
Disagree about making it work. I hate seeing people bullied by the meedja with the excuse they are making it work OR the other tired oldie “THe public has a right to know”
PARASITIC HUMBUG!
Paul – Chris B story came out before end of season one it just was the story that kept on giving. My specialist subject is the Chris B debacle.
Fiona – I will have to get Chart Throb and read it. For someone who is so scathing of the genre he writes about it alot. I would have thought Tim Brunero was the obvious one to write a book like that. However since they were locked in the house it would be a different experience from the masterchef one where they would see a lot more of the production going on.
It is apparent from the show that Claire is an intelligent woman. She would have been aware of exactly what she was getting into when she decided to audition for the show given the Chris B scandal of last year (and how the media would respond to her long term involvement with a married man). The point is that she decided to go on the show regardless of the collateral damage that would flow to others. It is not her that you should feel for.
you can wish the media were different all you like – i often do. i bet that there are some others that wished SHE were different though.
I think you just have to not listen to the rumours and the gossip. IT’S NONE OF OUR BUSINESS! Last year was the same. Come on, let’s not listen to it.
i don’t care about stuff like that. it throws people off on what’s happening in the competition.
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