Posts from — September 2010

The thing about the first room being judged is we will get to know what exactly John McGrath, real estate agent, and  Neale Whitaker the editor of Belle magazine are looking for. Would they prioritise design over  practical thinking?

With Jake and Erin winning the first room with their shabby chic bedroom I thought design was the winner.

Personally if buying the flat I would not be wanting a chandelier in my spare bedroom/study, nor the feature wall paper as it was something that would date far to quickly. However I did love their floorboard colour.

Personally I preferred Neisha and John’s kids bedroom if I was buying as you could use the room as a bedroom or study, however if everyone had decorated it like theirs the show would be pretty boring.

Chez again provided the highlight of the episode with her brilliant idea of these  dark wallpapered sliding doors in front of the guest room which the judges laughed at. The other thing that was picked up was that some of the renovation work was not up to scratch. A dint in the wall could be seen. However I did love their colour scheme and art deco touches.

I thought the two old boys room was over done. I understand what they were getting at but does anyone want so many built in drawers and bookshelves. I loved the features of their ceiling but I prefer my art deco without halogen lights.

But having said all that I thought it was a good start and considering that would be considered a ‘minor’ room it will be interesting to see what they do with the rest of the apartments.

The mystery was resolved regarding what the Melbourne couple would be doing, they had been found jobs, but we were not told where. Could Chez a real estate agent be working for McGrath?

Also is Scott Cam the sex symbol for the baby boomer set? He does nothing for me, and yes Scott there is a thing called YouTube and you can learn a lot from it.

Also if you are wondering if The Block apartments held their price it would appear not. But I got the feeling that furniture is included in the bidding price. (Source: Daily Telegraph)

Ok we finally have the answer thanks to TV Tonight, who watched A Current Affair who interviewed Sarah Murdoch, and she said no name had been fed through to her earpiece.

TV Tonight writes:

Sarah Murdoch says she was given no name in her earpiece to announce the winner of Australia’s Next Top Model.

When it came to the Live TV moment for her to be told the winner from a Producer, no name was supplied. She consequently ran with the last advice she had been given.

“The last thing that was communicated to me in my earpiece was Kelsey 1, Amanda 2,” she told A Current Affair.

“We had this great idea that we wouldn’t use a card, that it would all be communicated to me through an earpiece, so that I too in that moment would find out who the winner was.

“I went into the read, ‘The Winner of Australia’s Next Top Model is…. ‘ nothing….,” she said, indicating her earpiece.

“All I knew was the last thing: Kelsey 1, Amanda 2.

“The point is it was going to be communicated through my ear, and it didn’t come at that moment. So I went with what I had been told.”

To read the rest of the article go to TV Tonight.

And that is the end of the Australia’s Next Top Model yarn, moving onto a new story tomorrow.

But she began to hear the name ‘Amanda’ through the crowd cheers and fireworks and realised that a mistake had been made.

Well the media is going crazy for the Australia’s Next Top Model debacle this morning.

The Today show did well and got an interview with Harpers Bazaar editor Edwina McCann, who said Foxtel had wanted Amanda to win, and had extended the voting time. Also they said there were three votes in it.

Basically Edwina was not happy as it stuffed up getting their magazine to the publisher. So it will be interesting to see if Harpers sponsor the show next year.

Also she said she preferred Kelsey’s cover shot and thought it was more sellable. Anyway with all this coverage they can expect some great sales for the upcoming issue which will be out in about ten days.

Also Alex Perry was on Today FM saying that the mistake was not a publicity stunt.

Also I have been doing a few radio interviews here is one on the New FM 105.3, but also ABC radio was getting in on the reality TV action, and I was interviewed on 702. Finally my parents are proud of me. LOL.

UPDATE: Mumbrella have written that Foxtel are saying Sarah Murdoch read out the card wrong. Personally even by those quotes I feel it is still unclear. As who put the card there with the wrong name?

A reader, Fontana,  had taken this snap shot of the Harpers Bazaar website and sent it to me, and it shows that Amanda Ware’s front cover was put up on the site yesterday at 4.51pm.

Now wasn’t voting continuing well into the live show last night which started at 7.30pm? If this is true the voting was not as close as they were saying.

Also Fontana said

Didn’t anyone notice during the original announcement of the winner (see early part of video footage) that on the large screen behind the stage, there was a large Harpers Bazaar magazine front cover featuring AMANDA.

If you missed the finale and want to see what happened go to this previous blog post here.

UPDATE: Considering I am the only one running this – I suspect the picture is bollocks.

UPDATE: As @theblock_fans pointed out to me this picture was found of the Vogue Forums…. who used to sponsor the show.

Four Weddings has been a surprise for me, it is entertaining and addictive TV. The only downside is the bitchy or undeserving bride always seems to win. But as @MolksTVTalk pointed out the nice ones score higher, and the bitchy ones lower so it skews the score.

Marlana’s wedding was first and it was a beach wedding, which Heather was not impressed about as she hates sand. The bride arrived by sea plane, which they missed seeing it land.

I thought as she got out of the plane I thought there was going to be a nipple slip through her $4000 dress. The others thought her food was not great because there was no seafood, and the belly dancing was boring.

Diana who was the scrag of the night had a wedding which was described as do it yourself (DIY). What was the age difference between her and her husband, however their kids were so cute. Personally I would have been worried one of the toddler was going to fall into the pool whilst the ceremony was occurring. The other brides thought the reception room was too overdone.

Heather an older bride was wearing a replica of her mother’s wedding dress and her groom brought his other woman which was his crane. Yes I did think both had attachments to strange things.

Heather got the thumbs up for the reception decorations and food.

Diane who seems to be the arbiter of good taste and class was drinking a Bacardi breezer. She was moaning about everthing, including not having a steak knife for a steak that looked pretty tender. Lucy gave her a back hander to camera by saying “I would have liked a steak knife at her wedding.”

Lucy who was the lovely bride tonight, had a bush elegance theme. However  the others thought it looked more Italian.

Diana thought Lucy’s dress looked cheap. Diana obviously had not realised that her dress had made her look 10 years older.

The entree was bread, but the main course was huge. Clearly camembert chicken and beef fillet are the dishes to have at wedding receptions as it was at Lucy’s and Heather’s.

Unfortunately Lucy did not win, it turned out to be a tie between Marlena and Diana. The other girls had to decide and Marlena was sent on the honeymoon.

For those who did not see the debacle that was the Australia’s Next Top Model final – here it is.

In a nutshell Kelsey was announced the winner, the fireworks went off, a thank you speech given and then some “Oh no’s” from host Sarah Murdoch, and then Amanda was announced the winner.

Sarah looked flustered but then recovered, and props to Kelsey for being so gracious about it.

UPDATE: This just in from the press release -

“Tonight we saw the perils of live TV. At the time of the result announcement there was a miscommunication between the broadcast truck and the stage,” said Jamie Campbell, FOXTEL Director of Publicity.

“Sarah handled what was a difficult situation with utmost professionalism and grace.  Amanda and Kelsey were neck and neck in the voting all night.

“We apologise to Kelsey for the error, and FOXTEL will be sending her to New York as well as awarding her $25,000 as a prize,” he said.

Also I forgot to mention that Jessica won fan favourite , which was $5000.

Now we know why Jodhi Meares always carried a clip board, and never wanted to host the live Australia’s Next Top Model finale.

Tonight was what is technically know as a cock-up. Kelsey was told she had won Australia’s Next Top Model, the fireworks went off, the thank you speech was given, and then suddenly Sarah Murdoch had to actually announce it was Amanda who had won.

My recording cut off so will update post when I finally see the last bit, but some back stage person must be getting their arse kicked now.

This rates as one of the biggest stuff ups in reality TV history. If anyone can think of any others please tell me. I did feel sorry for all involved but could not stop laughing.

Also just an aside what the hell has happened to Elle Macpheson’s accent, it was like she was an alien.

In good news for The X Factor its ratings are starting rise, with last night’s show rating 1.126 million and it won it’s time slot.

Did viewers tune in because of the Amanda Grafanakis and Kyle Sandiland’s tiff, or because Kyle’s ex Tamara Jaber was performing? Anyway I hope for Seven’s sake these viewers stick.

With James McNally gone, who I really thought was a contender for the title, the performers left hopefully realise that song choice is important. You would think of after years of Australian Idol they would know this, as we have seen good singers go out on a dodgy song choice.

Well Alytian Childs definitely sacrificed a virgin to the reality TV Gods as he avoided the bottom two after his pretty poor performance of Kiss.

However by avoiding the bottom two, his teammates Amanda Grafanakis and James McNally were having to sing off to survive.

Ronan Keating hinted on The Xtra Factor that Kyle Sandiland’s has a huge influence on the voting public, as he thinks that he made negative comments about both James McNally and Amanda Grafanakis  on Sunday’s show and this affected the number of votes they received.

Ronan who was clearly feeling the elimination thought he made a mistake making James McNally perform to girl “as there was no connection”. Now I wonder why he thought that….

I think the mistake was the song of Maggie May not the girl. It is monotonal the whole way through.

However I was sad to see James McNally go as he was one of The X Factor’s contestants with a personality.

The showdown between Tamara Jaber and Kyle did not eventuate, in fact I feel  bit sorry for Scarlett Belle two good looking girls, with great bodies, but I am not sure the star quality is there.