Posts from — September 2011

The key holder challenges are unfair. How do you compare a lounge/dining room to an outdoor garden?

Also the challenge sleighted towards the sitting keyholder. Tonight at the half done house with Peter versus Sam it was another team challenge. Props to Peter for playing strategy and picking Natalia and Keenan to stop them from giving Sam ideas about the garden. Also he admitted leaving Jason on her team because he had a busted knee.

Sam definitely had the tougher brief, she had to fix a deck, fill holes, take out plants and re-plant and bring in a mountain of soil. Also she was dealing with getting a lot of material up a very small side passage. I don’t blame Peter for not allowing her to bring it the dirt though the house, he would not have been able to get his work done, also it would have made a mess.

Sam was cracking up, but she was unrealistic. She sent Jason off with a long list of things to collect and said be back in 30 minutes. That was impossible, he was gone for two hours, she was shitty with him, and also told him to paint the wood faster.

By the way if you are wondering where August was, apparently once you have won the keys to your house the contestant does not have to be involved in these challenges. Not sure the logic of this. This means they have the advantage of having more time to work on their houses. It will also mean the last team up for elimination it will be an individual challenge.

Peter’s room was stylish, however I have to agree with Peter Ho the step that goes up to the dining room and kitchen has disaster written all over it. Also the living area is quite small considering it is a three bedroom and two bathroom house. Maybe he should have extended out. However that size is normal in the area.

It was a good result that Peter won. He does have a polarising personality however he has been one of the stand out competitors, also Sam has had very few highlights in the series. In fact the only one in recent history was the decoration of the wall.

“I can see a couple walking down the hallway and one is hot and the other is not…” said Jarrod, well that is what I thought he should have said.

The couple were getting married and The Renovators were having to design their wedding reception. The concept was either an indoor forest or an industrial look. But the subtle message was the couple were a pair of hipsters so the teams needed to factor that into it.

The reward for the winning team  was each member would get $2000 to go towards the house.

Melissa said the Parramatta weatherboard had a sewage issue so that might explain where their money went.

Melissa was leading the black team which consisted of the green, navy blue and grey team. She was going for the flowers, the guys were doing the furniture, and August was going to do a mural.

Natalia was leading the gold team which consisted of the orange, khaki and light blue teams.

Melissa spent two hours at the florist as she was going to work with the florist on the flowers, whilst Jason J just  grabbed the stuff and ran. In the end Melissa had the better strategy.

I love how August had Michael working on his mural for a while, however it was pretty good for a piece knocked out in two hours.

Jason J said the hero of the room was going to be his light or him building the light. Lucky for him the bride liked it but clearly not enough.

It was getting tense towards the end on the black team. Melissa said “I cannot handle this camera in my face today”

In the end the couple preferred the industrial look as it was a space they could visualise themselves in. The forest team stuffed up with having a separate bride and groom table looking down on the rest of the space. The couple wanted to be amongst it all and I don’t blame them they had been together for ten years so really didn’t need to be eating up there alone.

As well as winning cash, the black team had to decide which team next had to go head to head in an elimination challenge. They chose the half done house, and Peter was not phased he would be happy to be rid of Sam. Again the challenge is not an individual one but one involving the whole team.

Firstly two commenters Kaylen and Sheng_huang picked the bottom two, Tyla and Jaqui so well done guys.

Does anyone else think that Guy Sebastian and Ronan Keating have an advantage in the competition as they went through it all last year so learnt from their mistakes?

Anyway Mel B had to kill one of her own last night with two of her under 25 year old girls landing in the bottom.  Jacqui sang Respect, and Tyla sang Fighter. Guy Sebastian coming in via satellite from Singapore kicked off the comments, and criticised bother singers – Jacqui for being out of tune, and Tyla for screeching. He then cast his vote for Tyla to go.

Natalie Bassingthwaite appeared to be copying what Guy said and cast her vote for Tyla as well.  Ronan disagreed and thought the performances were OK, but he cunningly voted for Jacqui to go to ensure Mel B was put on the spot and would have to decide who was going.

Props to Mel B she made the tough the decision and casted her vote for Tyla and not Jacqui which would have meant the person eliminated would be the singer with the lowest public vote.

Mel B’s rationale is she thinks she has a better chance with Jacqui.

Due to a three year old bouncing off the walls until midnight I have not seen this episode yet. As Lady Gaga sings “I’m on the edge”….

However Christie was eliminated? Was this the right decision? How much assistance did the August and Christie receive from the other players?

You always knew it would happen but the auction results for the two houses that were up for sale last night are now out.

Frankly I think it is a bit bizarre that Property Observer are the ones dropping the clanger on how much the Parramatta Weatherboard and the Marrickville shop sold for.

I am not going to put the prices up on the blog as there will be readers who won’t want to know.

I am always a bit conflicted by spoilers – you think you want to know them, but then finding them out always takes the suspense out of the show.

However click here if you just have to know now.

I would advise people who don’t want to know to not look at the comment thread either.

It’s Dinner Date UK once more but after the mauling my senses suffered during X factor, I’m hopeful this won’t be too bad.

Tonight’s belle is Lucy,a 28 yo petite brunette. She’s a muso and piano teacher. She describes herself as a romantic at heart who likes a gentleman. She laments the death of chivalry. Foodwise,she loves fish.

There’s a firefighter,a gofing nut,a sales exec, an art director and lastly a recruitment exec for Lucy to choose from. No soccer hooligans please,we’re British. They seem like a pretty inoffensive looking bunch,probably made docile by watching Neighbours for too many years.

Lucy chooses Jamaican Donovan,33,the golfing nut Jimmy 25 and Chris 30 who looks uncannily like that beige-ass singer from Coldplay.

First date -Donovan.

The crew cutted Jamaican firefighter palns to land Lucy with a goat curry- he doesn’t know but Lucy has almost choked on goat before. Donovan’s blender craps itself and he’s desperately trying to grind up some carrot with a plastic spatula. he’s also worried about the goat being too tough because he didn’t know the age of the goat.

The real goat here is Donovan himself,who upon meeting Lucy,calls her ’Lisa”. Then he guesses her age incorrectly by nominating her 30.

Regular viewers of Dinner Date will know that Donovan has already ruined his chances with these two faux pas.

But Lucy is a gracious,fun guest and the evening soldiers on. She loves the soup ,which is pumpkin without the carrots. Pretty soon they’re into a singing duet of Endless Love. They’d probably get through to the final 12 in X factor. They have a warm hug.

Donovan’s a smooth talker. The goat “could have been more tender’ (It was as tough and dry as a dead dog’s ar$e) he says to her. No worries anyway, Lucy thinks it’s delicious.He owns up to gets away with a shop bought Jamaican ginger cake for sweets.

Lucy says Donovan is a gentleman .There’s a lot hugs as she leaves and Donovan scores her a perfect.three stars

Second Date -Jimmy

Jimmy ‘s had two glasses of rose preparing his meal. Entree is baked brie filo parcels with cranberry. A cod rissotto main and beries and choc are down the track.

Jimmy’s house looks a bit strange with not much in the way of wall a hangings ,paintings etc..He could use a look at The Renovators and get some vision. Lucy thinks Jimmy’s a gentleman.He did lift out her chair for her to sit,so did Donovan. A gentleman is someone who gets out of the bathtub to pee.(Olde Yorkshire figure of speech)

The cheese parcels are a fail because Jimmy’s burned them and a lot of cheese has oozed out of the parcels. Then he leaves Lucy for ages by herself while he stuffs around with the risotto. She’s got nothing to do but give the champers a real caning…which she does .

It’s large or as Matt Preston would say”generous” serving of risotto. Lucy loves it, Hopefully it’ll soak up some of the champers splashing around in her gut. Now she’s teaching Jimmy some salsa dance moves.

The frozen berries are served in a warm,white chocalte sauce. Lucy’s knocked out and starts talking French. She admits she got too drunk but had a lovely evening says he was sexy and had good muscles.

Jimmy rates Lucy 3 stars for personality and 2 for looks, which I thought was a little mean of him. Lucy’s a little quirky but has been an excellent guest.

Third date -Chris 30 Art Director.

He’s the Coldplay dude ,planning spicy mussels, homemade “rustic’ pizza and a chocolate fondant dessert.

Chris hasn’t practiced choc fondant in advance and he’s soon up shit creek and has to phone a know it all mate. He’s off to the shop to try and get some more sugar. He’s having problems with the dough for the “rustic” home made pizza,too but Chris is still optimistic.

Lucy’s on her way,hungover with more booze and a photo of herself as a gift for Chris. On meeting,she thinks Chris is nice but that his clothes are a bit tight.

Lucy’s up for some more warbling and let’s her pipes rip with a tilt at Nessum Dorma. Chris says he like it. Lucy’s in the loungeroom ,sitting on the floor ,getting more loaded. She thinks he called her “Suzi”,which I think he did but made he made up some BS excuse about his accent.

Chris has burned the home made”rustic’ pizza but it still looks alright and by this time legless Lucy reckons it’s “delicious”. The sweets are an anlikely triumph after the earlier problems.

Chris reckons he fancies her and scores her three stars. Lucy concludes that it’s been fun and in a way was open to seeing all of them again. Loose Lucy. Of course, still she did have criticisms of the guys. She didn’t like Donovan guessing her age and getting it wrong.

The “chewy’ goat presents problems for a lady to eat with dignity. Donovan wasn’t a good singer,finally. Jimmy left her on her own too long, she says. He definitely did.

Lucy chooses Chris because they laughed a lot,had lot in common and were both “a bit scatty”.

The lucky couple went out to dinner together but we are glumly informed that the two are”still single’ and ‘yet to set another date”. That’s how it rolls on Dinner Date.

I must confess when I heard it was going to be party anthems on The X Factor I assumed it would be get up and dance type of music. The only act that made me want to do that was Three Wishez. That is not saying some of the other acts were not entertaining.

Audio Vixen – Valerie by The Zutons

Again their vocals were flawless, but contrary to most of the population I keep on getting the Wedding Singer vibe from this act. They are pimping the slimmer sister over the brother and Christina, however all are very talented.

The judges loved it and Mel B said their harmonies were flawless.

Declan – I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic At The Disco

Declan is the dark horse to take out this competition, I know it is all about Reece and Christina at the moment, however his performances are always fun to watch and his vocals are stronger then expected.

However the downside is whoever did his make up with the creepy barb wire mouth deserves to be sacked. Or the person who suggested it. He really did not need to look like a young Alice Cooper.

Jacquie – Heaven Is A Place On Earth – Belinda Carlisle

Mel B dressed her as the sixth spice girl – slutty spice. She did look good, however her vocals were really weak, not sure if this was all the choreography.

I did laugh at Nat Bass’s bitch slap at Mel B querying whether “if Belinda Carlisle is dirty rock, I don’t get it”.

Mitchell – All Summer Long by Kid Rock

This guy always looks nervous. The vocals were fine however not the most memorable performance of the night. Miss 7 wanted to vote for him because she liked the song, thankfully not because of the tatts.

Young Men Society – You Shook Me All Night Long by ACDC

This was fantastic, great song and really well done. These guys will be in for the long haul. Guy Sebastian is a strong mentor.

Reece – I Kissed A Girl by Katie Perry

There is a lot of love for this guy and he has stage presence, but I thought it was one of his weaker vocal performances. None of the judges commented on this. Just “you are star” etc etc.

Both he and the dancer enjoyed the kiss at the end. Thankfully there did not appear to be tongue.

Tyla – The Edge by Lady Gaga

Tyla’s vampy persona could get a bit repetitive in a few weeks. It started with a jazz vibe, amped up and then went back to jazz. Guy Sebastian was right when he said he thought it went nowhere.

Andrew – I Want To Break Free by Queen

If it was the loveable factor he would win. He is a sweetie with a great story to be told, can he go from peanut salesman to international superstar? Unfortunately I don’t think this is the type of person Simon Cowell wants to win the competition.

His voice is good but it is not unique.

Johnny – Down by Jay Sean

Hooray the vocals were stronger and the dancing was pretty funky,  but he is in Declan and Reece’s slipstream. The girl vote will keep him in for awhile but not to win.

Three Wishez – Don’t Stop The Music by Rhianna

This was the performance that made me want to get up and dance. However the judges criticised that the girl singer was more out front and the boys were more backup singers. I note they don’t say the same thing about audio vixen.

Christina – Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper

Christina has the styling gods on her side as she looked cute and a little bit rock chick sexy. Again like Reece her she has good on stage presence but thought when she was spraying the cans of crazy foam her voice went all over the place. Not that it matters as this girl will be safe.

The judges kept on hinting at the Reece and Christina romance.

Prediction for bottom two – Jacqui and Andrew.

Who do you think will get eliminated tonight?

Observational reality TV is huge genre of reality shows and Lifestyle Channel always make a good production and Relocation Relocation Australia is no exception.

The show takes couples who are searching for two properties and in these cases are making a “sea or tree change” to another part of Australia. They want to buy a property to live in as well as an investment place.

Throw in two buyers agents Bryce Holdaway and Veronica Morgan who have to manage the couples expectations and also finding them properties to fit their guidelines.

The show is enjoyable particularly if you are into real estate as the viewer gets to see some nice houses in parts of the country they may not live in . Also at times there is some nice dramatic tension between the couples as they try and decide what they want.

Bryce and Veronica are calm in what must be frustrating at times. When none of the houses they show the couples exactly fit the bill.

Episode Two was particularly entertaining for the tension between Katie and Matt who had moved to Perth from Melbourne. Katie was very pregnancy and they needed to find a house fast. However both had different ideas on where they wanted to live and what they wanted from a house.

The couple in episode one Karl and Rae were much more similar minded with the properties they were looking for. They wanted a $1 million house near Cairn to retire to, and a smaller apartment or house in Brisbane to live in where they worked.

Relocation Relocation Australia is based on the UK format of the show and if you liked it, then you will love the Australian version.

It starts tonight on Lifestyle Channel at 8.30pm, however the great thing about Foxtel channels there are repeats of the show throughout the week.

Celebrity Apprentice Australia teams are again asking the public to come and help them raise money for charity and assist their teams from elimination.

Today from 12.30-3.30pm both teams will be at Manly Beach and Corso raising money for breast cancer.

The teams have now been switched up and they are now mixed gender. What is frustrating is if you glance over the tweets of the Celebrity Apprentice contestants it is not difficult to work out who is eliminated.

Obviously it is not a huge issue yet as public challenges will reveal who is left on the show.

Anyway don’t expect local resident, David Oldfield who is former One Nation office holder, to pop down to the corso to hand over a cheque to Pauline Hanson as they had a spectacular falling out.

Jeff Probst is Dorian Gray. He is ageless – check out these photos from 2001, 2005, and 2011.

top:2001  Bottom:2005

                                Above: 2011

Survivor South Pacific kicked off tonight with fresh faces, but also Ozzy and Coach returning for their third season each.

The highlights of the episode:

• Well a lowlight was Brandon Hantz (yes The Russell’s nephew) when he was creeping around like Gollum perving at Mikayla the Lingerie Football Player (is this a made up occupation?). Then he had the gall to say it was her fault on how she was presenting herself for stirring up these feelings of lust.
• But Ozzie was also thinking with his dick as well when he was wanting to form an alliance with Semhah the spoken word artist.
• Semhah in the immunity challenge had put herself forward to shoot the coconuts into the basket but puffed out after two shots. Jim the marijuana dispenser owner, and poker player, did not keep a straight face when he had a go at her for saying a feel “sorta bad” for losing the challenge.
• Jim is lying about his occupation and said he was a teacher as he did not want to appear too smart. He could be a interesting strategist or he could self-implode.
• Ozzie realised he should not push his view on who should be eliminated in his tribe as he wanted to fit in. He will be safe for awhile as he is so goddamn good at challenges;
• Bizarrely I want Coach to do better than Ozzie, yes his ego is huge, but he does come across as more interesting. Jeff Probst thinks both need to work on their social games;
• However my favourite player of the series thus far is Cochran the Harvard Law student. He is a Survivor fanatic, and told host Jeff Probst he wanted to be called by his last name, Cochran, as that is what the host has called all the great players.
• Dawn the english professor with six kids who also looks like she has time to go to the gym had a emotional breakdown on the first couple of days but he she pulls herself together she might play a strong game;
• Ozzie’s tribe Servaii lost the first immunity challenge and after Cochran self doubt and anxiety he managed to remain safe.
• Semhar was sent off to Redemption Island sobbing.

Again Survivor shows why it is the best reality show on TV it was a riveting hour entertainment. I think Channel 9 may have cut down the episode as it was a 90 minute opener in the US however they may have put in more advertisements.

Also here is Jeff Probst answering some questions about the episode and talking to camera straight after the filming of tribal council. He thinks Cochran can recover, and that Ozzie might take him under his wing.

Jeff also shows he can read the game here he talks about who he thinks will be first out, and also is assessment of Coach and Ozzie’s chances.

Did you like the first episode and which of the contestants do you like?