Posts from — April 2012

The Voice which is looking already like it is the reality TV show of the year continues to take up column inches and it is no surprise that the show has been renewed for a second season.

The gossip magazines are in a lather about the rumoured Seal and Delta romance, if a pap can get a picture of them snogging that is definitely going to be the money shot, as it will sell world wide. I am sure Joel Madden is relieved that rumour has now come out as it was thought he was the subject of the blind item on CDAN. And really who would have thought Delta would be interested in going with a 47 year old after her last boyfriend was 19!

However the show has captured everyones imagination and the chatter continues as the battle rounds come up. In these rounds we will see the coaches pitting their singers against each other. They will sing a duet and then they will have pick which singer they keep and which one to flick.

The judges who have been universally liked may find they get a bit of backlash this week when they don’t select the viewers favourites to send through to the live shows.  We know that favourite Mahalia Barnes will be going against Prinnie Stevens and considering Joel Madden has said Mahalia is like family. It will be a struggle for Prinnie to get through I think as Mahalia is one of the favourites according to the bookies.

TV Tonight raises the issue of whether it is kosher that people are able to bet on people who have already been eliminated from the competition. The battle rounds have already been taped so they know which singers have made it through to the live shows.

Who do you want to make it through?

Nine Network last week announced that The Voice, The Block, and Celebrity Apprentice will all being doing the rounds again for another season.

The Voice and The Block I am not surprised about, but I am a little about the renewal of Celebrity Apprentice Australia.

Series two has not been hitting the ratings highs as the first series did, however it should be noted the first series was stripped and in the 7.00pm timeslot which may be a big factor. When NINE bring it back next year they should consider screening it then.

However maybe NINE should drop the celebrity and bring back The Apprentice, made up of unknown people who are doing real challenges without having to chase the corporate dollar.

The first series of The Apprentice was never really given a chance with it being buried in the 9.30pm timeslot. With some good casting, interesting challenges, backed by a good publicity campaign and a prime screening time I think it would be a ratings winner.

What is going on with this show? We are four episodes in, and they fire the person who has been creating conflict , who has raised a lot of money, and who appears to be working hard. Donald Trump would have never fired Tania Zaetta for the reason that she was not liked by her other team members. In fact for that very reason he would have kept her on the show.

But then Tania was getting a bit of stick from everyone, Ben Dark basically said he did not like her, and Charlotte Dawson quipped  ”She gives some good looks, she looks like she is twisted…glad I didn’t get that botox done I would have looked really evil”.

Yes I was rather surprised at that comment considering the heated debate that ensued on this blog last week which spilled over into the twitterverse about the viewers in cyber space making negative comments about peoples appearances on the TV screen.

The episode’s  challenge was to create a fairground experience and the team with the most money won.

Jason Akermanis was project manager of one team, and Lauryn Eagle who is described as a “glamour sportswoman” led the other team.

Jason thought his great communication skills would be an asset, whereas team mate Nathan Jolliffe said he could barely understand him. I am on team Nathan on this one.  Interestingly we did learn tonight that even though their was some disagreement about Akers fluency in the english language he was actually proficient in Auslan, sign language.

He revealed both of his in-laws are profoundly deaf. This episode indeed portrayed Jason in a light that most people would not have seen before. Probably much needed after some of his other faux pas in the media.

On Celebrity Apprentice because the teams don’t rely on public donations it does not really matter how good they do the challenge. If the team can get the corporate sponsors in they will win which they did.  Dicko quipped at Aker’s team section that it looked “very eastern european” and it did look depressing. Even Warwick Capper could not bring it any razzle.   I did find it amusing that the corporate guys bringing in the cheques  were wanting to dunk Warwick.

The Ben Dark and Dicko feud was beaten up with Ben putting a spider on arachnophobic Dicko’s crotch. As @gidgetvonlarue quipped on Twitter “Oh Dicko, don’t be such a girl. I’m sure you’ve had much scarier things crawling around your crotch than a huntsman spider”

Dicko did look like he was working up a sweat.

Ben Dark was also working hard with the sponsors, he called Marion Grasby who had previously been fired and she came down with a $2000 and was handing out her products, however apparently she also arranged some more money from other sponsors.

Vince Sorrenti thought this was unfair that an eliminated contestant was able to raise money for another team. I think he had a point. Does this mean Vince can have his friends not on the show ringing around to get the corporate dollar on his behalf? However Mark Bouris told him the money raised was going to charity and hinted he should not be so petulant about it.

Not that Vince needed to worry his team won and they trouped off to the winners room.

Dicko said Patti should be fired and it would be a mercy killing as he thought things were about to get nasty. Tania agreed, but the rest of the team that it should be Tania to go.

In the end it was Tania that was fired.

This story normally comes up most years of The Block what the houses or apartments looked liked when they were bought by the show and what the look like when production starts.

Here are the current block houses in South Melbourne when they were being advertised for sale, and OK there may be only one inside shot, but those floor boards look like they were in OK condition.

Thanks @Ooly13 for sending it to me.

Also there appears to be complaints already on Twitter that there are too many challenges and not enough focus on the renovations, what are your thoughts?

Clearly Ben Dark is on the Paleolithic cave man diet as he appears to have taken up that periods philosophies as well.

“Women and Men how long have we got….” Ben said. He continued “Men are hunters, women are home what ever it is. I know all the femonazis at home are screaming but from the caves that how it is.” No Ben that is not how it is. However, I don’t see him being a stay at home dad in his future.

Also Ben when he was shopping with Charlotte Dawson for the challenge after he told her he liked a dress he quipped “God I am sounding gay”. I had not realised that using the “gay” word was now a part of our mainstream vernacular. But Ben said it, Charlotte Dawson laughed and it was edited in as a joke, so maybe it was acceptable usage of the word. I am genuinely perplexed on the social acceptability of this.

Not a fan of his but it has to be said that Ben Dark was the outstanding contestant of the episode. He negotiated with Myers and also was sterling as the back of the show support. Also he did come up with one of the best lines of the night when he said “At the end of the day Tania has not been on TV here for ten years and lives in India, and I am not surprised”. Maybe if he had seen the nude pictures of her in New Idea this week he might have not been so caustic.

Also did anyone else notice Ben’s strange ear lobe.

However the whole episode felt like a bit of a farce and lacked tension. First it was pretty obvious the female team would have to do something diabolical to lose, the Hoff “quit” and then after Mark Bouris said “someone will be fired” no one was fired. Why did The Hoff leave? I had thought it was because of other work commitments and his contract had only been to sign up for a limited period. However, entertainment journalist, Peter Ford said on Twitter he would be talking about it on radio tomorrow, so maybe it was for personal reasons.

The challenge was for each team to devise and produce a hair show, using Wella products. They would be judged on brand messaging and showcasing of the products. The winner would get $20,000 for their charity.

The Hoff was placed back in the mens team and Ben Dark got shot up the proverbial with a rainbow when he was told to go with the girls. Charlotte Dawson was project manager for Team Fortune and Nathan was project manager for Team Platinum.

The guys team had their first bit of tension when The Hoff, Vince Sorrenti and Aker wanted to be MC.

Dicko was bemused about this and said “Aker is inarticulate he struggles to get a sentence out, why would you hand him a microphone”. Nathan ended up giving the mike to Vince.

Charlotte as project manager was trying a different tactic with contestant on the outer  Tania Zaetta. She was going to take her on rounds of the shopping centre with her to select a volunteer, however Ben quite rightly pointed out that Tania needed to stay and practice the hair styles they were doing. Also it seemed to be implied that Tania was the reason the women lost the last two challenges. My understanding is Tania has been one of the people that have been bringing in the money.

The girls show went smoothly until Patti tried to crack a joke by pulling out Berts wig, the audience found it amusing.

The guys team did a surprisingly good job with the hair, but badly with the jokes. Also Vince lost his ear piece so could not get prompted by Nathan back stage.

In the boardroom The Hoff quit, Patti got castigated for bring along Bert’s wig, all the other girls backed away from it.

Patty said she went and asked Charlotte about using the wig and she said she said yes. Whereas Charlotte said she was not sure if it was going to occur and Patti started crying saying it had been a bad day. If my memory is correct, her son Matt Newton may have been in court that day.

Nathan put the boot into Jason Akermanis, however when he was asked who the weakest player was he nominated The Hoff, which shows Nathan is not just a pretty face but quite clever as The Hoff had gone.

The girls won, and Nathan took Jason Akermanis and Dicko into the boardroom. His rationale was Dicko was the strongest competitor and he would have to take him on sometime.

Meanwhile back in the winners room Tania Zaetta and Lauryn Eagle  were having a spat  Lauryn ended up exclaiming “Can someone back me up here?” Patty Newton sat there in silence and Charlotte said ”I am just letting you do this.” Maybe this was Lauryn’s initiation into the big girl cat fights.

In a lacklustre board room Mark Bouris told the three none of them were fired. In the US version of the show there is much more banter between the contestants, the host and the advisors.  I thought maybe this was because Donald was advised by his children Ivanka and Don Jr, however Dane is the son of Mark.  Dane needs to spark up soon or the viewer is going to start to get frustrated by the nepotism that occurred to get him the advisor role.