for those who have reality tv as their guilty pleasure

Tonight Western Australian team of Angela and Justine created a Garden of Eden themed restaurant, however they missed an important element of it and that was the sin. Ok so some of the questions on the tree were a little bit saucy. But girls you have Manu and Pete sitting at the end of the table, at least try playing Truth, Dare or Promise.

One question you could ask Princess Jennifer was is she quite as vacuous as she appears.

In this Adelaide Now article Leigh says of her cooking partner that her friend Jennifer was intelligent, however quite frankly I have not seen any sign of this.

The cutsie act will get tedious if it keeps going on in the up coming episodes. “I’m excited” and the sighing “yeah” is grating. At least she can’t annoy her work colleagues as she works with her husband who allegedly has an online gambling business. So that is how she can get treated like a princess….

Tom and Carla are not going to be the nice team either with a few of their clangers and they definitely playing the game, I suspect by tonight’s episode their masks will well and truly have slipped.

On arrival Carla said “Justine is attractive… for a truck driver.”

Expectations were high for Angela and Justine. As Angela teaches hospitality and once worked in the kitchen of a vietnamese restaurant.

Their menu was Duck salad, Pork chops roasted with proscuitto, apple and gorgonzola, and Brownie and Semi-Freddo for dessert.

There were no real disasters in the kitchen apart from leaving the onion from the stock.

They were very generous with their plating. The duck salad was huge. The flavours were good, but they had not let the duck rest. Other then that Pete Evans loved the taste.

Jennifer thought her “duck was a bit tough….Yeah”

For the main course Manu thought the risotto was boring but the thought the pork and the companion flavours was good. Whereas Pete liked the risotto.

However Tom disagreed and said “Don’t let the fact that my plate is almost empty undermine what I am about to tell you, as I was peckish. Thought the gorgonzola detracted from the flavour of the pork”.

Jennifer thought “apple was to crunchy for me… it still tastes like an apple.. Yeah.” What did she think an apple was going to taste like a banana?

For dessert Manu loved the flavour of the semi-freddo, however Pete thought there were too many things on the plate.

Qld scored a 6, SA scored a 7, NSW a 7, NZ gave an 8, and Vic scored a 6.

Manu scored them seven for entree, six for main and nine for dessert.

Pete scored them seven for entree, seven for main and eight for dessert.

They got a total of 78 which puts them on top on the leader board.

Tonight the South Australian princesses are cooking it will be interesting to see if the standards are high. The theme is burlesque. Yeah.

Is The Biggest Loser still a four night a week show? Monday’s elimination show episode was fast paced, but last night it was back to being more drawn out.

Also I have noticed the big difference between the two fat busting shows is the over acting of the trainers on The Biggest Loser. And they do it so badly. Tiffiny trout pout is making her looked permanently shocked. Because Michelle’s forehead does not move because of the botox she has to use has mouth to express what she is feeling so always a lot of jaw on the floor looks.

The first new scene of the episode was the teams sitting on the couches and the four trainers walk in to do the mock shock of who has been eliminated. This week it was 20 year-old Selena.

However the hack acting job continued when it was revealed that there was no need for Selena to have been eliminated.

This was the cue for all the trainers to have a crack at Margie who was the culprit of this dastardly deed. Margie tried to defend her decision that Selena wasn’t taking it seriously or trying hard enough so she basically this was the consequence of her actions.

Obviously Margie finally had it imprinted into her brain that maybe she had done the wrong thing.

Actually for the first time in a few seasons I thought Shannon Ponton said something that made sense, saying that the he knows that the contestants on the show and his outside clients are untruthful to him about what they have been up to, but he does not give up  on them.

Margie in the end stormed out after a tongue-lashing (no double entendre) from Commando.

And then it was onto the individual challenge and hallelujah it was completed in the one episode.

One person from each team was to go head to head in an elimination type scenario. Does anyone else think that the girls are at a disadvantage in these challenges. Do they get a lighter medicine ball to carry?

Michelle, Lydia, Shane and Luke represented their teams. Michelle was serene in the medicine ball challenge, but was eliminated in the balancing the egg challenge. Lydia was the first to go and collapsed on the floor crying because she felt she had failed. She also ran out of the shed, with Margie close behind.

In the end Shane won, and he will get some sort of advantage for his team. Shane also revealed that his sister had died of morbid obesity at the age of 32, and that was one of his motivators for being on the show, as well as getting healthy for his 2 year old son who suffers from autism.

The Biggest Loser continues tonight at 7.00pm.

It is all very well to not have any weigh-ins but to flick three numbers up for each person ended up getting a bit confusing. They were measured on body fat, waist measurement and fitness level.

I know the idea is a noble one about it being seen as getting healthy is not just  about losing weight. However the simplicity and the impact of just having one number on the scales as seen on The Biggest Loser  may make it easier for the audience to comprehend who is losing weight.

And of course what the audience does want to see is transformations on their TV screen particularly if they are going to spend hours each week watching the show.

The highlight of the episode was getting to delve into the lives of the people on the show and the stories behind them.

Having said that I was sceptical of Darren Lyon’s claim of the prime motivation of being there was to get healthy. I suspect it is more about the money and raising his profile in Australia.

I suspect  a lot of people will resonate to Ajay Rochesters story and struggles as a yo-yo dieter. Her weight has bounced up and down, probably related to what is going on in her life. Gabby Milgate revealed her emotional eating particularly related to battling periods of depression, and career struggles.

Christine Anu talks about how her career and kids had come first and she had not prioritised herself, and Kate Dearaugo revealed she did not perform anymore because of her weight. They may be “celebrities” but their day to day struggles are no different to a lot of other peoples.

Also it was great to get some back stories to the ‘real life’ contestants. Lana is going to turn into a swan once she stars losing weight, she is an attractive girl, and like some of the contestants on The Biggest Loser appears to not realise this. She has never had a boyfriend, and takes on some of the responsibility of caring for her disabled sister.

Sarah who is partnered with Kate is a wannabe singer songwriter is also going to blossom, however I am not sure they needed to get her to sing acapella on the show at this stage. It was sweet but I was not overwhelmed with her talent.

Matthew who has a cheeky personality talks about his addiction to everything,  should give good reality TV.

John is there because he has type 2 diabetes and he is only forty. What I did find disturbing in the home shots of him was how overweight one of his daughters was. So hopefully new habits might have a ripple effect at home.

However hopefully there will be a bit more humour injected into the episodes and that is what the celebrities are there for to entertain us.

Darren Lyon’s will fulfil that role. He says he is being supportive of his partner Lisa, and it cuts to a shot of him yelling at her as she is running. Also it was revealed in this week’s TV WEEK that him and Ajay cannot stand each other so hopefully there will be fireworks there.

Finally Christian the trainer received a lot of screen time, which was not a negative thing as he is very easy on the eye.

Excess Baggage is not on Wednesday night due to the cricket, however you can see the first two episodes again after the game has finished. A fresh episode will be shown Thursday at 7.00pm on Channel NINE.

Well clearly David Hasselhoff’s head was not turned by that kiss I gave him last week, as this morning he apparently proposed to his girlfriend Hayley on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge this morning.

However after announcing it on Twitter and posting photos they were strangely reluctant to talk about it to the media later.

Chris Murphy has come out fighting for Matt Newton in court today saying there are hundreds of photos that will absolve him from the alleged assault of a taxi driver.

News.com.au writes:

Lawyer Chris Murphy says 867 photographs recording, second-by-second, the alleged incident show “there is no assault”.

He said his 35-year-old client was not in court today on the advice of his psychiatrist.

Newton, the son of showbusiness couple Bert and Patti Newton, caught a taxi on December 4 last year and allegedly punched the 66-year-old driver in the head.

Mr Murphy said two witnesses, one in a car and one on the footpath, say there was no assault.

The lawyer said while he would love to defend the case, he must put his client’s interest first.

He said due to Newton’s mental illness, it would not be fair for him to face a lengthy hearing.

He is therefore considering applying to have the case dealt with under mental health provisions.

The magistrate adjourned the case to March 27 to allow Mr Murphy to make representations to the police about not continuing the case.

Not sure Matthew Newton is ever going to recover from this. It must be tough on him, tough on his victims and tough on his family.

Spotted online today on The Australian, is this George Calombaris?  Has George Calombaris ditched the Masterchef Australia set to really protest about the industrial relations laws in Australia? Surely they are not THAT bad.

I suspect it is just a doppelganger but the resemblance is eerie.

Excess Baggage kicked off last night and it appears the two weight loss reality shows are going to cannibalise each others audience in the 7.00pm timeslot with ratings for both shows being underwhelming.

However The Biggest Loser would be the ones that may first hit the panic button with figures for the first weigh-in and elimination sitting at 698,000 and Excess Baggage at 880,000. However it will be interesting if there is any big movement in these figures in the coming weeks.

Anyhow I don’t usually get bogged down in ratings as I prefer to comment on what is actually happening on screen.

Last night Excess Baggage went to great lengths to point out the difference between their fat busting program and the Channel Ten one.

There was no vomiting, no weigh-ins, no counting calories, in fact the training was so relaxed that Brandt Webb and Kevin Federline even ducked off for a cheeky cigarette. Former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester even put the boot into the show that did make her a celebrity basically saying their weight loss regime is irresponsible and there had been pressure on her to lose weight.

It was an introductory episode, and once the celebrities and the contestants stop being on their best behaviour (which I would guess with the heat, lack of carbs and exercising will be in about one episode) it is going to be highly entertaining.

However here are some quick thoughts on the first episode:

• Did they seriously expect us to believe that the contestants were just “wandering” through the Australian outback and they stumbled across a parcel with their name on it? If so they should all buy a lottery ticket now!
• Kate Dearaugo is mistaken if she thinks there is no one looking over her when she goes to the food buffet. Doesn’t she realise there is a camera crew following her?
• Kevin Federline confessed to a full on soft drink habit, and Ajay helpfully chimed in that “When she was fat she used to drink a lot of soft drink”. I like that she has body confidence but if she wasn’t overweight it is doubtful she would be on the show;
• All of Australia is probably going to fall in love wit Gabby Millgate again, however the melting the cheese in the microwave and eating it was slightly stomach churning;
• Kate Dearaugo had all over body lipo at 19 years of age, and by the looks of her abdomen now appears to still have the incision marks;
• By the way she appears to be the only female contestant agreeing to unclothe;
• Brandt Webb doesn’t look like he is taking it too seriously, but maybe this will change;
• Darren Lyons will indeed be the villain of the series, alongside Ajay Rochester. It will be interesting to see if another emerges;
• Unsure what role bubbly Kate Cebrano will play as host so will reserve judgement on her until I have seen a few more episodes;
• Ditto for the bubbly nutritionist Joanna and personal trainer Christian.

Line of the night goes to Gabby Millgate when she responded to Ajay’s call that the camera person get the best angle of her bottom. She quipped “There isn’t one”.

What did you think of the first episode will you be back to watch it?

It is the chicken or the egg question for the contestants on Please Marry My Boy, is it the mothers or the sons that is the obstacle in their ability to find a partner?

Take Melina for instance who appears to have swallowed the Cardamones Handbook on how to raise your son and does everything for him. Vlad who is thirty is still living at home and it does not appear to be for financial reasons. Seriously this guy is not a catch he will have really bad expectations on what a wife does for him. Also Malina would be a nightmare mother-in-law.

Also she is fixated on hooking him up with a Serbian girl so I suspect she is going to be very blinkered when it comes to picking the dates for her son.

The other mother who would be difficult to get on with would be Karen Kenny and you wonder if the reason her son Matt has not found a girl is that her domineering personality has meant he has not developed his own. What is interesting is that Karen in the speed dating appeared to want a daughter that was similar to her.

At the My Kitchen Rules launch yesterday I asked both mother and son why this was. Matt said his mother wanted a friend to get on with. Not sure two strong personalities would gel.

Also Karen said she wanted someone like her with strong morals and values which also included good manners. I did query where the “sex” question fitted into this considering it was quite rude and she did admit it was a “mistake”.

Anyway the episode started off with the mothers and son’s speed dating ten women each, and they could not complain about the quality of the girls the majority were good looking, articulate and personable.

Malina  and Vlad – Vlad does not appear to be a catch, sure he is ok looking but the overbearing mother has clearly had an effect on him.

Also if you are not Serbian chances are you are not going to be good enough, and she does everything for his son. At thirty he still lives at home. He has never been in love.

Like a lot of guys Vlad’s eyes were boggling at the over the top sexy girls. He particularly liked the girl who could do some clenching manoeuvre with her breasts.

Also there was the catholic topless waitress who said she was going to “wait” until she was married. Would you really want to be with someone who was flaunting to everyone but yourself? Also appeared to be a strange set of values. Milena was probably right in saying  no way to that one.

Vlad liked Liz the best.

However Malina picked the Serbian Andrea, Contanza, and Jackie. Jackie showing she was on the show to find love not to have her 15 minutes of fame had picked up the vibes about the mother and son and wanted to get out of there fast. She declined to go to Adelaide. A very wise decision.

In the end Malina selected Liz to go to Adelaide.

Elva and Tony – Tony is 35 year old man-child. Even his mother admits he is shallow. In fact I wonder how Tony turned into such a tool with a mother who appeared to be very likeable indeed.

Tony was like a little kid anyone one with a bit of sparkle, well in this case peroxide blond hair and a mini skirt would attract his attention.  Thankfully his mother is scathing of this approach.

However he did have the kooky Alex, the 40 year old tarot card reader who had never been in a long term relationship to contend with. She told him he would be moving away from his mother and he looked shocked.

Tony picked Tammy-Lee the 30 year-old model as his favourite. Her childhood ambition was to be barbie doll so just maybe he can be her Ken.

Elva picked Sarah, Magadalena and Tammy Lee.

Karen and Matt – Matt is a cute guy, but he does have a touch of the bland about him.  His Mother thinks he attracts floozies. Karen appeared to be enjoying being on a reality TV show experience and was making it all about her. She would think of herself as scary I would probably just call her brash.

One of her questions she asked was how many times one of the girls has had sex. Koa answered more then five less then ten. I take it that was the number of guys she had slept with. I am not sure what that information tells you about a person. It may indicate that Karen has a bit of a double standard in this area.

Amand the Swedish student is smitten with Matt. However Josie is on a student visa and Mum was worried that she would take off back to her homeland. What she did not add in was the possibility she may take her son with her.

Karen picked Lydal, Amanda, and Koa to move in with her.

Anne and Brendan – This was the nicest pair and the pick of the mothers and the sons. However he was having a hard time being seen as a love interest by the girls as his nickname is Frendan. Yes nice guys do finish last.

Anna fitness instructor  charmed Anne and she selected her as one of her three. The other two were another Anna, and Edwina.

Brendan just be the one who may find love on the show.

Who did you like? Who do you think has the best chance of finding love? And would you marry any of these boys?

Normally on My Kitchen Rules we see contestants in this stage of the competition cook dishes they have never tried before which is ludicrous enough, however I thought it had reached new heights when this Helen and Steve revealed they had not used the oven before as it had only been installed the previous evening. I was thinking wouldn’t you at least bake a cake to test it?

However before I castigate them too much it has been revealed today in the Herald Sun that they had not been cooking in their homes but in their brothers. In fact only four of the 12 couples cook in their own kitchens and this is because of logistics. They need to have the space for the control room and generator.

Also it appears, the kitchen and where the contestants dine has to be separate and considering the trend is open plan living this must be an issue for a lot of people who want to go on the show.

From the ads we could see Leigh and Jennifer from South Australia were being set up as the villains. Leigh looks the most surly, but Jennifer is going to get a lot of air time due to her Paris Hilton type qualities including carrying around a small dog and appearing completely vacuous. Oh and she also has the annoying habit of  sighing “yeah” alot.

However I also found Tom who is partnered with “friend” Clare to be rather arrogant. Both Clare and Tom declared they were just friends, and they don’t want anything else but I am not convinced.  For Tom to only think of Clare as a friend would go against the Ladder Theory which states that guys cannot think of girls as friends.

Steve and Helen from Sydney were the first to cook for the other teams their menu was Saganaki Prawns, Open-style moussaka served with Greek Salad, and Cypriot Pancake with vanilla icecream and walnut preserve.

Their big issue in the kitchen was they could not work the stove so the lamb shoulder for the moussaka was transfered to a frypan, but Steve finally figured out the cryptic instructions and they were able to start cooking.

Their “restaurant” was obviously a greek theme and they went the full kitschness with it including greek statues. This set up the atmosphere nicely.

However Leigh and Jennifer wanted more Greek. How they thought this could be achieved was unclear. Did they want a mini version of the acropolis as the centre piece on the table?

After the judges arrived the other “surprise” of  the mystery couple, Simon and Meg, the New Zealand team.  I dont’ know what the big deal is about having a NZ team there is more rivalry between NSW and Queensland at State of Origin time. There is no way the NZ people will win as the aussie viewers would be peeved to see the $250,000 go off shore.

Helen and Steve argued about the presentation of the entree. Steve wanted lots of sauce and  Helen was not wanting to go the rustic route. Again did these people not watch the last two seasons, Manu Feildel is always going on about how he likes lots of sauce.

Leigh and Jennifer thought it needed seasoning. Justine the truck driver from Perth snapped back there is enough salt in the cheese.

It was then revealed by the New Zealand team that they had not had Greek cuisine before as there are no Greek restaurants in New Zealand.

Ironically it was Pete Evans who complained about the lack of sauce not Manu.

The main course was Moussaka and it looked like stew on a plate, very unappetising.  Pete thought it was a good honest home cooked meal. Manu was not liking the sauce he thought it was far too reduced.

Jennifer picked on every aspect of the moussaka and then at the end said “good effort”. She also  thought the ice-cream was a bit eggy. She wasn’t going to win a popularity contest anytime soon around the dinner table.

The Army boys from Queensland, David and Scott, who appear quite droll scored them a 7, the WA girls gave a 7, Thomas and Carla  gave a 7, the New Zealand team gave a 7, but  Jennifer and Leigh gave a 6. This gave Steve and Helen a total of 34 out of 50.

The judges scored as well with Manu giving an eight for entree, a five for main, and an eight for dessert. Whereas Pete scored the entree a seven, the main a five and dessert an eight.

This came to a total of 75 which if previous seasons are anything to go by should not land them at the bottom, as usually one team totally tanks.

Well Margie just turned herself into the villain of The Biggest Loser by being the first one to cast a vote when in fact she didn’t have to and no one would have been eliminated. Was it tactical or was she just too thick to comprehend what Hayley had been telling her?

Hayley Lewis looked shocked like Margie had gone AWOL on The Biggest Loser script.

Tonight it was weigh-in and elimination night, and this resulted both the under 30 year-old teams members up for elimination. In fact this was interesting in itself as considering the younger ones have a faster metabolism.

Selena and Hamish were sent in to be voted out by the red and black team, however Hayley after whipping up hysteria revealed that if they did not want to vote anyone out this week they did not have to but the decision needs to be unanimous.  Lydia had previously been bitch slapping Selena about her lack of effort, and Margie who I think has a little crush on her was backing her in.

So Alex starts the vote and says he is abstaining, and then Margie votes for Selena. Quite frankly understandably everyone was stunned.  Hayley even asked her if Margie was playing the game and she denied this. She also said Selena needed to be there, and Hayley responded with an incredulous “she could have stayed”!

Also I suspect this manoeuvre by her will make her a pariah with her house mates and put a target on her back.

I truly believe she was just stupid. Anyway this meant Selena ended up being eliminated. Which was a pity as I don’t think she will have the motivation once she is outside the house.

Anyway it was the first weigh-in and as expected there were big numbers dropping. Interesting that some of the contestants can drop 10 kilos and not feel the difference.

The red team were the first to weigh in:

• Margie was first up and she lost 8.4 kgs so was down to 150.7 kgs;
• Brenda lost 7.7 kgs and now weighs 113 kgs;
• Lisa lost 6 kg is now 98.2 kg;
• Lydia 131.6kgs and lost 10.3 kgs.

Team has a total weight loss percentage of 6.16%

The White team (under 30 girls):

• Kasey weighed in at 125.9kg and lost 6.9 kgs;
• Michelle weighed in at 102.4 kgs which is a loss of 8 kgs;
• Bek – lost 5.3 kgs and now weighs 121.0 kgs;
• Selena weighed 158 kgs and lost 4.8 kgs.

Team weight loss percentage was 4.69%.

Selena was upset that she only lost a small amount and Hayley reassures her that she has lost nearly 5 kgs. It is a pity that Selena didn’t point out that the show places high expectations on contestants to drop big numbers.

Blue Team (under 30 boys):

• Luke weighed in at 137.3kgs and lost 7.9 kgs;
• Hamish weighed in at 143.8 kgs and lost 4.9 kgs;
• Ryan weighed in at 228.4kgs and has dropped 12.6 kgs;
• James weighed in at 126.4 kg lost 9.9 kgs.

Percentage of weight loss is  5.26 %.

Black team weigh in:

• Graham lost 11.3 kgs and now weighs 198kgs;
• Shane has lost 10.1 kgs and now weighs 154.7 kgs;
• Simon lost 9.9 kgs now weighs 154 kgs;
• Alex lost 10.7 kgs and now weighs 150kgs.

And with the extra 2 kgs they had a weight lost percentage of 6.29 kgs.

The two youngest people in the house, Hamish and Selena, were the two that lost the least and were put up for elimination. Did you think Margie do the right thing by voting or should she have abstained?