for those who have reality tv as their guilty pleasure

If you are not into watching sport on a Saturday night the new SBS series Bollywood Star looks like it could be an entertaining show.

The show is giving the opportunity for an Australian to become a Bollywood Star, and the program follows the search with the unknown winning a part in a Bollywood movie.

Because it is SBS it can’t be called a reality TV show, they describe it as  ”a fusion of the highly popular talent search format with observational documentary”.

Heading up the judging panel is film maker, author and leading Australian expert on the Indian entertainment sector, Anupam Sharma. He is joined by Sydney based Raj Suri is a photographer, producer and talent spotter, and Dipti Patil – Bollywood choreographer.

Bollywood Star Premieres on SBS on Saturday 2 June at 7.30pm.

The Voice continues to push more boundaries with not just ratings but also their innovative social media strategy.

Channel NINE have now announced Faustina Agolley, will be The V-Reporter for the Live Shows commencing this Monday at 7.30pm.

She will be the face of The V-Room, The Voice’s social media hub. Channel NINE says Faustina – former Australian host of Video Hits, will bridge the gap between on-air and online. She will make regular appearances during the live broadcasts, monitoring social media feeds and reporting key tweets and statistics to the audience.

The Voice will continue to push the boundaries between broadcast and online by bringing social media conversations to the on-air show. Agolley will address real-time feedback from viewers, engaging fans and connecting them to artists and coaches from The V-Room via Facebook, Twitter and www.thevoice.com.au.

And good news for Matt Lee fans he will be the choreographer for the show ensuring that the contestants have the moves to go with their songs. Looking forward to seeing him on the small screen again. He has been touring with Mary Poppins for the past 12 months.

The Voice live shows commence Monday night on NINE at 7.30pm, and remember the public will have the opportunity to now vote.

If rumours are correct it looks like Got To Dance has been canned for a second time. TV Tonight is reporting that even though auditions are still open until Monday the show may be going nowhere.

The host Andrew Gunsberg is starting to look like he has a hex on him when it comes to reality TV dance shows. He was the host of the US version of the show and it was axed after one season.

The Australian version had previously has been postponed from its airdate in 2011, at the time it was rumoured  Adam Garcia who is on the UK show was going to be a judge.

Whether Network TEN announcing dance show Everybody Dance Now made Foxtel rethink their show is unclear

However TV Tonight, who deservedly won the “Peoples Choice” in the Best Australian Blogs competition last week won, states both shows embrace solos, duos, group of any age and any style, leaving them with limited point of difference.

UPDATE: Apparently the Foxtel show could not compete with the free-to-air budgets.

Well after a few false starts Survivor One World will finally commence on NINE on Tuesday May 15 . This has been the second time NINE have announced the start of the series as it was meant to begin two weeks ago.

In the US the show is nearing the finale so NINE have been a bit slow off the mark much to the anger of hard core Survivor fans.

The tribes of a total of 18 contestants are divided into men versus women, will have to decide whether to share their resources with each other, or leave the opposing tribe to fend for themselves.

The two tribes are Salani Tribe and the Manono Tribe, named after islands in Samoa.

Salani Tribe (Women)
Nina Acosta, 51, Clovis, Calif., retired LAPD officer
Christina Cha, 29, West Hollywood, Calif., career consultant
Monica Culpepper, 41, Tampa, ex-NFL player’s wife
Kat Edorsson, 22, Orlando, timeshare rep
Chelsea Meissner, 26, Charleston, S.C., medical sales
Kourtney Moon, 29, Austin, Texas, motorcycle repair
Alicia Rosa, 25, Chicago, special ed teacher
Kim Spradlin, 29, San Antonio, bridal shop owner
Sabrina Thompson, 33, Brooklyn, high school teacher

Manono Tribe (Men)
Jay Byars, 25, Gaffney, S.C., model
Colton Cumbie, 21, Monroeville, Ala., college student
Michael Jefferson, 30, Seattle, banker
Leif Manson, 27, San Diego, phlebotomist
Jonas Otsuji, 37, Lehi, Utah, sushi chef
Bill Posley, 28, Venice, Calif., stand-up comedian
Matt Quinlan, 33, San Francisco, attorney
Troy Robertson, 50, Miami, swimsuit photographer
Greg Smith, 64, Houston, plastic surgeon

SURVIVOR: ONE WORLD – PREMIERES TUESDAY, MAY 15, AT 10.00PM ON NINE

Last night the remaining four were fighting it out to be the final team standing on Celebrity Apprentice Australia.

Mark Bouris took pity on the two young guns Nathan and Lauren and pair one each with Dicko and Ben Dark. The challenge was to write a song for to showcase a feel good message.

The problem with this challenge was that not much drama can come from sitting around a table writing a song. Well props to Ben Dark for trying to create some with his mentor John Paul Young. Ben was getting peeved that John Paul was not singing the song loud enough to show them how it was really going to sound. And he finally sheepishly sang it on camera. For a moment there was nearly a Deni Hines moment in the making.

Dicko’s team had a female singer, but it was not Deni, probably someone who is currently on The Voice.

Even though John Paul lay down the track, Ben and Lauryn did not like the result and decided to sing it themselves.  Probably not the best decision but said a lot about JPY’s vocals these days.

Both teams reference “Change The World” and Band-Aid, but the only the plagarism I could pick up was the riff on Dicko and Nathan’s song which sounded vaguely like the Black Eyed Peas “I’ve Got A Feeling”. Anyway don’t expect to see either of those songs on iTunes anytime soon.

Ben Dark and Lauryn Eagle were fired. Ben thought he was winner anyway and in someways he was. He is one of the few that came out with his reputation intact. He appears to be a difficult personality however he did get the job done.

Lauryn Eagle who showed a lot of moxie on the show, will continue to have a media career.

Here is an interview I did with her at Fashion Week where she talks about her feud with Tania Zaetta.

On Masterchef Australia last night at times I thought I was watching the Twilight Zone as at judging time plates kept on appearing and disappearing from the kitchen benches or in fact there were no food on the white plates. At time I wondered if I was seeing things or in fact not seeing things.

When the judges were about to start the tasting they panned down the room and there was barely a dish on the benches or the ones that were empty.

This was particularly the case when it came to Beau who was up the front. They were about to announce the last person whose dish was to be tasted and panned to Beau standing at his empty bench, then they announced his name and he turns to his right and picks up the dish!

Maybe because of the delicacy of the dishes they had to be put in the fridge. Who knows or whether it was shot after the tastings had been done we will never know. Last night showed that Masterchef was not back to basics, but to be honest I like a challenge where it showed who of the remaining contestants may have the flair to make an impact in the top 24.

It was a cooking baptism of fire with the pressure testing set by Shannon Bennett from Vue Du Monde, it was his take on Peach Melba. The dish had many “alaments” and  they had two hours to complete it.The kicker only twelve of the dishes were going to be tasted. However in the end it was lucky the judges even had the twelve to taste. As some people must have only plated up half a dish.

Andy an extremely good looking, 23 year old, electrician was so excited he blew out his pants. Considering they were not that tight it mystified me how he did it.  His cooking technique surprised Shannon as  did not think Andy was going to be able to do it. Was Shannon surprised a tradie could cook? Not sure how many chefs out there hold fine arts degrees Shannon! However he then said maybe as an electrician he is used to being methodical and that was what his recipes were about. His looked the best and he was put through to the top 24.

Beau had the advantage from the previous challenge of seeing and practising the recipe the night before, and that must have helped him, as even though his white chocolate cage collapsed his dish got tasted.

Kylie a physiotherapy student wants to have cafe and dessert bar and was in her comfort zone, and even though her dessert did not have the vanilla mousse she was through to the top 24.

Lydia the greek mum from Perth who looks like she could be a lot of fun and managed to do enough to get through, as did the intense looking legal secretary Julia who sells cupcakes at markets at the weekends.

Keen a good looking asian guy given his first screen time of the series also got his Peach Melba tasted but it was not good enough to obtain an apron. However Ben the teacher from Tassie finally got through.

Unfortunately Fillippo and Yukio must have had a disaster as neither of their dishes were tasted.

With only six spots left to fill, and twenty seven contestants left, they were then told the judges would be culling them down to twelve to compete for them. This was a tad harsh.

Surprisingly Tania was sent home, but Kath who made the Singapore Crab at the auditions was given one last chance. Mario the car detailer and another guy with beard fluff were retained.

Fillippo had to go into the great hall to face the judges himself. They acknowledged how serious he was but said he was getting another opportunity to cook. This guy has to get through to the top 24. His intensity is fantastic, and will give far more entertainment then Beau who looks a tad bland. You just know at some stage he is going to flip out.

Also the guy can cook.

Yukio also got the same solo treatment not sure if they were trying to make him cry again, but he toughed it out and he will get one last chance.

Deb and Karen were also given chance, as were Roger, Keen and Mindy. Last to get the green light were young girls Emma and Dom. Whereas poor James who we never saw was sent home.

Sunday the top 24 will be finalised and at this stage most of the contestants look interesting and showcases a diversity.

Celebrity Apprentice’s series two is limping to an end. With a cast that looked good on paper they just didn’t appear to be firing up on screen. Dane Bouris has been cracking more jokes than Vince Sorrenti.

One of the issue how obvious some of the scripting has been with The Hoff leaving for “personal reasons”,  Patti Newton falling on her sword, and Jason Akermanis lashing out at how staged the whole show is.

Personally I don’t  mind reality shows having a bit of manipulation as long as it makes it entertaining.

Last night it was a double elimination with the teams of three having to produce a one page ad for BMW. Dicko, Charlotte Dawson, and Vince had pictures taken and put in the photo. Surprisingly Vince was not happy with his shots and had them done again. Even when they were presenting to panel the three just looked like they did not want to be there.

Whereas Ben Dark, who spent most of his talking down to Lauryn, put himself in the photo as a cowboy James Bond and made a pun on his name. Even with a technical error   in their copy writing they won.

Dicko saved himself in the boardroom with it was all my fault speech, whereas Charlotte did the opposite and kept on saying she thought the ad was fine even though she was given multiple opportunities by Mark Bouris to admit that maybe it was not that great. Mark Bouris ended up firing Vince and Charlotte.

I was slightly surprised as this means there are three guys in the final, and Lauryn Eagle is the last woman standing. She has a lot of moxie but she has also had a fair bit of luck on the show and has only been in the boardroom once and this was the time Patti left.

The final will be between Ben Dark, Dicko, he who never smiles Nathan Joliffe, and Lauryn. Ben or Dicko must be favourites to win, and at this stage I think Ben might take it.

If there is a third series it has to be good casting and let the advisors be more relaxed and unscripted both out in the field and in the board room.

Are the judges on Masterchef Australia tasting all the dishes? Over the past few nights you only see one or at best two of the judges tasting it. This is probably reasonable when they were tasting fifty dishes, however I thought it was a bit strange last night when there were only 10 dishes to try.

Matt Moran definitely only tasted Sam’s dish as he cut up the salmon and he was standing at the bench when Sam picked it up and returned to his place. OK Gary and George both tasted Athena’s salmon with saffron sauce, but it was unclear by the editing how many of the judges tasted the other dishes. If they are tasting them and we are not seeing their comments because they are wanting to show more of the food, all well and good. However if might be a bit rough if they are not and raised the question on how are they deciding who goes through? What happens if a particularly dish is border line?

Last night the challenge on Masterchef was to fillet a salmon and cook a dish. However the catch was only ten people could participate and five would get through to the top 24 and the other five would be eliminated. The contestants had the choice to either step forward or not. Personally if I was not a confident fish cook I would not have put my hand up. If you are going to be eliminated at least try and make the odds more in your favour.

Even the 27 people that stepped forward were not guaranteed a place in the challenge they then had to pull knives to get in the ten.

Athena who sadly was eliminated had never cooked with salmon before and did a good job cutting and cooking it but it was not enough to get her through.

Two of the contestants butchered their fish, the Brewer from WA (sorry did not catch his name) his brief appearance on the show is now over, and Lindy who prepared a trio of salmon. She received good reviews but it was not enough to get her through.

What was interesting was how they judged how well the salmon was cooked. In some restaurants some of the fish they were gushing over looked very underdone (something I quite like), whilst others were more translucent. Treagan’s who did salmon with a walnut topping looked perfect, however I thought Alice and Matthew’s may have been a bit undercooked. However the judges were happy with it.

It would be interesting to know if there was fear and loathing from the other eliminated contestants that  Matthew got through.

Alice looks interesting and creative and did a take on a salmon bagel, and she went into the top 24. Just as well as she rolled the dice and came up a winner as she quit her job as a teacher.  Wade appeared to have learnt something from his filleting lesson on the Mornington Peninsula and was put through with his smoked salmon with dirty rice. Not bad for his first time smoking fish.  Finally Sam the banker from WA got through with some solid cooking of the classic salmon, pototo and pea puree.  Lucy, Athena, the brewer from WA, Lindy and some other guy who all I saw do a chest bump with Wade were eliminated.

Finally the remaining contestants had to compete in a making butter challenge by whisk. They had to make it and the butter slab had to be within 5 grams of 150 grams. The winner would obtain an advantage in the next challenge. At first I thought it was a bit unfair as it is such a physical challenge but Karen was the first up there to get weighed, however she was told there was still too much butter milk in it. In the end Beau won and he would get to see what the dish was in tonight’s pressure test.

Even with him gaining that advantage I suspect he still won’t make top 24.

Would you have stepped up for the salmon challenge or not taken the risk?

Darren McMullen host of The Voice is a personality that publicity departments hate, but media outlets love as he does appears he does not have a filter on his brain. Hopefully he won’t get one.

Yesterday he was on Mornings on Nine and slammed contestant Petra Jeffress who had been on Today Tonight the previous evening bucketing The Voice. Unfortunately NINE Network have pulled the clip from online.

TV Tonight has the transcript of what Darren said:

“Obviously there was that idiot who was on Seven’s current affairs show last night slagging off the whole process,” he said.

He said she had the chance to perform before the “Most people she has ever sung in front of, and let’s be honest, will probably ever sing in front of because she’s not that good.

“She was rude to staff, she was rude to crew. She didn’t listen to anything Darren (Hayes) and Delta had to say. She was a prima donna, she knew better than anybody. She wasn’t happy with the way the song was arranged, this, that and the other.

“She came out and absolutely killed one of my favourite Prince songs of all time. It was hard to listen to. Screeching down the microphone.”

“Harsh!” replied Sonia Kruger.

“This industry is about attitude right? That’s the perfect example of why you don’t deserve to be on the show and why you’ll never make it, because your attitude stinks,” he insisted.

McMullen’s slamming, which belies the show’s positive tones, also contradicts his comments on stage after Jeffress sang Purple Rain with Viktoria Bolonia.

“Love that song! Great pairing!” he said at the time. But today he claims it was screeching.

When watching the episode I thought it was bizarre that Peta missed being picked to the girl who sang Purple Rain with a Russian accent but maybe she just did not connect with Delta. However Peta gives  a cracker interview to Today Tonight see below where she outlines the audition process which makes it look like it is not really about “The Voice”.

Also interesting that Delta’s mentor Darren Hayes said he would have picked Peta.

Well Alex only has himself to blame for not having an extra $220,000 in his bank account. He had the opportunity to get rid of Margie on Sunday night’s episode but did not have the gumption to wield the knife.

Anyway I was happy with the win, with Margie winning the title of this years The Biggest Loser. She lost a massive 73.2 kgs. She also provided most of the drama in the house.

Interestingly she said in the Daily Telegraph that she had been bullied in the house by Hamish and Simon, and she also admitted she had been playing the game.

Lydia won the biggest loser outside of the house and this was a prize of $20,000. She looks like she is going to turn into a female body builder, she was looking fit.

There is no news yet on whether TEN will go another season on this show. The ratings were average, however they did achieve some romances on the show and considering it was The Biggest Loser – Singles that was a good outcome.