Sheesh Channel 7 was there meant to be some sort of symbolism of having new host Luke Jacobz standing on a cliff in the opening sequence? Christ if Matt Newton was watching the show this is exactly where he would want to be knowing he had blown his big come back and that his entertainment career is officially in rigor mortis.

By the way the Bert and Patti interview on ACA I am still not sure why they did it, to try and gain some sympathy for him? Now The X Factor has started I think the Matt Newton saga will now fade into the background as there is more to talk about.

I really didn’t need the ten minute opening sequence of boats on the harbour and blurb about the judges, but after that I did enjoy the episode. Something I wasn’t expecting as I normally hate the audition episodes. And props for not having any mentally ill people for the judges to poke fun at. However they did break 60 year old Gail Matikainen heart after she butchered her song. However someone should hook her up with fellow auditioner  Hoe Ng 56 year old admin worker who is a ghost from Christmas karoke parties in my past.

At the moment it is the  Kyle Sandiland show with his quips that at times are rather amusing, with Natalie Imbruglia playing the pretty nice girl part very well. However isn’t she too young to be doing the botox thing? She had to move her eyes more because her forehead wasn’t moving. Guy Sebastian was also playing good cop, but if I were the contestant’s this would be the mentor I would actually want.

And Ronan Keating I am not sure what his role is –  a bit bad, but a bit nice. Maybe he is there to sex up the panel a bit.

Apparently the groups in the auditions have been ordinary, and  to prove that point they show It Takes Three who said they kept in touch after they left school, they looked so young I thought they meant primary school. They  sang out of tune acapella and were sent back to uni.

India-Rose Madderom who has signalled out as a favourite due to some Sunday paper loving yesterday, sang a Joss Stone song. She was good, but a bit out of breathe. You do wonder if she had not been gorgeous whether the judges would have been quite so gushy.

Sometimes you have got to let go of the dream and  Altiyan Childs who at 35 has been wanting to “make it” for quite sometime probably needs to. The wannabe rock star and forklift driver forgot the lyrics to This Sex Is On Fire, and did some crazy posturing moves. Michael Hutchene’s has a lot to answer for. However he is getting a second chance and we will see if he gets through tomorrow night.

On the plus side there was not a lot of Whitney, Mariah or Celine sung, but there was a lot of Lady Gaga. Finally a generational change.

Sarah Slim was one such person, who actually wants to be as famous as Lady Gaga. She was built her up as being someone to watch, but she turned out to be just another deluded soul. I think if she is wanting to get famous she should hope for a return of Big Brother and do something outrageous in the spa.

Daniela Gorelik who is a student also sang Gaga badly.

Amanda Grafanakis a 27 year old hospitality worker who for some reason reminded me of a brunette Fiona Horne finally bought a bit of cred to the show with a good rendition of Gaga. Her shoes were amazing like a stiletto trainers.

Bonnie-Rae Barnes who was 17 but looked 12 murdered Cyndi Lauper True Colours, Kyle said “you are like a drunk monkey driving a semi-trailer”. Is that the new way of saying she was a train wreck?

Harry Abu the gay guy from Brunei sang This Is The Moment. And wasn’t he perfect reality TV casting. Emotive story, boy next door sweetness, and could sing. Also he was prepared to come out on national TV. His parents hopefully aren’t online and know what You Tube is as they will now know there little boy won’t be bringing an Aussie girl home to meet them soon. But hey good on him.

Andrew Lawson an 18 year old from Brisbane was my personal favourite of the evening. He sang Sinatra but looked like a cool boy. If he gets through is going to be a hit with the girls. His only negative he had a Matt Newton look about him.

Nicole Kenaway an unemployed country girl who was being portrayed as a young Susan Boyle of the competition, currently lives in a shipping container. She sang Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood. Her voice was great and it will be interesting to see how she goes once a bit of spit and polish happens to her.

Trent Bell underwhelmed me with his rendition of Sex Is On Fire, but Kyle predictably thinks if they are good looking they should sing pop.

George Walter 19 student was OK the judges thought he was better than I did as Kyle called him “sexual chocolate”.

TJ Alijanz the 16 year old was a little cutie with an average voice he got through. I doubt he will still be there for the performance shows.

Another one of my faves was Rodrigo Alvarado from Chile who is a former cruise singer who sang Queen. He has kept a bit of that P&O Princess cheesiness with his spanglish singing accent and bolero moves. No surprise  he got through to boot camp.

The show continues to bounce back and forward around the auditions so if it is the pink dress for Natalie it must be Melbourne, but other then that the first episode set a good pace, with the lack of host not really noticeable. With four personalities already, we don’t really need one more.

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Seriously if you are in the US don’t bother going to University, just become a cocktail waitress, reality star or now an exotic dancer.

News.com.au are alleging Kyle Sandiland’s new girlfriend is a 22 year old exotic dancer. If you are wondering what they talk about – don’t bother.

Anyway the article gives these details:

Fresh from his marriage split to pop singer Tamara Jaber, Sandliands, 39, has been spending time with 22-year-old Californian exotic dancer Nicole Marie White

According to Woman’s Day, Smith, a model and US reality TV star, met Kyle at the Los Angeles gentlemen’s club Plan B, about a year ago when he asked for a private session with her.

The relationship reportedly developed to the point where Nicole joined Kyle in Australia in March this year and was at a number of auditions for Australia’s Got Talent.

The cast and crew all knew who she was when she was on set,” a production assistant told the magazine.
She was seated in the audience and also went backstage.

Photographs have now emerged of the pair strolling through LA airport together with matching Louis Vuitton luggage looking very much together.

The model was part of the second series of Paris Hilton’s show My BFF, but did not make it to the final rounds because Paris thought she was using her to secure future acting opportunities.

Woman’s Day quotes Hollywood reporter Jade Watkins who recently spotted Kyle and his then mystery companion at LA airport, after they flew together first class on a Qantas flight from Australia, and saw them strolling through the airport together.

“They shared a cab, both sitting in the back seat, and she was fussing with his hair and touching his face,’ Jade says. I saw them kiss in the back of the cab and knew she wasn’t Tamara.”

Sandilands told The Daily Telegraph today that they were just friends.

Oh come on Kyle who makes friends with an exotic dancer to the point that you are flying them around the world.

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Last night Kyle Sandiland’s and Tamara Jaber put out an official announcement to say the are indeed separated.

The Daily Telegraph says:

Kyle Sandilands and Tamara Jaber wish to acknowledge that the past few months have been challenging due to their individual work demands which have required extended periods of time apart,” a statement released from Sandilands’ management King Kyle Group said last night.

The also say that the divorce may not be all that lucrative for Tamara.

Most of the couple’s major assets are in Sandilands’ companies and divorce experts said she would not receive anything like a 50/50 split.

And despite his huge earnings – which include $4 million a year from major employer 2DayFM and an estimated $1 million a year from the Seven Network – records show many of Sandilands’ major assets have large levels of debt registered against them.

Family law expert Glenda Laurence of Argyle Lawyers said the courts would likely allow Sandilands to keep most of the assets he had not given to Jaber: particularly as there were no kids. “She’s probably not going to get an awful lot, given that it’s a short relationship,” she said.

But Sandilands showered plenty on his soon-to-be ex-wife, including an estimated $100,000-plus platinum and diamond engagement ring.

Estimates also put his spending on Jaber’s career at more than $500,000, including upwards of $300,000 to record her latest album.

It will be interesting to see if this effects Tamara’s performance on Dancing With The Stars as at this stage she must be favourite to win. Tamara denies being involved with her Dancing With The Stars partner.

Andrew Hornery of the SMH did mention on Twitter that he thought the timing of their separation was interesting considering it was the week that his radio partner Jackie O announced her pregnancy.

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Rumours have been circulating for awhile but the Daily Telegraph (lifted from Woman’s Day) are today reporting that judge on The X Factor, Kyle Sandilands, and Dancing With The Stars contestant Tamara Jaber have split. If this is true this will mean Kyle will become one of Sydney’s most eligible bachelors.

The article states:

An urgent meeting of Sandilands’ and Jaber’s management teams was taking place this afternoon to devise a PR strategy to handle their apparent split.

A source said a statement was being prepared and would be released this afternoon.

Previous stories and speculation the couple had split were denied by spokespeople in recent weeks.

However, a story published in Woman’s Day today reported Sandliands had begun telling friends of the split in Sydney last week.

“It’s an open secret,” a friend of the couple reportedly told the magazine.

“They’ve been on the rocks for months.”

Kyle and Tamara appeared together at the radio host’s 39th birthday party at the Piano Room at Kings Cross but  left separately.

Sandilands has been reportedly living in city hotels including Blue at Woolloomoloo and Star City casino for the last couple of months while Jaber has been staying at the family home at St Ives.

Also the magazine has photos of both parties not wearing their wedding rings.

Tamara is denying she is on with her dance partner Carmelo Pizzino.

The Woman’s Day article also gives further evidence of their split. It states:

Last week Kyle and Tamara flew to Melbourne separately, arriving within hours of each other. They then checked into different hotels and flew home to Sydney separately.

“They tried to work at the marriage,” says the friend. “Tamara was trying to get back with him as recently as a week or so ago, but Kyle was the one who wasn’t showing a lot of interest.”

Also Tamara recently showed off the couple’s $1.9 million Sydney home on TV’s Better Homes and Gardens. But there was no sign of Kyle, who later admitted the first he knew of the segment was when he saw it advertised on TV.

Last week Tamara addressed their relationship with Woman’s Day. She said

“Our relationship is unusual”.

“We do our own thing and that’s the way it works. People notice things I don’t really notice because we do things the way we want to. We spend a lot of time apart because of work, probably more time than other couples.”

Well we will have to wait and see how true all this is. I suspect Tamara will fade into obscurity once Kyle is no longer on her arm.

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In more publicity for their reality TV shows on Seven, Kyle Sandilands and Tamara Jaber’s St Ives house is on Better Homes and Gardens tonight. I don’t usually watch the show, but if the pictures on the Daily Telegraph website and in the paper are anything to go by I am checking it out.

The shoe closest alone is mind blowing, how does anyone find the time to shop for so many? If you are expecting to see Kyle on the show you will be disappointed it will be Tamara only.

Tamara who is clearly the best dancer on Dancing On The Stars. In an interview with the Daily Tele this week, she said she has never danced professionally. She does have extensive dance training. I would love to know what the other contestants think of that.

On the US version of the show this year, the Pussycat Doll’s singer Nicole Scherzinger won with some rumblings about the fact she was a professional performer. The Pussycat Doll’s do some pretty rigorous dance routines as well as sing.

Maybe if they are going to have people who can dance, which is a good thing, they should make sure there is a few of them to make it competitive.

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Australian Idol judge Marcia Hines has told the Daily Telegraph that it was wrong that Kyle Sandilands was sacked from the show last year. Kyle was dumped after he questioned a fourteen year old about her sex life on radio in front of her mother where she revealed she had been sexually assaulted.

Marcia said in the article:

“It was one of the most unfair things I’ve seen,” she said, of Kyle, who was sacked as a judge following a controversy on his radio show.

“He’s my buddy. I like Kyle. Kyle says what he wants to say. Most people are the same way but they’re not on TV. I was so bummed out that he was taken off the show.”

Hines said she agreed with popular opinion that new judge Jay Dee Springbett was boring.

“You said it, so I don’t need to repeat it,” she said. “Jay Dee and Dicko were too similar. There was no humour. That’s where Kyle came in.”

Marcia Hines in the article did not reveal what she thought her role on the show was.

Kyle’s TV career is continuing to thrive with a gig on Australia’s Got Talent, and the new X Factor.

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Channel Seven have won/bought the Australian rights to reality TV and talent show The X Factor which will be screened later this year, with Kyle Sandilands to be one of the judges on this popular show from the UK.

The other judges will be pop cutie Natalie Imbruglia, pop star and Australian Idol alumni, Guy Sebastian, and Ronan Keating singer and former member of Westlife. Interestingly enough Australia’s Got Talent judge Brian McFadden has been overlooked for his former boy band member Keating. I wonder how he feels about that.

The X Factor is open to singers of all ages – either solo performers or groups. Once through the final audition process, the four judges will take on mentoring roles, as the performers are split into categories – Boys under 25, Girls under 25, the over 25s and the Groups.

This will culminate with a huge weekly live show, in front of the judges and the Australian public. The winner will be rewarded with a recording contract with Sony Music Australia.

Channel Ten previously had the format but for some reason it did not work, however with Australian Idol currently in hiatus (ok now probably dead) it should have a better chance of attracting talent and viewers. For those who care a group called Random won that series.

A host has yet to be announced but chances are it will be a high profile Channel Seven personality. But count out Daniel Macpherson as he hosted the original series on Ten. I wouldn’t mind seeing Sonia Kruger in the role, however chances are it will go to a person of the male gender.

The show will be produced by Fremantle Media and will be shown later this year.

Auditions will begin at the end of May in Perth and travel around the country:

PERTH

THE PERTH CONVENTION EXHIBITION CENTRE Sunday May 30 and Monday May 31

ADELAIDE

ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Wednesday June 2

MELBOURNE

CAULFIELD RACECOURSE Saturday June 5, Sunday June 6 and Monday June 7

SYDNEY

AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY PARK, BAY 4 Saturday June 12, Sunday June 13 and Monday June 14

BRISBANE

SOUTHBANK PIAZZA Saturday June 19 and Sunday June 20

Full audition details are available at www.xfactortv.com.au

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What is it with Brian McFadden, and his bad temper? We had the tweets with his ex-Kerry Katona, which really did not make us want to get on Team Brian, and now this –  telling a 50 year old contestant on Australia Got Talent to fuck off.

An article on Nine MSN says that Brian may have put his employment at risk because of his comments.

The article says:

Irish singer Brian McFadden may be kicked off Australia’s Got Talent after he allegedly told a comedian appearing on the show to “f*** off back to England”.

In an exchange cut from the Channel 7 show, McFadden swore at 50-year-old comic Anne Ferguson-Howe after she criticised fellow judge Kyle Sandilands about a radio lie-detector stunt gone wrong, the Herald Sun reported.

Sandilands reportedly began the war of words when he mocked Mrs Ferguson-Howe’s weight after her routine had bombed on the talent show.

British-born Mrs Ferguson-Howe then struck back by asking Sandilands “when was the last time you had a chat about rape?” — a reference to the judge’s controversial radio stunt last year.

McFadden then reportedly told Mrs Ferguson-Howe to get off the stage before she replied “Listen pal, if you’re going to dish it out, you’ve got to learn to take it back.”

McFadden then reportedly removed his microphone, climbed onto the stage and said to the woman “Why don’t you f*** off back to England?”

“I’m a thick-skinned woman of 50 who loves a laugh but if it had been a 20-year-old girl the size I am with low self-esteem, I think I would have gone home and shot myself,” Mrs Fergson-Howe said afterwards.

She made up with Sandilands after the show but received no apology from McFadden.

“I’ve got no problem with Kyle — we shook hands,” she said.

“Brian, I tell you, I’d spit on him.”

Channel Seven told the Herald Sun the exchange was edited out of Tuesday’s show.

I mean seriously why does Kyle always attack women on their weight, but he seems to think it is ok for overweight guys to be on TV. And really Kyle Sandilands can defend himself.

Maybe Seven leaked the story to get some media in the Masterchef Australia glut, but I don’t think so. I know I normally say all publicity is good publicity, however Australia’s Got Talent is very much pitched at the family market.

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Just when I start to think maybe Brian McFadden is not a complete tool I go and read something that goes and makes me think he is again.

In the Sun Herald today Kirstie Lau wrote a little vignette about Brian McFadden and he makes it sound like Australia’s Got Talent is lucky to have him.

The article states:

It was always an obvious revenge tactic but Brian McFadden has confirmed Kyle Sandilands jumped on board with Australia’s Got Talent to ruffle Australian Idol’s feathers. McFadden tells S Sandiland’s decision was completely calculated.

“The main reason he’s doing this show is just to piss of Idol,” he says. “It’s just to stick two fingers up and say, ‘Well, your show’s gone and look at my show.’ And that’s the thing about Kyle and what I love about Kyle. I’m not even telling you anything he wouldn’t tell you himself.”

McFadden added that Sandilands purposely lured many of the Australian Idol crew over to Channel Seven.

“The main producer on Australia’s Got Talent, Greg Burness, he was Idol’s producer and Kyle brought him over,” McFadden says. “The Idol team are great with Kyle; it’s only Channel Ten who’s pissed off.”

McFadden was referring to the axing of Sandilands received after a controversial radio stunt.

The Irish singer, who is a judge on the new show alongside Sandilands and Danni Minogue, admits he and Sandilands only accepted their gigs after making certain Australia’s Got Talent would undergo a total revamp. “I was living with Kyle in LA when he got the calls and I’d never seen the show before, so I didn’t know it was quite cheap and shitty before,” McFadden says.

“When Kyle was doing the conversations, the reason he took it at first was because they said they were going to triple the budget to make it like Britain’s Got Talent. We said we wouldn’t want to do the show if ti was the same as it used to be, only replacing Red [Symons, a past judge] and Tom [Burlinson, another judge]. They said they’d give it a massive push. I had to be a part of that then.”

Really he make it sound that Channel Seven should be grateful he deigned to do the show.

However it appears Brian does like to say or tweet what he thinks as he just called his former wife Kerry Katona a “pig faced mole” on twitter.

According to the Herald Sun, this was in response to her claims that he only spoke to his two daughters five times a year. He of course is refuting this and says he speaks to them a couple of times a week. I would have thought by now they would have been skyping each other.

Anyway one thing is for certain neither will be awarded parent of the year.

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I have always been on the record regarding my aversion to reality TV producers taking the mickey out of contestants who obviously have an mental illness as they are easy targets and particularly vulnerable.

But also it has been revealed the Australia’s Got Talent Producers were inviting groups to audition on the show to ridicule them.

The square dancing troupe who were ridiculed on the show on Tuesday night had been invited to perform, they had not auditioned.

News.com.au reveals:

And a troupe of square dancers claim they were set up by the show after the producers invited them on, only for the judges to lampoon them. Square dancing caller Darren Taylor says his group members were ridiculed as soon as they came out on stage. “I have never experienced anything like it before,” he said.

“I’ve been calling for 22 years. I know that it has a bad reputation as being a bit ‘yeehaw’ and that’s why I was concerned about going on in the first place.

“We didn’t apply. They called us and said they really wanted square dancers this year because they wanted it to be a community show.

“But as soon as we walked out Brian (McFadden) buzzed us. He said one of our girls looked like a toilet-roll doll. Dannii (Minogue) also zeroed in on what we were wearing and Kyle said I had my jumper tucked into my pants.

“It was embarrassing. When we finished we had to stand there for minutes while the audience laughed at us.”

Mr Taylor said that many contestants had left the stage in tears.

“One person was teased for their stutter,” he said. “They only showed about one quarter of what they said to us. If they’d showed it all, people would have been shocked at how harsh they were

In other shows controversy Melbourne woman Heather Cook says she was left speechless when Kyle Sandilands lambasted her before she’d even opened her mouth to sing, mocking her weight and questioning whether she was a man or a woman.

She said:

Ms Cook was “devastated” by the remarks of Sandilands, who asked her: “Are you male or female?”

The contestant, who dreamed of being a professional singer and had spent hours training with a professional coach, said she had performed for TV’s other notorious mean judges – Bernard King and Red Symons – and had received constructive feedback.

“They (Symons and King) could be harsh but they were also fair, this Kyle just tears people down,” she said.

When she tried to make light of being asked if she was male or female, the controversial judge then made a joke about Ms Cook’s weight, saying “You’re a belly full of laughs”.

“I felt the whole experience was devastating, and very unfair and unnecessary, and he destroyed any opportunity I had of demonstrating my voice to its fullest potential.

“To my way of thinking there is a lot of bullying going on around schools … so why promote a person such as Kyle to encourage people to be rude and disrespectful?”

With reality TV being the most watched genre on TV after sport maybe it is time a Reality TV Code of Practice was drafted so there is at least some ethical standards in this industry.

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