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.

Curtis Stone must be happy that Coles does not advertise in the USA, as credibility and this duet with Normie Rowe do not go together.

I presumed  Coles knew it was so bad it would go viral – which has been a positive thing for supermarket chain. All of Australia now knows they sell beef with no hormones in it.

Also half of Australia must be wondering who the strange peroxide blonde man on screen with Curtis is…

My favourite bit in the advertisement is Normie frottaging Curtis’s leg, a move clearly copied from Altiyan Child’s who used this move on guitar players on The X Factor.

Also Normie just looks a tad crazed – basically if I saw him in my neighbourhood I would be crossing the street to avoid.

However Normie Rowe hits back here with the classic line ”If you think I’ve sold out, so have all my shows,” he said.

I hope for Masterchef Australia’s sake that this advertisement is well and truly done and dusted by the time series four starts, as they won’t want viewers swapping channels in the ad breaks.

Ros Reines in the Sunday Telegraph (no link to original story online) fires a shot at Julie Goodwin about her appearance on the cover of last weeks New Idea and Julie Goodwin quite rightly fires back

Ros Reines who normally does an entertaining if slighty snarky weekly column starts off her article talking about the naked Deborah Hutton picture on the cover of Woman’s Weekly and how it was photoshopped.

However then she goes on to talk about last week’s New Idea cover which featured Julie Goodwin, Jesinta Campbell, Brynne Edelsten and Cornelia Frances in swimsuits, and lambasts Julie about her weight and how it is unhealthy.

Personally I think a picture of a normal woman on the cover in a swimsuit does more for making me feel more comfortable in my skin, then seeing a very hot model in the form of Deborah Hutton. I know I can never be like Deborah Hutton even photoshopped and the cover did not resonate with me, just as the the non-photoshopped Sarah Murdoch cover didn’t as well.  There gorgeous and models doesn’t matter what they are wearing.

However Julie standing there next to Jesinta Campbell made me think good on you and maybe women should be less critical about our own and others body image.

Anyway the Masterchef Australia Season One winner decided to fire back in her blog , which is the beauty of social media anyone can have a voice.

She writes:

“Predictably, gossip columnist Ros Reines has once again taken aim at my appearance because I do not fit her perception of what is healthy.

“However, it fascinates me that my health can be commentated by someone who has absolutely no medical data on me.

“I am grateful to my body, for the three children it has given me, for its strength and ability to work long hard hours, and for its robust good health,” she said

“It is well and truly time that we stopped approaching health with a cookie-cutter mentality  as in, thinner equals healthier, larger equals unhealthier.

“Its also dangerous as young girls opt for radical diet and drug options to be thin and fit the medias portrayal of health and beauty.

“It is shallow to suggest that we are all the same in body type and only people who overeat and are lazy might be bigger than a magazine model.

“Being thin and unfit has been found to be more dangerous to health than being overweight but fit.” she said.

Goodwin said she decided to pose for New Idea to help celebrate the difference between people.

“I did it for all the little teapots out there short and stout. And for anyone else who feels judged critically by other people. We should all be able to be comfortable in our own skin despite what uninformed media commentators write. “I celebrate the differences between people. I try very hard not to judge people by the way they look  because nobody knows anyone elses full story.

“As far as what I owe to myself and my children, I owe them food that is cooked from scratch, using as many fresh ingredients and as few additives as possible.

“I owe them mealtimes around the family table. I owe them the very best of myself, which includes keeping myself healthy via plenty of exercise, fresh air, fresh food and laughter.

“ I owe them a safe home and a community surrounding them that loves them. And I owe it to them to be self-confident and self-loving so that they can feel the same no matter whether or not they end up looking like Brad Pitt.

It appears Julie has a lot of support for her out there on this issue as it is going viral on Twitter and on Facebook. Maybe Ros as penance should pose in her swimsuit….

The contestants of Masterchef Australia Season 3 are struggling to gain much traction after the show ended. Even Hayden Quinn who was undoubtedly the star of the series is not able to get his cooking show up and running.

The Herald-Sun reports the cooking show concept where he travels the world and does recipes, was not given the green light by Channel Ten. Not surprising as it would be high budget and what ARE is cooking credentials?

However if you are a fan don’t despair he does have a cookbook coming out and he is commentating the Iron Man Series.

Masterchef Australia Season 3- The Cookbook lobbed into my mailbox today so I thought it was a good opportunity for a Masterchef fan to win it.

Or even if you are not a keen cook or Masterchef fan, you might be able to palm if off for Christmas to a family or friend.

It is a slick looking book with lots of pictures of the recipes and from the set of the show.

The recipes are from the top 24 contestants and some of the guest chefs. For example there is Heston Blummenthal’s burger and chips.

Also there is Billy twice cooked pork belly, the press release they call him the ‘dessert queen’ so not sure if the pun was intended or not. Dani’s rice burger is also in there, as is Kate’s coffee cake.

The winner will be randomly drawn, however my only requirement is you must say who was your favourite contestant was in Season 3 and live in Australia.

Competition will close Monday 5 December 8.00pm.

Masterchef Australia Season 3 – The Cookbook is published by Harper Collins.

I rarely veer off the reality TV topic on the blog but after watching this I just had to share.

I will give it a tenuous link to the topic of reality shows as it is about Qantas and they were major sponsors of this year’s Masterchef Australia……

Some wit made this YouTube video in response to the #qantasluxury hastag going viral on Twitter. Everyone has been scathing about it, but who in Australia now has not heard of #qantasluxury? Anyway here it is:

In disappointing news TV Tonight has noted that The Renovators may not be be renewed by Channel Ten.

TV Tonight says that Channel Ten in their video presentation to clients did not include The Renovators in their 2012 line up.

This is a pity it had the potential to be a really great show. However it rated poorly for something that was such a big production. Personally I think with some tinkering it could have rated big next year. It just needed a different slot – maybe later on in the year when people have forgotten about The Block.

It also needed the reality TV holy grail – the three C’s – Casting, clarity and consistency and this would have made it compelling.

David Knox also noted that Junior Masterchef was not on the lineup, however he states it was never guaranteed to be. However there could be a professional version of the show. Now that would be great particularly if they stick with the current Masterchef format.

Craig Young from season three Masterchef Australia says the show made him fat.

Newsflash: If you are going to enter a cooking show, chances are you are going to put on weight!

Young told the Sunday Telegraph that wen he entered the Masterchef house he weighed 110kgs and after he left he was 125kgs and had to book into a weight loss clinic to get it off.

He told the Sunday Telegraph:

“The biggest problem was that you were not allowed to leave the house,” he said. “So I found it quite hard to exercise at all. There were some weights in the garage, but that was not a nice place at all to exercise.”

Young said the program’s producers were “paranoid” about people leaving the house because “they were worried about paparazzi”.

“But I never saw a photographer outside,” he said. “There were nine days where I had nothing scheduled and I was going stir crazy and it would have been so much easier to go for a walk or jog . . . but that’s the rules of the show.”

Young said other contestants also had problems with weight gain because MasterChef was “not a low-fat food show”.

Well it would appear the scene where Hayden comes jogging into the house was staged. No wonder there was no sweat on him.

I liked Craig but seriously I am not feeling much sympathy for him on this issue.

The Sunday Telegraph reports the producer’s of Masterchef Australia, Shine, will be meeting with Ten executives this week to discuss changes to the format for 2012.

Obviously the falling ratings in the adult and junior version is setting off alarm bells and changes to the format will most likely occur.

The article states:

While Ten wants to continue to milk the culinary cash cow with another extended run in 2012, it is understood Shine Australia — which recently took over production of the show from Fremantle Media Australia — is worried the series has become overexposed and reached saturation point with audiences.

It is understood the series’ relentless on-air roster (which saw 85 episodes beamed into homes last season) has become the key point of contention among the show’s producers.

MasterChef executive producer Margaret Bashfield confirmed Shine would this week meet with Ten to discuss the show’s direction.

Asked whether the show had a future beyond next year, Bashfield said: “I think it does, but I think it won’t necessarily be in the same format that it is now. We have put together all our ideas of what we think the series should be . . . I can’t tell you at the moment if it will be different in that regard.”

However TEN will be sticking with the amount of time it is on our screens. Probably because it will be hard to fill it in with anything else.

I saw this on the Media Week YouTube Channel and thought it was hilarious, and how well do this kids do George and Gary Mehigan from Masterchef Australia?