Cleo’s list of Top 50 eligible bachelors was announced last week, with some of the hottest contestants on reality TV in the running, including Nic and Rosso from My Kitchen Rules.

The list of 50 bachelors is a good mix of actors, athletes, comedians, musicians and everyday Aussie men making the cut. Among them this year, is a good number of reality hopefuls who now have a real chance of winning something more than a TV competition!

Some bigger names in the running are comedian Matt Okine, Packed to the Rafters actor Ryan Corr, Home and Away and Underbelly actor Richard Brancatisano, politician Wyatt Roy, Rugby Union player James O’Connor, AFL player Israel Folau, Neighbours actor Chris Milligan and Channel Ten news presenter Matt Doran.

I also want to mention NRL player David Williams from Manly, because on his bachelor profile on the Cleo website, he was asked what pisses him off and he said reality television!

Who will you be rooting for? Check out the hunks of reality TV below!

Nic Mazzone and Rocco La Bella – My Kitchen Rules

The two friends are teamed up on Seven’s cooking show, but Nic and Rocco are going head to head in this beauty contest!

While the Cleo competition is for unmarried bachelors, project manager Nic says he’s ready to settle down and get married! His big life goals are to get hitched, start a family and earn enough money to retire!

When asked about what he thought of making it into the Top 50 list, the 26 year-old’s first thought was: “They’re scraping the bottom of the barrel this year!”

Meanwhile, Rocco is already offering to bake cakes in exchange for votes!

The 29 year-old finance manager admits that his first celebrity crush is actress Alyssa Milano, but claims his idea of a perfect date doesn’t exist because it can be anywhere or anything, as long as it’s with the right girl.

Johnny Ruffo – The X Factor Australia and Dancing with the Stars

The Dancing with the Stars hopeful is definitely in for a chance to win, with participation in two high-profile shows. And he certainly had enough votes from the teenage girls when he was competing on The X Factor.

The singer and dancer says he deserves to win the Cleo Bachelor title because he’s “cheeky, down to earth and lots of fun.” But maybe those qualities weren’t enough to get him into the Top 50, as Johnny jokes about sleeping with the editor to get a spot!

Nathan Jolliffe – The Amazing Race Australia and The Celebrity Apprentice Australia

Having won the first season of Australia’s version of The Amazing Race, 26 year-old model Nathan is now eyeing both titles of Celebrity Apprentice and Cleo Bachelor of the Year!

The former beau of Miss Australia Erin McNaught sure is confident about his chances. When asked about why he deserves to win the Cleo Bachelor crown, he says because “I really like winning?”

Tim ‘Timomatic’ Omaji – Australia’s Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance Australia

The 24 year-old singer and dancer is currently single after a split from girlfriend and SYTYCDA winner Talia Fowler last year. The couple attributed the break-up as due to work commitments and time apart.

He is currently focused on furthering his music career, and says that his drive and ambition should appeal to the ladies. When it comes to qualities in women, Timomatic likes girls who know how to ‘get down’, and is turned off my cockiness.

Hayden Quinn – MasterChef Australia

The aspiring foodie didn’t win the title of MasterChef in 2011, but he now has commentating gigs on Network Ten across a number of sporting events. The 25 year-old surf lifeguard seems quite comfortable with his masculinity in his interview answers on the Cleo website. He talks about his secret knitting talents and crying during the romance film, Dear John.

For Hayden, the biggest turn-off when looking for a potential partner, is too much make-up. And when asked about how he is in the bedroom, he says he’s “usually asleep”.

Lachlan Cosgrove – Beauty and the Geek Australia

While Lachlan’s reality TV relationship with beauty, Jordan Finlayson is going steady, the 23 year-old geek is still eligible as a ‘bachelor’ as long as he has no plans to wed in the near future!

Lachlan hasn’t always had luck with the ladies, as it wasn’t until Beauty and the Geek Australia that he found confidence is speaking to the opposite sex.

David Cardamone – The Family

Last on the list is the eldest Cardamone brother, David from SBS’s The Family. The 21 year-old university student is in a long-term relationship with girlfriend Jess, who also appeared on the reality show.

What David likes in a girl is the confidence in being comfortable in one’s skin and not having to hide behind too much make-up.

You can check out the rest of the Bachelor hopefuls on the Cleo website, where you can also vote for your favourites!

(Source: Cleo)

Curtis Stone is obviously feeling like he is one of the alpha chef’s at the moment as he has a swipe at Jamie Oliver for being overweight.

Curtis Stone who now lives in the US and is host of Top Chef Masters and a judge on America’s Next Top Restaurant, was happy to give his opinion about the fracas Jamie Oliver had with a journalist here.

When the journalist suggested he might be being hypocritical about people watching their weight because he was a bit chubby,  he called her a bitch.

The Herald Sun reports that Curtis said on a talk show that Jamie needs to show more responsibility.

The article stated:

While co-hosting The Talk on Friday, Stone criticised the Brit for calling an Australian journalist “a bitch” when she questioned his weight during a visit last week.

The Aussie-born chef says Oliver should show more responsibility.

“The interesting part of this for me is that Jamie is a big voice and he preaches, you know his show is called The Food Revolution,” Curtis said.

“So, he’s there talking about healthy food and you’ve got to practise what you preach.

“I love Jamie. I think he’s a great guy. I think what he stands for is really important.

“We’ve all had different relationships with food – some great, some not so great. But when you’ve got a place in the TV world of responsibility, you’ve got to follow through.”

What do you think? Does Jamie Oliver have to stay in tip top shape to be able to get his message of healthy eating to the masses?

Jamie Oliver also filmed an episode of Masterchef Australia when he was here.

Season two winner of Masterchef Adam Liaw has now got at TV show which will be shown on SBS later this year.

Adam is currently filming the travel/food show called Destination Flavour.

The show will be co-hosted by Renee Lim and Lily Serna.

The Telegraph reports Adam has had previous TV show offers.

They write:

Destination Flavour comes after almost two years of negotiations between Liaw and various networks.

The MasterChef winner admitted he considered several offers before reaching an agreement with SBS.

“There were a lot of shows that were considered but mostly they were just not right for me,” Liaw told Confidential yesterday.

“It mostly had to do with subject matter that really interested me.

“I’ve always thought SBS do amazing stuff with their food programming, shows like Luke Nguyen’s (Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam, Peter Kuruvita (Chef In Action) and Food Safari.

“I really like their approach to food and that the focus is on food and not just knocking stuff together.”

Liaw’s move into broadcasting puts the Sydneysider among the show’s most commercially successful contestants post-MasterChef, joining fellow TV recruits Julie Goodwin, Poh Ling Yeow, Marion Grasby andJustine Schofield.

Meanwhile, Liaw is also busy preparing to open his first restaurant – a Japanese-inspired eatery – in Sydney and is set to release his second book following the huge success of his first tome Two Asian Kitchens.

SBS do these shows well so will definitely be tuning in.

Jamie Oliver is in Australia to guest star on Masterchef Australia, and he will start filming on Monday according to the Sunday Telegraph.

He is thought to be filming a challenge. I wonder if it revolve around healthy eating?

Also in the same article they say Anthony Bourdain is currently in Sydney and will appear on the show as well. Bourdain was also on the show last year and in fact entered the Masterchef house as part of his appearance.

However don’t expect to many shenanigans this year as the article also says the show will be back to basics.

It states:

Yet beyond the famed chefs, we’re assured the new season of MasterChef will centre on the food; “be stripped back”, according to a production source, to mirror the first season when it was less a game show and more an engaging piece of entertainment built around some incredible talent.

From that end, don’t expect another bizarre stunt like last year’s visit from his Holiness (and tough food critic), the Dalai Lama.

Cardinal Pell will be disappointed…

Masterchef Australia judge Matt Preston says the fouth series is going to be all about the cooking.

This is what they said about series three as well…

Anyway Matt Preston told the Herald Sun that it is going back to basics.

He said:

MASTERCHEF judge Matt Preston says series five of the ratings juggernaut will be all about cooking.

The Herald Sun columnist said they were bringing the Channel 10 hit back to basics this year – unlike other reality TV shows such as My Kitchen Rules, which announced a fourth series yesterday.

“TV shows are about ratings, MKR has been fantastic and everyone has loved watching it because they have taken a leaf out of The Block‘s box,” Preston said.

“The first thing we look at is whether they can cook. We could pick nuff nuffs who couldn’t cook and it would make great TV but it is not really what it is about.”

Thanks Polly B for sending in article. She also noted that Matt Preston’s new haircut looks suspiciously like Justin Beiber’s.

Photo: Herald Sun.

Masterchef’s 2010 runner-up, Callum Hann, launched his cook-book “The Starter Kitchen” in Adelaide last week.  Following his success on the show, Callum has been doing the rounds at Universities teaching students how to find their way around the kitchen.

His website promises that the book:

features over 60 simple, casual and fun recipes, using ingredients readily available in the supermarket. As well as everyday meals, Callum offers suggestions for menu ideas for occasions such as such having friends over to watch the football, your first ever dinner party, and cooking to impress.

With a new academic year starting, I’d imagine that this might be a good gift from anxious parents wanting to reassure themselves that their offspring will diversify their diets beyond instant mee goreng.

The book will be available from the March 1st.

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.