The Fug Girls in an article in NY Mag have rated their top ten greatest reality TV judges ever.

They include the obvious like Simon Cowell, but also put in Top Chef’s Gail Simmons, and Top Design’s Kelly Werstler.

Anyway it is a fun read.

If it was including Australian judges I would include:

•  Dicko (in his first few years on Australian Idol before he left), he was like a breath of fresh air, with his direct judging style and quick wit in the first few years of Idol;
• Matt Preston - Masterchef, who else can wear a cravat, be bulging out of white pants and still have the female population swooning over him, particularly when he was stroking paella;
• Alex Perry - Australia’s Next Top Model – who tells it how it is but in a witty way;
• Sarah Gale, and Jayson Brundson – Project Runway Australia some of the expressions on Sarah’s face as a ghastly outfits sashays down the runway is hilarious, she is not afraid to give a contestant a tongue lashing, and with Jayson there is a nice chemistry.
• Helen ‘The original cougar’  Richey from Dancing With The Stars - she refuses to be painted in the middle aged, nice judge corner. She looks sensational, perves openly and is direct in her comments; and
• Matt Moran I am sure he has been a judge on a show somewhere sometime…

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One of the criticisms on this blog by readers regarding My Kitchen Rules  is the cast does not reflect the multicultural country in which we live.

This criticism has also been thrown at US TV show The Bachelor,  where every bachelor has been white, with no black person cast in this role as yet (Source: The Guardian).

In My Kitchen Rules most of the cast is white with no asians, and with just a sprinkling of people of mediterranean background.

Do TV stations think anything “out of the ordinary” won’t appeal to the viewer?

Which brings me to one of the weirder emails I have received with a rumour in it about the casting of My Kitchen Rules.

I am unsure of the veracity  of the allegations. It alleges there was a pilot of the show shot with five teams. The teams were then advised the pilot was going to be turned into the show. However, when it was revealed three of the five teams were gay the “series” was cancelled and recast. 

According to this email this pilot was allegedly shot in October end early November. One person commenting on a MKR blog post who was a student at WA contestant Marc’s school said that the teacher shot the show in his school holidays (December).

As I said I have no idea if this is true or there was some miscommunication between Channel Seven, and cast of the pilot.

Also it was noted in comments on this blog wondering what the point of Victorian team Clint and Noah being shot on the beach with girls in bikinis. Was this to make it clear to the audience they were straight? Or was this just a way to get the gratuitous bikini shot in the show?

The other rumour in the email was the original judges were Manu Feidel and female chef Jackie Gowan. They then decided to get Pete Evans in. However considering Seven announced Manu and Pete on 10 November 2009, this would mean they would have ditched the pilot anyway.

Regardless of the crazy My Kitchen Rules  rumour, it would be great to see more diversity on our screens.

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I thought I had my finger on the reality TV pulse but clearly not.  Channel Ten have announced they have secured the tape and format rights to a reality TV show from the US called Undercover Boss.

Ten are claiming this reality series made the highest rating premier of any TV show in the US. They state in its first episode it was watched by 38.6 million viewers. They don’t advise whether that figure was maintained. UPDATE: after a bit of a Google I found out only one episode has been screened in the US.

Anyway I have never heard of this show, but I vaguely remember something similar on Lifestyle Channel from the UK.

The show follows high-level chief executives as they slip anonymously into the rank and file of their companies.

Companies involved have been Waste Management, Hooters, and Seven-Eleven. Well I hope the Hooter’s boss is a female as they may have a problem fitting in with the rank and file of the organisation.

Channel Ten have not announced a screening date yet, nor whether an Australian version will be made of the program.

Time.com called it phony, manipulative and entertaining. Oh yes I will be watching it.

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Over the past couple of years there have been a couple of romances between country singers dating much younger women who are reality TV stars.

Now the cynic in me would think these romances would not last, but I was wrong.

One was popular country singer Adam Brand who met girlfriend Jade Hatcher who is 20 when he was on last year’s Dancing With The Stars. They won the series, and their relationship is still going strong. He is teaching her to sing and they are working on some projects together. (Source Daily Telegraph)

Also James Blundell created controversy a few years ago when he left his wife for singer Jesse Curran. Jesse was an Australian Idol in 2007 when the scandal broke, and it did not help her get into the top 12 with James who is 20 years her senior in the front row.

However appear to be very much together at the Tamworth Country Music Festival and will perform together today. Full story Daily Telegraph

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Democrats in America are currently handwringing and teeth gnashing about the loss of Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat to the Republicans in the blue ribbon seat of Massachusetts.  There has been much analysis on why this has occurred.

But they have not considered the American Idol effect. As we all know American Idol is the most popular TV show in the US by far, and gets between 25 and 30 million viewers a night. Scott Brown’s daughter Ayla Brown was a contestant on the show in 2006 and made it to the top 24, eventually placing 16th.

Did Ayla campaign with her dad? Oh yes indeed. Could her American Idol celebrity been the factor to get him over the line in a very tight race? If you want more sensible and indepth analysis about the Democrats defeat go here.

But if you want to see what Ayla Brown was like on American Idol press play

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“I am not here to make friends” – If you have not heard that phrase before you and I have been watching different shows, as it is the biggest used phrase on Reality TV, well maybe after “you can trust me”.

Anyway some body has put together this hilarious montage of reality contestants using this often used quote.

Sorry about the lack of posts, but Injera has been in town, so we have been out and about. But now she is safely back in Melbourne with a box of Zumbo macaroons all will get back to ‘normal’ on the blog.

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Unfortunately I piked out of doing  a decade in review of reality TV, as I just don’t have the corporate knowledge of the last ten years. However other people were not quite as gun shy.

Here is a list from the US from Reporter which outlines their top 10 outrageous reality TV moments of the decade.

There are obviously some shows on it that I have never heard of or seen, however the near domestic violence incident between Johnathan and Victoria on The Amazing Race does, as does the Johnny Fairplay “dead grandmother” manoeuvre.

One YouTube video that I found particularly disturbing to watch was an excerpt from The Surreal Life  where Mini-Me urinated into a corner. That was the least excruciating part of the scene, it was more the fact that the producers allowed a person the size of a toddler to drink so much alcohol where they must of risked him either dying of alcohol poisoning or choking on his own vomit. On the plus side I did not realise that little Peter Brady (Christopher Knight) had such a fit looking body.

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Happy New Year dear readers, I wish you all a good one for 2010. Sorry about by lack of posts over the Christmas/New Year period, however I took a bit of a break and this coincided with reading the third book of the Stieg Larrson series.

Anyway it is now back to business as usual.  And what about what we can expect on reality TV at the beginning of 2010?

Survivor Samoa continues to be shown on Channel 9 on Tuesday nights at 7.30pm, and if you are not watching it you are missing out on seeing one of the true characters from the show, misogynistic Russell. And yes the recaps will be back Tuesday night.

Top Chef Las Vegas has only a few more weeks on Arena on Monday nights at 8.30pm, and for those who care the spunky Voltaggio brothers are still in the contest. In fact I must be imagining it but both Nigella Lawson and host Padma Lakshmi perked up when Michael Voltaggio brought in the room service breakfast in last weeks quick fire challenge.

American Idol commences on Fox 8, fasttracked from the US on Wednesday the 13 January. This year there will be no Paula Abdul as she has been replaced by Ellen De Generes, which should bring a different dynamic to the show. However, we won’t see her until after the audition shows, until then special guests will be on the judging panel like Posh Spice.

Channel 7 is hoping to get a good start to the year with their “Masterchef Australia” type show, called My Kitchen Rules.  The new series will travel the country with the aim of finding Australia’s best home-cooking team. The teams-of-two will do battle from their own kitchens in each state.  One Sydney food blogger on Twitter claimed she had been approached to audition for the show, but declined. Manu Feidel and Pete Evans are the judges.

Channel Ten has already started the pre-publicity for their high rating reality TV shows, The Biggest Loser, and So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Hayley Lewis, is the new Loser host replacing sacked Ajay Rochester. And even though the cast hasn’t changed Natalie Bassingthwaite in an interview last year foreshadowed some surprises to keep the show fresh.

To whet the appetite here is a preview of the 2010 season of So You Think You Can Dance Australia.  It looks great, and it is good to see that Jason Gilkison and Kelley Abbey are involved this year. I seem to be having trouble embedding it into my blog, but click on the link and it will take you through to clip (SYTYCD Australia 2010 Preview))

The Contender  is coming to a finish on Fox 8, I watched a couple of episodes, but have to confess I am not a fan of boxing. However it was interesting that there were claims that the show was rigged. (Source Blacktown Advocate.).

Arena TV are also commencing a few series in January that look particularly crappy/awesome. These are Miami Social, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and New York Prep (apparently a real life Gossip Girl).

Also Tyra Banks will be back on Fox 8 with her new series of America’s Next Top Model in January. I think this series is the one where they allowed shorter girls to apply.

Anyway it looks like a great start to the reality TV and I will continue to keep you as informed as possible.

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I know everyone is doing the noughties in review, but I found this little gem, from Sylvania Waters, the reality TV show that kicked off the genre. This is the single that Noelene Donahue, the matriarch of the family, released to try and continue her 15 minutes of fame. Loving the Linda Evans, Dynastyesque hair and dress.

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Well that is what this post on Gawker is arguing, that with the mainstreaming of the porn industry that people move freely between each genre, and this is seen as normal.

The irony was as I was pondering the truth of this article I got an email from an American site with a headline VEGAS PORN COMPANY GETS SEVEN REALITY TV STARS NAKED & HARD. I was like ohmigod it is a trend.

Matsuflex from Tool Academy is allegedly on the site, which would indicate he learnt nothing from the show he starred in.

Anyway the site is www.RealityRevealed.com has pic’s but probably not a good idea to open it at work.

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