Reality Ravings

Gordon Ramsey must be feeling like those contestants on his show Hell's Kitchen after he has given them a bollocking - totally humiliated.

It has been revealed everywhere that he has been having a seven year affair with Sarah Symonds, a professional mistress.

Details of their tryst have been revealed in that quality rag http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk. They kindly told us that Gordon likes to dabble in amyl nitrate.

Now a few questions were raised in my mine about the article. How in the hell does he find the time to have an affair, and how do you drink two bottles of wine in 75 minutes?

Anyway Tania his wife is standing by him at this point. And I presume Ramsay is trying to hunt down the person who leaked the story to the tabloids. I wouldn't want to be that person once he finds out who it is as they will be totally roasted.

Shanina Shaik must have been wondering last night whether the cheating scandal, where she bribed Tom with sexual favours to help her with a challenge cost her the title of the show Make Me A Supermodel.

Shanina looked suitably shocked and upset when Rhys name was called out as the winner.

Yes he was the nicest but was he the most deserving winner? The teeny boppers that vote in this show may have not liked that Shanina as she was also the third party in a love triangle.

More savvier (ok I mean older viewers) would realise the angst that Tom was showing over cheating on his teenage girlfriend was just the usual puppy love hiccups that occurs, NOT some huge betrayal of her.

I know it would have felt like that for him and her, but looking back they will wonder what the drama was all about. It would appear they have broken up by now by what he was saying on the TV.

Shanina will take heart from the fact that Demelza Reveley, winner of this year's Australia's Next Top Model, who was protagonist in a bullying scandal has gone on to continue her modelling career.

I know in the week of Australian Idol final - I cannot believe it myself.

There will still be some posts - however timely recaps probably won't occur.

So if you need a reality fix read the archives.

An article from blogger Amuse-biatch (this is the best blog name I have seen in at least six months) states that Anthony Bourdain does not think the gorgeous Padam Lakshmi is the sharpest tool in the shed.

The Miami Herald News said:
"...Bourdain said he was a huge fan of host and fellow chef Tom Colicchio but snubbed co-host...Padma Lakshmi. Jabbing at the beauty’s intelligence, he said she wouldn’t be his first choice for Barack Obama’s cabinet...[sic]or to host a show."

Gee Anthony comparing her to other female reality TV hosts she looks like she is a member of mensa.

In other Top Chef news last night on Top Chef Season 4, Nikki was eliminated after the horrendous 24 hour catering for a wedding challenge. The only person who was excited by the challenge was Andrew who said he had a "culinary boner".

Here on Yum Sugar is an interview with Nikki talking about her time on the show and what her future plans are.

For the menu and review of her restaurant 24 Prince click here.

Now we know judge Martin Walsh's view on the final three. Click here if you don't, but now in TV Week Jennifer Hawkins has revealed her thoughts on the final three models fighting it out for the title on Make Me A Supermodel.

On Rhys she says:
"Rhys has got a chiselled face and small features and everybody loves him - he is a nice guy to be around. He looks like David Beckham and the young girls love him, so he's in with a good chance. Rhys is becoming a great model - he's grown a lot in the competition. His lack of confidence is probably his only downfall. He can go into his shell a bit at photo shoots and doubt himself. But I guess that confidence comes with practice and experience. We'll see how that goes."

Her favourite photo shoot was when he was in the water tank with the snake.

On Shanina she says:
I met Shanina at her first audition and I liked her look straightaway. She has a different look, her eyes are absolutely beautiful and she's a nice girl, too. At the start we were worried that she didn't have any versatility but I think she's doing really well now. It's hard to pick a negative because at this stage, with all three, it's just nitpicking. But maybe the 'cheating scandal' from last week could factor into the audience's decision to vote or not vote for her."

Jen's favourite moment was the tango photo's with Issac.

On Courtney she says:
Courtney has a really unique look, plus she's a nice girl as well. Probably the only downfall with Courtney is that she can look too sweet and cheeky on shoots - she really needs to bring a little bit of sexiness to the set as well. But over the last few weeks, she's learned how to bring that out a bit more. Courtney's a gorgeous girl and a lot of people have a very unique look now when they're doing catwalk overseas, so I think she's got a good future ahead of her.

Jen's favourite Courtney moment was the outside gothic shoot.

It was a pity he did not have it done prior to the swim suit shoot, as he had high anxiety that everyone was going to see his bulge.

The other thing about this season is that Sutan the make up artist who you barely saw in earlier cycles got a cameo and judging part in the Wal-Mart Cover Girl challenge. Also in this challenge Chrissy Barker, who is Nigel Barker's wife was also involved. So it was keeping it in the ANTM family.

The first name called at judging was Elina. The bottom two were Analeigh and Brittany, with Brittany eliminated for not bonding with the camera.

Personally I think if Isis was a girl she would have been eliminated by now or probably not even on the show.

Here is an exit interview with Brittany on Buddy TV.

One thing that annoys me about this show is the critic, Alan Saunders, is in a suburban shopping centre cafe and is bitching that the egg in his caesar salad is poached not coddled. It is not Aria. Which is something Matt Moran needs to remember when advising the troubled restaurants that not all can afford the top shelf ingredients he tells them to when the are selling meals for under $20.

But really not producing a coddled egg on their salad was the least of Spargo's Espresso problems. The service was abominable, with Ashleigh the waitress really needing to be put on the chopping block. She was dumb or did not give a rats, or both.

The kitchen was just disgusting, no wonder the food was sub par at this Essendon eatery.

Mambo Italiano is not much better, their signature dish the Pizza Napa which is an upside down pizza, which was more like a pie. And did I spot canned pineapple in it?

Also the chef makes risotto with boiled rice. What was that all about? The daughter of the business Ljubliana seems like she may have the propensity of melting down once she was under pressure.

The other thing is when these restaurants get full, which they do the night they are going to get judged, the kitchens who are used to operating with half full premises are unable to cope.

Waiting an hour like Alan Saunders did for his meal at Spargos is not going to get you to go back. He would have been able to do his weekly shop in the nearby supermarket in that time.

When Alan Saunders did his final review he still bitched that the Caesar salad did not have a coddled egg, even Matt Moran was rolling his eyes, but that did not stop Spargo's taking out the $20,000 first prize.

Here is a TV advertisement that suggests this is what Gordon Ramsey was like as a child.

It is quite amusing.

Another voting scandal has hit Australian Idol on the night when it was announced Wes Carr and Luke Dickens would be walking up those Opera House steps.

Apparently yesterday for 25 minutes the wrong voting numbers were up against the wrong singers names. That person has got to be so fired.

Apparently contestant Luke Dickens‘ telephone number was published for both himself and Carr, while Carr’s allocated telephone number appeared against Spano. So does that mean for 25 minutes Mark had no phone number allocated to him on the website?

The network released a statement where they said “Viewers can be assured that the outcome of tonight’s verdict is unaffected by this incident.”

Maybe Brooke Adamo and Mark Spano need to take out a class action on Fremantle Media.

Source of story from Media Spy.

Thank you Idol for not making us sit through an hours TV before finding who the final two were.

Well the big surprise was Luke Dickens making it through to the Opera House. It is not undeserved he has barely put a foot wrong throughout the competition. Also it also confirms my theory that having a town vote for you gives you an advantage.

And the best thing about Wes getting through was seeing his 'life story'. Wes performing as kid was very funny and cute. One of Wes's attributes is his vulnerability.

The two both have different but interesting stories. Luke has the fairytale story of a hard working shearer who only sang for the first time in front of an audience last year and is now one week from becoming famous.

Whilst Wes's story is the hard working, talented muso who has gigged for years but never got that break. He was just about to give it up but then decided to audition for Idol, and went from playing for ten people to over a 1 million via the tv set.

Or maybe it will just be a battle of the beards.

They sang their winner songs and now it is up to us to vote.

It will be interesting to see if Natalie Gauci will be singing at the Opera House or will she go in the forgotten Idol box along with Kate D'Arrugo, and Casey Donovan.

Lui Hon was considered one of the best if not the best designer on Season 1 of Project Runway Australia. On the show for the first few episodes we did not see much of him on camera due to his quiet nature, but he made up for that with the impact he had on the runway.

The shows forums are still talking about the fact he was surprisingly eliminated in the wedding dress challenge to come fourth on the show. He was a favourite of the show's host Kristy Hinze.

Lui kindly agreed to an interview with me, and I did ask the $64 million question - Would we get to see his decoy finale collection? You will have to read the interview to find out.

Livewire write that the odds are that Luke Dickens is set for the punt tonight. This won't happen if the Young media have anything to do with it.

The Young newspaper has been promoting Luke each week. Obviously looking for a new angle they have an interview with Luke's sister Emma. She says that Luke has only just started singing in front of people. I am sure he will inspire a few other amateurs to try out for next year's show. Article is here.

Can someone contact June Dally-Watkins and ask if it is appropriate to chew gum on TV, yes Marcia Hines I am talking to you.

Tina Arena was the mentor tonight, and years of living in France has turned her into an Edith Piaf lookalike in a good way. However she has retained her Aussie lewd sense of humour when talking with the host's James and Andrew G, about an all male top 3, she managed to throw a diction (get it dick-tion) joke in.

Andrew G has had his hair cut. I don't care, but if you read the papers apparently a lot of people do. I am surprised there is not a blog dedicated to Andrew's hair and its various incarnations.

Ever the entrepreneurs Idol is releasing a Top 10 singers CD, this must be to make some money as there won't be a Winner's Song Album released prior to Christmas. See previous post on that here.

Anyway onto the performances.

Luke Dickens - Stuck In The Middle Of You.

The last two weeks have seen Luke pick MOR (middle of the road songs). It is like he is doing karaoke night at his local pub in Young. The judges however were very positive about it.

Mark Spano - Bad Day - Fuel

Mark definitely sees himself singing rock, and he did a polished performance. But to tell you the truth I tuned out half way through. It appears the judges are having a love in tonight so were gushing at all three singers. And Kyle Mark's pole action was NOT doing it for me.

Wes Carr - Easy - Faith No More

Tina and Wes bonded over the Johnny Young Talent School connection and she called him a superstar. She was pleased that he embraced his past. Wes brought back the hat and harmonica for a repeat performance in this song. Neither really enhanced the performance. Wes is clearly the star of this year's Idol, but again I found this performance middle of the road.

It was sung and perform well, but would I go and buy his album on that performance? No.

Luke Dickens - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John

I think this is Luke's last night on Idol. This song was boring. I was surprised he did not pick a classic rock song to finish up on. I will be surprised if he makes it to the Opera House -though there is a huge under dog vote in this show.

Mark Spano - This Life - Santana

He loves the Michael Hutchene moves this boy and they were very prevalent in this song. Especially that one at the beginning when he slightly pulled back his shirt to reveal his waxed chest. You lost me there Mark. However it will probably have thousands of hormonal girls giddily texting in his name.

Wes Carr - Get Back - The Beatles.

Finally a show stopping performance from one of the final three. He made a good Beatle song great. The electric guitar, the movement around the stage it was fantastic. He just showcased his star quality. I hope at the Opera House he repeats his Michael Jackson song.

Predicted top two Wes Carr and Mark Spano.

People apparently do go and eat at the restaurants seen on The Chopping Block. Apparently just appearing on the show win or lose increases the number of clientele a restaurant gets. So all publicity is good publicity in this case.

The Sun Herald reveals that after Season one went to air series producers called each of the eateries that took part in the show to see how they'd been affected since.

Almost every one of the restaurants reported taking part was a very positive experience overall, with the winners noting increases of up to 70 per cent in trade, and losers up to 50 per cent increases.

So this should help them to get restaurants for season three, if Channel 9 renews it. Hopefully he will.

Kristy Hines To Get Married in March.
Kristy Hines, host of Project Runway Australia, is not going to muck a round with a long engagement. Apparently the invitations have been sent out for a three day wedding spectacular from March 18-20 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Here is an article where she talks about why she loves him so. There is no mention on whether they plan to have children. Congratulations to you both.

Channel Seven Has Apologised For Sonia Kruger's 'racist' Comments.
Channel Seven has apologised unreservedly for Sonia Kruger's distasteful comments to musical director Chong Lim on the television show Dancing With The Stars.

The network insisted the presenter's remarks were not intended to be racist, especially as the pair enjoyed a long-standing friendship.

Kruger made the derogatory comments about a "sweatshop of illegal immigrants'' slaving away on her wardrobe for the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

"Let's just say there's a sweatshop full of illegal immigrants working on them right now,'' Kruger said before referring to Lim, the show's Malaysian-born musical director.
"How's the family, Chong? All right?''

Sonia this week refused to apologise about the remarks. Maybe she was just trying to highlight that Australian designers are known to have their clothes made in sweatshops where pay and conditions are bad.......Ok maybe not.

Full story on Daily Tele

Natalie Bassingthwaite Admits Her First Audition For SYTYCD AU Sucked.
In an interview in the Sunday Telegraph "The Bass" says her first audition for the Australian version of SYTYCD was not great.

In the interview she reveals:
Because she tried to emulate the style and brash attitude of the successful American version of the show, her first audition, by her own admission, "sucked''.
"I did a terrible audition. I walked away thinking: 'I'm really bad at this. Even if they want me to do it, I don't think I can.'''

But Channel 10 programming boss David Mott invited her back for a second audition - and Bassingthwaighte won the job.

Natalie had mixed reviews for her hosting style this year, but she did improve by the end of the season. Lets hope this continues into the next year.

Don't you love it when two of your favourite reality TV shows merge. Above is a picture of Demelza winner of this year's Australia's Next Top Model, wearing Project Runway Australia runner up Leigh Buchanan's tutu dress which he designed for the catwalk show.

Demelza here ‘Foxtel Lap’ on November 14 in Sydney. The event is designed to raise money and awareness for the the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

Somehow I don't think Demelza was doing any running in those shoes.

For an update on what Leigh Buchanan is up to go here.

Matt Moran Tells Of His Abhorrence For Restaurants On The Chopping Block
Matt Moran who advises failing restaurants in The Chopping Block tells Perth Now how at his horror at what he has found at the failing restaurants.

“To walk into the first kitchen and see the dirt and the grime and the uncovered things and the chefs who look like they just came to work after being out for 48 hours… I realised straight away it was a completely different league.

"The way I run my restaurants, we’re proud of what we do – we like our uniforms to be clean, our shoes to be spotless and the restaurant and the kitchen to be immaculate every time someone comes into it – because you’re on show… It made me realise that they, the featured restaurants, are not the kind of places I would ever go to anyway… It made just go ‘f****** hell!’ and realise there’s another world out there.”

It is a pity he does not name names, as I was thinking of eating at Emads one of the featured restaurants on the show.

Australian Idol Winner Won't Be Releasing a Christmas Album this year.
After the disaster of Natalie Gauci covers release last year, this year's winner will not be releasing a covers album of songs they sang on the show.

This tradition was started with Damien Leith's win and he sold over 100,000 CD's, however Natalie's bombed with only 11,000 sold.

The winner will release their album in May next year with a single released in March. Which raises the interesting issue of when is Natalie Gauci album going to be launched? Or will it just be buried?
Full story on Herald Sun.

Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe launch 'Superstar Dancers Of The World'
A follow up from yesterday's post on Nigel Lythgoe criticising Simon Cowell, it has now been announced that NBC will be launching a new dance show produced by Nigel Lythgoe.

It is called 'Superstar Dancers Of The World' and as Nigel previously said it is like the dance Olympics.

The series will pit the masters of various dance genres from eight countries against each other. Equal parts sporting event, rock concert and artistic exhibition.

The eight countries currently scheduled to participate include: Ireland, India, USA, Argentina, China, Russia, South Africa and Australia.

It is interesting that the UK and Canada are not represented.

Full details on The Futon Critic.

This season on American Idol the producers have added in a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi. Nigel Lythgoe thinks this is not such a good idea.

"I don't like fourth judges," Lythgoe told The Post yesterday. "I think once you've been told 'You suck,' you don't need to be told another three times."

Australian Idol had a season of four judges and it was not great, they quickly reduced it again to three this year. Mark Holden being the one to be sacked.

Also Nigel Lythgoe gives Simon Cowell a little tickle up, as it appears to have been Simon's decision to add the extra person.

"But he's [Simon Cowell] never produced anything on television," says Lythgoe.
"As an executive producer, he can be an adviser and I think that's fair enough because he knows what he's doing.
"But at the end of the day, you have to leave it for the producers to produce, because if you're in it, you're seeing it from a completely different perspective and he's going to need to realize that.

"Sometimes you can't see the woods through the trees and you tend to lose the most important thing, which is so often forgotten: common sense."

New York Post article here.

In other Nigel Lythgoe news he reveals to TV Guide that he is developing a new dance show. It would be along the lines of the dance Olympics where dancers from different countries would compete against each other in their specific dance genres. They would then be scored. I presume there would be cash prizes rather then gold medals!

Leigh Buchanan Looking For Financial Backing For His Label.
Leigh Buchanan the runner up of Project Runway Australia is looking for a backer for his fashion label. Leigh's was one of the stand out collections from the final three.

In the meantime he has been showing another creation of his to the public. His character Barb - a '70's housewife character who wears a rich red dress and cool curly wig came out at a drag show at The Powerhouse in Brisbane this week.

For a further update on what is happening to Leigh post Project Runway go to previous interview here.

Bobby Flynn To Record A Covers Album
You can take the boy out of Australian Idol, but can you take Australian Idol out of the boy. Bobby Flynn has announced he will be working on a covers album to be released next year. If he rearranges covers like he did on Idol, I will willingly buy it.

Bobby's baby girl Indigo is now three months old. Very sweet.

Sonia Kruger Still Married
Apparently Sonia Kruger did not wear her wedding ring on Sunday night on Dancing With The Stars. This sent her fans into meltdown. Be reassured she is still married she just chose to wear costume jewellery on the night.

Gordon Ramsey to Open Restaurant in Melbourne.
Gordon Ramsey will open a restaurant called Maze in the Crown Casino complex in Melbourne. This is just one of the many restaurants he owns around the world. The opening is planned for the beginning of 2010.

Bogan's Wanted By Fat Pizza Creators For Reality TV Show.
News.com.au states that Fat Pizza creator Paul Fenech wants Bogans to audition for his new show which will be like Bogan Idol. The prize will be something better then a "Centrelink cheque". Sounds like it will be a show just making fun at people. Click the above link if interested.

It was time to head to Asia and specifically Siam Reap in Cambodia. The teams were split up, Ken and Tina, and Type A personalities Sarah and Terence, got the first flight out of Auckland. Terence and Sarah also copped a speeding ticket on the way to the airport. I thought that maybe NZ reality TV show Highway Patrol was suddenly going to pop up on screen. All caught up in Singapore for their flight to Siam Reap, except for Ty and Aja.

So tonight the interest was only in who was going to win this leg, and unless there is a catastrophe. This may have been a possibility as the taxi's were taking the teams to all sorts of places.

First clue was at a petrol station where they had to fill up a truck with 25 litres of petrol. Of course that truck was to take them to their next clue.

The frat boys had difficulty with it. Not realising that you had to put a bit of grunt into it. Nick and Starr were leading at this stag, but they were caught up to.

They were all on boats racing to a restaurant in the middle of Siam Reap. Terence and Sarah got their driver to go fast and then suddenly the engine overheated, and they had to manually row to the clue box.

Detour
Village Life - involves picking up items throughout the village.
or
Village Work - Finding two traps filled with fish.

Nick and Starr took over the lead again after getting the fish.

It was time to head to Angkor Wat and the Road Block. This involved finding the chamber of echos and banging your chest three times to get the next clue.

Tina had trouble finding it and kept on walking through it.

Nick and Starr were first to the pit stop at the Banyon Temple. Again the frat boys bumbled it, but luckily for them Aja and Ty just were never in the leg.

The Producers suddenly got all moralistic about Terence and Sarah speeding ticket and decided they would be hit with a 30 minute penalty in the next leg of the race. I don't see the point of this they all speed and break road rules or encourage others to. So the ones that get caught get a double penalty.

Reality Wanted have an interview with Aja and Ty, where they reveal they are now living together, and they were surprised about the editing with Terence - so clearly they don't think he is an arsehole. In fact they said they wanted Sarah and Terence to win.

Buddy TV reveals they were nowhere in the race as they had landed in Siam Reap just has Andrew and Dan, the second last team, made it to the pit stop.

Did Tom suffer a backlash from voters because it was perceived he was cheating on his girlfriend with Shanina? Or did his girlfriend just spend her whole trust fund on ensuring he was evicted from the Mosman abode and out of the clutches of Shanina?

The whole popular vote thing is a bit of joke. The best model may not win. The chances of Courtney having a career in modelling post show are small.

They had to go to a real casting for General Pants Christmas campaign. If they got the gig it would be their first model payday. Shanina managed to get hired.

The paparazzi lesson for the models was fatuous. What was the point? Any photographer will be able to get a compromising shot. And I don't think seeing Rhys crown jewels is going to harm his career.

At the end of the show they gave the final three time to sell themselves to the public to entice us to vote for them. So now it is up to us.

Lacey Schwimmer has been partnering Lance Bass on the highly popular US version of Dancing With The Stars.

However here is a swing routine on the show with Lacey dancing with her brother Season 2 winner of So You Think You Can Dance. It is a bit too country for me. Also they come on after about 20-30 seconds.

Paula Goodspeed who has been found dead outside the house of Paula Abdul, the American Idol judge's house auditioned for Idol in 2005.

She has been stalking Paula for a few years and at the audition below she reveals her fandom to Ryan Seacrest.

This video footage does raise the issue of whether American Idol has some responsibility in not making fun of people who clearly have mental issues. You decide.

Make Me A Supermodel Jennifer Hawkins Lets Slip Who Is Eliminated Tonight.
The Daily Telegraph says Jennifer Hawkins, host of Make Me A Supermodel, in an interview revealed the outcome of tonight's episode. Fortunately or unfortunately the article did not reveal who it was. My money is on Courtney.

Make Me A Supermodel on Channel 7 at 7.30pm.

Paula Abdul's Stalker Has Allegedly Suicided Outside Her House.
Former American Idol reject Paula Goodspeed found dead outside the Idol judges house in LA. Ms Goodspeed was apparently obsessed by the singer and had stalked her. Police had been called on a number of occasions. It is suspected she had died from a drug overdose.

This continues a run of bad news for Idol alumni. Jennifer Hudson had the tragic deaths of her mother, brother and nephew occur, and Simon Cowell has just recently broken up from his long time girlfriend Teri Seymour.
Source of story on Entertainment Wise.

Tennis Great Martina Navratilova To Be On I'm A Celebrity..Get Me Out Of Here.
The question is why is she going on this British reality TV show? Money? I doubt it. Maybe she wants to get back into the public eye. This show has increased the profile of not so fabulous nobodies, like Katie Price and Peter Andre, and even Jason Donovan.

Filmed in Australia, the show's contestants compete in a series of bush tucker trials and other challenges in which they are often called upon to brave their fears of snakes, spiders and insects.

Other contestants include former police chief and recent London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick, ex-EastEnders star Joe Swash, singer Simon Webbe, formerly of boy band Blue, and George Takei - Star Trek's Mr Sulu.

Source of story The Australian.

If You Think Jeff Probst Is Suave, Sophisticated and Smooth Well You May Not Want To Watch This.
NZ Reality TV has a You Tube file that shows Survivor host Jeff Probst hosting a quiz type show in 1995. To say he is enthusiastic is an understatement. And he looks so much better in his Survivor shorts then the plaid suit jacket.

Foxtel have released their upcoming shows for next year there are some of the usual suspects like Australia's Next Top Model, and Project Runway Australia. But there are also some new ones.

Three new Australian productions are The Phone, Shear Genius, and The Contender.

The Phone show's premise is in each episode two cell phones will be hidden in one city at random places. When the phones start ringing, members of the public are sure to find the phones and answer the calls, and from that moment on become participants in the game! With major cash prizes up for grabs these two strangers have the chance of winning if they decide to collaborate, and successfully accomplish the given missions. Hosted by Justin Melvey.

Do you really think random people will pick them up or they will know where they are? Like you will answer a phone and then decide to continue with the game when you were on your way to an important meeting. Anyway sounds interesting.

Shear Genius will be based on the fabulous US version where hairdresser compete to take out the title of shear genius. A hairdresser is eliminated each week.

The Contender is a reality TV show based on boxing. The US version was very popular.

Australia's Next Top Model will commence in early 2009, with new host Sarah Murdoch. The second series of Project Runway Australia will be shown mid-year, and Football Superstar will get a second season. Brian McFadden will host the show again.

The good thing about Foxtel is that the shows keep being shown over the non-ratings period.

American Idol will be fasttracked from the US starting in early January. A new dance show called Step It Up And Dance premieres December 7, Sundays at 7.30pm on Arena
Contestants learn what it takes to make it big in the cut-throat dance industry. Celebrated actress and dancer Elizabeth Berkley hosts and Emmy Award nominee and Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell will mentor the 12 dancers, as they master every conceivable dance style, from ballet and ballroom to Broadway and burlesque. First prize is $US100,000.

Another new one is Instant Beauty Pageant which premieres December 9, Tuesdays at 9.30pm on Arena.

This show challenges ordinary women to shop till they drop, strut their stuff and compete for their very own title and tiara! What starts as an ordinary day at the mall turns into high-tension TV when five very special shoppers are ambushed and invited to participate in a real live beauty pageant. They have three hours to get ready beauty pageant.

Ok this one could be ordinary, but of course I will watch it.

In January Top Chef: New York will commence. It starts tonight in the US. Tim Gunn's Guide to Style is back as is Top Design Season 2. India Hicks will be the new host of this series of Top Design with Todd Oldham becoming a mentor.

Of course Tyra will be back with America's Next Top Model Cycle 12 on Fox 8.

Another new show called Vanity Lair premieres January 6, Tuesdays at 8.30pm on Arena
Over the course of a summer, ten beautiful people will move into the impressive Vanity Lair mansion. There they will live together, enjoying all the trappings of a luxurious lifestyle. Each week, new people arrive in an attempt to make it into the house. The new arrival, who convinces the residents that they are the most attractive, gets to move in. The repercussion is that in turn, the new arrival kicks out the resident they feel is least attractive. At the end of the series, the most attractive person will win a £10,000 prize.

Sounds bizarre. All that for the equivalent of $30,000 Aus dollars? I imagine in this show your self esteem could get quite a battering.

Finally not reality TV related but allow me one indulgence, Gossip Girl the second series starts on December 9 on Fox 8. This make 90210 look like amateur hour.

Australian Idol Top Four Boys To Be The New Young Divas??? NOOOOOO.
WA Today has Teale Jakubenko saying the top 4 boys would like to make music together after the end of Australian Idol. Could this be the new Young Divas? Let's hope not. I cannot imagine Wes Carr wanting to sing bad cover songs.

Teale you are dreaming, this was just chat after a few beers with the boys.

Yes You Can Be An International Reality TV Star
There are a few international reality TV stars Simon Cowell, and Nigel Lythgoe to name two. But Australia's Kym Johnson who to dance on US Dancing With The Stars continues to gain popularity. She is hanging out with celebs in Hollywood like Kim Kardishan, and also continues to be popular on the TV forums throughout the internet. Don't expect to see her home anytime soon. Daily Tele has the full yarn.

Dean Geyer To Rub His Body With Baby Oil
I am finding it very hard to get excited about this. Apparently his neighbours character Ty Harper who is an aspiring singer will strip (no not the full monty) and will slather his chest with baby oil. Does anyone watch neighbours anymore? With plot lines like this why would you bother. Full story here on the Daily Tele Website.

Does Ryan Seacrest Only Date Blondes?
American Idol host who is persistently dodging gay rumours is apparently now dating US Dancing With the Stars Julianne Hough. He has previously dated Sophie Monk. It appears he has a penchance for blondes and reality TV stars. It is interesting how all his 'relationships' last about a minute. National Ledger has more details of this union.

Ice Road Truckers To Be Made Into A Movie.
Ice Road Truckers has been on Fox 8 for awhile, and is now on Channel Ten on Friday nights at 7.30pm. This show is about truck drivers hauling cargo up ice roads in the middle of the Canadian winter. Sounds boring. It's not, and obviously Hollywood doesn't think so either. A movie is going to be made. I can see George Clooney in a lead role in this one!

The episode tonight could have been titled Chef Wants A Wife, with Tim the Chef/Owner of the Courthouse restaurant, declaring he was single every time a camera was anywhere near him. Was he using The Chopping Block as a way of picking up a girl, not for the cash?

Tonight the episode was located in the town of Berwick in Victoria which is a bit of a foodie town.

Both of the competing teams were struggling to stay afloat. The Courthouse was an upmarket serving Mod Oz cuisine. Mod Oz as defined by this restaurant a lot of different ingredients on a plate.

Hotel Eden was all different types of cuisine but a lot of it was frozen or pre-prepped. The bought in frozen beef pattie looked particularly unappetising.

There was the usual scathing review from the critic Alan Saunders, who is good, but he can sometimes come across as a bit snooty.

This week both the owners of the premises were both prepared to listen to the advice Matt Moran, and also seemed to have more experience in the hospitality industry.

I think this helped on the reopening night where the the kitchens worked well. On previous shows this evening usually results in some chaos in the kitchen, lost dockets, and delayed meals.

The food did look much improved in both premises but The Courthouse took the $20,000 first prize.

Courthouse has its own website, and it has kept the Matt Moran dishes on the menu. And if any girls are interested you are able to contact Tim on this site.

Hotel Eden - chef Walter

Chris Isaak when on the couch with the Australian Idol was castigating them for using the phrase ball's up on national TV, clearly he had missed Mark Spano mouthing the F Bomb earlier when he realised Wes Carr was in the bottom two.

Luke Dickens and Mark Spano must have thought it was their lucky day when Wes landed into the bottom two for the first time. Was this going to be the biggest shock of this season?

Unfortunately for Mark and Luke, no, it was Teale Jakubenko who was gone.

Worst moment of the show when Kyle Sandilands while promoting a MacDonald's fundraising day, said if Chrislynn was still there they could have had a Big Mac eating competition together. It was tasteless and James Mathison looked absolutely disgusted.

Highlight of the show Chris Isaak - best mentor in all season's of Idol.

Farmer Rob To Marry Jo - Two Marriages In Two Series - Got To Be Happy.

American Idol will start screening in the US on 13 Jan 2009. Fox 8 will again this season fast track it from the US, which should mean it will be screened Wednesday and Thursday nights here in Oz.

This year American Idol have added an extra judge into the mix. She is a songwriter Kara DioGuardi. Full bio here.

The fourth judge thing did not work on Australian Idol, but they are trying to stop a slide in ratings in the US. Hopefully with the new female, in 2010, Paula Abdul might be gone. But watching Paula be crazy and not talk sense can sometimes be a shows highlight. Remember last year she was late to an audition and then was incomprehensible when she got there?

Maybe American Idol should also choose mentors that are younger then 60. Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond and Andrew Lloyd-Webber as famous do not appeal to the younger audience.

Anyway the good thing about it being fast tracked is that there is no spoilers AND there is something fun to watch when all the Australian channels are showing their crap shows because it is non-ratings season. There is only so much tennis and cricket you can watch.

Can Chris Isaak be a judge on Australian Idol every week? It was like he made the other judges and hosts lift their game, when they realised he was getting all the laughs. Ok I had had my first alcoholic beverage in a fortnight so I did find Kyle Sandilands getting up on stage mildly amusing.

Has anyone else noticed that Marcia when she is giving her opinion has to wiggle her head alot, as there is barely any movement on her face anymore. I did not think it was possible to get botox on top of botox, but I think she has managed it.

Chris Isaak was his gorgeous, witty and enigmatic self. In an interview I once read that he had never been in a long term relationship. I am starting to think his love for Sydney combined with him talking about getting into rings, that the lady killer crooner may not be that interested in the ladies.

Anyway tonight the top four Idol's had to sing songs that had been number one in the USA. This was an obviously timed for last week's Presidential election, and Andrew G let it be clear that he was very happy with Obama winning.

Wes Carr - When You Were Young - The Killers
It was always going to be a let down the next song Wes sung after last week's Michael Jackson masterpiece. But the frenetic pace of the song just irritated me, as did his hair flying everywhere. The highlight his safari suit style top.

Wes Carr "What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
Wes's strength is his ability to connect or sell a song. He told us that the reason he liked this song was it soothed him after his numerous nightmares as a child. This was a stronger performance, and for the first half of the song it was just Wes and his guitar, but it is not going to get Cadbury's most memorable moment.

Kyle's comment on it looked like a muppet song cracked me up.

Teale Jakubenko - John Mayer - No Such Thing
This week Teale confirmed for me what a tool he is by picking two songs by overrated singers. On that basis alone he deserves to go. Performance non-memorable.

"What Goes Around" - Justin Timberlake.
This song and performance was the equivalent on nails on a chalkboard. It irritated me. This guy is this year's Marty Simpson - it bewilders me how both of these two singers made it to the final four.It is time to go

Mark Spano - Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing - Chris Issak
I was worried about Mark doing this, but it was in fact one of my favourite performances of his. Maybe because I was all Chris Isaak loved up.

"Everybody Hurts" REM
This may win the Cadbury's moment and it was a lovely performance with him just playing guitar onstage and not pacing around.

Luke Dickens - Arms Wide Open - Creed
Firstly Luke looks ten times better with that chin fluff cut off or as Dicko said his merkin. One of Luke's strengths has been song choices over the past few weeks, and tonight I think he blew it with this song. It was so repetative.

"One Of These Crazy Nights" Eagles
Does Luke think his fans are 2WS listeners as that was smack bang in the middle of the road. I hope for his sake that he has enough fans to keep him in as it will either him or Teale going home.

The Amazing Race - Exit Interview With The Two Blondes Marissa and Brooke
Reality TV World has an indepth with Marissa and Brooke who were eliminated from last week's The Amazing Race. It answers all the questions you could possibly want to know - How far behind they were? Why it took them so long to get to the harbour in Auckland? How important taxi's are? And why you don't need a hair straightener on the race.

Review of The So You Think You Can Dance Tour in North America
Reality Dish has a indepth review of the US So You Think You Can Dance Concert in Canada. In fact he thought it was the best concert he had ever been to!

Johnathan and Victoria From The Amazing Race Have a Daughter - Can Someone Call Community Services.

Now regular readers of this column might know I have an unhealthy obsession with Johnathan and Victoria from Season 6 of The Amazing Race. Remember the scene where Johnathan nearly hit Victoria at the pit stop in Berlin? Vile, vile, vile. Anyway they have continued living off their notoriety doing reality TV related stuff, but also they have had a daughter. How many ways are they going to screw that girl up? She is already doing commercials. She is very cute. Go to the Johnathan and Victoria website http://www.jonathanbakerandvictoriafuller.com//

Also MSNBC have an interview from 2005 where Johnathan and Victoria talk about their time on the race. "I never was going to hit her". It is a great read as he tries and justifies his behaviour.

Jessica Mauboy Album Been Waiting To be Released 22 November - Here is a small taste of it.

Cat Deeley Denies Baby Plans.
Poor Cat Deeley she dates a guy for two minutes and she has to deny she is wanting a baby.
Cat Deeley who has snagged herself a toyboy Jack Houston 25. However even though it is going well in Metro after being asked she said she had no plans for babies just yet.