Reality Ravings

After winning this year Australia's Next Top Model Demelza was snubbed by Vogue Editor Kirsty Clements for the now infamous bullying episode it was unclear whether she would go onto to a successful modelling career.

Things are looking up for Demelza with her winning an international campaign for Ferrero Rocher. Full story here.

The 19 year old hip hop dancer from Dallas Joshua Allen won the the US version of So You Think You Can Dance which was screened last night on Channel 10.

Joshua took out the title from the other finalists Courtney, Twitch and Katie in a final where Nigel Lythgoe thought the American public had gotten right. Source here.

Channel 10 this year appeared to bury this popular program by showing it twice a week during the Olympics. I know others disagree but I thought it was a good season with some really strong dancers especially the hip hop ones. I particularly liked Comfort and Gev. Also the choreography was very strong compared to the relative weak choreography on the Australian series.

An interview with Joshua is here where he discusses being hospitalised prior to the finale, and his limited dance training. Also another article here which discusses a shooting tragedy that made him nearly not go on the show.

New Reality TV Show For Alex Perry On Foxtel

Designer and Australian Next Top Model judge Alex Perry will start filming a reality TV show next month. It is a bit unclear what it will be. He said it will be something "fun and different" and not a Big Brother style behind the scenes snapshot of his crazy life.

He said he would love to do a bridal aspect because the craziest stuff happens at weddings!

Now that would be cool our very own Bridezilla, though I am sure the society babes he designs for won't agree to that.

Expect to see his celebrity clients trying to raise their profile on his show.

Link to story here.

Australian Idol Contestant Sex Predator Finally Convicted.
In an article here in the Herald Sun it is revealed a sex offender has finally been convicted on charges for sexually assaulting 10 girls between 14 and 18 between 2003 and 2005.

Previously the Idol contestant had been through a harrowing court case with this same person for sexually assaulting her in the late '90's when she was 15. A jury did not convict him of the three sex related charges.

She states she is happy she had made the allegations against him. Did the jury get it wrong? Because of the nature of the charges the singer nor the year she was on Idol can be revealed, and out of respect for her I won't bother speculating.


Andrew G's Australian Idol Top Four Predictions
Andrew G reckons the top four will be Wes Carr, Mark Spano, Brooke Addamo and Roshani Priddis. I found the most interesting aspect in an article here where he reveals his and his wife's Noa's plans for kids.

Make Me A Supermodel Are Trying To Boost Ratings By Promoting The Best Bits Of The Upcoming Episodes.
Last week it was the stolen bottle of Bollinger by Hannah and this week it is the fight between Billy Bishop and Tom Penfold which is broken up by judge Jackie Frank. Apparently would be model Courtney was also injured in the melee.

This strategy appears to be working with the show cracking the over 1 million viewer mark for the first time last week.

The link between these to controversies appears to be Jackie Frank - will she turn into the Charlotte Dawson of this show, taking away the attention from the bland hosts?

Grant Hackett's Channel 7's Contract In Danger Because Of His Refusal To Go on Dancing With The Stars.
Now I always knew this guy had integrity and this confirms it by him refusing to go on that awful boring show Dancing With The Stars. Apparently he said no and David Leckie head of Channel 7 said he had to. Rumour has it that Hackett may be looking for a new contract elsewhere. Full story in the Daily Tele here.

Now I know this is off topic but can someone tell him to take his wife Candice out for a good feed as she looked incredibly scrawny at the Olympics.

In other Dancing With The Star News James Tobin from Sunrise (I have no idea who he is) and Renee Bargh from Channel V may be doing the wild thing.

After Jonny "If you could hear me sing originals you would see how talented I am" Taylor was rejected by Idol he called it nothing but a "karaoke" competition. Now James Spargo is having a whinge about the rules of the show.

James the 30 year old from Adelaide who made the top 24 said he was 'underwhelmed' by the show.

In the interview in Adelaide Now Spargo came across as being a little bit bitter.

"They have no intention of increasing the age limit," he says.

James also regrets not being allowed to sing one of his idol Josh Groban's hits Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) because it wasn't considered popular enough.

"It would have showed a completely different side of me the audience hadn't seen on the show," he says.

I think he is deluding himself that the one song he was not allowed to sing out of the thousands he could have picked from would have got him through. Also the former theatre restaurant performer seems to be deluded about the extent of his talent with this quote.

"I am waiting for the phone to ring . . . but I don't want to do small stuff anymore," he says.

Why does everyone who is on Idol think their career is going to kick on? People more talented them him are still working in retail eg Chanel Cole. Spargo came to Idol with a big build up and did not deliver he was more RSL Club then pop.

He thinks should win Idol, Roshani Priddis gets his vote because she's "very good".

However, his money is on former Adelaide lad Wes Carr, who he describes as an "extremely driven little man". Ouch.

TV Week has snippets of information on Season 6 Australian Idol contestants.

Brooke Adamo in Sunday's show Brook revealed her biological father was abusive to her father, what she did not say was he suicided when she was seven. She said "I was seven when my birth dad took his life. I have a few memories of him. He was ok with me, but he was abusive to my mum. He was troubled. It was his life and he chose to do that. Sure, it's negative , but I use it as a positive in my music and in accepting how I feel."

Brooke was adopted by her step dad when she was ten.

Tom Williams did not think he deserves to be in the top 12. He said he was suffering from an ear infection and knew his voice was below par in the top 24 round.

"I wasn't happy with my performance. I could've done a lot better. And also, with Natalie Colavito, I almost feel I've stolen a position from her because she was amazing.... I honestly think Natalie should have gone through."

He also revealed he liked pop/rock side of things, but is not afraid to crack out a melodic tune or hard rock song. "I'm pretty diverse, my worst enemy is my nerves."

Chrislyn Hamilton says she won't succumb to the pressure to slim down. "I was bullied a lot in primary school, but now I just want to embrace being big. The public voted for me as I am, so I don't feel the need to change myself."

Also she is sick of being compared to Casey Donovan. "I know she is overweight as well, but I don't want to be known as the girl who's like Casey. I just want to be me."

Thanh Bui says that being on Idol has derailed his baby plans. "We were going to have kids this year" he said. "I supposed to knock up my wife!" He has been married for two years and met her in Thailand.

Wes Carr thought he would fine fame with the band Tambalane the band he was in with Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies. They had a self-titled album and did a nationwide tour, however the band did not take off.

However Wes reflects "I was not really ready [for fame]. I'm a lot more comfortable in my own skin now and ready to take on something like Idol."

Madam Parker left her three year old son Hayzell with his father in New Zealand. She is finding it hard and speaks to him daily. "I'dlike him here when I am financially stable. I moved to Sydney because I wanted a change of lifestyle, and there's more scope here for my music."

Teale Jakubenko reveals his girlfriend of three years isn't happy with his sex symbol status (am I missing something here - when did he become the show's sex symbol?). However wedding bells are not in the immediate future. "I want to get my life on track first. Then we'll see if it's meant to be."

Luke Dickens will be a father soon with his girlfriend of three years Brooke. "I didn't really want kids. My dad left pretty early and that got to me. We don't see enough of each other or talk enough - he's a hard man but a good man."

Also his relationship is not perfect either. "My girl and I were going through a rough patch when she fell pregnant. It wasn't good timing." However they have worked things out and he is looking forward now to the birth of his child.

Roshani Priddis wants to go to Sri Lanka to see where she is from. She was adopted from Sri Lanka and does not know her birth parents.

Mark Spano reveals Thanh Bui used to be his singing teacher. "We were really good friends and he's always been supportive of me. Singing lessons stopped after a polyp was discovered in his throat."

Sophie Patterson has said she won't be returning to London. She will use her exposure on the show to further her musical career.

Jonny Taylor the eliminated Australian Idol contestant today shitbagged the show since he was voted off after singing "Better Man" by Pearl Jam.

He was if he was trying to reclaim his musical credibility - not that it looked like he had any by saying it was a "televised karoke competition" and he would have "question his musical integrity if he had gone any further."

He said he has never sung covers.

"All those guys and girls sing covers, they do that. I never have, never will and it was an extreme challenge for me," Taylor said.

"It's just very, very difficult, borderline impossible for me to emotionally connect with somebody else's song because I know how personal and how precious my songs are to me. It's almost like I feel a little bit bad doing it to other people's songs."

Taylor insisted he did not want to sound disrespectful or come across as having "sour grapes" and said he did have fun on the show.

Taylor will head back to Perth today and wants to get back into writing original songs and performing in a band.

I think he will be heading off to obscurity. Why do people think they lose their musical integrity by going on the show. Personally I don't think he could cut the pace and was overshadowed by the more talented people in the the top 12.

He believes Adelaide-born, but Sydney-based Wes Carr or 16-year-old Tom Williams will win.
"Wes is a bit of golden boy," Taylor said.
"Tom is a bit of a golden boy but for the wrong reasons because he's a cutesy-wutesy kid with dimples."

Full story here.

Jonny Taylor the rocker from WA on his elimination from Idol decided to take a dig at the show by saying "I reckon the 11 sitting there are more at home singing covers and doing this thing then I am."

It is like he was trying to reclaim his musical credibility. After seeing Bobby Flynn doing his stuff on the show all the 'real' musos who know if they don't get a break soon they may have to get a real job are now trying out for the show. But some are unable to do a Bobby Flynn who did brilliant arrangements and performances of covers.

Earlier in the show he had said he had been more comfortable singing his own stuff with his band. Personally if you cannot perform a good cover I think your original stuff is going to be ordinary.

The new format of the show where they tell us the bottom three and then the public has 25 mins to vote for them, made it much more entertaining. Apparently the votes from the previous night still count towards the eviction format.

The bottom three were Jonny Taylor, Sophie Patterson, and Teale Jacubenko. We then get to hear them sing again instead of having to see what was a ritual weekly humiliation when the performers had to sing a group song.

How much is Ricki-Lee getting paid for her backstage interviews they consist of one question "So how do you feel?"

The guest star this week was American Idol winner Jordin Sparks who appeared to be a bit dull. Maybe she was still feeling the effects of the MTV controversy where she gave a tongue lashing to Russel Brand about him paying out on promise rings. Promise rings an American phenomenon is where a person has a ring to show they are saving themselves for marriage. Full story on that here.

I think Australia got it right tonight - who knows maybe if Jonny had allowed the Maybelline girls to titivate him he may have survived another few weeks.