Courtney Lewdon's blog

Sorry for the late post everyone, I understand this was a very important episode as well. Unfortunately, a work thing I had last night went for a little longer than expected; so that’s a mistake on my behalf, sorry. But anyway, the less time I spend apologising, the more time I gain in posting this on Throng; so let’s get into what will be Junior MasterChef’s first elimination of the year.

We begin the episode with a close up of a gnome, but as we zoom out, the cars containing the contestants come into view. They stop and the juniors disembark them with some sort of joy!

Only 8 are there; the ones up for elimination and as they greet the animals in the pen before the kitchen, it’s obvious that these contestants are not scared of the prospect of elimination at all. I don’t know if that is a good thing, or a bad thing.

They enter the kitchen and we see a back story for Tom, I think. As the contestants enter, as per usual in eliminations, the safe contestants are awaiting them from the balcony; cheering them on. Below stands George, Gary and Anna who welcome them back to the MasterChef kitchen.

We then see a back story for Jade who wants to go to Paris with her friend using the MC prize money.

George tells them that there will be two challenges today. For the first challenge; the top two best cooks will progress to the final 16. The remaining six cooks will go into the second round with four of them going home. Caroline is pumped for the challenges and with that; cue her back story.

Gary tells them that their first challenge today is a Junior MasterChef first. It is called the perfect! ‘The Perfect version of a culinary classic’, he describes it as; and Anna tells them that today, they will be cooking the perfect… roast!

George warns the vegetarians to look out and we then cut to a back story for Alysha, not that she’s a vegetarian (at least, I don’t think she is).

Gary says they are looking for the perfect roast, to be produced in 1 hour. George wants succulent meat in the roast, and Tom reveals that he has had a disaster with a roast once when his crackling caught on fire!

With an hour to use; their time starts and they are off. Zac wants to cook lamb as he loves it. Alysha will be cooking balsamic chicken! Caroline is going for pork.

As they return, Gary comes to Jade and asks her how she’s going. She is concentrating on her measurements for her sauce for her chicken roast. Gary loves the sound of it, but he is questioning the fact she is not using gravy. This is because she wants a ‘fresh’ roast.

Tom is making a paprika, rosemary and tarragon encrusted chicken! Yeah, I didn’t know that existed, either. He got the idea from a mystery box he did when MC came out.

Caroline gets her roast in the oven but she isn’t so good with cooking roasts and she is a little nervous.

After the break, George quizzes Alysha on her roast and Alysha says it is because her family used to have it all the time. George wonders how many of her friends from school are just playing on monkey bars in this stage of their lives.

George tells the judges how impressive Tom’s bacon-y sauce looks and Gary compliments Caroline’s complex dish but hopes her roast becomes the hero. She is having a bit of a problem with her crackling not crisping. Maybe it’s because she keeps opening the oven.

With 15 minutes to go; Anna tells them not to let the sides spoil the show; pushing Gary and George away in the process and striking a pose. Haha.

George and Anna approach Tom and he begins to cry; possibly a mix of nostalgia and nerves. George tells him to… BOOM, BOOM shake the room!

Caroline is still opening her oven and the kids on the balcony just cannot watch as she lets all the heat out time after time.

With a minute to go, they begin to plate up. Caroline needs help from the judges. George helps her fry the under cooked roast, defeating the purpose of the challenge in the name of kindness.

Soon enough; the roasts are done and it’s time for judging.

First up is Alysha and Aya. Alysha has Roasted Balsamic Chicken with an awesome looking Champs mash.

George tells her that her roast is on top and Gary tells her she has cooked it perfectly.

Aya’s Roast Eye Fillet of Beef is next but Gary thinks her sauce is a bit thin despite the other cracking elements.

Next up are Tom and Zac. Zac has Roasted Double Lamb Cutlets and Gary thinks he has done the cooking perfectly but George thinks there is a little too much fat.

Tom is next with his herb encrusted chicken and an absolutely scrumptious fennel bake (a favourite of mine; yet I never incorporate it into my own roasts; why is that?).

George tastes it and pulls a face, questioning the herbs he has used. Does it go together? It sure does! And that’s a hit! Anna tells him why roast is her favourite meal of the week before saying he has exceeded her expectations, basically.

Jade and Marcus are next and first up is the Roast Chicken cooked by Jade. It comes without any jus or gravy.

Anna calls it divine and tells her that the roast is perfectly cooked. Marcus has made Roast Pork Neck with apple and pear sauce. Gary loves the fact that he has put so many flavours in one dish, but it isn’t perfect.

Caroline and Hannah are next and first up is the roast rack of lamb by Hannah. It looks good when they cut it, but is it perfect? Gary loves the presentation but he says it is a little undercooked. Caroline is next with a Roast Pork which went a bit array. Hopefully it isn’t raw. George reminds her he gave her some help, but commends her on her sides. Probably means she won’t be having the best dish award for this challenge.

With that, it is time to save two of these kids. The saved contestants are… Alysha and… Tom! And Tom takes it more emotionally than Alysha. Job well done guys!

With that, the judges get into round two with the bottom six contestants; Aya, Caroline, Jade, Zac, Hannah and Marcus. Four of them will be going home to school (the juniors don’t like that one bit).

This challenge will be a MasterChef classic- the almighty pressure test.

They will be given a recipe; the same ingredients and the same time limit as everyone else. But what is the dish? Well, Gary tells them that the mastermind behind this dish is a ‘Grand MasterChef’; none other than Tony Bilson who’s restaurant was closed down not long ago (source: The Amazing Johnson).

He has a cloche with him, and he reveals the dish to be lobster risotto. Oh. Dear. God. Risotto has been a killer dish in the past, as Zac notes, and it will be a nail biting challenge.

They then go in for the taste test and the kids seem to like it!

They have 80 minutes to cook the dish and they are all raring to go. They all seem to begin to chop their vegetables and Tony is going around to help them out.

As they pick up their lobsters, they find it ‘funny’ to carry and Hannah even kisses hers for good luck. Hmm.

Marcus is confident about the risotto part of the meal, being Italian, but lobster- well; he’s never cooked it before!

Tony gives him a crash course in opening his lobster and he, and some of the other contestants are grossed out by all the guts. Hannah has already cleaned her lobster and George wonders if she is in a good place right now. Tony says she is but her lobster legs should also be in the stock by now. George helps her prepare the legs.

He and Anna then go to Caroline to help her on her stock and the pressure is definitely now on for her and the others as we get into the final 30 minutes.

Tony thinks they are doing well, but Gary notices Marcus is a bit behind; about 10 minutes.

Zac is organised when Tony and Anna come over but he has poured all his fish stock into the pan at the same time when he should have been pouring it in a bit at a time.

After the break, we get quite a bit recap of the problem before Tony helps him with some advice to improve the stock quality.

Gary is with Caroline and provides her with some pointers to help her out. They have 15 minutes to go and there’s a lot of things happening all over the place! Marcus is getting scared now!

Marcus is now preparing his lobster and with that and his vegetables still to go, he has to get a move on.

With 5 minutes to go, it is time for the massive job of plating up to begin. There’s not much time left and soon enough, time is up but not before George helps a few of the contestants out a bit more.

Time for tasting and Zac is first to the table. And we are back in the elimination room!

They are happy when Zac says he wants to cook for the rest of his life.

Tony loves how he used thyme instead of chervil as a bit of individuality. Will it work for him? Well, it is tasting time.

George cannot fault the dish; loving the rice and the sauce. Tony loves each of the elements perfectly. Gary says the thyme goes so well with the lobster.

Jade is next with her dish and Jade is happy to be standing in the competition.

She has dressed the dish differently and Tony thinks she has done a great job. They taste and they are Mmming.

George loves how he can see each and every piece of rice and the flavours on them.

Aya is next and she loved the fun challenge. Tony wishes he was able to cook that well at that age but they do notice George had to help her.

Caroline is next with her dish and they do find the rice to be a bit dry and chalky and Tony finds fault in the lobster; but only a minute one. Still, it’s the most negative criticism I’ve heard all season so this doesn’t spell well for Caroline going into a quadruple elimination.

After the break, Hannah is next to present and they like the look of the dish. Hannah loves all the friends she has made and all the things she has cooked in her time on JMCA. They then taste the dish and Gary doesn’t think the lobster is cooked as well as it should be. Another eliminee?

Last up is Marcus- risotto man and they are wowed by his risotto.

They taste his dish and Anna says wow yet again! She thinks everything on the plate was perfect and George, being nitpicky, there was a bit of messiness in the cutting. There was nothing Tony could fault.

Now it is time for the verdict, and the judges go to reveal the results as the safe contestants stand before the six contestants in danger. Tony has some last words of positivity before Anna tells them that two will be going through to the top 16. They are… Marcus and… Zac! This leaves Hannah, Aya, Caroline and Jade out of contention but they all seem to take it very grown up like with Hannah teary, but obviously happy for her progress.

They all leave the kitchen with some prizes, so good on them!

So the episode ends and yeah, the right people left. It is so clever how they are able to divert most of the tears from the eliminated contestants and the challenges are ever so inspiring. Is it just me or are the dishes produced on this show better looking than those on the regular MC? I mean, that fennel bake of Tom’s was to die for!

Production quality was again, at its best and everything else was brilliant too!

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.8/10

 

NOTE: To anyone wanting to know about Junior MasterChef’s Sunday episode; unfortunately I was busy and therefore, it will be posted Monday afternoon; thanks! And sorry for the inconvenience.

A very unusual circumstance as the reality television week comes to a close a little earlier than usual. But, despite the smaller length of the week, it was still packed with all things reality, so let’s recap the busy week that was!

It all began with The Renovators and in the penultimate episode, the six remaining finalists (Peter, Mel, August, Michael, Luke and Natalia) showed off their houses to various judges. With everything complete, it was a sombre goodbye episode to all the hard work they put into their homes and safe to say, there was nothing negative about this judgement day!

On Wednesday, it was auction night, and what would become a bright note ending for the sometimes viewership poor renovation show, all houses managed to sell at auction; however some were not able to give their renovators a profit.

In the end, Peter’s half done house, August’s shop and Natalia’s sixties suburban all failed to deliver a profit which puts a dampener on the usual happy-go-lucky mood of the show and its contestants. It kind of proves that no matter how nice you try to make a show, reality will always find a way to kill it!

Mel, Luke and Michael all made profits, however it was SA Michael’s fibro cottage that made the most; earning him the title of Australia’s best (and possibly only) renovator (and by only, I mean crowned by this show).

It was a finale night that had a few fizzles, a few highlights and an all round good atmosphere, but it wasn’t the only show that provided that this week.

Junior MasterChef also saw a nice change of heart when the juniors were allowed to cook in a proper restaurant for the first time! Despite all this, it was a chocolate themed taste test and invention test on Monday that stole the show with happy faces all round up until the point of deciding who was to face elimination.

On The X Factor, the contestants didn’t have to wait long to find out who was going to be eliminated. After a somewhat improved performance show, Johnny Ruffo and Audio Vixen fell victim to the public vote on Tuesday and despite Mel promising not to go into deadlock, one crucial mistake made sure the viewers were in control that night. In the end, Audio Vixen were told to leave, and Ronan lost his first group of the year.

Beauty & The Geek Australia went back to school with a truly hilarious yet cringeworthy science fair, before the geeks mastered the art of cheerleading. After Jordan and Julian won the science fair challenge and Lachlan and Sarah triumphed in the cheerleading competition (leaving a distraught Maddy in their path), they chose Theo & Jacelle and Bendeguz & Dolly to face elimination. There, Jacelle’s idea that Galileo invented the hammer sealed the fates of her and Theo; sending them packing.

The One also managed to surprise me, and possibly even Valerie who was ultimately voted this season’s worst psychic, being sent home first.

 

With The Renovators out of the way, it gives us more time to look at the other reality television shows going on at this time.

The One’s psychics will this week have to investigate the murder of a woman which will ultimately lead to another being sent home. The same goes for Beauty & The Geek Australia contestants and The X Factor contestants, who will see yet another round of challenges/singing (this week, chart topping songs is the theme), before another hopeful goes home.

Junior MasterChef will bid farewell to its first four contestants since determining the top 20. In the running to leave are Jade, Zac, Hannah, Aya, Tom, Alysha, Caroline and Marcus.

Again, it is another short week of reality this week as the year well and truly winds down. We’re getting to the stage now where in most reality shows, favourites will be sent home, so get the tissues ready, put pen to complaint paper, and try to make the most of what could be a show-stopping week!

 

So, who will be The One? Well, we won’t find out tonight, but what we will find out is who will be The One… to be eliminated first? Although it is a harsh reality that there are people like me out there cracking jokes like that, it is an equally harsh reality that someone always has to leave first.

We begin on the cliff where the ten psychics are standing as a voice over Daddo gives us a recap of the week that was last week and what we can expect tonight.

We begin the night in the live audience as we are introduced to Richard Saunders and Stacey De Marco as the two judges. Then, it is on to tonight’s challenge. We are told that a criminal is on a train to the city where he could be lost forever. Luckily, he dropped a bag and what the psychics have to do, is to use the bag to tune into the vibes as to where the criminal is. They have seven minutes to do all this and with that, we head to the train station where our psychics give a creepy voice over explaining what we have just been told while the camera pans on each of their faces. Anthony seems to be going first and he will be using ‘clear feeling’ to find the criminal. He is now moving down the stairs but will he have luck? He goes to a few passengers but there is no pull. He heads upstairs, but passes the criminal. Maybe there is no pull to a fugitive because he is a fake? He asks some chick and gets it wrong. ’80% of the time you are right; sometimes your not’. Yeah, pal.

Debbie is next and she isn’t getting much from the backpack and she believes it is because she mostly deals with dead people. She correctly identifies the fugitive as a male so she goes to look. She is correctly drawn to the bottom carriage, but she passes the man. With only a few minutes left, she asks the wrong person. She feels angry, but don’t take it personally, Debbie.

Next up is Maria and she is looking for an aurora more than a person. She gets a good sense of people and she is drawn to two blonde women. Wanting to cover all bases, she continues on. It all goes cold as she passes the man and she is back to the blondes. Too bad, so sad.

Andrew, back in the studio, notices that two of the three psychics have chosen the same spot on the train. Yeah, spinning it like it matters!

He returns to the train where he wonders if Julie will be drawn to the same part of the train. This girl is probably the closest thing to a psychic on this show, so let’s see how she does. Again, she passes the man but she is covering ground. She passes the man again with nothing. After passing him a third time and mentioning him, she dismisses him because he is not wearing a red shirt. She ends up choosing someone, without a red shirt. No idea!

Heidi is up now and she passes the man and all of a sudden stops and questions the guy. She doesn’t take him, wanting to cover ground. Can she find someone with a bigger pull? She gets a female pull, but she heads back to the man. We head to an ad break where afterwards, we find out if she chooses him or not.

No, she goes to the other woman (the same woman was chosen before by Maria. She seems to be getting a bit peeved to be picked all the time.

Back at the studio and while they all agree a pattern is emerging with the psychics going to the same place on the train, Richard says it isn’t good enough and I agree.

Back to the train and it is Valerie’s turn. She is drawn towards a bearded male and when she starts, she goes slowly. She approaches one guy, but after finding he doesn’t have the right energy, she moves on.

She then goes to someone else who is not the fugitive at all. Hmm, they couldn’t be doing this on the same train and I realise that chick that keeps on being picked is in ALL the trains (of course). Katrina is next and she approaches the guy but with no right feeling energy, she passes him and tries the same man Valerie tried. She acknowledges that the other guy she was thinking (the right one) was probably the right choice.

Next up is Michael and he too thinks he is after a male (although, finding a fugitive, there is more chance of that fugitive being a male). He passes the right guy, but is told to turn back. There are two guys he can choose, one of them the fugitive. He chooses the other guy! D’oh!

Back in the studio, Stacey spins the situation by saying the last two psychics were looking for the right type of guy. With the ad break approaching, only two contestants are left.

Back after the break, and it is Greg’s turn. He too feels ‘young’ energy. He passes the guy but does not stop with no energy at all. He goes for the same girl Anthony did and with that, it is all up to Salvatore.

He passes the guy and doesn’t feel much despite the fact the guy is the same as in his vision. He then approaches a guy that I think Debbie tried and with that, the fugitive walks off the train uncaught.

In the studio, Stacey thinks there was anxiousness on the train between the two most chosen passengers. One of those passengers (chosen by at least Salvatore) is in the crowd and confirms he was anxious about picking up kids; but he featured in most of the scenes which were obviously shot over a long time span, so I don’t know if I believe this.

Still, the psychics have found anxious people, but Richard points out that everyone could be a little agitated. Andrew just states that the red shirt guy was highly anxious and that’s the end of the argument. Please!

Now, for the studio challenge and Andrew invites some people up with some medical conditions. There is Doug who had cancer at three years of age and a lung removed Sue who has an intestinal parasite (or did), Kirsten who had a tumour in her leg and is therefore an amputee, and finally Pawel who copped a knee to the face causing him to have a face reconstruction.

The crew knows their entire medical history, including that Sue is pregnant. Anthony is first to try.

He is drawn to Sue and correctly ‘guesses’ a gastric problem (could be an indication of the parasite and the pregnancy as he also picked up ‘bloating’). He then moves to Pawel and correctly describes that he may have had an impact to the face.

Richard thought he may have been using an educated guess to predict this and Stacey is of course, on Anthony’s psychic side.

Katrina is next and heads to Kirsten and feels she is in so much pain while walking (which is correct when learning how to use a prosthetic). Sue then goes to Sue who picks up something around her reproductive system and some vomiting. Sue thinks it is her pregnancy drawing Katrina to the vomiting.

Stacey would have liked Katrina to have ‘diagnosed’ Sue, and Richard thinks she didn’t do well.

After the break, it is time for Debbie to take the challenge. She goes to Sue and feels she is pregnant straight away. She also picks up gestational problems (diabetes to be exact). She then moves to Pawel and feels aching and joint pain.

Richard finds Debbie’s pregnancy prediction astonishing but he can see the baby bump. So can I actually.

Stacey feels Debbie’s guess that Pawel has been through ‘aching’ is in relation to a stiffness he used to have in the leg which he no longer suffers from.

Next up is Heidi who goes to Doug and is drawn to his left knee and feels there has been surgery and tinea on the right foot. Doug feels a bit embarrassed as she is wrong.

She also feels a bit of a rib problem and Doug does mention that the radiology machine did bang his left rib cage, distorting it. Richard is impressed with this.

Next up is Michael who guesses that Pawel has a problem with his face and that Kirsten has a prosthetic leg. Finally, someone got it.

Stacey loves this with all the hits. Richard says he didn’t get the fact she has a prosthetic LEG when he said she has a prothetic shoe. Andrew and Stacey feel that this is a bit harsh of Richard. Valerie is next and feels bronchitis in either Sue or Doug and feels concerned by Kirsten’s stomach. Kirsten feels Valerie should be nervous.

Richard feels Valerie wasn’t been given ‘the right information’.

After a short break, it is time for Maria to try and diagnose the volunteers. To Doug and she thinks ‘surgery’ and ‘lap band’. To Kirsten and she is drawn to her left hand leg which is the amputated leg.

Afterwards, Stacey is delighted for Maria’s diagnosis of Kirsten and even Richard gives her a bit of credit.

Next is Greg who feels Sue has lower back pain which is correct (well, she used to) and even correctly guessed that she had a back brace.

For some reason, Stacey has a go and correctly guesses that Doug has to watch what he drinks. Was this just edited in to give the psychic judge some random credibility?

Salvatore is next and feels Doug has an erratic heart beat. He feels Kirsten has gone through rehabilitation which is correct. Richard picks up that he didn’t pick up on the prosthetic leg so isn’t too happy with his answers.

Julie is next and picks Sue’s digestive problems and feels something is going on in her chest. To Pawel and she feels scarring, but in the wrong place.

Stacey feels that she wasn’t quietened down and that we could have gotten a better result if she was. Disappointed overall.

After the break, it is time for the elimination.

Richard says his decision is based on their success rate while Stacey feels it is just about the hits and agrees with Richard’s way of judging.

Stacey compliments Anthony’s hits in the chopper task and the medical test. Richard says he might be the one.

Stacey moves to Salvatore and compliments his calmness and Richard says he too may be the one.

Stacey says Greg gunned the helicopter which was impressive and Richard confirms that he might be The One.

Stacey calls forward Michael, Debbie and Debbie and advises them to take their time in challenges. Richard tells Michael, Debbie and Katrina that they all might still be the one.

Stacey says Julie is always close and it is kind of frustrating and wants her to relax and tune in more. Richard says that she might still be the one.

Stacey says Heidi spent 51 seconds standing in front of the fugitive and reminds her to take her guide’s advice next time. She might still be the one, says Richard.

It all comes down to Maria and Valerie. Stacey compliments Maria’s medical test hits but tells her she is crap at everything else. She then tells Valerie that she is unable to express and listen which is giving her results.

It will be one of these two to leave. Richard then tells Valerie that she is NOT the one.

In a cutaway, Valerie compliments the experience as she swallows her pride amongst a huge audience.

So that’s the end of episode two and I must compliment this show on its near-event television style quality and how they have successfully tried to wrap this show up and present it as a genuine important and must watch television special.

The downside, the content says different. While some of the ‘hits’ these psychics get are quite extraordinary, it is still too easy to agree with Richard on some of his arguments and considering he is a sceptic, that doesn’t say much for the show.

Editing is still fierce and it is obvious that the stage scenes are shot at different times with pastings of some scenes all too obvious.

It also seems that the people on this show that are expressing any kind of character of interest are the volunteers and not the contestants (or indeed the judges) themselves.

It isn’t a good sign, but if the show is able to just be a bit more careful on the editing floor, despite the somewhat dodgy premise of the show, we could have a stunning piece of television on our hands.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 7.3/10

 

Another Thursday means another cheeky instalment of Australia’s ‘favourite social experiment’. The men watch for the beauties and the women watch for…Troy? Either way, it will be all fun and games until someone gets hurt, or goes home, whichever comes first!

We begin the episode with Gilbert talking to Maddy about Gilbert approaching Dolly intimately. He tells her he won’t make the first move and she tells him that she is interested otherwise she wouldn’t keep hanging around him. After a chat with Maddy, he decides to get Dolly on her own to chat to her.

The next morning, we visit the blossoming relationship between Lachlan and Jordan and Jordan cannot believe she is falling for a geek; calling him hot and sexy.

It is now time for the first challenge and it is at a school’s sports ground. As they sit on the sidelines, Bernard welcomes them to school.

He tells them that they will be competing in a cheerleading challenge, something that gets the beauties going. Before all that, Bernard brings up chemistry in the mansion which leads him to an awkward segue about a science fair!

Sarah is obviously not happy about this. Bernard tells them that each beauty will be designated a field of science to create a class on. They will then present that class to a group of year sevens who will judge them on the quality of that class and their favourite presentation.

The fields of science include chemistry (which Mackenzie describes as…), biology, volcanology (biology with volcanos on front) and physics (what comes up must come down). They will each have 20 minutes to study their field with their geeks and basically, the winners of the challenge will be the team with the most points.

With that, Bernard wishes them luck and will see them at the science fair.

Mackenzie is given biology and Jimmy is ‘excited’ about getting to educate Mackenzie. She wanted to be a forensic scientist (which is all biology) however Jimmy is not happy to hear she didn’t study it (she just wanted to be it).

Lachlan and Sarah are given Volcanology which Sarah can hardly pronounce. She can’t work out what the ‘doormat’ stage of a volcano is.

Theo and Jacelle begin their chemistry lesson and as soon as Theo says the first word; atoms; Jacelle tells him to slow down and not overload him. Gilbert and Maddy are also doing chemistry and Maddy is not happy. She’s in a competition, she could try, but she’s just being a whiny bitch today. Scripted? Possibly, but I would doubt it would be too scripted to the point that Maddy doesn’t control her emotions; and she is being a bitch.

Gilbert is pushed to his limits.

With that, it is time to get into the class. They are nervous as the don’t know what they are talking about. Troy and Helen are first and it is killing Helen not to stop Troy making an absolute fool of himself.

Lachlan and Sarah are next and while she starts off OK, she is speechless half way through!

After the break, it is Theo and Jacelle’s turn. While Jacelle is going about the whole thing weirdly, she is getting the general idea (except of course, how to spell ‘molecules’).

Bendeguz and Dolly are next and again, it is just hard to watch having her put cut outs of organs on Bendeguz. One kid nearly vomits and I just do not know if that is real or not. Seriously, I need to go to one of these tapings.

Julian and Jordan are next and Jordan is nervous but she gets the three stages of volcanology correct!

Mackenzie…well, just piles cut outs of organs on Jimmy.

It is then time for the experiments and Jordan is covered in magma coloured paint which is the only highlight of that part. Then, my favourite part, question time. Some kid asks Maddy why scientists wear lab coats. Not intimidated, by their beady eyes, she deems the question stupid thinking they could all just wear bikinis. Although she did have to resort to cutaway time to mention all this, so she is a bit of a scaredy!

How did time begin, Troy? Well, he resorts to more religious terms to describe that, saying something about goat shifting before mentioning the word ‘Rolex’.

The kids then vote and Helen just wants to win.

Bernard then announces that the winner of today’s competition is Jordan, which is not surprising. Julian hugs Jordan which was newsworthy apparently. And with that, Jordan and Julian are safe for the week but become the first nominating couple for the week.

At night, Gilbert meets with Dolly to discuss the situation. Dolly is happy that he is finally approaching her and she tells him she likes him.

After the break, the contestants are getting ready for the cheerleading challenge. Dolly is worried because this is all her reputation on the line. Gilly trying it out is so funny to watch.

Julian is hopeless at it but the nice as always Jordan is patient with him.

Jacelle and Theo try to come up with lyrics before the moves, but they come up with nothing. Troy comes up with some sort of rap.

To the gym and they are all donned in pink uniforms. Bernard welcomes them and introduces guest judges Nicole and Ben Holmes; before telling them they will all have to present a short, biographical performance with the top two moving through to compete in a full routine with an East Coast professional team!

With that, it is audition time. This looks more like a scene from Glee than Beauty & The Geek Australia!

Lachlan and Sarah are first and they do quite well, but a revealing split at the end by Sarah seems to seal the deal.

Julian and Jordan are next and while Jordan has the lyrics, Julian does something that hardly resembles cheerleading. He does get better though… They’re safe for the week, anyway, so who cares.

Helen and Troy are next and they are flat hopeless.

Theo and Jacelle are next and despite being a self proclaimed bad dancer, he doesn’t do so badly.

Jimmy and Mackenzie are next and they feel they did well. Bendeguz and Dolly are next, but who can take Bendeguz seriously.

Gilbert and Maddy are last and Gilly says something about trees which is utterly hilarious and they do a good job overall.

I think there are three teams in the running, but who will progress?

They all gather together where Bernard debriefs on the challenge. Then, he reveals that the first couple to progress is… Lachlan and Sarah. The second couple are… Gilbert and Maddy. Fitting!

Maddy & Gilbert will be the first team to perform and Gilly seems very nervous. They seem to get into it by the end. They do have a shot at winning.

Lachlan and Sarah are next and they do acknowledge the tough competition.

Sarah seems like a pro, and Lachlan is just having fun which is what it is all about in the end! Lachlan does get more and more into it and his facial expressions are a huge game booster.

So, who will win? The Holmes were very impressed with them, but the overall winner is… Lachlan and Sarah! Too bad Maddy!

Lachlan and Sarah are safe this week, but will now have to nominate someone.

Back at the house and Mackenzie and Troy are together. They get all cozy as Troy says he likes her. As Johnson has told us, these guys are already engaged so this just feels like old news. Good on them though.

In another room, Lachlan and Sarah are discussing who should be nominated. They have a few couples in mind and Lachlan wants Gilly and Maddy up. Sarah thinks Theo and Jacelle and Lachlan says he will refuse to speak against them. Hmm, very hard.

Jordan and Julian are discussing their options and they are thinking Bendeguz and Dolly and Helen and Troy (please the latter)!

After the break, it is time for the nominations and they all come down the stairs for the verdict. Jordan and Julian and Lachlan and Sarah are standing before Bernard to make their decisions. Jordan and Julian won immunity first, so they will pick first. They end up choosing… Bendeguz and Dolly.

Lachlan and Sarah are next and Lachlan tears up quite a bit as he announces the decision. They nominate Theo and Jacelle and I have no idea why Sarah did not speak that decision. Theo goes to comfort his friend, but he is still sad nonetheless.

With that, Theo & Jacelle and Bendeguz & Dolly will face off in elimination. They say their goodbyes as they head upstairs to pack.

Helen says Theo is her favourite and just hopes he remains in the house.

Dolly is quite bitter about her nomination and believes people are threatened by her and Bendeguz.

With that, the couples study their science, but Jacelle is not confident that she will do well. In a cutaway, she looks very sad which could indicate her elimination.

To elimination and Bernard welcomes them and runs them through the process. Tonight, the geeks will be going first. Their subject, dance.

Bendeguz is first to choose a question and he gets; ‘Without using words, tell us where the village people find it fun to stay at?’ He acts out the words ‘YMCA’ and he gets it correct. Theo is next and gets; ‘according to Patrick Swazye in Dirty Dancing, nobody puts who in the corner?’ and as we go to the break, Jacelle is confident he will NOT know this.

After the break, he guesses ‘Me’ which is incorrect (Baby being correct). Bendeguz is next with; ‘Did the tango originate in Argentina or Spain?’ and he guesses Argentina which is correct (even Dolly had no idea).

Theo’s question is a picture one and after a picture comes up with a hamburger-ed dancer on it, Theo is asked to identify him. He identifies him as Michael Jackson which is correct.

It is now time for the beauties and their theme is in fact; Science.

Dolly is first with; ‘How many chambers does the heart have?’ and she correctly guesses 4. Jacelle needs to get this correct and it is obvious she won’t. “Galileo famously invented which tool?’ and she guesses hammer which sends Theo into a laughing fit and him and Jacelle out of the house.

With that, Bendeguz and Dolly are saved from elimination with Theo and Jacelle asked to leave.

With that, the episode ends and what another fun week it has been. This show impresses me with its nice production values and different techniques it uses to really emphasise the mood of a situation. For example, the simple use of the sound effect of a spring when a beauty says something ignorant is all that is needed to heighten the comedic value of the scene.

I am still not convinced that some of this is staged or scripted, but I did find that the elimination, while predictable due to poor media training on Jacelle’s behalf, was much fairer and equal this time around.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.7/10

 

Ok, so, using the notes provided to me by my friend and some notes I took on my phone while waiting in the waiting room (yay, they had it on), I’ll blog as detailed as possible. If I can hit 2,000 words (a respectable word count for my blogs), I won’t bother expanding. So let’s go.

First and foremost, the episode begins with a huge recap of the year that has been, plus a small preview into tonight’s events; probably weren’t many exciting events to pull from considering it is just auctions.

We begin the night in actuality with Brendan coming up on a makeshift stage situated outside the weatherboard house. There are a lot of people there; it could be a good night. He’s all snazzed up in a very lush suit and there with him is Mel and some of the contestants (presumably weatherboard contestants, yes).

He then introduces Chris Gray, who will be Brendan’s aide for the night and after a short interview, we cross to the judges who are at the shop waiting what will be the second auction site for the night. After a quick good luck, we are back in Marrickville where Chris expects that three of the six properties will be likely to sell. Well, that’s more than The Block got this year; a-kaboom!

Brendan then goes to Mel, the finalist representing the weatherboard house tonight. She is with her family and right now; she is just feeling excited and proud to be representing such a fine house, and of course the fine team behind the making of that house, here at auction tonight. Her family is there with her and they look genuinely proud of her.

What does she want out of The Renovators? Well, out of the auction at least she wants top dollars; and with a 1 in six chance with a tough Sydney market, she may be a bit out of luck. Still, we’re early into this and anything could happen.

We now take a look at a very fitting, but as my friend said, very long look at the weatherboard house and its transformation over the ten week course of this show. According to my friend, this also acted as a look back at the ‘journey’ these contestants have taken. Apparently, despite the long length, it was a perfect fit and definitely necessary. I’ll take her word on that.

After all that, we are inside the weatherboard house where Mel is joined by her ex-contestants and family for yet another interview before biddings begin. She is just a little homesick, but this entire competition means so much to her, she is determined to win!

With that, Chris tells her she needs a total of $573,855 to even begin to earn a profit and with that, the first auction of the night begins!

It starts off well and she is able to achieve just under $500,000 before proceedings seem to hit a snag. It is momentary, and the figures continue to rise again. She makes it to $570,000 before the second and more vital snag hits but after the real estate guys walking and spruiking through the crowd tonight work their magic, they are able to sell the house for $575,000, making Mel $1,145 profit. A good start, I guess and hey, at least it sold! Will the others be as lucky?

Well, Mel is proud anyway and as Brendan jokes, she is currently at this time the leader in the competition. Well, if that does it for her…

So overall, as I said, she made $1,145 which is a 0.2% profit. And with that, Mel is done for the night and we head over to the shop, August and the judges. There, Robyn takes the interviewing reigns. August thinks it would be brilliant to win (and hey, I aint arguing!) And with that, we get another one of those fitting, long look at the journey these contestants have had in the shop. It is unbelievable that no one in this team actually got eliminated before the head to heads! Very successful.

Afterwards, the judges interview Fiona and Christie (Natalia obviously now a finalist for the sixties suburban). As original key holder, Fiona is proud that the house went to someone like August with his artistic and architectural prowess. I mean, who could not argue with that; August has been a bomb in this competition; a force to be reckoned with!

His family, who are also there, are proud of their little Augie.

Now it is time for auction and basically, he needs to beat $713,676 PLUS the 0.2% the weatherboard house made to get August in front. Overall, he needs more than $715,000.

There’s a huge $700,000 beginning bid which is so good and spells only good things for August… or does it?

The auctioneer is shit; absolute crap and apparently this won’t be his only auction tonight! In fact, he is so crap (apparently not doing enough to get the audience motivated to bid) it is August’s shop that turns into that single bid property we were told about. It sells for $700,000! That’s above reserve, but not enough to earn August, current leader Mel or the current prize fund, a profit.

Baz makes it a positive and so do the other contestants; but despite the positive nature of this show; this is a brutal night; and most of this comes off as looking a little desperate. Apparently, August did not look happy at all as the first ‘victim’ tonight. Still, if I was in August’s position, I would want people like Baz around me more than say, Scott Cam.

Mel comes in and the two put the result aside to hug each other and hey, these guys are taking it better than the people on The Block; but I guess these guys are in the trade, so there you go.

With that, second auction is up and we are off to the Inner City Terrace with Chris and Brendan where we are treated to vision from the Open Inspection. Most people seem very happy with the property and my, isn’t that courtyard a stunner!

Brendan is then on the balcony, staring into the street below as the camera pans up. He is with finalist Luke as they prepare for auction. After a short, apparently unrevealing interview, we are treated with the ‘story of the Inner City Terrace’ recap.

After all that, Brendan interviews the other contestants (Jason and Kathy (was Sam there?)) and they are proud of what Luke was able to achieve on his own. Luke tells Brendan that he thinks the main things the buyers will be ‘bidding on’ are all the interesting features he has put in the home.

Luke is confident he will break the $899,000 he needs to beat but because of Mel’s 0.2%, he actually has to beat $901,152 but Luke is confident he will get $1.1m for it. Yeah, right pal!

Mel then enters the room and wishes him well for the night.

The auction takes place downstairs as the camera pans out of the upstairs window, down the building and into the lit up room below. Apparently, it was a brilliant cinematic technique.

So, how will it all go for Lukey?

He gets to $860,000 in no time and soon after that, we are at $880,000. It actually makes it to $900,000 without any further bids following immediately. Then, after a cheekily placed ad break, a man bids $905,000, eliminating Mel and putting Luke in the front. Sparing details, in the end Luke manages $925,000, which along with Mel’s money, equals $25,730 in prize money. His overall winning percentage is at 2.86%.

With that, Luke should be happy (despite being way lower than the expected $1.1m) and we move swiftly onto the Half Done House for their auction.

Well, we actually go to a break at this point before a weird montage detailing the stressful situations the contestants were put in is shown. Bit of a time filler, but in context, looking back at some of the spats was quite a funny sight.

Pete is sitting with Pete in that magnificent garden with his family and they tell him ‘Buona Fortuna’ or good luck (I think I spelt it wrong). He says he isn’t as nervous as he thought he would be, so that’s a bonus!

We then look at the Half Done House journey before a chat with the ex contestants ensures. Lisa is happy he stuck to the original plans and Peter just said he loved getting it finished.

After all is said and done, we find out Peter needs more than $825,114 to win, but as we go to auction, we see August’s auctioneer is back and it looks like Peter is a dead man. Well, maybe not that bad…J.

The auction begins badly with no initial takers to begin with but soon, someone bids $700,000 which is very low and there’s a lot to go. He gets to $710,000 and slowly $720,000 but it isn’t until someone goes to $750,000 that Peter is in with a chance. Someone then goes $770,000 and unfortunately, that’s where it stops and the house is sold well below what Peter needed. Still, his house sold and Peter is in a much happier mood than The Block contestants and of course, August.

Baz is still able to spin the crap out of it.

It is now time to go to the Sixties Suburban where Brendan is standing on the back patio with Natalia, her husband and child and they discuss the series. She says she is calm and Brendan apparently compliments her baby’s eyes (Natalia then says they are like Brendan’s, which sounds a bit weird).

We look at the journey before Brendan is joined by all the past contestants (including Suzanne) and boy isn’t there a heap of them! After a short uneventful interview, Luke comes in and says hello, commenting on the busy night (we all know this occurred over several nights, so this is very poorly scripted).

Natalia is told she needs to break a total of $779,964 to win but with 11 regular bidders, she may be in luck!

The auction starts with a small $600,000 bid but after a while it goes up rapidly to $730,000. Usually, there is a snag and a few more bids, but this time, the snag did not end and that’s how the house sold. Again, above reserve, but below profit making margin!

With that, it is now Michael v Luke for the title. For the epic finale, the Party Rock Anthem opening titles tune is playing as the judges rock up in those now infamous black SUV’s to a huge crowd of people containing the contestants, family members and what not. This actually occurred on one of the first nights of auction, so the grand entrance must have been planned. That means; this isn’t predictable, so a good point of this finale, and possibly the most important!

Ali is one of the contestants standing in the crowd and she is just proud of Michael and the now developed fibro cottage.

Chris and Brendan then walk in and Robyn is already interviewing him. The last ten minutes have been the most nerve-racking, says Michael.

It is time for one last look at the journey before ex team members are asked to join Michael! They discuss the finished product, and they are all very proud. Michael’s girlfriend Ashley is there and she says that once he’s done renovating on this show, he can finish the renovations at her house, haha.

Brendan reveals the $26,000 current prize pool to Michael, who is shocked by the figure. He then tells Michael that most people have wanted to pay just over $400,000 for the property. Michael said that had he not heard of the trouble the other guys have been having, he would have been disappointed, but now, he would be happy with $400,000.

Well, being the cheapest house, Michael needs $382,669 to win. Easy feat? Not quite as that bloody auctioneer is back!

To begin with, no one bids at all and the auctioneer makes a pun about the suburb being a quiet one.

Soon enough, someone says $280,000 and from there, it skyrockets. It makes it to $375,000 and it doesn’t go anywhere from there. The man is about to hit his book signalling a sale and the end of auction (at this point, it would be a loss to Michael) before we go to break. When we return, we look at the current bidder as the mallet is about to go down, and in quite a dramatic fashion, a distinct hand raise is seen in the background, connected to someone raising the property to $385,000 making…

MICHAEL LYNCH (From SA I might add) THE WINNER OF THE RENOVATORS 2011!!!

 

From there, he is able to milk an astonishing $440,000 for the house, taking the grand prize to just under $100,000 (but Brendan rounds it up to this figures, making $100,000 the total prize fund!).

And with that, the episode, season and possibly series ends. The way Brendan worded the goodbye sounded like it wasn’t coming back as he states ‘thank you for watching The Renovators’. Hmm, not a good sign.

 

I can’t critique the show but apparently, it was worth a Courtney’s Verdict of 9.0/10 due to good cinematography techniques, a tense final and all round good display of sportsmanship, however was let down by some boring auction scenes and a bit of repetition after ads.

 

To the series as a whole, and it has been quite a power building ride. This has been one reality television series which has just gone from strength to strength. Somewhat weak to begin with due to the over saturation of reality television at the time and of course, the over saturation of renovation shows, The Renovators was a show that needed to prove itself.

It was plagued by too much product placement, uninspiring contestants who were soon eliminated, and boring scenes. The lack of renovation was also a problem.

But the niceness of the show was on a scale much different to that seen on MasterChef. It wasn’t just a ‘nice judge’ feel; the show had a ‘judge bonds emotionally with contestant’ feel, and it was able to pull that off without any ‘bias’ problems.

The show dished out well produced episode after well produced episode and it should be proud with how each and every show has been packaged.

What’s stunning is how quickly it has all ended. Somehow, this show took the limelight off of just elimination, and got the show to revolve around a whole lot more; contestants, challenges and events like the heartwarming Brisbane Flood clean up. Then, it was the head to head challenges that plummeted the numbers from 12 to 6 and here we are, at the very end.

 

I don’t know if the show will be back next year, but I do feel that despite its low points, this is one show Australia has failed. It deserves to be on television and then some. This is a smash hit show without the smash, that’s for sure. Wrong timing to start it, possibly. Dull at times, maybe. But all in all, I have enjoyed this show and I wish the cast, crew, contestants and significant others, the very best of luck for the future.

 

Courtney’s The Renovators Season One Overall Verdict: 9.1/10

 

WORD COUNT: 2,585 Words

UPDATE: The reason why I cannot blog tonight is that a friend of mine has been admitted to hospital due to a sports injury. Their mother is unable to pick her up after all is done (which I have been told will be at around 8PM but could be much later). BUT, another friend has promised to take notes of the finale and I may be able to expand on them afterwards! Crisis possibly diverted…?

Hey guys, I’m so sorry about this.

Through no fault of my own, I have had to be called away from my blogging duties tonight due to unforseen circumstances.

Unfortunately, this comes on the night of The Renovators Finale.

It is not a serious issue, rest assured, however it is an urgent one and unfortunately, no back up plan has been put in place.

For anyone who relies on this blog for information or for catch up; I can only say I am sorry. The more unfortunate thing is, I have no time on Thursday’s to complete blogs however, due to the slim amount of blogging time on Thursday night (only Beauty & The Geek Australia) I can endeavor to upload it tomorrow night; but if all else fails, Friday.

The One may have to be delayed by Friday.

Again, I am so sorry and also for the late notice. I have only found out this minute of some plans that, as I say, need urgent attention.

Throng Australia will provide posts detailing results as per what is expected during events like these. I respect that by the time the blogs come up, it is probably not relevant due to the event nature of finale episodes, but nonetheless, I have a moral obligation to upload important episodes like these and rest assured it will be done.

It also comes just so soon after I had to neglect my position for a weeks break over September, however I hope you trust there is no way out of my sudden obligations tonight.

For those who are watching it live, I hope you enjoy it, and for the rest of you I give my sincerest apologies.

 

Regards,

Courtney xx 

Hey guys!

Well, it has been (and will continue to be for the next few months) a very hectic yet enjoyable first year here on Throng for me; providing you with full, detailed recaps of every reality television program around.

Indeed, 2011 has been a huge year in reality television with many shows posting year on year growths and producing a lot of news headlines.

As it goes, every year we tend to forget the contestants who competed on these shows, but the truth is, some of these people were, for just this year, media icons themselves. Be them normal people competing on MasterChef or Australia’s Got Talent, or celebrities competing on The Celebrity Apprentice or Dancing With The Stars; these people contributed to the television landscape of 2011 and many events that look back on this year may well list some of their names.

We may not find the next Rob Mills or the next Chrissie Swan; but 2011 had some great characters that may or may not last the test of time.

So, before we bid farewell to this year, I have been devising a list of the 20 reality contestants I personally think will be, in one form or another, remembered. Whether through a simple ‘Oh, I remember him; I completely forgot he existed’ moment or a ‘Oh my God, it’s her!’ moment, the people on this list should have left some sort of mark on 2011.

The Top 20, 19, 18, 17 & 16th place getters will be revealled on 15 December 2011, before, one day at a time (excluding Christmas), one contestant will be revealled place by place until 31 December 2011 where the Reality Star of 2011 will be crowned.

The list will be devised through not only my own personal opinion, but will also reflect on how much media attention they got. This list does not only celebrate winners; but the Merlin’s or the Ricki-Lee’s of 2011 that caught our attention before disappearing just a little too early.

The reason why I am revealling this so early is because A) I am waiting for a time for all reality television shows end to launch the segment and B) I want you guy’s to have a say!

If you feel there is a certain person who deserves recognition for their presence in 2011 reality television shows, please feel free to PM me by clicking my name and following the on screen options or by commenting below (I no longer accept emails from my hotmail account). Tell me why they deserve to be in the top 20; what they did and how you can see them building on their future career (last point not really needed).

You never know; I may be convinced by your argument and may administer them to the list (or even bump them up).

As you all may know however, the list is not yet complete, so go for your life. Where possible, I want to recognise them in their full names (first and last names) as I find that whether this information is supplied or not to be the first indication as to whether they were actually worth something in the 2011 landscape.

Recognising people in duo’s (a la My Kitchen Rules and Amazing Race Australia contestants) is acceptable; but where necessary, if one stands out from the other, they can be separated! Any situation like this that you know of?

Individual members of a group (say, Audio Vixen) will not be recognised on their own.

There can only be ONE Reality Star of 2011.

So hopefully you guys can reply and give me some indication. This is just a little competition on Throng to get into the silly season and wrap up the year. Also, when this competition gets underway, news will have well and truly stopped flowing and hey, we need events to keep you guys satiated!

Thanks,

Courtney xx

One by one, they are being cut; and after performing some of the most risky songs you can; who will be weak enough to be nipped tonight? Hold your breath people; it could be a tight one.

In the intro, it seems Guy is quite concerned by this week with Mel quite happy with her last remaining star.

Another opener whose music doesn’t compliment the grand stage and Luke emerges from the doors to debrief on the night before. Then, here come the judges- all four of them yet again. And doesn’t Natalie look stunning.

Luke tells us that Vanessa Amorosi and Chris Isaak will be performing tonight before he introduces the final 9 who perform a group performance.

They do quite well but Johnny had to be the weakest in that showcase. They do get a standing ovation from the judges, but I guess that’s expected.

Luke gets the audience to give it up to the final 9 as a group for the final time before we are reminded of last night’s performances. And weren’t there some goodies in there!

After that extensive look at last night, we turn to the judges. Mel feels safe and compliments Christina’s piano playing skills. Guy thinks it will be an interesting night and between him and Ronan, feel the odds are stacked against the two mentor’s combined 6 performances. Ronan just hopes Australia voted! Man, he loves to plug those money making phone lines!

Natalie cannot believe she has gone two weeks without a member of her group in the bottom two, but acknowledges anything could happen.

After the break, we have a look at the recent Maccas ‘Back by Popular Demand’ Roof Party. Yeah, nothing interesting here.

Now, it is time for our first special guests; Vanessa Amorosi with her new single, Amazing. Well, the spinning circle is back and this time with a bed on it; with Vanessa atop that bed! Well, as expected, she does quite well. She is one of the few performers who are able to mimic the vocals heard in their studio recordings.

The performance is complete with not one, but FOUR spinning circles and a nice dumping of confetti. She gets a standing ovation and afterwards, Luke gives her the usual generic interview complete with the question; ‘do you have any advice for our final hopefuls?’ Umm, yes… don’t get voted out!

After the break, it is time for the verdict. We have Ronan and his groups; Young Men’s Society, Three Wishes and Audio Vixen. We have Guy and his boys; Reece Mastin, Johnny Ruffo and Declan Sykes. We have Mel and her girls (or should I say girl); Christina Parie. Finally, we have Natalie and her over 25’s; Andrew Wishart and Mitchell Callaway.

It is time for the results! And the music goes sombre!

The first act to return next week is…Andrew Wishart! Natalia is very happy with that and here comes the screams.

The second act safe tonight is… Christina Parie; and Mel is completely safe tonight.

The third act safe tonight is… Three Wishez.

The fourth act safe tonight is… Reece Mastin; go SA!

The fifth act to make it through tonight is… Mitchell Callaway and with that, Natalie is completely safe tonight.

The sixth act safe tonight is… Young Men’s Society, and that means we will have two newbies in the bottom two tonight.

Only one more place remains and that place goes to… Declan Sykes. Wow, that is very surprising but VERY lucky for Declan!

That leaves Audio Vixen and Johnny Ruffo to compete in the sing for your life performance.

Guy was expecting to head into the final two, but didn’t expect it would be Johnny who would be put up.

After the break, it is time for the second guest act for tonight; Chris Isaak who will tonight be performing his classic ‘Pretty Woman’. Hey, I didn’t know he sung this! I thought it was a Grease song.

Well, after hearing his performance, I am convinced he is the singer, haha. The stage set up is wonderfully perfect. Complete with girls, a fancy drum kid perched on a stage across an isle from another stage housing an old fashioned piano and pianist, a serenading red background and a flashy suit on Isaak; this performance gives off a retro atmosphere while also maintaining the modern set up of the show.

In my opinion, it wasn’t long enough! I can’t believe this guy is performing on The X Factor Australia!

He gets an interview by Luke and promises his album will improve your sex life and grow hairs on your head. I think at one point, he tries to mimic the Australian accent.

After the break, it is time for Johnny to prove first why he should still be here.

I think in a boy band with a bit of auto tune, he would be good; which is still bad, because auto tuning should not need to be used. Still, his performance wasn’t all that bad. It will come down to Audio Vixen’s performance. There were however, many weak points in that performance. He couldn’t hold long notes.

Ronan then introduces his bottom two act; Audio Vixen.

As they emerge from the doors, they are in absolute perfect harmony. And that dress problem from last night? Gone tonight.

Oh, without a doubt, Johnny should go after this. This was incredible! Probably the best performance by the group to date. They really did sing for their lives.

After the break, it is time for the votes. Ronan is first and of course, votes to send Johnny home.

Now going to Guy and of course, he sends home Audio Vixen.

To the more ambiguous votes and Natalie is first. She loved Johnny’s work and worries if Audio Vixen has the X Factor and she loved their vocals tonight. She ends up sending Johnny home which means it is all down to Mel.

She says that she won’t be going to deadlock before saying ‘whoever goes home’ should love the journey they have had. Well, doesn’t that confirm it?

No, for some reason, she sends it into deadlock. Did I hear her wrong? She sends home Audio Vixen. So it is all down to… us. Well, not me per se.

Luke then reveals that the act who received the fewest votes to save, sending them home, is… Audio Vixen.

Ronan need not be too shattered; his Altiyan made it all the way after his other two acts were eliminated early on last year.

And with that, we are treated with a look at their time on The X Factor.

And a quick look back at Mel’s comments and she says; ‘Well, one thing for sure is, I’m not going to go to deadlock’ so I have no idea what she was on about.

Audio Vixen then bid their adieu’s in a very teary fashion before Luke wraps up the show by revealing that next week’s theme is chart topping number one hits (hmm, redundant terms there).

And that is it for the final 9 results show. Very well produced and absolutely brilliant guest performers. But what I didn’t like was the result. Still, Australia was not to know how Audio Vixen would perform in their sing for their life performance which was an utter waste of time after all. Then again, Australia was to know that Declan was shite! But that is personal opinion based on my preference of contestants, and I do not judge a show on that.

What I will judge the show negatively on is the drawn out recaps of the night before (which, while beneficial to anyone who watched the show last night, was quite excessive), a lackluster intro and some inappropriate ad breaks.

Other than that, it was an overall lovely use of an hour show and there we have it, another week of The X Factor over.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.5/10

 

Well I don’t know about you, but I lurve chocolate and tonight’s episode is all about chocolate. Tonight, the kids will have to taste themselves through a challenge which must surely put all other taste test challenges before it to shame.

When the kids walk into the kitchen (almost immediately), they see a fountain of chocolate paraded in the middle of a small but magnificent ‘chocolate wonderland’. They begin to eat the chocolate as kids do and soon enough, they are covered in the stuff.

Then, the judges walk in and begin to scare them, saying they weren’t supposed to eat the chocolate, before reminding them that they can. Hmm, I smell a complaint about child obesity coming off the back of this.

Gary gathers the group together, telling them that today; their challenge will be based around chocolate. Before we begin, let’s see the scoreboard. Before THAT, I should mention that the judges tonight are Gary, Anna and George.

So, to the scoreboard:

 

JACK: 14

LILY: 11

MADI: 9

CHANDLER: 8

DEE: 8

KIERAN: 8

STEVEN: 8

INDIGO: 7

GRETA: 6

MIRAEDE: 6

ZAC: 6

GRACIE: 5

AYA: 4

HANNAH: 4

JADE: 4

ALYSHA: 3

CAROLINE: 3

HARRY: 3

MARCUS: 3

TOM: 3

 

George tells them that the top four contestants will be safe from elimination while the bottom eight will have to face elimination.

Anna then tells them that they are about to do their very first taste test. She then tells them that they will taste the wall of rocky road behind them. Tom is quite happy. This Darrell Lea’s Rocklea Road has over 20 ingredients and that they will have 5 minutes to list them all.

With that, they go and taste the wall. They all seem very interested in getting the ingredients down, and considering they are kids, that’s what I would call ‘competitive’.

After their time is up, George collects their notes and the judges stand before the cloches containing the ingredients in the Rocklea Road. George then opens them up, one by one, to reveal the ingredients to be dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, marshmallows, pistachios, peanuts, coconut, pecans, honeycombs, fudge, nougat, Turkish delight, cherries, banana, pineapple, apricot, sultanas, liquorice, ricebubbles and peanut brittle.

With that, we now find out the results.

Gary says that in equal third place with 12 ingredients and 2 points on the board is, Hannah and Tom!

In equal second and with 13 ingredients earning 4 points are Chandler and Gracie.

That leaves the winner, with 14 ingredients and 6 points on the board is… six people! They are Greta, Harry, Indigo, Lily, Miraede and Madi!

That will be a big boost for them, and the kids at the back get a point.

Lily is now in first place with 17 points with Jack and Madi on 15 in second place.

The contestants then regroup and George points them back in the direction of all the chocolate again and they see different sculptures of things; detailed ladybugs and leaves. All made out of chocolate. And George confirms this by eating a ladybug.

Gary said that they were all made by Kirsten Tibbles, a confectionary extraordinaire. With that, Kirsten comes in as a guest judge. She looks a little like a blonde Julie Goodwin.

One kid calls her a ‘godmother of chocolate’.

She tells them it too her 200 hours to make all of what they see before them.

Anna tells them that it is time to take on the biggest challenge of the week; an invention test. Anna goes through the rules again; they will be given the same core ingredients and the same of everything else. Each dish is as different as their imaginations. I should mention that Matt has now joined the group.

He tells them that the top 12 kids on the leaderboard will be safe after this round (hmm, that sounds better) with the other 8 kids going into elimination.

Now it is time to find out the core ingredients are. On top of the leaderboard is Lily and with that, she gets the privilege of choosing the core ingredient. In the pantry, she is given the options of dark chocolate and oranges, white chocolate and raspberries and milk chocolate and peanuts.

So what will she choose? Gary gives her a few tips to work with when deciding, before we cut to when she brings the core ingredients out.

Lily reveals her options before she is allowed to lift the cloth which reveals…white chocolate and raspberries. Mixed decisions all round, but they have 80 minutes to work with.

With that, they are in through that pantry like a hoard of seagulls.

Jade isn’t so sure what she needs, but she seems to have a full basket.

With that all over and the kids at their benches, they begin to cook.

After the break, Gary and Kirsten visit Miraede who is making ‘blondies’ (White brownies, haha) and the judges look impressed.

They move to Lily who is doing a white chocolate mousse and if she has enough time, a white Christmas. Gary wonders if it will all work.

With an hour to go, Gary whips out ‘Boom Boom, shake the room’ yet again! Lily was waiting for that.

Harry is having a bit of trouble and on the verge of tears, Gary helps him out a bit and finally, he’s on a roll. Crisis diverted.

Soon enough, they have but 45 minutes to go.

Dee is making a white chocolate cake in the middle of a chocolate dome which is made by rubbing chocolate around the perimeter of a balloon and then removing it. Yeah, very difficult no joke! I actually cannot believe he is trying this!

The kitchen is now going off with chocolaty goodness and the judges visit Jade who is making a white chocolate and sticky date pudding which sounds delicious. The judges are a bit concerned about the time but feel it is sophisticated.

They then visit Jack who is making some sort of tasting plate because nothing seems to be working. The judges ask him to take a deep breath and think.

Greta is making a cheesecake and one of her food processors breaks. She has a spare one!

With 30 minutes to go, some of them are already working on the detailed parts.

The judges discuss the progress of the contestants and Kirsten notices that while some of the children are burning their chocolate, they are doing quite well.

Who are in trouble? Well they think Jack is with his difficult dish. They do like Dee’s plan with the chocolate dome, calling it clever and just hope the balloon pops with the dome in tact.

Meanwhile, Chandler is plating his tarts up. One is perfect, but the other is very crumbly. He tries a third back up tart which he is nervous about. After the break, he gets it out perfectly and he gives himself a pat on the back.

To Greta and she is trying to twirl her decorations which just isn’t working. Meanwhile, it is time for Dee to burst his balloon and he just hopes it works because he’s left it to the last minute. He pops the balloon and it looks brilliant.

With a minute to go, Miraede tries to help Lily but it is all OK. Aww.

Soon enough, their time is up and we see some pretty impressive dishes. Dee finds out that he has left half a balloon in the dish which is odd because it looked like he spent so long looking through it.

It is time for tasting nonetheless and Greta produces her White Chocolate Cheesecake. Despite having no time for presentation, the judges LOVE the presentation. Kirsten loves the flavours and the finish of the elegant cake. Greta is over the moon.

Harry is next with his White Chocolate Tart with Rose Fairy Floss. Kirsten loves the fairy floss and the presentation.

To Jade and her White Chocolate and Sticky Date Pudding and Matt thinks it looks fantastic. Jade has successfully done this dish before with dark chocolate.

It looks amazing and as Gary pours that scrumptious sticky date sauce over the crumbled pudding, I know she is safe.

Jack is next with his White Chocolate and Coconut Panna Cotta with Chocolate Pudding. He was unable to make more than one pudding.

Matt calls his Panna Cotta perfect.

Chandler presents his Raspberry-Topped Tart meal and Gary calls it absolutely amazing and also compliments its grown up appeal.

Dee is next with his half a balloon filled Raspberry & white chocolate cake dish. George cracks the dome apart and Dee just hopes there is no balloon in that general vicinity.

He does hit it, but George just tosses it aside. George reminds him that eating a balloon is dangerous, but commends him for the taste.

Lily is next with her white chocolate mousse and white Christmas. It looks fantastic and apparently, it tastes that was as well.

Miraede presents her Blondies and milkshake and while Matt loves the milkshake, Gary adores the blondies. Aww, and Lily and Miraede got to present together!

We then cut to the verdict where the five judges enter before the juniors. George then calls out the third place getter, earning 2 points, Greta.

In second place with four points is…Jade. And winning this challenge and earning a magnificent 6 points is… Chandler, but a cutaway gave it away.

Everyone else gets a point for trying.

It is now time for the scoreboard again:

 

CHANDLER: 18

LILY: 18

JACK: 16

MADI: 16

GRETA: 14

INDIGO: 14

MIRAEDE: 13

DEE: 10

GRACIE: 10

HARRY: 10

KIERAN: 10

STEVEN: 10

JADE: 9

ZAC: 8

HANNAH: 7

AYA: 6

TOM: 6

ALYSHA: 5

CAROLINE: 5

MARCUS: 5

 

That means that Chandler, Lily, Jack, Madi, Greta, Indigo, Miraede, Dee, Gracie, Harry, Kieran and Steven are safe.

Going into elimination are Jade, Zac, Hannah, Aya, Tom, Alysha, Caroline and Marcus.

After a few nice words, the episode ends with the kids yelling ‘yes, chef’!

A very happy and very well produced episode which was only brought down by a very dodgy use of cutaways at the end there. Remember, if it is a result, don’t ruin it. Other than that, I loved the episode and cannot believe there is nearly a week before the next episode airs! Also, I want chocolate.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.7/10

After more revelations about Mitchellgate, now relating to Declan, we can definitely expect to see the controversy playing a part in tonight’s episode. For those who are watching this for the music, its big name week and the contestants are singing all things Nirvana, Meatloaf and Michael Jackson.

The show begins and Luke comes out on stage and for the first time this season, Seven isn’t skipping for me! Yay for Courtney!

Luke ramps up the audience before he introduces the theme; going back to the 90’s which it is officially called. With that, it is time to welcome the four judges. I love this part; as the door opens, I wonder to see if Guy is there. I have bets that he will be here tonight, because Seven will need him to pump up the controversy factor.

Yes, he is there, and there they go, to their desk. As Luke says, tonight it will be ‘on like Donkey Kong’ and YES! I have been waiting for this day; a host on a big budget show saying ‘Donkey Kong’!

Luke interviews the judges and Guy blames his mentoring on the fact that none of his crew have been in the bottom two. Mel says that she doesn’t care that she only has one left in her group because you only need one star on this show. I then think she makes a pun about her being the only star; but she could have just been holding up her star studded finger.

Natalie calls Luke up on his Donkey Kong comment before saying that the Spice Girls defined the 90’s. Luke moves to Ronan, who was apart of Boyzone who were popular in the 90’s, and he just tells Australia to vote!

To begin the show, Guy welcomes our first singer; Johnny Ruffo! He will be singing Meatloaf tonight- and hopefully he does a better job than Meatloaf at an AFL Grand Final. He is singing I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That). He’s wearing some sort of alien costume and it has a bit of a Chris Brown twang to it.

To me, it is a bit too techno. This is more of a bikie rock song; not a karaoke special! I think Johnny is only doing this for the chicks on that stage! Anyway, I guess his ‘boyish good looks’ will get him through regardless.

Mel B said Meatloaf would be impressed with his performance and that while he wasn’t bad vocally, she wanted to see more towards the end. That was the Spice Girl version; now Ronan will give it the Boyzone version- it looked like a bad Cher cover. He didn’t like it and Ronan gets a lot of boos. He likes the jacket though.

Natalie said that she was speechless when she found out he was going to do a dance cover of Meatloaf, but thinks he did a good job. Yeah, no.

Guy agrees.

With Luke, Johnny reveals Ronan slipped when he said that all of Guy’s guys were born in the 90’s; he was born in the 80’s.

After the break, it is number two for the night; one of Natalie’s- Mitchell Callaway. Of course, in the intro, we are reminded by the incident, but they didn’t make a big deal about it and hopefully we can move on now and focus on his singing, and as I typed that, Mitchell said it; completely true.

Tonight; he will be singing Everybody Hurts.

He does a very good job. He was a bit weak at the start; and he didn’t move around the stage a lot; but the fog on the stage and the lack of lighting made it all feel so intimate, like a Tom Jones concert I would imagine.

Guy says that he wanted him to sing songs that teared hearts apart and that this did it; calling him ‘almost vocally perfect’.

Mel acknowledges the hard week he had, but felt his performance didn’t go anywhere. She does compliment the vocals. Boo time!

Ronan says that he was singing for his life tonight and that he did an incredible job.

Natalie is proud of him and said calling that a dull performance would be crazy. Yay you, she says, yay you.

After the break, it is act number three- a Ronan group! It is Three Wishez and tonight, they will be singing Ghetto Superstar.

If this group wants to be ‘more of a group’, they aren’t doing a good job. They hardly feature in the same camera shot. Plus, the bigger dude just cannot sing and that girl is definitely the show stopper.

Still, together, they were vocally quite good. I don’t know why they don’t do it more often.

Natalie liked the part where they performed together and tells them that they can be so amazing at times, which is why they are harsh with them.
Guy thinks it is the first time they gelled together as a group. I guess in the end, it all worked out. Guy says that Sophia’s key was a good one.

Mel B wants Sophia’s cat suit back (and hey, that answers the question ‘what do you give someone who has everything?’) before saying the thin guy’s wrap fizzled, the bigger guy sung better and told Sophia that she has to dismount Zebra’s better. She then compliments the later half of the performance where they came together.
Ronan makes a pun about Mel not turning up to rehearsals before complimenting the group.

As we head to a break, we are 1/3 of the way through.

Guy will now present his next act; a 1 year old when this song he is singing tonight came out. He is Reece Mastin.

On he comes with some torn jeans and a wicked rendition of Ironic. There were however some questionable notes. Sometimes the microphone was way too far from his mouth.

Mel B asked whose choice it was to mix the song up like that and he says it was both him and Guy’s choice. She wonders how he liked it; and he says he did a lot. She doesn’t know how to feel about it because it was all over the place, but vocally impressive.

Ronan asks if he plans to go back to school after X Factor if things don’t work out and he says he doesn’t want to. Ronan encourages him not to! Wow, so now I know why some singers are so fucking stupid. Anyway, Ronan loved it.

Natalie calls it her favourite performance thus far and Guy has no idea what Mel was talking about. He thinks Mel is trying to pick at an otherwise faultless performance.

After yet another break, it is time for another one of Ronan’s. It is Audio Vixen and tonight, they will be singing Chains.

It’s enchanting and I love how they are on that rotating circle in the middle. It helps them stay together and is a little different to what we have seen.

They wow the crowd and get a standing ovation… from Ronan. Natalie didn’t like the song, calling it daggy and ‘not them at all’. It didn’t fit for her. Guy agrees and says they should find out what Australia hasn’t seen yet. Umm… a rotating stage?

Mel B says they need to get their styling worked out, calling it old and ‘bleugh’. She does however love their vocals and thought it was a good performance.

Ronan calls them fantastic and looks forward to their performances every night.

Next up tonight, after YET another ad break, is Andrew Wishart and tonight, he will be singing Nothing Compares 2 U. Apparently, Andrew cries all the time according to Mel who also brings up rude Mitchell again!

He’s sitting on a fancy lounge while behind him, a couple dances.

I think he has done really well tonight. He is able to hold his notes (except for a terrible part in the middle) and really belt out the notes. It didn’t sound stroppy or aggressive, which was the fear with this song.

Guy compliments the song choice and says that there was no error in the vocals; and considering this was a song that is all about the vocals, that is a powerful comment. Mel does not understand why there were dancers on the stage taking attention away from Andrew who just gave the best performance of the night.

Ronan agrees, saying his voice captivates and we only wanted to hear his voice.

Guy suggests Andrew gets involved with the ballet.

Natalie justifies the dancers by saying they made sure it was shot perfectly for viewers at home. Hey, no problem on my end so job well done. If I was in the crowd though and heard her say that, I would be pissed.

Guy’s last guy for tonight, Declan Sykes, is now up and will be singing Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Declan on stage, appears from behind a huge white mask seat. Well, to begin with, I hate this. Vocally, it sounds horrible. That music does not compliment it at all. I’m just watching this in absolute shock. In the end, he resorts to just yelling!

Mel starts by saying she loved the set up of the stage but turns to Guy, asking what were they thinking. She felt like she was in a nightmare calling it a trip she never wants to go on again.

Ronan said he got lost in it all and agrees with Mel. He is disappointed.

Natalie loved the visuals of the stage but thought, vocally, it was well under (I swear she wanted to say rubbish).

Mel says Guy is experimenting tonight and while Guy says it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, he loved it, saying you don’t see that on reality TV. Ronan agrees and Mel calls it a ‘bad experiment’.

After the break, it is time for Ronan’s last group; Young Men’s Society who are singing Black or White tonight.

The beginning was quite weak due to poor vocals by one member; but the other two seem OK. In the end, coupled with great stage set up, they did very well.

Natalie thinks Ronan shot them all in the foot with that, saying they didn’t nail it at all saying they will be disappointed with it. Guy thinks that recently, they haven’t been doing well, with tonight suffering from bad vocals.

Mel thinks overall, it was a knockout performance, loving their dance routine. She doesn’t have a problem with anything they did tonight. Wow.

Ronan thinks they deserve to be on the international stage… but doesn’t comment on their performance.

After the break and we are into overtime with Mel’s first (and last) performance; Christina Parie. Tonight, she will be singing Zombie.

Christina is performing on a sphere of her own, playing a piano. For her age, she looks and sounds very grown up. There are still a few loose notes, but the performance overall is very respectable.

She gets a standing ovation from all four judges and an even more rousing applause from the crowd. Ronan loves the different side to Christina and acknowledges Mel’s risky move. He thinks Dolores would be very happy with that performance.

Natalie was scared to begin with, the prospect of a serious Christina, but is now sure she won’t go into the bottom two. Guy thinks that was his favourite moment of the series.

Mel thinks they make a good team for their own personal touches to that performance. Luke acknowledges that this was the first performance to gain a standing ovation from all four judges.

And with voting numbers now playing out, that signals the end of this show. So to begin with, the usual. This show just oozed production values and stage designs that put Australian Idol to shame. The contestants really shone under some big names; but at the same time, there were plenty of misses.

What brought the episode down were the same problems it faces every week; running over time, constant ad breaks and a very poor intro in terms of sound. If it could just fix those, you would have a perfect episode.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10