Australian Idol

Thank goodness we are here in the land Down Under, rather the land of the Great Long White Cloud or as the Maori’s say (land of the wrong white crowd). Yes our TV can be bad but check out New Zealand’s X Factor hosts!

British pop star Melanie Blatt (formally a member of All Saints) and Kiwi singer-songwriter Ruby Frost (Who is Ruby Frost?) will join Stan Walker and Daniel Bedingfield have been announced as the judging panel. Continue reading »

Australian Idol winner and X Factor Australia judge Guy Sebastian has today told the Daily Telegraph of his plans to build a career in the UK, which may put his judging role on the hit singing talent show in jeopardy.

“I really want to do X Factor, I had so much fun last year and I had really good talent,” Sebastian says.

But he feels that after releasing his last single, Who’s That Girl, to little promotion but success in the US, he may want to broaden his profile abroad.

“It means I’m at home, you have a reliable income. But then last year I released Who’s That Girl in the US. I funded it, completely independently. I did maybe one or two interviews, I didn’t promote it. And it’s already had up to 60,000 sales. And that’s just random people downloading it from hearing it on the radio. Imagine if I had the time to actually promote it.

“Over there you have to start at the bottom. My focus this year is the UK. I’ve locked in a little team of lawyers and agents and had a meeting with a label who’s keen.

“I’m at that crossroads: do I take a massive hit in income and release in the US and UK, or do I do the show and try to do both? It’s going to be a tough decision.”

Sebastian has judged on the previous two seasons of The X Factor. The fourth season of the show returns to Seven later this year.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

Australian Idol winner and X Factor judge Guy Sebastian has slammed X Factor winner Altiyan Childs for ‘wasting his talent’.

In an interview with News Limited, Sebastian spoke about his own reality television experience and life after winning the first season of Australian Idol in 2003.

It comes after it was reported that the ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ singer has been knocked back in the US due to his status as ‘Idol winner’.

”I will never slam Idol. I will never be regretful about it,” Sebastian says.

”But even with Mike (a US music producer who considered Sebastian), I had to break down walls when he heard: ‘Oh, he’s an Idol winner …’ You see it in their face. They assume certain things.”

”But I will never diss the show that gave me my life. I’m so grateful.”

It was after this interview that Sebastian began to answer to the criticism levelled at Childs.

Childs claimed earlier in the year that former mentor Ronan Keating ”never called, never gave a damn, never offered to help me out in any way.”

”What does he expect Ronan to do? Hold his hand?” Sebastian said.

”Altiyan has been gifted with an opportunity and it’s up to him to stop being stupid and stop blaming others.”

He also criticised the amount of reality television shows based around singing talent there are on at this time.

”When there are too many shows, the level of talent isn’t there,” he said.

”You don’t get a Reece (Mastin, recent X Factor winner) every show. But I’m hoping the pool of talent is large enough.”

The talent shows he speaks of includes, among his own show, The Voice Australia (Nine) and Australia’s Got Talent (Seven), both of which begin mid-year on their respective networks.

The X Factor Australia also returns this year on Seven. Expect an August-September start date.

Source: Herald Sun

As we all get ready for a brand new year; it is time to crown 2011’s Reality Television Star of the Year!

We’ve had the likes of Deni Hines, Emmanuel Kelly and Polly Porter grace this list- but to finish it off I’ve got one hell of a finale!

Who is it, find out here!

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2011’s Reality Television Star of the Year is… REECE MASTIN (THE X FACTOR)

Intro: Impressing the nation in one of the first audition episodes of the season; it was still a tough road to the finals for British teenager but SA raised Reece Mastin. Having narrowly scrapped through the initial boot camp stage, his personality and hairstyle came under fire during the final boot camp stages and in the house visit stage. He was accepted by Guy to enter the final 12 as part of the three-strong group of boys.

Having faced the bottom two showdown just once in the competition, he was a favourite to win. In the live final, he faced fellow boy-teammate Johnny Ruffo and over-25 Andrew Wishart. In the end, Reece came out too strong for them both, and ended up winning one of Australia’s most watched television competitions of the year.

Why He Made The List: The initial reason for his inclusion in this list is because of the rise of The X Factor in this country. No, it wasn’t as big in the past, but out of all three seasons, Reece Mastin has won the show at exactly the right time. With rising ratings and a more vocal fan base, Mastin’s winner’s single, Good Night, has been a guaranteed hit- continuing to dominate the singles charts. No doubt that if managed well, Mastin should manage a few more successful albums that could end up propelling him into celebrity and fame hood.

The decision to put Reece at the top of the list came when I walked around a local shopping centre in Queensland. Now, I’m an Adelaide local, so I expect to see Reece Mastin memorabilia scattered over my local shopping centre- but seeing them scattered through the Centro and the local mall here in the Tropical North made it clear that Mastin was a bonefide hit. No one actually knows how long his 15 minutes of fame will last, but don’t expect him to disappear anytime soon.

Legacy: Since leaving The X Factor, it has been a whirlwind journey for Reece. His winners single has been going strong at the top of the charts for 5 weeks now and has been certified platinum with another song of his, a cover of She Will Be Loved heading upwards on the chart as well. Reece is now currently undertaking his first headlining tour, which will end in February next year. Work has already begun on his second album which will contain themes including girls and him going out with his mates for a ‘good night’.

Reece Mastin is 2011’s Reality Television Star of the Year- and a bit of trivia- did you know his single, Good Night, was co-written by Hayley Warner. That’s right, the same Hayley Warner who came runner up on season seven of Australian Idol!

I trust you will agree that he is a formidable first place- I certainly think he’s deserving of that title.

Next year, this list will kick off again with a fresh batch of 2012 contestants! Will we see as big of a talent pool next year as we did this year? Cannot wait to see how it all unravels. But wait, missing some people? If your favourite didn’t make the top 20 this year, check back in a few minutes when I will be posting a list of 2011 Reality Television Notables- those who didn’t make the list, but kinda deserved to. Also coming up today is the 2011 Reality Television personality of the year- it could be a host, a judge or a mentor! Hey, It could also be a trainer!

But if you don’t care to read on, I wish all my readers a very happy new year!

Former Australian Idol judge Jay Dee Springbett has been found dead in a Sydney hotel in what police say isn’t a suspicious case.

The 36 year old featured on the seventh and final season of the show as a last minute replacement for sacked judge Kyle Sandilands, who was forced to leave his role after a controversial radio stunt involving a young girl hooked to a lie detector and asked about inappropriate questions.

Described as boring, Springbett stood by his morals.

“I’m not here to be a clown. I’m here to unearth talent.” the Sony Records senior director said at the time.

To the news, former host Andrew Gunsberg tweeted;

“I’m completely sidelined by the news of Jay Dee Springbett’s death,”

The investigation continues.

Source: TV Tonight

A new Facebook campaign is pushing for a special Australian Idol Telethon to aid the victims of the Queensland floods.

The campaign is pushing the idea of special Idol reunion that will double as a telethon to raise money for those affected by the floods.

The group aims to get 20,000 people behind the idea in order to make Channel Ten or Channel 7 to take notice.

The page suggests Guy Sebastian to host the reunion, which they would interest the public in finding out where the former Idol contestants are nowadays.

If you’re interested, support the campaign here.

Australian Andrew Gunsberg has landed himself a new hosting role on Paula Abdul’s new reality talent show in the US.

The former co-host of Australian Idol will front the new format Live To Dance on American Network CBS.

Choreographer Travis Payne, who worked on Michael Jackson’s This Is It, is also on board as well as former Pussycat Dolls singer-dancer Kimberley Wyatt.

Abdul will act as executive producer and resident expert on the show which will premiere early next year.

Source: News.com.au

So You Think You Can Dance will not air on Ten next year. 2010 being was the reality show’s worst year to date, already putting its future was already on shaky ground.

In its place will be a new entertainment format, inspired by the success of Glee caleed Don’t Stop Believing which is an all-singing, all-dancing format from the UK to be produced by Shine Australia.

The UK series puts group performers in live performance shows competing against each other with viewers voting for the winner. Solo performers also compete, and contestants need to be able to sing and dance. Sounds like a mix between Idol and Dance!

With Australian Idol shelved for 2010, and now So You Think You Can Dance shelved for 2011, Fremantle Media Australia is starting to see its dominance in reality TV slide over to Shine Australia – who will also produce Masterchef from 2011.

Don’t Stop Believing is likely to air in the first quarter of 2011 on Ten, with a contestant calls for auditions soon to be advertised.

Source: TV Tonight

2009 ‘Australian Idol’ winner Stan Walker is set to release his brand new album ‘From The Inside Out’ on Friday, August 20.

The album title and release date was revealed in an exclusive video message to his fans via Facebook, YouTube and his official website.

The first single from the forthcoming album is called “Unbroken”, which was written and produced Ryan Tedder (the frontman for OneRepublic).

The single has already reached Gold status in Australia selling over 35,000 copies and has climbed to number 17 spot on the charts. The single is set to climb even higher after being added nationally on both the Nova & Austereo Networks.

In describing his new album, Stan explains “I guess I just wanted this album to be a lot about me and all the different styles of music that I like – not just one sort of style or genre. I really want to be able to tell real stories through my music, rather than talking about stuff that doesn’t really matter which is what a lot of people seem to end up doing these days. I don’t want it to be just glossy and disposable; I want my songs to deal with real issues.”

Stan has co-written a number of tracks on the album, having worked with a number local producers including Israel Cruz, Audius and Stuart Crichton.

A highlight of the album is said to be a cover of Des’rees 1996 hit, “Kissing You”, which was mixed in the USA by two time Grammy Award Winner Phil Tan (Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Usher, Rihanna) and Grammy Award winning Craig Bauer (Kanye West).

‘From The Inside Out’ hits stores on August 20.

Source: Sony Music

Rumours are surfacing that The future of So You Think You Can Dance Australia is in question.

Usually part of Ten’s reality line up airing from February to April, the 2010 season was the show’s worst performing to date, leaving Ten considering whether to renew the show or not for 2011.

After poor figures in 2009, Australian Idol was “rested” for 2010 with one of the reasons being quoted as there being a timing clash in 2010 with the Commonwealth Games in October. Freemantle Media who product Idol are looking at the possibility of a revamped Idol in 2011, but nothing has been confirmed.

The Biggest Loser – also seen on Ten February to April – has also been subject to speculation in relation to its future. In 2010, the show had its worst figures to date. In 2011, the focus will be on families with families of three or more invited to apply for the 2011 season – applications are still open, suggesting the show should go ahead for 2011.

Then there is the speculation that Ten were looking into a reality show based on photographers, and loosely based on Australia’s Next Top Model. According to an interview by TV Tonight, there will be no such show.

With Masterchef doing so well for Ten, it’s no secret that the network are looking for ideas to replicate that sort of success. Without Australian Idol – usually seen from August to November – Ten does not have a reality competition show for the last few months of the ratings year.

Sources: Daily Telegraph, TV Tonight.