The One

Last night; reality television bowed its head for 2011 with a lovely finale for Beauty & The Geek Australia. In a blog post; I went through the key aspects that went into making the final week of reality for this year a success while also hinting at future prospects for this blog. In the final recapping blog I will be posting for this year, I will detail the year that has been; the highs and the lows. Pretend it is one of those lengthy recaps shows attach to the top of their finales. Then I will preview what is in store for the coming months and into 2012.

The year began on 30 January 2011 with the launch of The Biggest Loser Australia’s sixth season- the first in the ‘families’ format. The season began with four trainers; Shannon Ponton, Michelle Bridges, Steve Willis (formerly ‘The Commando’, now a fully fledged trainer) and new ninja warrior Tiffiny Hall, all heading to the homes of their respective families to eat what they eat, do what they do and most importantly, live how they live.

It was an eye opening experience, and the perfect way to introduce the four families- the Westren family containing Leigh Westren, fiancée Lara Whelan, mother Sharlene and father Craig. We also had the Moon family, containing sisters Sarah, Jodie, Rebecca and Kellie. The Duncan family contained Emma, Jarrod, Sarah-Jayne and Meg and the Challenor family contained Damien, Nathaniel, Joe and Greg.

One by one, these families competed for immunity and power. Joe became a villain after making his nephew Nathaniel enter an elimination when it should have been him and also giving away immunity to someone other than his brother, Damien.

Despite being eliminated, a twist in the show saw Lara, Nathaniel, Rebecca and Emma return to the show. Two of these four were supposed to be eliminated, but after gaining weight at a weigh in, previously safe contestant Joe joined the line up and was eliminated with Lara, meaning three people were allowed back into the competition.

After 13 long weeks, Kellie, Sarah, Leigh and returnee Emma returned for the finale and despite great odds, Emma Duncan was crowned Australia’s second female Biggest Loser, with Leigh coming in second and Kellie and Sarah coming in third and fourth respectively.

In the same era, My Kitchen Rules returned after a highly successful first season. Its second season seemed to tap into the success MasterChef saw in 2010, and won pretty much every night it was on.

Amongst all the teams, we had High Achievers Kelly and Ash Cooke, Newlyweds Anne-Marie Battista and Nick Sharp, urban hippies Mal Gill and Bec Saul and of course, sisters Sammy & Bella Jakubiak.

It was a toughly contested battle, and MKR became something of a phenomenon. In the end, it was sisters Sammy & Bella who took the crown and have been close to Seven’s heart ever since, even making a few appearances on Dancing with the Stars.

Speaking of which, Dancing With The Stars made its 2011 debut with a big cast. Well, it wasn’t so big, but those people in Seven’s controversy department were prepped and at the ready. A change to the judging panel saw Josh Horner take the place of Mark Wilson, someone who seemed all too keen to create a stir.

The dancing line up consisted of newsreader Samantha Armytage, Home & Away’s Dan Ewing, bungled model Lara Bingle and most infamously, socialite Brynne Edelsten.

Brynne was at the centre of two very public controversies that helped lift ratings for the show. The first saw new judge Josh Horner describe her as a ‘bedazzled sack of potatoes’, causing her to cry after only her first dance. The second saw co-host Sonia Kruger comment on her and her husband, Geoffrey Edelsten’s age gap, referring to the latter as the former’s dad.

Despite all this, the country was ‘bedazzled’ by Brynne’s story, and also that of Samantha Armytage who was also given a beating by the judges. Both stayed in the contest for quite a while longer than many would have thought, with Samantha only just missing out on a place in the final.

Another contestant, Haley Bracken, who’s husband Nathan competed on the show only to be eliminated first, delighted the judges and scored herself a few ten’s, regularly winning challenges.

She made it all the way to the finale with singer Damien Leith and chef Manu Feildel.

While her dancing skills were enough to ward off Damien into third place, she was not able to beat Manu, who won the public vote and therefore the very controversial contest for 2011.

Back to TEN, and their reality ratings juggernaut, MasterChef Australia, returned for its third season. Branded as the biggest yet, a massive mystery box in Sydney Harbour was enough to herald in that promise to viewers watching at home.

The new season had a Cerebral Palsy sufferer, a surfer pin up dude, a few at home mother cooks and a fighter pilot.

Ratings for the season opened fairly high and fairly consistent, but the series was never going to reach the success of 2010. By the end of the season, it was also clear that its days of creating a 3 million plus viewership finale were over.

But there was plenty to celebrate in between. To make up for a lack of inspiration found in most of the dishes presented this year, the contestants headed to the likes of Margaret River, Busselton Jetty, a mine, Malaysia, New York and Melbourne for challenges and episodes.

The production team were in overdrive, and the production of the series was insanely great.

Storytelling also played a big part as many events grabbed news headlines. Firstly was that little fling between Ellie and Hayden which resulted in nothing. The second, and probably the biggest controversy to ever hit the MasterChef kitchen came from contestant Mat Beyer, or more frankly, his smart phone.

During one challenge, it was suspected by the judges that Mat had brought in a smart phone that could have been used to find information on recipes. Their suspicions were somewhat confirmed and he was kicked out of the competition.

Other stories also attracted attention. The shock elimination of CP sufferer John Hughes in the top 50 round, the deletion of fighter pilot Paul Lombardi before the top 24 round even started and the shock walking of contestant Adam Bowen all left viewers with something to watch.

Moving into finals week, and Ellie, Dani, Alana, Michael and Kate were left to fight for the title, although Ellie was eliminated just before all this.

It all came down to Michael and Kate in the finale where mother Kate beat out SA Michael, 87 points to 84. It wasn’t a very memorable finale, and Kate hasn’t been heard of since, but it was still another successful slate for TEN.

Reality television was Seven’s forte in 2011 with Australia’s Got Talent also on the rise. All three judges; Kyle Sandilands, Dannii Minogue and Brian McFadden returned and found the likes of The Old Fella, Ben Price, Jack Vidgen and Cosentino and launched them into the spotlight.

Also launched into the spotlight was comedian Jordan Harris where, after a successful first round of auditions which was based on jokes ‘borrowed’ from other joke makers, he managed to alienate his audience in the semi finals with a less than impressive and rather cringeworthy performance of his own.

They also ‘re-found’ Timomatic who, after modest success on the second season of So You Think You Can Dance Australia in 2009, returned to this competition to place third.

In the end, performer Cosentino placed second to singing schoolboy Jack Vidgen, who was famous in his own right for those veneers.

Seven also launched The Amazing Race Australia, which brought out probably the most diverse range of characters seen on reality television this year. We had Muslims Mo & Mos, Big W employees Anne Marie and Tracy; reunited sisters Alana and Mel and dopey farmers Tom & Matt.

The first season saw these guys race to places like Indonesia, South Africa, Czech Republic, Poland, Singapore and Hong Kong, and face challenges ranging from playing a famous Chinese casino game, to stacking crates of beer to skydiving!

In the end, it was surfer duo Nathan & Tyler, the former of which dated Erin McNaught, won the show over Perth models Renae & Sam. Surprisingly, it all came down to a race around Perth.

But I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about Seven and TEN for now; so lets visit some of Nine’s reality offerings.

Well, most famously, we had The Block. Now in it’s forth season, the producers mixed things up a bit and introduced a new stripped 7PM format. The show also moved out of apartment renovating with this year’s contestants asked to renovate four houses on a block!

Lastly, there were eight teams, not four. Four of those teams however were eliminated in the first week, but they all made appearances in challenges throughout the series.

The four main couples were Josh & Jenna, a bickering boyfriend/girlfriend duo who were in charge of the only double fronted house on the street; Polly & Waz, a very quirky, young and savvy couple who had nil background in renovating; Katrina & Amie, two sisters with emotions made of concrete and a very stylish yet obscure design technique, and seasoned renovators Tania & Rod.

They were all a bunch of laughs with only a few moments of sadness. There was a time when Tania & Rod were called off the block to attend a family funeral, and there was also a time when Katrina’s Crohn’s disease overtook her emotions a bit. But in the end, these couples, with the help of host Scott Cam, new host Shelley Craft, sometimes embattled onsite manager Keith and a whole set of reward winning challenges, were able to manage four great houses for auction.

The only disappointing thing about this season, was most probably the only thing that the producers didn’t want to end in disappointment- the finale.

After last year’s ‘shock’ announcement that Chez & Brenton’s apartment was to be passed in, it was a surprise to everyone watching when three of the four houses were passed in. It was even more of a shock that the winning house, selling for $15,000 profit, belonged to novice’s Polly & Waz. And it was an EVEN BIGGER shock to Jenna, whose night was turned upside down by a proposal by Josh. She said yes!

Nine also had Top Design, a brand new show by Jamie Durie, once Nine’s love child and host of The Block. The series failed to fire and was at one point shown first run on GEM ahead of a Nine screening.

Robert Davidov won the show, beating out Lisa and Steve at the finale, which was quite a high key affair for such a low key performer. I guess for me personally, the thing I will remember about this show was minutes after blogging the finale of the show on a Friday, news that Big Brother Australia was to return on Nine surfaced.

Nine also had two seasons of The Farmer Wants A Wife, however I only watched the second, which was the series’ seventh overall.

In this season, containing farmers Wil, Trent, Frank, John, Kev and Tim, a seventh mystery girl was added to the picked girls the farmers chose as potential wives. This seventh girl was chosen by the families. The farmers had to decide whether or not to take her back to the farm with him and two others.

Some jumped at the opportunity, some did not.

The show saw numerous exits; most notably, Farmer John’s favourite Belinda. The finale also saw a shocking outcome for Kev, who after two eliminations, his chosen girl got cold feet and left, leaving him with no one to pursue. Potential season eight candidate, anyone?

The season end showcasing the wedding of former contestants Nathan and Amanda.

To end the year, Nine debuted the oftentimes controversial Celebrity Apprentice to a stripped 7PM format. The series contained celebrities including Jesinta Campbell, Deni Hines, Jason Coleman, Julia Morris, Pauline Hanson and Shane Crawford.

Deni became an instant villain; constantly attacking Polly for her lack of celebrity, and generally acting like a spoilt brat and damaged diva. She was soon eliminated.

Pauline Hanson would most likely be considered as the most unlikely hero of the series after showing real integrity and a real maturity towards challenges. She was constantly saved from elimination due to her work ethic and public support backing her, especially after washing some guy’s car in underwear, was shiny.

Another surprise characterisation came from Jason Coleman, who while showed great leadership and well-spokenedness, constantly lost challenges and began to be deemed a villain in the eyes of the contestants who saw his constant need to be in control and his somewhat demeaning mannerisms to be quite rude and somewhat crippling to the receiving contestant’s place in the competition

In the final week, eliminated contestants Polly, Didier, Deni and Max returned to help out finalists Jason, Julia, Shane and Jesinta in what was an explosive and controversial week. Mad Max Markson, who was known for his immaturity, outspokenness and time wasting abilities, somewhat ironically eliminated after competing in a challenge sober of these qualities, returned to give Julia and Jason one more test of patience and control.

But it was Deni Hines who stole the show, seemingly playing up for the cameras and using the villain persona she received in her first stint on the show, and arguing with people, mostly Jesinta, at any opportunity she got.

She later admitted that she did it for fun, and even commended enemy Jesinta on her smarts. It wasn’t enough to let Jesinta and Shane win, and in the end, it all came down to Julia and Jason. Julia Morris won the show, but decided to split the money with Jason Coleman and his charity; a rare show of such true honour and dignity. Julia will be one contestant who’s ‘brand’ isn’t damaged by this show.

TEN also experimented with The Renovators; but it turned into an overall flop, despite showing signs of life throughout its run, and even giving TEN a second place position on finale night. The renovation show saw host Brendan Moar and judges Peter Ho, Barry Du Bois and Robyn Holt guide 20 renovators through challenges, which included a 24-hour makeover of a house on wheels, carted into the show’s massive warehouse studio, and a week trip up to Brisbane to help flood victims, and eliminations which I personally noted for their initial lack of imagination.

Despite the low rating performance of the show, it was generally well received by the public, with many of you suggesting contestants for the Top 20 Reality Contestants of 2011 competition. While it was able to shake comparisons to The Block; its similarity to MasterChef remained and became the show’s only lowlight. Despite all this, I would say that where the Renovators was different was in its increased personal approach to its contestants and its laid back approach to the whole structure of the show.

There were plenty of team changes, but ultimately, Natalie from the sixties suburban (formerly, the shop), August from the shop, Peter from the half done house, Michael from the fibro cottage, Mel from the weatherboard and Luke from the terrace became the show’s finalists for auction night.

While not many houses sold for profit, they did all sell, and it was SA’s Michael Lynch’s fibro cottage that sold for the most and gave the tradie from Laura a win!

Junior MasterChef Australia was generally a miss for TEN, after initially debuting a brand new Top 50 format. Matt Preston took leave for the series, but Matt Moran took his place and Anna Gare returned as a solely Junior MasterChef judge.

The show continued the celebrated production of the main show, and the trips to Disneyland and the inspiring dish after inspiring dish of tasty food was a massive bonus; possibly making it a better season than the first, but the viewers didn’t come, and this is one show that will most probably be forgotten.

For those of you who don’t forget it, Greta Yaxley won the show, with 92 points over Jack’s 84 (if I recall).

Back to Seven and it was another year for The X Factor and it was going to be big. Natalie Imbruglia and Kyle Sandilands didn’t return, but they were replaced by the gorgeous and talented Natalie Bassingthwaighte and singing superstar Mel B. The rest returned.

This year, it was the likes of Emmanuel Kelly; a talented Iraqi orphan and Luke O’Dell, an untalented Adam Lambert wannabe who stole the show; but none of which made it to the finals.

Out of the twelve who did, Mel B’s lot soon disappeared. Tyla Bertolli and Jacqui Newland were both eliminated early on and despite a promising first half for Christina Parie, she wasn’t able to make it into the top 5.

Conversely, Guy Sebastian kept all of his three acts until the final five, with Declan Sykes leaving in fifth place. His other two acts, Johnny Ruffo and Reece Mastin, both became finalists along with Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s Andrew Wishart.

After winning last year with Altiyan Childs, Ronan Keating did not renew his success this year, with his final act Three Wishez only making it to the final four.

In the end, SA’s Reece Mastin beat out Andrew Wishart and Johnny Ruffo (runner up and third place respectively) to become the winner of the show’s third season.

Seven also had The One; a show that briefly saw the light of day in 2008 and pits psychics against each other to find out who is the most gifted.
Judges were Richard Saunders, a sceptic, and Stacey Demarco, a psychic, whose bickering became a somewhat entertainment staple for the show.

Challenges these contestants faced included anything from in studio readings, finding of objects as small as gold to as big as helicopters using only their abilities; and ended in a now controversial challenge which saw them try to locate the body of missing, presumed dead woman, Kerry Whelan.

Greg Riley, empath Heidi Hanley and detective Debbie Malone were awarded finalist positions, and you at home got to determine the winner. Like the psychics themselves, you all chose Greg to be The One- Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic.

The last show of course, was Beauty & The Geek Australia which returned with Bernard Curry as host for its third season. The twist this year was a simple one; a male beauty paired with a female geek in the form of Troy and Helen.

Other than this, the show didn’t deviate away from its usual format of humorous storytelling, classy cutaway quotes, wonderful production and just plain stupidity. There was a time when the human twists, Helen & Troy, were eliminated quite early, but they were able to return via a twist. One episode later and they were eliminated again.

The season saw geek Lachlan and beauty Jordan, who both went on to be apart of the final two teams with their respective partners, hook up, break up and make up throughout the course of the season. The main problem came when Lachlan got his partner Sarah’s name tattooed on his arse. Pardon my French.

During makeovers, which were a dazzling array of spectacles, Dolly announced her decision to quit on medical grounds, leaving previously eliminated contestant Jacelle to fill her void with Gilbert.

In the finale, Mackenzie and Jimmy were eliminated after an exam challenge; Gilbert and Jacelle were eliminated after a formal challenge and Julian and Jordan were eliminated after a quiz, leaving Lachlan and Sarah as this year’s winners.

Lovebirds Mackenzie and Troy also announced their engagement throughout the final.

 

And that my friends, was the year in reality. Quite a hefty one wasn’t it. But enough about 2011; that was so last year (well, technically it was this year, but you get my drift)- let’s talk 2012.

The only show from the above list confirmed not to be returning is Top Design, but grave fears are being held for The Renovators, which despite being announced by TEN as a returning show, has since fallen victim to second thoughts. The only other show that will probably not return is Junior MasterChef Australia- but it would be for the best. Oh, and The One.

The Biggest Loser Australia will return and revert back to a ‘singles’ format. Dancing with the Stars will return with a new host after Sonia Kruger’s defection to Nine; possibly Nat Bass. My Kitchen Rules returns with a Kiwi pair. MasterChef returns with Matt Preston.

The Farmer Wants A Wife, Celebrity Apprentice Australia, The Block, The Amazing Race Australia, Australia’s Got Talent, The X Factor and Beauty & The Geek Australia will all return, or are all set to return based on viewer satisfaction and ratings.

To join them are a sleuth of new Nine shows. We have The Voice, which features blind auditions and battle rounds. Judges will be Joel Madden, Delta Goodrem, Seal and Keith Urban.

Big Brother returns to our screens on Nine with new host Sonia Kruger and a new ‘Secrets’ format where every housemate has a secret. Location, spin off shows and narrator are yet to be confirmed.

Excess Baggage will be a new celebrity weight loss show where eight overweight celebs pair up with ordinary contestants to lose the flab. Celebrities include Darryn Lyons who has previously competed on Celebrity Big Brother UK, causing a stir after revealing his ‘six pack on top of a beer gut’ formed stomach which evolved due to ‘contouring’. Having watched this season myself, I will warn you now; just in case he takes his top off, don’t eat dinner through this program! Kate Cebrano hosts.

 

And that is just a taste of what 2012 holds in terms of reality television! It’s the substance which makes up these shows in between which will really determine the flavour. And we won’t know what any of this ‘substance’ is until these seasons debut.

 

Over the next few months, Throng will still be delivering important reality news. Of course we have the Top 20 Reality Television Contestants of 2011 competition which will run from the 16^th of December right through until New Years Eve.

I will then be taking a break for the first half of January before returning with some opinion pieces to get you in the spirit of the 2012 reality ratings season. This will also be my last post before December 16 less any important announcements. I’m sure the other lovely writers here on Throng will be keeping you up to date anyway. There’s always an excuse to log onto Throng.

 

Then, in 2012 I can officially announce, Throng will be returning its episode-by-episode detailed recaps of EVERY episode of EVERY season of reality in 2012 (minus any last minute disruptions or planned events), so keep an eye out!

 

That’s all from me; a few last minute thank you’s before I sign off- firstly to AndrewB and Regan for letting me post my thoughts on reality onto this site in the first place. You have given me so much support and I have loved every minute of it.

 

Johnson, as many of you would know, has helped in nearly every single episode of MasterChef, Junior MasterChef and The X Factor; and has even helped out in other random episodes. I truly thank you for that, Johnson, as you have enriched my knowledge and therefore my love of this genre and this job.

 

And Ryno; who offered his complete support and helping hand throughout September, and while it didn’t all go to plan, I think your offer to help was the most exciting thing about this year.

 

And to the rest of the readers, who have commented kindly or constructively, or have just read my work, I am motivated by your continued support and I am proud to be able to do this for such a loving and intellectual community.

 

I’ll see you all soon; for now, it’s time to take a break.

 

Courtney xx

The sheer amount of times I have mentioned this moment must be enough for you guys to just say ‘thank god it’s over!’ but yes, with this blog post comes the end of the 2011 Reality Television Calendar as we all delve into the silly season ahead. Over the next two days here on Throng; I’ll be looking back at the week and the year that was in television, what you can expect over non-ratings and what 2012 holds in terms of reality television and Throng reality recapping.

Tonight; it is all about the week that was and as we all brush off a night of geeks and beauties, lets remind ourselves of the week of cooking that began on Sunday.

Yes, like all shows mentioned, Junior MasterChef was coming to an end; but it was doing so over the course of four nights! It all began on Sunday where Chandler, Lily, Indigo, Jack, Zac, Harry, Alysha and Greta entered as the final eight.

It was going to be the first of three double eliminations to be had this week and the first challenge was to create ‘The Perfect Pavlova’. After all attempting their very best, it was announced that based on the results of this challenge, Greta, Zac, Indigo and Jack progressed to the final six, leaving Indigo, Lily, Alysha and Harry to battle it out in a second round.

Here, they had to recreate Guillaume Brahimi’s Turban of Scampi. While a bit of a scandal ensured when a cast member left shell in some of Lily’s pre-prepared scampi portion, this was not aired, and Lily was eliminated probably because of it with Chandler.

To Monday and the final six entered to find a massive conveyor belt coming out of a massive mystery box. One contestant, after today, was to be given a free pass to the finale while two more would be asked to leave the competition.

After winning this challenge, which involved picking ingredients as they emerged from the mystery box on the conveyor and creating a meal, Greta was able to pick the core ingredient for a Thai food inspired invention test. She chose Duck and was also given five minutes more time than everybody else. This was also the first challenge not to use a score boarding system.

The added time and advantage proved well for Greta as she won the night; progressing through unto the final. It was the end of the road for Indigo and Alysha.

On Tuesday, and the semi-final, the boys were asked to cook two dishes of their choice; a main and a dessert; with only one hour allowed for each dish.

They all impressed as they cooked along the Port Jackson coast on Bennelong Point but only Jack had what it took to face off with Greta in the finale. Zac and Harry were eliminated.

In the grand finale, we saw two rounds worth 50 points each. The first round saw them cooking a Donna Hay inspired dessert while the second saw them cooking a Tetsuya spider crab dish. In the end, Greta won the Junior MasterChef Australia 2011 crown with a record breaking 92 points to Jack’s 84 and was awarded the trophy by last year’s winner, Isabella Bliss.

It was a heartwarming conclusion to a doomed show; one we will miss dearly if and when it is given flick.

To Celebrity Apprentice Australia on Monday, and the first actual finale of the week, the first part of this episode was simply a continuation on the previous Wednesday’s Yellow Brick Road advertisement launch. It included more cross promotion, more Max Markson and more Deni Hynes.

In the end, Jesinta and Shane lost the challenge with Jason and Julia crowned finalists, but there could only be one winner and the title went to Julia Morris. She was nice enough to split the $100,000 prize money with Jason for his charity; a rare show of such gratitude on shows like this.

Safe to say that this show WILL be back in 2012, as per Nine’s 2012 line-up announcement. But will it be the same?

The X Factor has a massive four hour finale split over two nights. Andrew Wishart (Natalie Bassingthwaighte), Johnny Ruffo and Reece Mastin (both Guy Sebastian) battled it out in a star studded performance show which saw the trio perform four different songs, tour the country (the week before, of course), duet with the likes of The Fray, Salt-n-Pepa and a little known star, Kylie Minogue and of course, pitch their new winner’s single.

On Tuesday, Johnny Ruffo’s early elimination saw an unlikely finalist candidate emerge in Andrew Wishart, making SA’s Reece Mastin’s win all that more predictable. Mastin’s winner’s single, Good Night, which sounds a lot like Pink’s Raise Your Glass, began topping charts as early as that night; but the real stage stopper was a performance by Kylie Minogue. And breathtaking it was.

Luke Jacobz did rushingly say at the end of the show, ‘see you next year’ and with ratings as high as they were; I’d say he aint lying.

The One also ended on Wednesday with Heidi Hanley, Greg Riley and Debbie Malone trying to collect your phone numbered votes while taking part in an odd but interesting challenge- to locate a missing body. As of today, the body of Kerry Whelan’s body has not been found; but the subject matter of the challenge alone pretty much dwarfed the appeal of the in house challenge that preceded it; trying to find gold in cases. Some may wonder why two amazingly different challenges were scheduled for the same episode.

Richard and Stacey bickered for what will probably be the final time, due to poor reception and tumbling ratings, before the psychics and Australia predicted and voted respectively for GREG to be The One 2011 and crowned Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic. Yeah, don’t feel so special now, do you Charmaine Wilson!

And of course, the week ended tonight where after an exam challenge eliminated Jimmy & Mackenzie, a formal challenge eliminated Gilbert and Jacelle and a quiz eliminated Julian & Jordan; Sarah & Lachlan were crowned winners of Beauty & The Geek Australia 2011. A quirky show that will most probably return next year. Its finale also included the announcement of the engagement of beauties Troy Thompson and Mackenzie Gogo-Smits.

 

So with that, the final week of reality for 2011 is over. It has been an emotional, nostalgic but hectic week. Tomorrow, we will delve briefly into the year that was for reality television; revisiting shows like The Biggest Loser Australia, My Kitchen Rules, Australia’s Got Talent, Dancing With The Stars Australia, MasterChef Australia, Top Design, The Block, The Renovators, The Farmer Wants A Wife, The One, Beauty & The Geek Australia, The X Factor, Junior MasterChef Australia, Celebrity Apprentice Australia and The Amazing Race Australia.

I will also talk a little bit more on the Top 20 Reality Television Contestants for 2011 competition which debuts on 16 December. To conclude, we will also talk about the upcoming reality highlights in 2012 including returning series’, The Biggest Loser Australia, My Kitchen Rules, Australia’s Got Talent, Dancing With The Stars Australia, MasterChef Australia, The Block, Beauty & The Geek Australia, The X Factor, Celebrity Apprentice Australia and The Amazing Race Australia, and debut or returning series’, The Voice, Excess Baggage and Big Brother.

 

But for now, relax and have a good night!

 

Phew! I bet you’re getting sick of all these finales, yeah?! Well, despite the positives of this one, I’m actually glad to be seeing the back of The One! I wonder if it will be returning next year. Anyway, Heidi, Debbie and Greg remain and tonight, your votes determine the winner; who will it be?

Like with most finales this week; we are treated to an extended recap of the year that has been.

Andrew is on stage and welcomes us to the finale of The One.

He tells us the challenges for the night before welcoming on stage the three finalists- Debbie Malone, Heidi Hanley and Greg Riley.

He congratulates them on making it to the finale and turns to the judges; Richard Saunders and Stacey Demarco.

Richard has enjoyed working up close to these people and Stacey loves seeing this experiment put to the test and congratulates the three on their courage. We see voting numbers but by the time this goes up; the voting lines would have closed.

When we return, Debbie is on stage with several podiums. She discusses her journey on the show and we are treated to her best bits.

I don’t know when Andrew explained the rules to this challenge (possibly in the intro) but basically, they have seven cards- three say ‘gold’ and four say ‘empty’. Debbie must match the cards with the boxes on the podiums; three of which contains gold.

Funnily enough; a security guard is standing there. She feels 2, 3, 5 and 6 are empty. 1, 4 and 7 should contain gold. The security guard reveals box one does actually have gold. Box two is in fact empty and she gets it right for box three.

To box four and it should contain gold…it doesn’t. To five and there is gold there; of course, wrong again as she would have to. Six is empty which means seven has gold. That means Debbie got two correct which is five out of seven boxes correct.

Richard says the odds of her doing that is 33% and says the score she got was expectable. Stacey is happy but not surprise. Stacey again talks down the ‘chance’ factor.

After the break, it is time for Heidi’s attempt. We too see a recap of her time on The One.

She then competes and Nick begins opening the box. She gets number one wrong, saying it is empty. She thinks gold is in two which is incorrect. She guesses number three correct and number four incorrect. To box five and she gets it incorrect. To six and it is empty, meaning seven is full and she only gets 2/7 correct!

To joke, Heidi says she never has been good at attracting gold in her life.

Stacey says her use of the pendulum and its effect depends on the user (your point?) and Richard just goes through the workings of the pendulum after stating her result was to be expected. He does not believe in the pendulum.

Greg is last and we go through his recap. They call him entertaining but he isn’t any different to the others. And that suit doesn’t exactly scream ‘entertainment’.

He completes the challenge and Nick opens the boxes. He promises to kiss Andrew if he gets seven. We won’t be opening them until after the break.

He gets the first one wrong and there goes the kiss. He gets number two correct. He gets box three incorrect and box four correct. He gets number five correct and number six and seven also correct meaning he is tying with Debbie.

Stacey thinks Greg has been consistent throughout the competition and feels there is a strong possibility he has more than luck. She says, referring to psychic powers, scientists always say just because you can’t measure it doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

Then comes the best line of the series from Richard; ‘yes, but you could also say that about unicorns; we can’t measure unicorns, either!’ Stacey thinks he is disrespectful.

With that, we head to the final challenge of the night- an offsite challenge about a woman’s murder. Do they make these challenges just to upset empath Heidi?

We see a clippit of Seven News (of course) which documents the death of 39-year old mother of three, Kerry Whelan. She was the wife of millionaire Sydney executive. She went missing in 1997 and clues led police to a property owned by Bruce Burrell. This was in Bungonia, NSW. A massive search took place and nine years later, circumstantial evidence saw Bruce Burrell convicted for Kerry’s murder. He was sentenced to life in prison and the search for Kerry’s body continues with a $50,000 reward up for grabs.

The challenge for the psychics is odd- they actually have to locate the body!! Oh hear we go! They have had all the help they can and all the information possible. Bruce Couch, the detective asked to find Ms. Whelan runs us through some details- Kerry was most probably abducted and taken directly to the property and there, a note was found which was in the form of a to do list for the abduction.

What complicates matters is that the disposal of the body may not be localised to Bruce’s property. His property is located within the expansive Morton National Park and it is very evident that the body could be located within. Bruce has never used psychics but knows there is a possibility that they could help.

After the break, the challenge begins! Heidi Hanley will go first and she says the murderer’s energy will try to put her off. She doesn’t feel Kerry was brought into the house.

She approaches the chopper to take her over Norton National Park. She is pulled towards the mines and feels the body is located near water. As she continues to her location; her feelings for the murder are strengthening. She chooses an old creek bed and doesn’t feel Kerry was alive at this point. The tears begin.

To the studio and Andrew wonders what energy would be left after fifteen years? Stacey believes it depends on the psychic and energy they are using. Richard doesn’t think psychics belong in the police business. Stacey does say psychics have helped to bringing about a conviction.

Debbie Malone is next for the challenge and she is actually a psychic detective.

She heads through the house and then goes for the chopper and heads for a lining at the edge of a pine plantation. They land at a clearing in the lining but her vision is located outside the actual area of access for Bruce Burrell. She heads as close as she can get but the location looks nothing like what she was getting.

They go back to a place where Debbie got a headache before but she doesn’t get it again. They go to another clearing near pine in the area but just don’t get anything. She feels that the location she used was the location of choice.

Stacey finds Debbie’s answer fascinating and while Richard expected this; he would have rather them found the body at his expense.

Stacey thinks people at home should look at Debbie’s integrity.

After the break, it is time for Greg to have a go and after going through the house, he heads to the chopper. He feels he didn’t bury her as he wouldn’t have the physical capability but looking at the fat man Bruce is, that wouldn’t be a psychic prediction.

Still, he thinks she is near the mines. He is asking Kerry where she is and he sees a house under construction from an image he had before. They then head to the mines and he stops the car near a creek bed as well. He then sees a discussed mine shaft but doesn’t feel as if Kerry is buried there. He finds another one and feels she is in there; saying she is standing next to him.

Richard feels that it may well be a coincidence that two of the three psychics went to locations near to each other. Stacey wonders if Richard would call it a chance if they found the body but Richard doesn’t know.

With that, Andrew tells us that all the findings have been passed on to authorities to investigate and a screen comes up to help by calling crimestoppers.

Voting has closed on the winner and with that, Andrew debriefs on the competition before welcoming back the seven eliminated contestants- Michael, Katrina, Salvatore, Julie, Valerie, Anthony and Maria. He asks them to compete in the final challenge of the season and tell us who they think will win The One. Didn’t they wrap this answer up in an envelope at the start of the season?

Anyway, Michael says he thinks it will be Greg. Julie thinks Greg. Salvatore thinks Greg. Katrina thinks Debbie when she tunes in. Val thinks Debbie. Anthony thinks Greg (the freak!) and Maria thinks Greg.

So that should mean- Heidi third, Debbie second and Greg for winner. We’ll find out after the break.

After the break, the three finalists join the eliminees on stage. Andrew ‘senses’ nerves in the three of them. Andrew reminds us of the first ever challenge when the contestants were asked to predict who would win.

Heidi had Salvatore as number one, Katrina as two and Heidi third. She could have one right.

Greg had, in the same order; Michael, Greg and Julie.

Debbie had Salvatore, Debbie and Anthony.

But, the end decision is up to us. The final votes have been counted (gosh, there can’t have been many of them! That didn’t take that long). Andrew has the results and reads them out to nerve racking, beat-y music.

 

The winner of The One 2011- Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic…

 

…is…

 

…is in this envelope…

 

…hahaha…

 

…

 

Again, the winner of The One 2011- Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic…

 

…is…

 

…GREG RILEY!

 

And the psychics had it.

And with that, and no announcement of the other placings, Andrew says thank you and goodnight.

 

In what will most probably be the least hyped up finale of the week; it was quite interesting and quick paced. Overall, it was much better than what I thought it would be content wise. I liked how the final challenge was doomed of finding a winner or loser which was good. Production values again, despite the show’s sketchiness, are unfaultable.

The series itself didn’t fire with me as a respectable reality show. I don’t think it should be back. I praise the production that tries to make this look like an event, but it is way too edited and those judges do annoy me when they bicker. There were believable moments and unbelievable moments and you can applaud Seven for taking the risk. But with a subject matter so shady grey, was it really worth it?

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.5/10

 

Courtney’s The One Season Two Overall Verdict: 7.8/10

Junior Masterchef, Ten, 7.30pm.
Another night, another reality grand final – this time, Ten’s turn with the series two final of Junior Masterchef.

Spicks and Specks, ABC1, 8.30pm
Final. After seven years, 277 episodes, more than 150 special guests, and thousands of questions, the purple velvet curtain will close for the last time on Australia’s favourite music quiz show. Join Adam, Alan and Myf for the finale.

The Hamster Wheel, ABC1, 9.30pm
Final. The Chaser team’s take on the media and events of the week

The One: Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic, Seven, 7.30pm
In the season finale, the three finalists are given a seemingly impossible challenge when they’re asked to solve a real-life police case. Their task: to find the remains of Kerry Whelan, a 39-year-old mother of three and wife of a wealthy businessman who was kidnapped for ransom on May 6, 1997. Circumstantial evidence led to the conviction and imprisonment of Bruce Burrell, who is believed to have murdered Kerry Whelan and disposed of her body on his property at Bungonia. Despite extensive police searches, Mrs Whelan’s remains have never been found. Will one of the psychics be able to solve this murder mystery?

I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here, GO!, 7.30pm
Ant and Dec present the brand new series of the celebrity reality competition. The jungle adventure begins for a new group of stars, who face a gruelling journey into camp before finding out which of them will be the first to take on a dreaded Bushtucker Trial.

HD Tonight.
American Pickers, 7mate, 9.30pm
Five Acres of Junk in ALabama / Know When to Fold. Mike and Frank stumble upon a quirky antique dealer with a sprawling collection. The guys then meet a unique relic hunter whose collection includes dinosaur fossils.

Big Bang Episode Repeat Factor
Tonight, between Nine and GO!, there are 4 episodes of The Big Bang Theory – on Nine at 7.00, 7.30 and 8.00, and then on GO! at 9pm.

Heidi Hanley, 40, Debbie Malone, 47 and Greg Riley, 36, have been announced as The One series two finalists in Channel’s Seven’s search for the country’s most gifted psychic.

The eight episode series hosted by Andrew Daddo challenged the way we think about psychic phenomena by having ten of Australia’s top psychics showcase their talents every week in a series of studio and location challenges. 

Each week Heidi Hanley, Debbie Malone and Greg Riley have impressed The One judges metaphysicist Stacey Demarco and sceptic Richard Saunders in a series of psychometry, mediumship, remote viewing, medical intuitive and clairvoyance challenges to win their place in the final three.

After weeks of stiff competition Heidi, Debbie, or Greg will win the viewer vote to take out the title of The One.

Debbie is a psychic detective from NSW. Six near-death experiences have opened her up to the spirit world and her gifts.

Greg is a medium who is also an IT consultant from Victoria. Greg was brought up a Catholic for much of his childhood, but during his teenage years after his father was diagnosed with bowel cancer he started to question religion and what happens when we pass.

Heidi is a healer who is also a mother of two teenagers from NSW. As a child Heidi always knew there was something different about her as she would feel others’ emotions or physical pain and hear their thoughts.

The season final of The One airs this Wednesday at 7.30pm.

 

Well, it has been a huge year in reality television, and guess what- only one week left of Australia’s biggest history making genre for 2011! But, for all you reality junkies out there never fear, because reality television isn’t bowing out quietly. The final ratings week for 2011 will be a busy week if ever I saw one, and it will probably take the final breaths of your imagination out of you to ease you into a long summer ahead. I know I’m ready for a bit of a break, haha! But of course, with a week to go, this is just an ordinary Reality Highlights segment, so let’s talk reality…as usual!

It was a welcome return to the Junior MasterChef kitchen after the juniors lapped up their final moments in LA on Sunday. But before that, another elimination loomed, as you would expect so close to the final. Here, everyone was a candidate, but people were saved at periodical times throughout the episode. The exceptions to this rule were Steven, Miraede, Madi and Kieran who were eliminated amongst the World of Colour at Disneyland!

Back at home and a double mystery box challenge awaited them, however not everyone took it. Indigo, Harry and Zac did, and the results were mixed. Indigo, who was excited about the double mystery box, which contained offal, actually ended up not impressing the judges as much as everybody else. A second challenge had them fight in a ‘boxing ring’ one on one! No, not proper fighting, but a cook off whereby one person from a team faced off in a 15 minute cooking showdown against someone in the other team. With four people in a team, this meant that there was 60 minutes to create an overall dish which was scored in a blind taste conducted by the judges.

Colin Fassnidge and Miguel Maestro helped out on this one. Then, in a special !!!BONUS!!! episode of Junior MasterChef, contestants were asked to cook a deceitful dish; one that looked savoury, but was rather sweet. Then, after a slumber party held in the MasterChef kitchen (I know! What a cool idea!!!), the contestants woke up to a Christmas themed kitchen…and George dressed up as Santa Clause. Here, they had to unwrap presents containing ingredients and cook a classic Christmas inspired dish.

These episodes were mainly for points with the usuals; Jack, Greta and Zac all earning solid points.

To Celebrity Apprentice and it was a rocky week. The week began with a challenge which saw Pauline trade places with Shane. Here, they had to create a children’s story and play to perform in front of children. With the help of Lara Bingle, Jono Coleman and Catriona Rowntree, it was set to be a breeze…however Lara was definitely a let down. Jason’s job history pretty much secured him a win…until boardroom when it was revealed that he, along with Pauline, hadn’t actually won, sending them into the final elimination. Here, despite dislike from the safe contestants, particularly Jesinta, and clear responsibility for the team’s failure, Jason was saved at the expense of Pauline Hanson who, despite her background, became liked on the show and whose elimination was seen in a negative light. Apparently, the decision was based on her overall performance on the season which while a little unfair, did give good merit for her firing.

To the next challenge, and four contestants came back to help. They were Deni Hines, Max Markson, Polly Porter and Didier Cohen. While Didier and Polly became background support in the challenge which is still ongoing (to conclude in Monday’s final) to come up with an advertising campaign for Yellow Brick Road, Bouris’ company. Deni and Max however, were a different story. Max reverted back to ‘Mad Max’ which did actually help him before he was fired, so could be a blessing now. He continues to stuff up on set, continues to overrun everyone with his loud personality and continues to annoy the living daylights out of everyone! But, he’s a damn sight better than Deni, whose performance is out of control. When blogging Wednesday’s episode, I was thrown a little out of whack with the constant chip chopping of scene and back and forwards motion of scene changes, but also because half the episode saw Deni arguing or making problems for her team. This proved a distraction for me, and I’m thinking you too, because she was going off about NOTHING AT ALL! I was just spending the whole episode looking for evidence of how this was all fabricated, but I do think it was just the real deal; Deni trying to vie for attention by using her negative persona to her advantage. Trust me, Diva, it aint working!

The results of the challenge, as mentioned, will be shown in Monday’s final.

To The X Factor and again, not much to recap here. It was a heightened night of performances, but the results show was the big kicker- involving heavy weights Florence + the Machines, Ed Sheeran and the wonderful Stevie Nicks. Here, it was all up to the Australian public to decide on the three finalists who ended up being Andrew Wishart, Reece Mastin and Johnny Ruffo. Three Wishez were sent home, leaving Ronan actless with Mel. Gosh, all the international star judges…

To The One and Salvatore was eliminated. Despite my scepticism, it was a very interesting episode and at the very least, entertaining. We now decide who wins. See the website for voting numbers and Terms & Conditions.

Beauty & The Geek Australia Rounded off the week with the make up of Lachlan and Jordan, a challenge involving all the geeks painting a portrait to a very talkative naked blonde model and then answering questions on what she said, a fashion runway involving the beauties dressed up in hilarious London-inspired icons, Jimmy’s rejection by Helen (due to her online relationship with a Dutch person) and the re-elimination of Helen & Troy. Wow, I really thought they were going to make it to the final!

 

So, that’s the week that was- technically semi-final week, really. Next week, it all begins! And in the same right, it all ends as well as all your favourite reality television shows finish up the year and reality television goes on vacation!

To begin the finals week, we have Junior MasterChef, which will eliminate two contestants each night from Sunday to Tuesday to reach the final two. Then, on Wednesday, the final two go head to head for the crown (possibly last ever) of Junior MasterChef.

Celebrity Apprentice Australia however has the first final of the week where on Monday, the challenge ends in what will prove to be a big shocking conclusion most probably thanks to more bad behaviour from Deni Hines which is set to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, so to speak. Then, either Jesinta Campbell, Jason Coleman, Shane Crawford or Julia Morris will be crowned Australia’s first (and it is becoming increasingly likely that they won’t be the last) Celebrity Apprentice.

Monday & Tuesday also spell the end for X Factor season three where either Reece Mastin, Johnny Ruffo or Andrew Wishart will be crowned 2011 winner. These two episodes are two hours in length. Appropriate? Well, for a show that has KYLIE MINOGUE performing both nights, it’s sure to be big!

The One finishes up on Wednesday with either Heidi Hanley, Debbie Malone or Greg Riley being voted BY YOU as 2011’s The One.

Then, it is Reality Television’s Final Night for 2011- Thursday 24 November 2011 which will be marked by the 90 minute conclusion to Beauty & The Geek Australia’s third season. There are still four teams remaining- Jimmy & Mackenzie, Lachlan & Sarah, Jacelle & Gilbert and Julian & Julian however one by one, they will be eliminated after a string of challenges.

 

And that is how the final week of reality for 2011 will pan out. Next week’s Reality Highlights segment will mark the end with a special Thursday final week recap before a full ‘report’ on the 2011 reality year is published on Friday.

 

Also don’t forget, the Top 20 Reality Television Stars for 2011 will also be taking place between the 16-31^st of December 2011 to crown this year’s Reality Television Star. Who deserved their 15 minutes of fame and then some the most?

 

That’s all from me tonight, hope to see you all reading along as we enter the finishing stretch!

 

Tonight is the semi final. Only a week remains before Australia’s most gifted psychic is crowned! Who will it be? I don’t know; why don’t you ask them. Actually, I’ve just come up with the best idea for a challenge tonight…! Oh wait; they’ve already done the whole ‘predict who will win’ thing.

Andrew welcomes us to the show and tells us that we will vote for the winner only next week. He welcomes the judges, Richard Saunders and Stacey Demarco who are comfortable with who is left in the competition.

Andrew reminds us that this show is all about psychics who don’t fit stereotypes, like tea readers- but tonight, this is going to be the first challenge! Four volunteers had a cup of coffee (they are in the audience) and the psychics must read this cup to determine as much information from the audience as possible.

The first psychic to take the challenge is Salvatore. Andrew congratulates him to the top four and he tells us he has never done a coffee cup reading before. He goes to the red cup and gets a person who has gone through many ups and downs. Salvatore can’t get focussed but he does get mountains and trekking from it. He also feels a strong beach connection and feels the person has attended a costume party. He chooses a person but the wrong one. The right person puts her hand up and says she has a home in the mountains and works near the sand. She hasn’t been to a costume party.

Stacey says it was a fair go for someone who has never read coffee cups in their life but Richard dismisses Salvatore’s attempt, as do I.

Heidi is next and she chooses a green cup. She gets a female energy and feels like they work in management and that they are very charitable or social work. She sees a dog and feels a health issue with their leg and knee to be more specific. She sees a wavy, blonde haired woman and points someone out. As predicted it is not the right woman, but it was the same person Salvatore picked. The right woman does acknowledge many hits Heidi had with her.

Andrew identifies the fact that Heidi and Salvatore have picked the same lady and Stacey says it could be luck or anything but says she looks like she likes coffee.

Next up is Debbie and she has a pink cup. She isn’t getting anything. She picks a lady, not even from the right part of the audience. She feels worry and juggling and tiredness in the tummy. She feels a road trip from Melbourne to Sydney but she isn’t getting much so she stops it there early. We can see she didn’t want to do that. Debbie didn’t think the lady she chose had the tea but was drawn to her.

To the woman Debbie picked and there were quite a few hits. The man who drank the coffee had no relation to Debbie’s attempt. Richard says that they are taking the unusual situation into consideration.

After the break, we return to the coffee cup challenge where Greg steps up. He sees honeycomb patterns in there. He gets an artistic musical feel from it and stubbornness. He thinks the drinker is flexible and is a glass half full person. He thinks they are positive and sees a picture of Bart Simpson, thinking the person may watch The Simpsons.

Andrew stops him, wanting to see Bart Simpson.

He thinks a man drank it but is wrong. The woman says she ate a whole bag of honeycomb but nothing else really resonated, except maybe the musical bit.

Stacey thinks he had a great time and gives him credit for having a go with a few hits.

To the next challenge, and can psychics go back in time and connect with a place with a horrid, dark history. In this offsite challenge, the contestants were sent to Norfolk Island and a house most locals refuse to enter. Their task is to answer three questions. First, what can they tell us about the family of Sarah and Phillip McCoy, why is their house so haunted and what terrible thing happened at the well.

With that, we are treated to a very well shot introductory piece. Arthur Evans, a historian who has researched the homes and buildings. He talks about the Penal settlements that occurred on Norfolk Island and the horror surrounded by this. The penal settlement finished in 1855 and the community arrived in 1856 to take up new land. When they built, they drew lots to get houses along Quality Row. Number three on one particular road is adjoined to number two as a duplex. Both homes had families living in them- the McCoy family in number three and the Driver-Christian family in number 2. Sarah McCoy was Phillip’s first wife and Arthur documents their children, some of who died of tuberculosis. Next door in number two, a woman had a baby out of wedlock, something that was frowned upon. The mother was stressed; she had her baby at 2am. When everyone was asleep, she had her baby as quietly as possible, wrapped it up and threw it down the well. This story has haunted the community since.

The psychics were not allowed any internet access or anything really before travelling to Norfolk Island.

This challenge will apparently affect Heidi a lot. She is first up. She wants to keep her mind, spirit and body on the job today. She uses her empathic skills which could become all encompassing. She walks into the house as an empath makes her nervous and the energy becomes tense. She feels there were three prematurely lost children and even picks up on the TB. This is quite correct. Sarah herself died of that disease. There is an overwhelming sense of loss and Heidi is now balling her eyes out. She feels Sarah took her own life which is incorrect. She approaches the well and is connected to a little girl who fell in the well and she begins to feel sick and dizzy. She can’t even talk. She feels exhausted.

Stacey thinks as an empath, walking into that house would have been emotional. Richard brings up the fact she could have been playing on her own imagination. Stacey arks up about this, asking if Richard thinks she is deluded. He says bluntly he is, but he really thinks she is simply letting her imagine run away. He wouldn’t use those ‘rude’ words. He doesn’t think she is performing. Stacey clarifies he wouldn’t believe in what she is saying.

After the break, Salvatore has his try in the challenge. He feels Sarah died from a murder due to an argument over money but considering the people on the island didn’t operate with money, he is way off the mark. Salvatore becomes emotional when he gets to the well. He feels that two men took Sarah out to the well but he says the men couldn’t fit her into the well, which is stupid, unless she was a fat sloth!

He feels that she is buried alive which is way off the mark. Salvatore doesn’t want to go back into the house.

Stacey realises that there was no factual hits to come from Salvatore but brings to light that it is a nasty house. The judges however feel that this is not an excuse.

Next is Debbie- will she have more luck? Funnily enough, she said she got no sleep the night before, saying some spirit knocked on her door at 2am, which is the time young Driver-Christian had her baby.

She felt bones hidden beneath the boards and wonders if stillborn babies were born. She feels fire which did occur when a family was evicted and set their house on fire. She feels Sarah was murdered and thinks she was thrown down the well. When she goes there, she keeps hearing ‘what happened to the babies’ and she feels a stillborn baby was lost there.

She feels something was hidden and she doesn’t feel comfortable as a female in the house.

Stacey thinks she did well and thinks it was her cup of tea. Even Richard acknowledges some of the stuff she says.

After the break, it is time for our last psychic for the challenge- Greg! He walks into the house and feels a lot of energy and feels the fire Debbie did. There was a fire in 1908. He feels tragedy with the well, but that speaks for itself. She feels Sarah crying and thinks a body of a child went down the well but he thinks the child fell in on accident. He guesses that some kids died young and some before birth.

Stacey notes his hits but also says he wasn’t as sharp as Debbie on this. Richard wouldn’t rate him as high as Debbie. He would have looked for ghosts running away from him, as a sceptic.

Now to the final challenge- an interesting one.

They will have to read a celebrity, but won’t know who that person is. Every time the psychic says something true, the celebrities will hit a buzzer and the screens in the background will illuminate green. A funny example of Andrew and whether he is a good bloke is tried out.

Jessica Mauboy is the first celebrity and she has mixed thoughts on psychics. Heidi will be reading her. She guesses strong determination of this person. True.

She feels physical body is important to this person and what they do. True.

She feels a sense of athlete or training in the gym. True.

She sees books. False. But books are important to them. True.

She sees two children- false. She sees a voice and thinks this has something to do with what they do. Massive true.

There’s a feeling of connection to music. True.

And that is it. She doesn’t want to guess who it is, but is happy to see Jessica. Jessica was happy with her for the most part.

Richard thought it was interesting how she went with the gym, stating many people go to the gym, but he did get some hits.

Now onto the next star, who is a star due to Dancing With the Stars (you could see Andrew cringe a little there from having to say that), Brynne Edelsten.

Debbie will be taking this on.

She sees fashion. True. She sees writing, not so true. Journaling, no. Magazine, yes.

She feels this person is ahead of the trends. True, haha.

She feels this person is in front of the computer a lot. False.

She sees shoes and thinks this person likes shoes. True.

Debbie thinks this person is a trend setter and wants to make a difference and she is surprised to see Brynne Edelsten.

Debbie says a picture of Brynne jumped out of the page at her.

After the break, the next celebrity is Tim Ross. He says he believes in psychics as well as Fairies and leprechauns and Star Wars. Salvatore will take this on.
He feels the person is male. True.

He feels this person having a strong sporting connection. False.

He feels this person has strong media exposure. True.

He feels that this person has recently had their car serviced. True, oddly enough, Tim had it done last week. Bloody hell, this is like 20 questions.

He feels this person is around arts or music. True.

He feels this person, when they were young, used to play the piano. False.

Salvatore guesses a dancer or performer. He is shocked to see Tim Ross sitting there. The jury is still out with Tim Ross.

Last up and the next person isn’t really a celebrity- it’s just Nick Bracks. Again, another Dancing with the Stars contestant.

Greg has this one.

He sees himself reflecting this person, as if he is sitting on the other side. Therefore, he feels the person is quite sporty. True.

He thinks this person is quite a ladies’ man. True. He says he is an attractive man. Well, he has to say true, haha.

He thinks there is a strong football connection. True.

He thinks there is an AFL connection with this person. True.

He thinks the person is a bit of a soccer fan as well. False.

He sees stripes and thinks Geelong. True.

He feels his family is a public figure. Very public. True.

Well, most of those questions were in the end generic or very similar. He does think this person is not an actual sportsperson.

Andrew and Stacey were impressed and Richard brings up 20 Questions. My, I just read Richard’s mind! I must be psychic!

After the break, it is time for the final elimination. He reminds us that after this, it is all down to us. He turns to Stacey and Richard for the hardest decision of the series.

Stacey says it has been a great privilege seeing what they can do. She calls on Debbie and compliments her on the offsite challenge but thinks she is not at her peak yet. She calls Salvatore young and talented but has not touched on his talent yet.
To Heidi and she acknowledges the ride it has been but says she has shown consistency and thinks she is sincere.
She thinks Greg is consistent and beautifully endured.

She hands them over to Richard for the final elimination.

He calls forward Greg and Debbie. He doesn’t look too happy, so who knows how this will go. We see some thoughts from the contestants before Richard tells them that they are both in the final. Pretty obvious.

That leaves Salvatore and Heidi as the bottom two. They are asked to step forward and Stacey reads off some more verdicts about the two.

Some last minute thoughts from Salvatore and Heidi before Richard delivers the verdict.

He tells them that the person who is not the one will be…for the last time in 2011…Salvatore.

This leaves Heidi, Debbie and Greg as the final three for us to vote for.

We see a highlight of his time in the competition.

Now it is up to us to vote. The phone lines are now open.

 

Like Heidi:

 

SMS ‘HEIDI’ to 191 777 or call 1902 55 77 11

 

Like Greg:

 

SMS ‘GREG’ to 191 777 or call 1902 55 77 12

 

Like Debbie:

 

SMS ‘DEBBIE’ to 191 777 or call 1902 55 77 13

 

So despite the offsite challenge being a massive plug for Norfolk Island tourism and the uneven balance between good and bad celebrities in that final challenge, this was a well shot, well produced, very entertaining episode. It didn’t swing my scepticism, but it was still better in entertainment quality than other episodes. I do feel this show is on track to deliver a stellar finale performance.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.7/10

 

Voting closes 23 November 2011 at 8.23pm AEST. Terms & Conditions are available on the show’s website. Throng Media Group, Throng Australia and Courtney Rose Lewdon will not be held responsible for any problems encountered, financial or otherwise, when using the published phone numbers in this blog.

Only two weeks remain in the reality television year, but it is going to be a race to the finish! There is plenty of action still to come with Junior MasterChef only down to its final 12, X Factor still containing a quarter of its contestants, Celebrity Apprentice with just under half and The One and Beauty & The Geek still left with a hefty number of contestants. So what did this week bring to these contestants we speak about?

Well, let’s begin with Junior MasterChef and their trip to America continued. On Sunday, they were asked to compete in two teams to create a specialty mystery burger! With half the contestants on one team and half on the other; only one could win. In the end, the team consisting of Zac, Alysha, Jack, Lily, Madi and Indigo (blue) won, leaving the red team pointless. Never fear however, as the second challenge of the evening, a very cheerful Mexican themed challenge, gave the contestants a second chance at point grabbing.

They all had to cook a prawn quesadilla and in the end, Harry, Steven and Greta won 2, 4 and 6 points respectively as runners up and winner of the challenge.

On Monday, it was every child’s dream- roaming around a deserted Disneyland. They split into six teams of two before going on a treasure hunt for ingredients for a Disneyland inspired dish. This was one last bid to get points before Sunday’s elimination. Zac, Alysha, Greta, Harry, Kieran and Lily were crowned winners of the challenge and won an array of points. This wrapped up another week in America for Junior MasterChef!

To Celebrity Apprentice Australia, and before the week was up, we saw three eliminations, one massive controversy, two challenges, a timeslot change and Pauline as a model! It all started on Monday when the contestants were asked to put on a fashion catwalk show. Pauline, as PM of her team, seemed to caught up in her own act (and wouldn’t you think it!) to bother about the rest of her team, so you would’ve expected them to lose. But on Jason’s team, the uses of Didier were lost as the model screwed up on the dance floor. It landed him and his team into a double elimination. There, Jason chose to send himself with Max and Didier into the firing line where Max created controversy by bringing up Didier’s drug use past as some sort of ammo against his rival. In the end, Max and Didier were sent home in seething rage, leaving Jason and Shane the last men standing.

On Wednesday, a Thursday Conrad Murray ACA special created a fusion of two episodes where in a 90 minute ‘special’, the contestants were asked to compete in a P&O cruise advertisement challenge which saw crumbles occur in both Julia and Pauline’s friendship and Jason and Lisa’s friendship. In the end, it was the latter (along with Shane) two who were thrown into elimination where Lisa was sent packing over a teary Jason.

To The X Factor, and a stellar ‘hits’ night separated those fit for a final five and those fit for a final four. They all more or less impressed, but it was too much to ask for Declan Sykes and Three Wishez, who were left fighting for their place in the competition on Tuesday. The results show dazzled with Michael Bolton and Susan Boyle (and of course, Ricki Lee Coulter), but not for Declan who was voted out on the judge’s command.

The One also saw the departure of another psychic after a more entertaining and believable episode than usual. Katrina was not able to live up to expectations, and she was voted in favour of not being The One.

Last but certainly not least on the list of reality television accolades for the week and Beauty & The Geek saw an inevitable twist that ensured Helen & Troy a place in the final few weeks of the competition.

The geeks were made to makeover the eliminated geeks and with Jimmy winning the challenge, he and his partner Mackenzie, along with other challenge winner Gilbert & Jacelle were able to pick an eliminated team to go head to head in an elimination round to determine a returnee team. The main point is that Jimmy and Mackenzie chose Helen & Troy to compete, and as expected, they were granted re-entry to the competition in a landslide over Colin & Gaia.

 

As I said, two weeks remain, so to say the competition is about to heat up is a gross understatement. Junior MasterChef will this week evict four more tykes before sending the final eight back to Australia for a final quest for points. Also note the extra episode to air 7.30pm Tuesday.

The X Factor will this week crown its finalists as one more act leaves, so close to the all important finale.

One more contestants will also leave The One before the final three is determined and similarly, Beauty & The Geek will also eliminate another team, leaving four to enter the final episode a week later (identical to last year’s season).

Celebrity Apprentice looked like finishing up a week early with an elimination on Monday set to determine the final four. However the 90 minute Wednesday episode, thought to be the final, is just a final elimination episode with the final set to take place the following Monday.

All Fired Up will air its final edition on Thursday, again ending next week prematurely.

 

A personal note from me and as usual, please vote in the Top 20 Reality Television contestants of 2011 competition which will begin to crown its list in mid-December. The Reality Television Star of 2011 will be crowned on New Years Eve.

Monday will see delays for Celebrity Apprentice, which will be uploaded on Tuesday. Tuesday’s edition of Celebrity Apprentice will also be delayed until Wednesday due to personal reasons and the extra episode of Junior MasterChef.

 

So I hope you enjoy your week and I will hope to hear some of your comments! Thanks.

Not many psychics remain now and I have been promised that this week, the remaining contestants will actually show some amazing talent- I guess I’ll be the judge of that.

Andrew welcomes us to the show and tells us that it is time to get weird. He talks about the dog whispering challenge before welcoming the judges. Andrew wonders to Richard if someone getting it right week after week would make them a psychic and Richard says it would make him wonder.

Stacey gives the psychics advice- stop trying to win and start using their talent.

Andrew tells us that the first challenge is to read a working dog and identify their background. The first dog is Divo with Carolyn who is a diabetic.

Heidi is the first psychic to come out to read for tonight. She is not a dog reader however she does help with behaviourally challenged cats! Hmm, interesting.

She feels the dog has a gentle and healing feeling to it- like a companion. She feels a strong relationship between Divo and Carolyn. She feels it is an important part of her life and is being shown the dog tracking scent. She even looks at it twitching its nose to identify it as a sniffing dog. Yeah, original. She thinks it searches for things outside and Heidi thinks he is in search and rescue.

Richard thinks Heidi got off track despite a good start. Stacey feels the devil is in the interpretation and Stacey feels they should take a breath.

Next up is Raffa and her master Robin. Raffa is a delta therapy dog. It will be Salvatore who will try to read the dog. Salvatore thinks it is a rescue dog off the bat and feels ‘emergency’ and ‘fatality’ thinking it alerts people of an emergency. Both of those are wrong.

He thinks the dog helps people move. He says the dog helps with rehabilitation and has a connection with people who are immobile.

Robin says it is partly true before revealing her real job. Stacey says at first Salvatore was on the wrong path but realised that he was quite correct after touching the dog. Richard however was not convinced at all.

Next up is Tom and his owner, Jodie. Tom detects cane toads. Debbie will be assessing this dog. Debbie feels as if the dog is supposed to be protective of another animal as if it is that animal. She feels sniffing, and to pick up scents. She mentions a paddock which is correct but then goes on to feel as if he works more with people! Off course! She feels he is an assistance dog who helps old people.

She was well off the mark with that despite a good start. Stacey called it a tough one due to the obscure job. Stacey thinks the challenge is a test of good psychic ability.

After the break, it is time for Charlie Brown and his trainer, Wayne. The dog is a quarantine protection dog. Greg is up for the challenge but only sees ‘television and film’ and ‘children’, both of which make no sense but then thinks it is a search and rescue dog. He feels the dog is an actor.

Andrew asks why Greg didn’t touch the dog and he says he didn’t feel he needed to however obviously he did as he calls his performance ‘the worst’.

Stacey is disappointed by how the psychics are going however is seeing some gifted insights. The next dog is Saffy with owner, Eddie. She is an actor dog and Katrina is up to guess.

Katrina comedically asks the dog what it does for a living and just keeps seeing it run and jump over things. She does wonder if she is a show dog. In the end, she says she is a show jumper which is sort of true.

Stacey thinks Katrina got close to what the dog likes to do but on the thing they have to judge, she didn’t. Richard wasn’t impressed on this occasion with anyone, saying there was no difference between whether they touch the dog or not. Stacey disagrees saying that they had a better connection when they touched the dog.

Now, for the offsite challenge; a psychic triathlon. Five beach huts are set up for the first leg where four psychics have to enter one hut each, leaving one empty. The guessing psychic must indicate who is in which hut and which hut is empty.

Statistically, they have a 120 to 1 chance of getting the correct match.

Katrina is first and she feels each door but I can’t tell how well she is doing. I don’t think she gets any right. My guess was correct, she gets no hits.

Debbie is next to tackle this. If anyone can do this, it will be Debbie as she’s usually quite good. She does feel nothing at the vacant hut and she does guess Greg correct by the look of it. We’ll see.

She actually gets two right which to me isn’t surprising. Greg is next, can he do better?

He guesses the blank one right. He gets Katrina right but will they be the only hits?

He gets the blank one right, he gets Salvatore right, he gets Katrina right, but can he get the last two right?

After the break, it is time to find out. Yes, he does! All right- still not convincing but I am still impressed. Richard is also impressed and does not rule out him being a psychic. Stacey thinks it must hurt Richard to be sitting on the fence like this.

Right now, Greg is on 5, Debbie is on 2, Katrina, Heidi and Salvatore are all on 0.

To split the three noughties up, we go to a sudden death round. Here, three huts will be used, one will be vacant, one will contain Greg and one will contain Debbie. Katrina, Heidi and Salvatore must line up beside the huts and guess who is inside their hut. The one who gets it right wins. I’m guessing one will get it right and only one.

Katrina guesses wrong at first at least, thinking Debbie was in her vacant hut. Salvatore already thinks it is Debbie and it seems as if he is correct. With that, Salvatore goes through. Katrina is incorrect.

Heidi thinks hers is empty but Greg is in there! Obviously, only one will go through.

Greg, Debbie and Salvatore are all through to part two. Here, three items have been buried in a section of beach. Each one belongs to one of the psychics and they must find the one that belongs to them.

If they are psychic, as Andrew says, this should be simple. They had the option of using a divining rod.

Debbie has a necklace, Greg has a 20 year old watch and Salvatore has a long-weared necklace. Debbie marks her flag first following Greg and then Salvatore. We see that the buried items are somewhat scattered differently to the locations in which the psychics put their flags. The two closest psychics will be going through to the next round.

Debbie is one winner of the round, maybe thanks to the divining rod. They dig out the furthest item which is Greg’s item. Someone who did so well in number one, faults in challenge two.

After the break, Andrew debriefs the challenge thus far before moving to challenge 3. He talks about the psychic feeling we all get when a phone rings and we seem to know who it is sometimes, before saying that Debbie and Salvatore will be given 5 random phone calls from the other psychics and they have to guess who is calling before picking up.

They are sitting by a breakwater face to face with a table holding a phone sitting in between.

The phone rings and Debbie thinks it is Heidi which is correct. The next time it rings, Salvatore thinks it is Greg, but it is Katrina. Next for Debbie and she thinks it is Heidi which is correct again. The way these psychics are speaking about the challenge, it is all too obvious that Salvatore will have a comeback and beat Debbie.

Salvatore guesses Katrina correctly and Debbie guesses Katrina correct as well. Salvatore feels the next call is Katrina but it is Greg. Debbie needs to get this one wrong. She thinks it will be Greg and it is in fact… Greg! This means Debbie has got 4 out of 4 correct. She didn’t even guess what a fifth phone call would be.

She felt over the moon to win. Stacey loved how she guessed it correctly before the challenge and Richard acknowledges her as the winner.

Now, to the final challenge- a speed reading. They want hits and first up is Katrina.

She goes to one lady and guesses a rollercoaster life which is right but she guesses something about a baby which is incorrect. She does however feel she has separated from a relationship which is correct but is incorrect in saying who did the dumping. She feels a strong energetic connection between her and someone from her past which is correct. Stacey saw some nice hits while Richard felt the questions were generic, saying most of the things she said ‘relates to most people on the planet’.

Salvatore picks his person and guesses that she is close to a ‘Phillip’ and that there is a January connection around her and she has kids. This is ALL correct. He guesses one kid is 3 years old which is correct. He incorrectly guesses that one kid has hurt themselves within the past week which is incorrect but back on form correctly guesses that her husband has a boat. He feels that her husband does extreme sports which is correct.

Stacey thought Salvatore performed well there as he let go. Richard again questions some of Salvatore’s interpretations but concedes it was a good effort.

After the break, it is time for Greg who picks a lady and correctly guesses a mother in spirit (dead mother) but incorrectly guesses she has passed for quite a while. He does guess that her father is also dead which is correct but this woman is old- of course her parents are dead. He guesses that her husband is dead which is incorrect and correctly guesses that she has had her haircut recently and hates wearing shoes. She doesn’t like playing cards as Greg guesses but he does correctly guess that she has a god.

Richard thinks he said a lot of things, meaning a higher chance of getting something right. Stacey feels he got a lot of hits which you can’t ‘explain away’. Richard asks her to explain, saying it sounds like an expression by believers to ‘poo-poo’ investigation. Stacey kicks off saying all she gets from him is statistics and chance and doesn’t know why they can’t look at something and say ‘that’s a hit’ but in Richard’s defence, his statistics don’t demean the psychic’s ability, he is just pointing out the chance of a ‘regular’ person getting it correct.

Stacey feels he is generalising and the woman feels Greg was spot on.

The next one is Heidi who chooses a man and wonders if he is intellectual and creative which is right and thinks he is in art which is correct and correctly guesses that his art is eclectic and not within a set methodology as he tries to pinch from different mediums to express himself as an artist. Bright music continues as she gets a clean sweep of hits. The man feels Heidi ‘confirmed’ psychic ability for him and Richard concedes that this was Heidi’s finest efforts.

Last up is Debbie and goes for a white scarfed lady and thinks she is having difficult career decisions which is correct and guesses she was turned down an offer she thought she had which is correct. She sees money which is correct and correctly guesses that she will be having a holiday around October time. She feels a death of her grandmother who was like an other money and sees a dog which she nods at. Stacey feels she was on a bit of a run and Richard feels that she did what was expected.

After the break, it is time for elimination and Stacey gives them all advice for moving forward. She tells Greg and Debbie to step forward and brings up their ability on the beach which was good. Richard tells Heidi, Katrina and Salvatore to step forward with Stacey saying they are not seeing accuracy at a high level from them now. Richard tells Salvatore that he may be the one. It would be impossible to see Heidi going home after that performance so it was no shock when Katrina was told by Richard that she isn’t the one.

With that, we see her best bits and leave the final four to practice for episode 7.

So I must say there were some pretty neat stuff in here, but nothing to convert me. That being said, I probably wouldn’t consider any of them psychic until they all got it right 100% of the time.

The production was great yet again but editing was also a little noticeable; kind of what I saw on Celebrity Apprentice. Other than that, nothing much else to say. I did find this show boring as they crammed task after task into it, by the end I was like ‘come on!’ but it was probably needed.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 8.5/10

In the last week of the official ratings year, Channel Seven are bringing out their big guns in a huge finals week, even though they have won the ratings race. The X Factor, The One, Beauty and The Geek and Wildboys will all have their final episodes in the week starting Monday November 20, 2011. Also premiering that week will be the show Happy Endings.

THE X FACTOR
Season 2, Ep 31
Monday, November 21
7:30pm (PG)
Tonight on THE X FACTOR, the remaining three contestants sing for their lives for the last time. Who will convince the judges and viewers at home that they deserve to win and be crowned X FACTOR champ?!
Luke Jacobz hosts Australia’s biggest search to find our next singing superstar while judges Mel B (Under 25 Girls), Ronan Keating (Groups), Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Over 25’s) and Guy Sebastian (Under 25 Boys) deliver their verdicts.

THE X FACTOR – 2011 GRAND FINAL
Season 2, Ep 32
Tuesday, November 22
7:30pm (PG)
From thousands of hopefuls across the country to one – tonight, Australia’s verdict on the THE X FACTOR champion for 2011.

THE ONE: AUSTRALIA’S MOST GIFTED PSYCHIC – SEASON FINAL
Series 2, Ep 8, ‘Missing Person’
Wednesday, November 23
7:30pm (PG)

For their final studio challenge, our three finalists will each be asked to use their psychic abilities to decide which of seven boxes placed on a podium contain gold bars. Given only five minutes and their psychic powers, they must nominate which boxes contain gold bars and which boxes are empty.

Then, in a seemingly impossible challenge, our top three will be asked to solve a real-life police case. Their task: to find the remains of Kerry Whelan, a 39 year old mother of three, and wife of a wealthy businessman, who was kidnapped for ransom on May 6, 1997.

The final three will have to prove themselves one last time when they will each be asked to open their prediction envelopes from Episode 1 to reveal who they thought would make it to the Top 3 and who would be named The One.

And this week we will ask the Australian public to vote for their favourite amongst the three finalists. The psychic with the most public votes will be awarded the honour of being named The One. 

BEAUTY AND THE GEEK AUSTRALIA – 2011 GRAND FINAL
Series 3, Ep 10
Wednesday, November 24
7:30pm (PG)

On the 2011 series final of BEAUTY AND THE GEEK AUSTRALIA, the beauties must compete in a Rocket Science test while the geeks must bake a cake that represents their beauty in a Home Economics test. Together they will then be marked on a Physical Education task that takes the form of Synchronised Diving.

Then the final three teams travel to the school formal, where a dance off will determine the two teams who will go into the final elimination quiz.

The winning team will walk home with the crown of BEAUTY AND THE GEEK AUSTRALIA winners and a $100,000 prize.