At Least The Boss Can't Fire Her !

It was one of the most embarrassing moments on TV-the host tonight announcing the winner of Australia's Next Top Model.

Gorgeous supermodel and host of the show Sarah Murdoch announced Kelsey Martinovichas the winner of the first prize which is guaranteed to lead to an international modeling contract.

Seconds later she corrected herself and announced that in fact-18 year old Amanda Ware from Queensland was the winner. Sarah looked close to tears as she said "Oh no this is wrong, this is what happens on live TV -it's insane, insane , insane "

Amanda's prizes include an eight-page spread in Harper's Bazaar, a contract with Priscilla's modelling agency, a $25,000 Levi's campaign, a $20,000 cash prize, a Ford Fiesta Zetec and a trip to New York.

The awards were held tonight at Luna Park (motto-Just For Fun!) at North Sydney beneath the Harbour Bridge and broadcast live on Foxtel.

Kelsey's tears of joy turned to despair as the truth sank in but she is probably thanking Sarah tonight. Foxtel have decided to give her a $25,000 consolation prize.

As for Mrs Murdoch-her job should be safe. Dad-in-law Rupert Murdoch is the major share-holder in Foxtel and husband Lachlan Murdoch holds a great swag of shares in the cable network.
Sarah took over the hosting job when previous host, Jodhi Meares, ex-wife of James Packer said she suffered stage fright and couldn't handle the job any longer.

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Former Cleo Bachelor Of The Year Dr. Richard Young has been banned from practising medicine after paying a prostitute/patient for sex. You can read the tale in The Sydney Morning Herald here

Foodies at Ten Paces !

It's brewing up to be a scandal of major proportions and has been reported in the New York Times.

Acclaimed Australian chef David Thompson has had the temerity to open a restaurant in Bangkok and fellow foodies are not happy.

Thompson has been visiting Thailand for 25 years and has finally sealed his love affair with the country by opening a local branch of his hugely successful Nahm Restaurant.
This year his London eatery of the same name was the first ever Thai food outlet to receive a much coveted Michelin star.

Thai food writer Suthon Sukphasit reckons Thompson is "slapping the face of Thai people"-an odd comment that somewhat goes against the grain of the Land of Smiles legendary hospitality towards visitors and 'farangs' who settle in the country.

US born writer, the corpulent Bob Halliday who has lived in Thailand for a few decades sniffs
“When someone comes along and presents himself as the spokesman of Thai cuisine it’s like Osama Bin Laden going to the Vatican and saying he is the high authority on Catholicism".

Nahm in London
Another bizarre comment from a writer who err...presents himself as a spokesman on Thai food with his internet site Aw Taw aw Market (don't click the link-it takes you to a Thai betting site).

tSS thinks they protest too much and can't handle the competition.

Thompson has now published two well received books Thai Food and Thai Street Food which is regarded as the definitive recipe book on Siam eating. His second book was sold out within 2 weeks of being released.

Sydneysiders will remember Thompson's superb Darley Street Thai restaurant in Kings Cross in the 90's. It was Tom Cruise and Nicolle Kidman's home away from home.

However according to Pongtawat Chalermkittichai, the first Thai national to become Executive Chef at the 5 star Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok-Thompson is a master of Asian cooking and he says his '"mouth salivates at the thought of David's dishes".

Bob Halliday(right)

Pongtawat Chalermkittichai who is a world-wide consultant for Asian food and has opened the successful Kittichai Restaurant in Manhattan reckons he can learn much from Thompson. He plans to open a new eatery in Bangkok early next year and he hopes Nahm and his establishment "complement each other".

Perhaps the last word should go to someone who knows.
In a country that reveres it's Royal Family, not only is David Thompson a consultant for the Thailand's premier food cooking school, the prestigious Suan Dusit College in Bangkok on the preservation of Thai culinary heritage, he also oversees state banquets for the longest reigning monarch in the world, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX of Thailand.

Delicious Ironic Moments # 1

In an exert from her autobiography in the UK's Daily Mail, Jerry Hall-currently in Australia writes in a piece titled :

'I got Mick Jagger to quit heroin... but I could never get him to give up GIRLS': Jerry Hall reveals all in long-awaited autobiography

"He wasn't nearly as rich as people thought".....and in the following paragraph..

.."We bought homes in New York, London, Paris and Mustique !"

Our favourite Oligarch returns !

Another fleeting visit from our favourite Russian oligarch-although to the Moscow crowd of his contemporaries he's considered a 'baby oligarch' with just a small fortune by comparison-$2.9B.

Rustam Tariko is a vodka merchant with a taste for fine art and an eye for beautiful women. The 44-year-old is the owner of Russian Standard Vodka and a bank, the sources of his wealth. With his rapidly growing empire he is fast becoming one of Russia's most successful entrepreneurs.

Tariko hit the headlines in early May when he was outed as the buyer of Pablo Picasso's Dora Maar with Cat. He paid more than $150 million for the canvas.

He was in London for the Russian Economic Forum earlier this year, when he spoke on the theme of luxury as a Russian national idea. He should know. His dog, Dow Jones, wears a Louis Vuitton collar, goes on holiday with him to Sardinia, and has its own "nanny".

On Tuesday evening he hosted a vodka shindig at Ivy in the city. As with his visit earlier this year Miss Russia accompanied him and like last time, Rustam left straight after the party for the airport where his jet was waiting. Presumably Dow Jones was also waiting onboard.

We like Rustam's parties. There's always a generous gift bag with a selection of vodkas.

Exclusive: Our Secret Weapon in Oprah's camp

He's been Working behind the scenes for 2 years to pull off the Oprah Winfrey Australian trip. Peter Walsh, a 54 year old Australian designer and professional organiser who lives in Los Angeles.

Walsh was born in Adelaide and holds a Master's Degree in educational psychology. Finding little use for his talents in Australia, he moved to LA in 1995 and found work immediately as a professional 'organiser' for numerous Fortune 500 companies and wealthy individuals including the Russian oligarch Vladimirovich Deripaska .

Walsh's speciality is coming into a person or companies life and completely re-organising it. He now heads his own corporation and has published 4 best selling books-How to Organize (Just About) Everything; It's All Too Much; Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? and Enough Already!

4 years ago he secured a regular spot on the Oprah Winfrey show. Next year he will host his own show on Oprah's channel-OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network)

But it was 2 years ago that he conceived of the plan to get Oprah to visit Australia. His first contact-apart from Winfrey who had already expressed the desire to pay a working visit-was the NSW Tourism Board. Timing is everything. After several failed campaigns like Tourism Australia's So Where The Bloody Hell Are You TV adverts with Lara Bingle, it was a slam dunk.

NSW jumped at the opportunity and Qantas came onboard immediately. Oprah's visit will cost the government $3M but the resulting publicity is estimated to be worth 100 times that. Plus the visit should inject at least $10M into the local economy.

While Oprah's 300 hand picked studio guests will travel on a new Qantas A380 jet piloted by John Travolta, Walsh will travel with Oprah and personal staff in her private Bombardier jet .

And after the 8 day tour, Oprah and her entire staff will be holidaying over Christmas at the El Questro resort (below) in the East Kimberley's. That's her yearly treat to her staff.
Below : watch Peter 'de-clutter' a house in Inside The Lives of Hoarders !. It basically involves putting things in boxes. Nice work if you can get it !

Dad dies-Daughter tours

Carrie Fisher has announced tour dates for her Australian visit during October and November.

Yesterday her father Eddie Fisher passed away at the age of 82. Fisher died at his home in Hollywood following complications from hip surgery.

5 times married-Fisher was a teen heart-throb in the 1950's before Elvis Presley. He married Debbie Reynolds, another teen star (and Carries' mum) but famously left her to wed Elizabeth Taylor.

Taylor eventually divorced Fisher for actor Richard Burton when she and Burton co-starred in Cleopatra in a love tryst that became word-wide headlines.

Carrie Fisher's autobiographical one-woman show Wishful Drinking was a hit on Broadway in 2009 and followed her hugely successful book Postcards From the Edge which was filmed starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MaClaine.

Oddly-given her amazing and forthright revelations, warts and all stories of her life-Carrie has never discussed or disclosed one of Hollywood's worst kept secrets-dad Eddie's double life as a bi-sexual.

The blurb for Wishful Drinking reads: "recounts the true and intoxicating tale of her life as a Hollywood legend, told with the same wry wit she poured into bestsellers like 'Postcards from the Edge.' The daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher became a cultural icon when she starred as Princess Leia in the first 'Star Wars' trilogy at 19 years old. Forever changed, Carrie's life did not stay picture perfect. Fisher is the life of the party in this uproarious and sobering look at her Hollywood hangover."

If this show is anything like Postcards-it should be huge fun-
tour dates are :
Sydney: State Theatre (Oct. 19-20)
Melbourne: The Athenaeum Theater (Oct. 22-27)
Canberra: Canberra Theatre (Nov. 4-6)
Adelaide: Her Majesty's Theater (Nov. 10-12)
Perth: Regal Theater (Nov. 15-18)

Watch Eddie Fisher sing his 1954 hit "Oh My Papa"!

Exclusive : Oprah To Pose Nude?

A Sydney artist has started an international campaign to persuade Oprah Winfrey to pose for a nude body painting portrait when she visits the country this December.

Artist Eva Rinaldi wants to paint Oprah's body with Aussie icons like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House - which will be dubbed the Sydney Oprah House for the 2 broadcasts she will be filming there with the 300 guests she is bringing with her.
"I've always been a fan of Oprah" says Eva "and this will be for charity-how can she refuse ?"

Eva intends to paint an Oprah look-a-like at Bondi Beach this Saturday and is calling for volunteers to get down to the beach and be painted-nude of course !




Go to Eva's facebook page and see her amazing works, two of which we feature here. at right : Eva

Demi Moore to front Melbourne court

Actress Demi Moore is due in Melbourne next week to appear in court over a legal action she is taking against the top selling magazine New Idea for breaching copyright of her photographs.

The magazine-known locally as No Idea, printed a series of black and white snaps taken at a private party Demi threw to celebrate the Oscars. The snaps show herself, her daughter Rumer Willis, Orlando Bloom, P Diddy, Cameron Diaz and Amanda De Cadenet hamming it up at the after Oscars party in 2008 given at Madonna's house.

Moore lodged a claim in 2008 stating the magazine breached her copyright when it published the pictures on the front cover and on two pages inside its March 8 edition without her permission.

She says she has suffered loss and damage as a result of the publication.

According to the statement of claim, Moore spoke to event organiser Jeffrey Best at the party and the pair agreed that by paying for the photographs Moore would be assigned the copyright.

The trial before Justice John Middleton is expected to run for four-days beginning on Monday.

Other witnesses will give videolink evidence from Los Angeles.

Great Minds Think Alike #3

Following our exclusive story yesterday about Australia's TV media mogul and billionaire Reg Grundy, the UK's Daily Mail has warmed to the theme today with the story of Kylie Minogue's attempts to get her appearances on Neighbours permanently canned.

2011 STC Launch plus Fashion Week Tribute !

The Sydney Theatre Company announced it's new season at a small shindig at their Wharf headquarters hosted by husband and wife team Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton.

The centrepiece for the 2011 season will be a co-production of Botho Strauss's Gross und Klein (Big and Small)translated by English playwright Martin Crimp which will tour the Vienna Festival, the Young Vic in Britain, at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen in Germany and the Theatre de la Ville in Paris in 2012. This should seal the reputation of the STC throughout the world after Cate's acclaimed production of the A Streetcar Named Desire in the US earlier this year.

Australian actors who will appear in productions include Jacqueline McKenzie (right) Miranda Otto, Colin Friels and Bryan Brown all who have achieved success overseas.

The German writer's work will be directed by opera and theatre director Luc Bondy.

The STC usually presents 12 productions a year and 2011 will include two new Australian works with the Abbey Theatre production of Mark O'Rowe's hit Terminus as well as Andrew Upton's version of Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard which received five-star reviews when it played at London's National Theatre this year.

Another project is Bloodland, written by Wayne Blair, directed by Stephen Page from the Bangarra Dance Co and performed in Yolgnu language and pidgin English. It was inspired by a photograph of an Aboriginal boy up a power pole. The boy was subsequently electrocuted.

All in all, the choice of Cate and Andrew has been the most successful decision ever for the STC board. The duo have taken the company to great international heights with not only critical success but a much needed boost to the companies finances. This year, Streetcar alone made a $3M profit.

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As New York's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and London's Fashion Week draw to a close, we bring you some examples of outfits from some of the wackier world leaders, courtesy of the on-line magazine Foreign Policy in The Devil Wears Taupe !

The Quiet Billionaire

He has brought the world a host of the most successful soap operas ever- Reg Grundy who at 87 is publishing his autobiography.

Grundy is the quiet achiever of Australian TV. As a boxing and sporting commentator he first tasted success when he devised the Wheel Of Fortune game show which he eventually syndicated throughout the world.

Following that came shows like Sons and Daughters, Prisoner, Young Doctors and the mega hit Neighbours which has produced some of the biggest show biz stars to come out of Australia like Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pierce, Natalie Imbruglia, Daniel MacPherson, and Holly Valance.

Grundy reveals that Kylie Minogue had approached him once she became world famous to request that old Neighbour's shows she had appeared in were not re-broadcast. Reg rebuffed her and set her straight as to who owned the copyright of the programs-namely him !.

Grundy talks in his book about how he used to fly to the USA, book into a hotel and tape record TV shows, fly back to Australia and pitch the ideas to local stations. That paid off handsomely with Grundy eventually selling out for nearly one billion dollars to Freemantle Media.

Along the way, he and wife , the former actress Joy Chambers picked up a magnificent estate in Bermuda which came with it's own lagoon. Reg chose the spot so he could fly to New York on a 7am flight, do business for the day and return on the 7pm flight for dinner.

And he indulged his boating passion with the extraordinary super yacht Boadecia. He isn't selfish with Boadecia-you can rent it for about $150,000 a week but that does come with the 27 man crew.
These days he concentrates on his other love, photography and has produced several books on wildlife.

There is another star Grundy also helped launch. His chef on the Boadecia went on to international fame-Gordon Ramsay !

Reg Grundy is available from Boomerang Books.

A Star Is Born

TheMainMeal has his own youtube channel where he posts videos of his performances of well known songs.

They are mainly karaoke versions and he does pretty well-considering he has Tourette syndrome "characterised by multiple physical motor tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane (all according to wikepedia)..."Tourette's was most often associated with the exclamation of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks".

TheMainMeal is for real and none of his movements in the video are put on. We think he's very brave presenting his music to the world and with his unique performance of Spandau Ballet's "Gold'.... he is a star!