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News.com.au
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Real Housewives of Sydney reunion dramas explode online
Real Housewives of Sydney fans, her fellow cast members and even the show's reunion host Osher Gunsberg have expressed their frustration that Housewife Nicole O'Neill did not show up for her second reunion in a row – but she insists all is not as it seems. Fans were shocked to discover that O'Neill, who missed last year's reunion episode due to a family commitment and skipped many on-screen activities during this season, would once more miss the show's pivotal reunion episode, available to stream from today on BINGE and Foxtel. O'Neill cops a walloping in the reunion but she has fiercely defended her actions, publicly airing email communications with Real Housewives producers and sharing her side of the story on her website overnight. The online drama comes amid a particularly fiery reunion, which ended with several members of the cast conceding the divisions in the group may be beyond repair. Nicole dials in as Osher twists the knife Reunion host Osher Gunsberg noted O'Neill's absence at the top of the show, explaining that she would join via videolink from London shortly. O'Neill's arch nemesis Terry Biviano called her absence 'convenient,' while Victoria Montano was keen to point out that O'Neill had offered to fly back for the reunion – an assertion Gunsberg quickly shut down. 'Well, the facts are, Victoria, that yes she did offer to fly back. There was a budget for that. It was economy class, and that was not acceptable [to her].' And Osher twisted the knife later in the show as O'Neill joined the cast from her London hotel room. 'I didn't think you'd want to miss a reunion … again,' he said pointedly. 'There was an offer to fly you back, but economy class isn't for you?' Stream The Real Housewives of Sydney on BINGE, available on Hubbl. O'Neill explained it just wasn't feasible to fly home to Sydney when she had pre-existing business commitments in London. After castmate Kate Adams complained she didn't think Nicole had 'pulled her weight' this season, Osher asked her: 'Nicole, you willingly signed up for this show again – do you feel like you showed up for it?' 'I feel like I showed up when I could. It was a bit more complicated than what I can explain right now,' she said. After Biviano dubbed that an 'excuse,' Nicole delivered what would be her final words for the season: 'You're a bitter, bitter old woman, Terry.' Nicole puts the show on blast O'Neill told her side of the story online overnight, posting screenshots of emails with Real Housewives ' production team that appeared to show she had flagged she wouldn't be available for the reunion some six months in advance. O'Neill posted several emails dated from April 2024 in which producers on the show gave some possible reunion filming dates – and Nicole then flagging that she'd be unavailable for at least one of the potential filming dates due to overseas travel. She went into more detail in a blog post on her website overnight. 'I didn't skip it. I didn't storm off. I didn't have cold feet,' she insisted. 'When I signed my contract for the season, the reunion date was locked in. I planned everything around it – work, personal commitments, and yes, even travel. But at the eleventh hour, the date was changed. Unfortunately, by then I was already booked, packed, and set to be in London. This wasn't a spontaneous trip – these dates had been in my schedule for over a year, and production was aware of them,' she claimed. A bitter end – and an uncertain future The reunion ended on an especially sour note, with conflict between Caroline Gaultier and her Housewives allies-turned-enemies Terry Biviano and Kate Adams coming to a head. Gaultier labelled her adversaries 'evil' and called Kate a 'thug in heels,' declaring: 'Once again, nothing is resolved, I want to go home, and I never want to see these two for the rest of my life.' After the two warring parties had hurled abuse at each other, Gunsberg tried to wrap up the reunion by asking where the group could go from here. Even cast peacemaker Sally Obermeder had to concede that things weren't looking good. 'Is there hope for this group of friends?' Gunsberg asked her. 'In my new era of not sitting on the fence? Not really,' she admitted with a shrug. And it appears the drama continued even as the cameras stopped rolling – as the other cast members headed back to their dressing rooms, cameras captured Gaultier fuming to a producer that her experience had been 'disgusting,' she 'didn't even get to say what [she] wanted to say' and asking why she'd bothered turning up at all.
News.com.au
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Popular TV personality Osher Gunsberg reveals surprise new TV gig: ‘A chance to test myself'
Osher Günsberg hyped up audiences on Australian Idol and charmed viewers on The Bachelor when he hosted the popular programs. But now the much-loved Aussie TV personality has the unenviable task of roping in the feisty and fabulous cast of The Real Housewives of Sydney. Günsberg has been announced as the host of the upcoming Season 3 reunion episode of the hit BINGE series, which airs next Tuesday, May 6. And while he says his new gig sounded daunting, he was up for the challenge. 'You don't get many opportunities in your career to test your skill set at the highest level,' he tells ahead of next week's reunion. 'I've built some pretty strong muscles holding space for difficult conversations through hosting The Bachelor shows over the years – but hosting a Real Housewives of Sydney reunion? That's Olympic-level TV work for me. What a chance to test myself!' Stream The Real Housewives of Sydney on BINGE, available on Hubbl. With the drama that has unfolded this season between housewives Terry Biviano, Caroline Gaultier, Dr Kate Adams, Krissy Marsh, Nicole O'Neil, Sally Obermeder, Victoria Montano and newcomer Martine Chippendale, Günsberg absolutely has his work cut out for him. But as a fan on the genre, he was hellbent on making sure all 'unanswered questions' were resolved and no stone was left unturned. 'I wanted each cast member to walk away feeling they'd had the chance to say what needed to be said. That they had clarity, closure, and nothing left unsaid,' he says. 'Being on a reunion show is a big deal, and I wanted them to walk away knowing they were heard. And let me tell you – they came out firing. 'It was like [rugby league player] Dane Gagai in Game 1 of the 2017 State of Origin: try within five minutes. My bum barely hit the couch before things took off.' The seasoned host said he was already familiar with what transpired as his wife, Audrey Griffen, is a make-up artist on the show and gives him a debrief. But still, he made sure to do his research before taking the hot seat. 'Thank goodness I did my homework – there were so many tangents and callbacks to moments that weren't clearly set up. I had to provide context on the fly and bring in others to make sense of it all,' he says. 'At one point, a surprise guest shows up – and it is chef's kiss magnificent. There's some delicious, juicy reality TV to feast on in this reunion.' Drama aside, Günsberg says he has nothing but the utmost respect for the Housewives because of the lives they've built. 'There are people in this cast I find incredibly inspirational. They've built businesses and made entrepreneurial moves that are absolutely gobsmacking,' he says. 'They've created unbelievable lives for themselves.' 'They're also powerful. You don't get to that level of success without serious drive. And it's hard to switch off that energy … There was a lot of energy on that set.' Despite his own fame, Günsberg says he in no way runs in the same social circles at the RHOS cast. 'These women are upper echelon – I'm middle-class celebrity at best,' he says. 'They live completely different lives to me. I hang out with my family, sit in the sauna, go to bed early, wake up to train, write books, make podcasts. I don't go on the kinds of holidays these ladies do.' 'But I'm absolutely familiar with them – they're high-profile, successful women who've worked hard to build their careers.' As for potentially making a cameo on the show in the future? Günsberg doesn't rule it out, but there are some conditions. 'Only if they wanted to join me for a 5am kettlebell session,' he jokes. 'But I don't talk much during those – just a lot of Viking metal and heavy lifting. They'd have to wake up at 2am to get ready. So I doubt that's ever going to happen.' One person he would like to see join the cast is fellow TV and media personality Abbie Chatfield, who he met when she placed runner-up on The Bachelor in 2019. 'She's the biggest fan of the [Real Housewives] franchise. She'd be perfect,' he says. 'That would be wild. I'd come back just to host that reunion.' Before Günsberg came on as the Season 3 reunion host, designer Alex Perry and radio star Joel Creasey steered the ships in Seasons 1 and 2, respectively. Pretty big shoes to fill so Günsberg called in the reinforcements. 'When you talk about big shoes to fill – Alex Perry and Joel Creasey's shoes couldn't be bigger or more fabulous. So, I called up Melissa Byrne, who's styled me for years, and said, 'I need the most magnificent boots possible.' I think they were Alexander McQueens,' he says of his footwear in the reunion. 'What I've learned from watching those guys is that you have to meet the ladies where they are, especially when it comes to fashion,' he says. 'You can't just show up in any old suit. You don't wear a regular outfit to a bedazzler fight.' But looking the part was only half of the job, he says. 'When it comes to handling the actual hosting duties, anyone who's seen Joel or Alex do it knows it's no easy feat,' he concludes. 'They took some heavy artillery, and I learned a lot from watching them. Hopefully, I was able to honour the incredible work they did.'
Sydney Morning Herald
30-04-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Job cuts hit Foxtel, four weeks into new ownership
Foxtel has made 100 staff redundant, less than a month after being acquired by British firm DAZN, but confirmed it intended to keep supporting its streaming aggregation business Hubbl. The cuts at the pay TV and streaming operator largely target staff from Foxtel's marketing and engineering teams. Staff were told of the decision on Wednesday. A Foxtel spokesperson confirmed a number of 'highly skilled and highly valued people... will leave the Foxtel Group'. 'Our transformation is not new. We have been focused on efficiency for almost a decade, which has seen us successfully transform our business from being a single-product pay-TV operator to a modern Australian leader in streaming,' the spokesperson said. 'As part of the DAZN Group, we now have the opportunity to continue our transformation and take advantage of their global engineering and services. We are also working with DAZN to share our world-class product and technology expertise.' Loading DAZN agreed to buy Foxtel from its dual shareholders News Corp and Telstra in December in one of the most impactful Australian media deals of the 21st century. The redundancies are understood to have included some staff from the company's streaming aggregation business Hubbl. Last week, The Australian Financial Review reported Foxtel had begun reviewing the future of Hubbl, which launched at the start of 2024 after spending more than $150 million.
The Age
30-04-2025
- Business
- The Age
Job cuts hit Foxtel, four weeks into new ownership
Foxtel has made 100 staff redundant, less than a month after being acquired by British firm DAZN, but confirmed it intended to keep supporting its streaming aggregation business Hubbl. The cuts at the pay TV and streaming operator largely target staff from Foxtel's marketing and engineering teams. Staff were told of the decision on Wednesday. A Foxtel spokesperson confirmed a number of 'highly skilled and highly valued people... will leave the Foxtel Group'. 'Our transformation is not new. We have been focused on efficiency for almost a decade, which has seen us successfully transform our business from being a single-product pay-TV operator to a modern Australian leader in streaming,' the spokesperson said. 'As part of the DAZN Group, we now have the opportunity to continue our transformation and take advantage of their global engineering and services. We are also working with DAZN to share our world-class product and technology expertise.' Loading DAZN agreed to buy Foxtel from its dual shareholders News Corp and Telstra in December in one of the most impactful Australian media deals of the 21st century. The redundancies are understood to have included some staff from the company's streaming aggregation business Hubbl. Last week, The Australian Financial Review reported Foxtel had begun reviewing the future of Hubbl, which launched at the start of 2024 after spending more than $150 million.
AU Financial Review
24-04-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
DAZN is already reviewing the future of Foxtel's big Hubbl bet
Foxtel's new owners are reviewing the future of Hubbl, the subscription broadcaster's set-top box system that was billed as its new flagship product when it was launched with great fanfare less than two years ago. News Corp and Telstra sold Foxtel to DAZN, a London-headquartered global sports streaming service, in a deal that was finalised earlier this month. In one of its first moves as Foxtel's owner, DAZN has put Hubbl up for review and will decide whether to close it or run it down this year.
