Latest news with #Logies
Courier-Mail
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
Real Housewives of Sydney are shattered at Logie Awards
Don't miss out on the headlines from TV. Followed categories will be added to My News. Seven of Foxtel's eight Real Housewives of Sydney (RHOS) are understood to be shattered at being informed just one member of the program's cast will be going to this year's Logie Awards. Fashion-obsessed program stars Krissy Marsh, Nicole Gazal-O'Neil, Terry Biviano, Caroline Gaultier, Dr. Kate Adams, Victoria Montano, Martine Chippendale and Sally Obermeder had spent months contemplating their couture options for television's glamorous night of nights when a brief missive from an executive, the head of unscripted/development at RHOS co-production partner Matchbox, arrived in their inboxes. In the letter, the executive begins by softening the women up with a note of congratulations. 'Congratulations to each of you on the Logies nomination for RHOS,' she wrote. 'It's a show we are very proud of and we are grateful for all your hard work that helped make it such a great series.' Seven of the eight RHOS cast members missed out on invites to the Logies. Picture: Supplied MORE: Real Housewives of Sydney's secret stash Then came the bitter pill. 'We have one ticket only available for a RHOS cast member … I know this will be disappointing news for many of you..' the email continued. Rather than conduct a ballot or a random draw to determine who the golden ticket would go to, the producers announced they'd drawn a line under the lobbying begun months earlier and made the decision about a Logies representative themselves. The ticket would go to the most anodyne of the group. The woman least likely to cause offence. The woman least likely to get ugly-drunk or hurl abuse should the trophy go to another in Best Structured Reality Program category, a category which sees RHOS in contention with Farmer Wants a Wife, Gogglebox Australia, Married At First Sight, Muster Dogs and Shark Tank. The woman least likely to jump Hamish Blake on the red carpet or try to souvenir a Logie or a kelpie pup. In short, it would go to the most unlikely and least intriguing Housewife of them all. It would go to.... Sally Obermeder. Sally Obermeder was the RHOS cast member picked to go to the Logies. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard MORE: Real Housewives star: No one would give me $1300 Victoria Montana spoke for her castmates when she took to social media this week to blast the decision to give two tickets to TV producers: 'I was under no misconceptions about the fact that production would prioritise themselves over the stars of the show. The ladies, who for almost no pay at all, open their lives to the public so that production can make money from our lives.' Channel 7 news feud over Logies snub Seven newsreader Mark Ferguson is said to be steaming that his longtime understudy Michael Usher has been nominated by bosses for a Logie Award. According to network sources, Ferguson feels slighted Usher has been nominated over the prime time news anchor for a Logie in a new category, the Ray Martin Award for Most Popular News or Public Affairs Presenter. The award will be presented for the first time on Sunday night and sees Usher, Seven's only nominee in the category, pitted against Nine's Ally Langdon, Tara Brown and Peter Overton and the ABC's Sarah Ferguson and David Speers. The nomination comes after Usher was tapped to appear on the current series of Seven's reality program Dancing With The Stars where he has emerged as a fan-favourite and, remarkably, a finals contender. Channel 7 news anchor Mark Ferguson with co-host Angela Cox. Ferguson is said to be steaming bosses nominated Michael Usher ahead of him for a Logie. Picture: Jeremy Piper On Thursday insiders told that as a result of the simmering rivalry between the two veteran newsreaders, Ferguson had declined an invitation to attend the upcoming 65th Logie Awards which are set to screen on Seven. The snub comes a week after Seven's commercial rival Nine claimed the news ratings in the Sydney market for 2025, a market Seven has not won since Ferguson was appointed anchor of its 6pm news bulletin in January 2014. Nine also claimed the first half of the ratings year nationally in five capital cities. Ferguson's tenure has long been debated internally at Seven as the network's year-on-year losses to Nine in the news hour have mounted up. As far back as 2016 Seven's longtime director of news Craig McPherson publicly championed Ferguson, telling media outlets the Tamworth reporter with the film-star good looks could have the job 'for as long as he wanted it'. Michael Usher is also winning on the dance floor as a finals contender on Dancing with the Stars. Picture: DWTS/ Seven However McPherson would come under increasing pressure from engaged Seven proprietor Kerry Stokes to introduce changes to the nightly news bulletin. In September 2024, following McPherson's departure in April that year, Stokes persuaded Macpherson's acquiescent replacement Anthony De Ceglie to welcome a joint-anchor, Angela Cox, to the desk. The decision is said to have bruised Ferguson. According to sources the relationship between the two newsreaders has not been an easy one and now Stokes is once again agitating for change. Sources are adamant the Seven chairman wants to see Usher, who now enjoys a national profile courtesy of his Dancing with the Stars turn, appointed to the plum role. Hamish schmoozes the room following ratings crash Broadcaster and networker par excellence Hamish Macdonald looks confident of having a big bright future at the ABC despite shedding 16 per cent market share in the latest radio ratings survey. Macdonald's sustained ratings nosedive on ABC Sydney was confirmed last week six-months after he replaced Sarah Macdonald at the microphone in January. Given his losses were greater than any of his stablemates in the latest radio survey, there was a sense that Macdonald, renowned for moving on fast from media gigs, might prove a no-show at last weekend's Andrew Olle Media Lecture, held on Friday July 25, just three days after his latest ratings capitulation was exposed. However it was an exuberant Macdonald who turned out for the Olle Lecture at the W (Hotel) Sydney, the ABC-hosted event perhaps too tasty a networking opportunity for Macdonald, who recently lost his lucrative sideline gig on Ten's cancelled The Project, to miss. ABC chairman Kim Williams at the Andrew Olle Media Lecture. Picture: Instagram With a gig on ABC local radio and a second on the ABC's Radio National where he presents a program called Global Roaming on his CV, Macdonald has no lack of options at the ABC. It allows him to choose the company he keeps. And so it was with interest that our sources noted Macdonald's decision not to sit his colleagues from the struggling local radio division but instead with the stars and bosses of the national broadcaster's more prestigious counterpart, Radio National. He looked at home, this column hears, sitting with the presenter of this year's Olle lecture Geraldine Doogue, a friend, and the controversial ABC executive who recruited Macdonald to local radio, Ben Latimer, the ABC's head of audio content who played a role in Antoinette Lattouf's unfair dismissal case. Hugh Marks and Alexi Baker at the Andrew Olle Media Lecture. Picture: Instagram Meanwhile Macdonald's ABC Sydney colleagues including breakfast host Craig Reucassel, drive presenter Chris Bath, retired drive host Richard Glover (Bath and Glover joined by spouses Jim Wilson and Debra Oswald), and a cast of execs and producers including the beloved Peter Wall sat at one of a series of tables earmarked for the local radio team. Also eager to be associated with the high profile oration was ABC chairman Kim Williams and ABC managing director Hugh 'I've been rumoured to be linked to many women' Marks, the former Nine CEO who has said he was unaware Nine had a culture problem when he was running that shop. On his arm at the Olle Lecture was the woman he romanced while playing culture captain at Nine, his former Nine subordinate Alexi Baker. Hegarty spied at Nine 60 Minutes' reporter Adam Hegarty appears to have been welcomed back into the fold following a long interstate sabbatical. Mystery surrounds the decision for Hegarty to up stumps and relocate from Sydney to Melbourne earlier this year though we're informed it followed his break-up with a girlfriend. Hegarty was involved with fellow Nine staffer Amber Johnston in 2024 and into the early months of 2025. 60 Minutes reporter Adam Hegarty is back after an interstate sabbatical. Picture: Supplied. According to sources Hegarty, one of only two male reporters still on the books at 60, then took extended leave from the show although few wanted to furnish us with details on what prompted it. Sources initially claimed he wouldn't be returning to the current affairs program yet a week ago he was spotted back in the Nine bunker. As previously reported by this columnist, not everyone was thrilled when Hegarty was recruited to 60 Minutes at the start of 2024 with some telling us Hegarty's appointment irked some colleagues. Pub icon departs Sydney publican Margaret Hargreaves was given a fond farewell at St Mary's Catholic Church in North Sydney on Tuesday following her death on July 15 at age 90. The longtime proprietor of hotels The Strawberry Hills and The Shakespeare, Hargreaves' pubs were a home away from home for tribes of journalists through the years as well as detectives from the police fraud squad and an array Sydney identities who she collected through the decades and who thought of her as a surrogate mother. Publican Margaret Hargreaves at the bar of her Shakespeare Hotel in Surry Hills. Among those paying respects at her funeral was troubled former game show host Andrew O'Keefe, Foxtel chief Patrick Delany and Real Housewives of Sydney cast member Krissy Marsh. Pallbearers included one-time real estate heavyweight James Dack and car salesman John Altomonte. Hargreaves is survived by her husband John, and four children Elizabeth, Kelly, John-Paul and Angie. Originally published as Aussie reality show stars fuming over Logies snub
West Australian
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Logies 2025: Johanna Griggs on Better Homes and Gardens nomination and TV success
Johanna Griggs says the funniest part of the Logies for her is when the Better Homes and Gardens team walks the red carpet. 'The red carpet at the Logies is always a very interesting moment, because obviously we're not Home and Away,' she said. 'We spend most of our red carpet where people go, 'Oh yeah, can you move along?' So we have the absolute roar of laughter going down the red carpet. 'It's a pretty humbling experience.' Better Homes and Gardens is in line to win best lifestyle program at the Logies on Sunday night. The popular Channel 7 TV show is up against against Nine's Do You Want To Live Forever? and Travel Guides, and the ABC's Gardening Australia, Grand Designs Australia and Restoration Australia. The BHAG host said she was 'always so thrilled to be nominated'. 'I feel like when you get the nod for a Logies nomination, it's like validation of all (the team's) hard work, and so there's a real sense of pride in the show,' Griggs said. 'Do I think that we'll win? I never, ever, ever think we will win. 'It would be a really lovely surprise, but, at the end of the day, that's completely and utterly out of our hands. 'We always have a great night, because these days, with budget cuts, we only sort of get together about half a dozen times throughout the year, and the Logies is one of them.' In addition to the red carpet, Griggs' other highlights of the evening include listening to the speeches and Sam Pang, who returns as host for the third time. 'I love seeing the speeches, like the highlights for me the last couple of years have been Sam Pang's hosting,' she said. 'I thought he's been so refreshing and not mean at all in his hosting. And if he doesn't get something 100 per cent right, he just totally owns it.' Better Homes has been on air for 31 years and has won 13 Logies, including Adam Dovile's win of best new talent in 2015. Griggs attributes the show's long-lasting success to its positivity and variety over the years. She said beloved viewers were very passionate with praise and recounted a recent run-in with a member of the public at a supermarket. 'I walked in, a man just said to me, 'Oh my gosh, I think I know you'. And I was like, 'Oh, that's so kind'. And he said, 'My family, we love your show because we get so sick of watching shows where people are fighting and everyone's angry at each other, or you click on the news and it's so sad and there's all these horrible atrocities'. He says, 'We just love that your show's positive.'' 'I think the show has a comfort value for them. I think it has definitely a nostalgic value for them. Because often people tell us they used to watch it with their grandparents or with their parents as kids.' Griggs said she was proud to be involved in the show where no week was the same and full of people who 'genuinely love what we do'.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Sam Pang reveals excruciatingly awkward Logies moment
Ahead of his third round hosting the Logie Awards, Sam Pang has opened up about the nightmare that unfolded the first time he was at the helm. As plenty of viewers may remember, the comedian launched into a planned tribute to veteran Home and Away star Ray Meagher at the 2023 event – only for everyone to quickly realise he was mysteriously absent. 'When I started talking to him, I realised that he wasn't in his chair, he wasn't at his table,' Pang told From The Newsroom podcast host Andrew Bucklow. 'I thought when I was doing some jokes about him, they'd cut away to Ray, and they couldn't, because he wasn't there.' He explained they'd later discovered that Meagher had been in the press room, 'doing the publicity rounds', as Home and Away had just won an award. 'Ray loves talking about himself, they just couldn't pull him away from a microphone,' Pang joked. 'So basically I was doing jokes about [Meagher], and he was not there. I think I acknowledged it, like, 'That would've gone a lot better if Ray was actually here', and then he got back just in time. So it turned out okay.' Easily the best part of any Logies night is the opening monologue, or what's essentially a roast of all the year's biggest showbiz stories – and Pang dropped some hints about who might be in the firing line during Sunday night's show. The axing of The Project is likely to be referenced, but 'with love!' Pang assured listeners, as well as the (second) cancellation of long-running soap Neighbours. Topics he has no interest in covering, however, is the frenzy that surrounded Robert Irwin's Bonds underwear photo shoot earlier this year, as well as Jonathan LaPaglia being let go as host of Survivor ('there's no chance', Pang insisted). The TV personality also confirmed whether he'd take any cheeky digs at his own show, Sam Pang Tonight, during the awards show, given its nomination for Best Comedy Entertainment Program – and the heavy scrutiny it copped during its premiere season earlier this year. Describing the experience of filming as 'wonderful' and 'nerve-racking', Pang admitted that it also been a 'learning curve' and that he'd been taken aback by the scrutiny the show received during its premiere season earlier this year. 'I suppose I was a bit naive,' he said, explaining that the early stages of his other shows, including Have You Been Paying Attention and The Front Bar, had initially launched in an 'off-Broadway' way. 'It's fine it's all part of it, it's a privilege. I'm glad Channel 10 took a punt and put us on at 8.30pm on a Monday. You just find out, you know? People watched and enjoyed it, and those who didn't, that's fine. I understand. There's lots to watch!'
West Australian
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Logies 2025: Ricki-Lee Coulter hoping to win award for Australian Idol after show exit 21 years ago
Ricki-Lee Coulter hopes justice will be served at the Logies on Sunday night if she wins an award for the very show she was eliminated from 21 years ago. The Australian Idol host is in the running to win the Bert Newton award for most popular presenter on the hit singing competition that changed her life in 2004 after placing 7th. The Raining Diamonds singer said it was an honour to be recognised for her role and hard work on the show she described as 'one big family.' 'It's a crazy, amazing, full-circle moment,' she said. 'And I think for all of those people, like on the daily, I get stopped by people saying, I can't believe you didn't win Australian Idol, you were robbed. I voted for you. I couldn't go to school for weeks. Like it was such a scar left on so many people. And I think for those people, if I win this award, that's some sweet, sweet justice for them. 'I think that they finally get justice for Ricki-Lee.' At the prestigious ceremony celebrating the world of TV, Coulter will be sitting at a table along with Idol judge Marcia Hines and this year's winner, Marshall Hamburger. The 20-year-old, who took home the $100,000 prize and recording studio package with Hive Sound Studios, has been working on new music with Coulter, hoping to get a first listen. 'He was going to send me a bunch of his new tracks to listen to before the weekend. But he's doing really well. He's been playing shows around Australia. He's got his band, he's been in the studio, and he's really excited to put something out. 'So I can't wait to hear what he's been working on, and pop the headphones in and have a little listen sitting at the table, which will be fun.' Coulter, who also hosts Nova's drive show with Tim Black and Joel Creasey, said the Logies night was the perfect chance to catch up with everyone in the showbiz industry and take a short break from busy schedules. 'It's nice to be able to come together on this one night, because everyone's generally so busy flying around filming a show here, there and everywhere. And you only really get to see each other when you're in work mode. 'So, the Logies, is such a fun night that you all just get to kind of let your hair down and not get too loose.' The New Zealand-born but Gold-Coast-raised said she loved presenting Idol and being there for the contestants from the very moment they arrive with loved ones to audition. 'What I love about this job is the auditions. I've walked through the shoes of the people who are auditioning and the people who are on the show. I've been through it. I have a sense of what they're going through, and I understand how they're feeling, and I try and be empathetic and compassionate and be that person that's there for them to give them whatever they need,' she said. The filming of Idol's next season will get underway in September when auditions start. Also hoping to take out a Logie award are the crew from Better Homes and Gardens, who are in line to win best lifestyle program. Host Johanna Griggs said the funniest part of the Logies for her is when the presenters walked the red carpet. 'The red carpet at the Logies is always a very interesting moment, because obviously we're not Home and Away,' she said. 'We spend most of our red carpet where people go, 'Oh yeah, can you move along?' So we have the absolute roar of laughter going down the red carpet. 'It's a pretty humbling experience.' The popular Channel 7 TV show is up against against Nine's Do You Want To Live Forever? and Travel Guides, and the ABC's Gardening Australia, Grand Designs Australia and Restoration Australia. Better Homes has been on air for 31 years and has won 13 Logies, including Adam Dovile's win of best new talent in 2015. Griggs attributed the show's long-lasting success to its positivity and variety over the years.
West Australian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Logies 2025: Kate Miller-Heidke on her first nomination and new coaches on The Voice
Kate Miller-Heidke has gone from performing at the Logies two years ago to being nominated for a prestigious award as a coach on The Voice. The 43-year-old singer, who grew up in Brisbane 'far away from the showbiz world', said she was 'absolutely chuffed' to be nominated for her first Logie in the most popular new talent category. She is up for the award alongside Guy Montgomery from his ABC spelling bee series, Home and Away's Hailey Pinto, Jenny Tian from Taskmaster, Kylah Day for her role in Netflix show Territory and MasterChef's Sofia Levin. The winners will be announced at Sunday's ceremony in Sydney. The Caught in the Crowd singer said she felt like a bit of a 'fraud' to be nominated as a new talent nearly 20 years after her first album and TV appearance. 'TV is not my world. As a musician, it was something entirely new for me when I started on The Voice last year, but it's just been so much fun and such a gift to my life,' she said. 'It's just amazing to be embraced by this new world.' While it's her first nomination, attending the Logies isn't her first rodeo, having sung Olivia Newton-John's Xanadu at the event two years ago as a tribute to the late star. She was also in attendance last year when The Voice took out the best entertainment program award. 'I love it. Personally, I think it's much more fun than the ARIAs,' she said. 'The after-party is pretty amazing. There are just so many interesting people and a really eclectic mix of people who write shows and create shows, actors and comedians and people in the news.' Miller-Heidke said it would be 'incredible' if she won, but was 'keeping my expectations low'. The classically trained singer will enter another season of The Voice this year alongside a slew of new judges, including Ronan Keating, Spice Girls' Melanie C and Richard Marx. 'I was nervous to meet them all at first, because I was the only returning coach (and only Australian),' she said. 'I always have a bit of imposter syndrome when it comes to meeting these massive stars, because, you know, I'm just this little Australian singer-songwriter. And I'm sure they're thinking, 'Who the hell is this?' But they were all so warm and so lovely. We all became really great friends. 'I was incredibly star struck by Mel C, I grew up in the era of the Spice Girls, so that was massive. And I was a massive fan of Richard and Ronan's. And Ronan is just the most lovely, charming man you'll ever come across.' Despite all the coaches getting on and bringing the good vibes, Miller-Heidke said she definitely felt former coach Guy Sebastian's absence. 'It did feel sort of like the end of an era in that way, because he really sort of dominated that show for so long,' she said. Miller-Heidke said she loved being involved in the hit show due to its dedication to live music. 'I love being able to work with young artists and help them to realise what their strengths are,' she said. 'Some of them are just incredible. And I also love being part of a show that's one of the only shows on TV that still has live music.' While she is a mentor for aspiring singers, Miller-Heidke has found herself searching for her own mentors as she gets older. 'I think it can be invaluable,' she said. 'I've been lucky enough to have Tina Arena on speed dial for a few years now. She's always up for a good chat.' Away from The Voice, Miller-Heidke has been in the UK mixing her new record, which she hoped would be released at the end of the year. She also wrote songs for Muriel's Wedding the Musical, which just opened in Leicester to rave reviews.
