Latest news with #Twisties
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
From TikTok to TV, Robert Irwin is hot property
The stars are aligning for Robert Irwin. For a start, America's ongoing fascination with Australia's preternaturally perky, croc-wrangling family has delivered a $58 million, media-impact jackpot for underwear-maker Bonds after the buff 21-year-old appeared in the brand's racy campaign designed to help it break into the $13 billion US men's market. A Bonds analysis of the campaign, which launched in April, revealed that it had generated a staggering nine billion 'media impressions' in its first 24 hours in the US. How much Bonds, which manufactures offshore and was sold to American giant Hanes in 2016, paid Irwin is unclear, but he's pulled off something previous brand ambassadors, such as Sarah Murdoch, Paul Mercurio, Pat Rafter and even Chesty Bond, couldn't: becoming the second-most popular global trending topic on TikTok in the first week of the launch. Crikey! Thanks to Irwin's khaki-clad, in-house management team, which is headed by 'mummager' Terri, the youngest Irwin is fast becoming the brightest star in the Irwin firmament, flogging everything from Twisties and Hello Fresh to Pop! dolls and holiday parks. (The Irwin empire already includes a multimillion-dollar property portfolio, from Australia Zoo to the 130,000-hectare Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve in Cape York, and a slew of residual-earning TV shows, books and magazines.) Irwin's media career started in 2004 when a horrified world watched his dad, Steve, cradle his month-old son while dangling a chicken carcass over the snapping jaws of a 3.8-metre-long saltwater croc. The former chairman of the National Australia Day Council, Lisa Curry, later revealed the stunt cost Irwin snr the Australian of the Year honour. But the Irwin hatchling survived. Homeschooled at Australia Zoo while surrounded by crocodile-infested ponds and gawking tourists, he was a regular on Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show by his teen years. In 2024, he got his own wax effigy next to his father's at Madame Tussauds Sydney. He has also co-hosted two seasons of Australia's I'm a Celebrity … Get Me out of Here!, was nominated for a Gold Logie, and won this year's AACTA for 'favourite media personality'. Even his fledgling love life has become tabloid fodder. And now he's on the cusp of his biggest showbiz break yet: deep in training to compete on the US television series Dancing with the Stars, just as big sister Bindi triumphantly did a decade ago. It doesn't get much bigger. Last year's finale drew a whopping 7.95 million viewers and garnered 32 million votes. Now that's a lot of undies.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
From TikTok to TV, Robert Irwin is hot property
The stars are aligning for Robert Irwin. For a start, America's ongoing fascination with Australia's preternaturally perky, croc-wrangling family has delivered a $58 million, media-impact jackpot for underwear-maker Bonds after the buff 21-year-old appeared in the brand's racy campaign designed to help it break into the $13 billion US men's market. A Bonds analysis of the campaign, which launched in April, revealed that it had generated a staggering nine billion 'media impressions' in its first 24 hours in the US. How much Bonds, which manufactures offshore and was sold to American giant Hanes in 2016, paid Irwin is unclear, but he's pulled off something previous brand ambassadors, such as Sarah Murdoch, Paul Mercurio, Pat Rafter and even Chesty Bond, couldn't: becoming the second-most popular global trending topic on TikTok in the first week of the launch. Crikey! Thanks to Irwin's khaki-clad, in-house management team, which is headed by 'mummager' Terri, the youngest Irwin is fast becoming the brightest star in the Irwin firmament, flogging everything from Twisties and Hello Fresh to Pop! dolls and holiday parks. (The Irwin empire already includes a multimillion-dollar property portfolio, from Australia Zoo to the 130,000-hectare Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve in Cape York, and a slew of residual-earning TV shows, books and magazines.) Irwin's media career started in 2004 when a horrified world watched his dad, Steve, cradle his month-old son while dangling a chicken carcass over the snapping jaws of a 3.8-metre-long saltwater croc. The former chairman of the National Australia Day Council, Lisa Curry, later revealed the stunt cost Irwin snr the Australian of the Year honour. But the Irwin hatchling survived. Homeschooled at Australia Zoo while surrounded by crocodile-infested ponds and gawking tourists, he was a regular on Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show by his teen years. In 2024, he got his own wax effigy next to his father's at Madame Tussauds Sydney. He has also co-hosted two seasons of Australia's I'm a Celebrity … Get Me out of Here!, was nominated for a Gold Logie, and won this year's AACTA for 'favourite media personality'. Even his fledgling love life has become tabloid fodder. And now he's on the cusp of his biggest showbiz break yet: deep in training to compete on the US television series Dancing with the Stars, just as big sister Bindi triumphantly did a decade ago. It doesn't get much bigger. Last year's finale drew a whopping 7.95 million viewers and garnered 32 million votes. Now that's a lot of undies.
The Age
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
A feminine tale with a twist
Knife man, clothes prop man, dunny man, Rawleigh man, Waltons man and the Bebarfalds man (C8). Granny's been waiting for the sisterhood to get around this over-blokey thread, and Brenda Kerrigan of Speers Point has obliged: 'My recollection is the Rawleigh lady. She rented my nanna's garage and filled it with all her potions. My sister and I took great delight in unscrewing tins and sampling the contents, unbeknown to our nanna. I think she was also the first distributor of Twisties, which we also sampled and 'weren't they the most delicious things we had ever tasted?'' Cristine Doherty, 79, of Greenway (ACT) still has a tin of Rawleigh's Antiseptic Salve, 'which I bought at the Royal Easter Show approximately 50 years ago. It's 'medicated', I can't see any expiry date. So, still good to go then?' 'It's no wonder my brain is having trouble with recent memories, when it has stored images of the Lan Choo tea packet (C8), and that you needed a minimum of 36 coupons for the most measly gift from the catalogue,' writes Robert Hosking of Paddington. 'Although, our green Pyrex baking dish did serve us well for many years, and I'm sure is still around somewhere.' Robert Roobottom of Taree wants to over-complicate the complicated when he informs Peter Riley (C8) that 'when Sussan Ley's taxpayer-funded trip to purchase an investment property became news, I simply changed the spelling of her name to $u$$an.' Here's another missive from the black-and-white world (C8), this time from Corinne Johnston of Gymea Bay: 'I was watching the 1938 film The Lady Vanishes with my granddaughters, aged seven and 10 recently. After a few minutes, Miss Seven said: 'You completely forget there's no colour because the story is so good'. A mini Margaret Pomeranz, perhaps?' It didn't go quite as well for Pauline McGinley of Drummoyne: 'Watching some old newsreels when my son was little, he was bewildered as to why 'people had to walk so quickly in the olden days'.'
Sydney Morning Herald
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
A feminine tale with a twist
Knife man, clothes prop man, dunny man, Rawleigh man, Waltons man and the Bebarfalds man (C8). Granny's been waiting for the sisterhood to get around this over-blokey thread, and Brenda Kerrigan of Speers Point has obliged: 'My recollection is the Rawleigh lady. She rented my nanna's garage and filled it with all her potions. My sister and I took great delight in unscrewing tins and sampling the contents, unbeknown to our nanna. I think she was also the first distributor of Twisties, which we also sampled and 'weren't they the most delicious things we had ever tasted?'' Cristine Doherty, 79, of Greenway (ACT) still has a tin of Rawleigh's Antiseptic Salve, 'which I bought at the Royal Easter Show approximately 50 years ago. It's 'medicated', I can't see any expiry date. So, still good to go then?' 'It's no wonder my brain is having trouble with recent memories, when it has stored images of the Lan Choo tea packet (C8), and that you needed a minimum of 36 coupons for the most measly gift from the catalogue,' writes Robert Hosking of Paddington. 'Although, our green Pyrex baking dish did serve us well for many years, and I'm sure is still around somewhere.' Robert Roobottom of Taree wants to over-complicate the complicated when he informs Peter Riley (C8) that 'when Sussan Ley's taxpayer-funded trip to purchase an investment property became news, I simply changed the spelling of her name to $u$$an.' Here's another missive from the black-and-white world (C8), this time from Corinne Johnston of Gymea Bay: 'I was watching the 1938 film The Lady Vanishes with my granddaughters, aged seven and 10 recently. After a few minutes, Miss Seven said: 'You completely forget there's no colour because the story is so good'. A mini Margaret Pomeranz, perhaps?' It didn't go quite as well for Pauline McGinley of Drummoyne: 'Watching some old newsreels when my son was little, he was bewildered as to why 'people had to walk so quickly in the olden days'.'
NZ Herald
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Unusual food combos: Kiwi chefs and their ‘culinary crimes'
Of course, everyone has their breaking point. 'My wife's obsession with Marmite and strawberry jam on the same piece of toast definitely tests my limits. If we were dishing out criminal charges, that one might carry a heavy sentence." His own food quirks are a little more snack-based. 'The weirdest one I've personally been called out for (by Catherine [his wife]) is mixing mini bags of Twisties and popcorn in the same bowl – I call it culinary genius, but apparently not everyone agrees." For some, unusual combinations aren't just a habit – they're a business model. Hannah Engelsman, founder of gelato parlour 'Lil Lato, has scooped flavours ranging from peanut butter and kimchi to cheese and crackers. 'Massaman curry with salted butterscotch gelato isn't a regular flavour, but it's definitely something we've seen requested,' she says. Her personal preferences are relatively tame by comparison. Banana and peanut butter on toast, or avocado with Vegemite, are firm favourites. One habit that occasionally earns a puzzled look: adding oat milk to herbal teas or plain hot water. Breaking the rules, however, is often where innovation begins. The sisters behind plant-based business Two Raw Sisters, Margo and Rosa Flanagan, embrace unexpected pairings in their food philosophy: cheese and apple, chocolate and miso, even frozen cauliflower in smoothies. But Margo Flanagan has her own line in the sand. 'For me, personally, the real food combo crime is definitely French fries dipped in soft serve.' Cultural context matters Taste quirks don't emerge from a vacuum – they're shaped by culture, family and upbringing. In many countries, strong-tasting fish, fermented products or intense condiments are part of daily life. But removed from their cultural context, they can seem alien or even offputting. Petra Galler, baker and author of the cookbook Butter Butter, remembers school lunches being a site of scrutiny. 'My dad's Polish and used to send me to school with tins of sardines, which garnered a lot of unwanted attention and sneers from classmates,' she recalls. These days, Galler's baking draws queues rather than quips. But she still has her indulgences. 'I eat butter by the spoonful, which is at least very on-brand,' she says. 'Also, I have a passionate love for yoghurt and Cocoa Pops. And I demolish packets and packets of cheap, nasty processed ham – something about it is so comforting.' It's her best friend Ella, though, who really crosses the line for her. 'She makes the most chaotic sandwiches and her combinations have literally revolted me since we were 15. She will pile on peanut butter, hummus, kimchi, tofu, Vegemite and beetroot to construct a total abomination. It's offensive,' she laughs. Still, one person's crime is another's comfort. Wijlens says pineapple on pizza – a famously divisive choice – barely registers for him. 'My Italian friends would probably disown me, but I don't even blink when I see it anymore.' Taste is identity What we eat, how we eat it and what we secretly love all reflect parts of who we are. These so-called crimes often emerge from family habits, childhood memories, cultural backgrounds or sheer curiosity. And while we might side-eye someone's sardines or judge their Marmite-and-jam toast, we also understand the comfort and individuality those choices represent. In an age where food trends can go viral in seconds and a single TikTok can make or break a flavour combination, the line between 'gross' and 'genius' is thinner than ever. What once drew ridicule may tomorrow be sold as small-batch, artisanal fusion. So, next time you're tempted to wrinkle your nose at someone's choice of lunch, consider that your own comfort food might be their culinary nightmare. There's room for all sorts at the table – even if it's Twisties and popcorn in the same bowl.
