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Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Channel Ten's shocking final swipe at Jonathan LaPaglia… as axed Survivor host's private conversations with former cast members are revealed
Australian Survivor is officially back in production with David Genat taking over as the show's new host. David was recently spotted arriving overseas to begin filming the new season but insiders have confirmed 'behind the scenes' dust is far from settling. Jonathan LaPaglia had helmed the hit reality franchise for nearly a decade before being unceremoniously axed. And insiders say the show's shocking new theme, 'Revenge and Redemption,' is a thinly veiled swipe at his unexpected exit. 'Jonathan is gutted,' a friend of the ousted host told Daily Mail Australia. 'This theme feels personal. Everyone in the Survivor community can see it for what it is.' Producers replaced the charismatic TV host with David, a former contestant whose unexpected promotion has sparked backlash among fans and confusion on set. 'It's a cost-cutting move, plain and simple,' a source close to production revealed. 'But replacing a seasoned host with a player who's barely earned his stripes? It's baffling.' Filming is already underway for the new season, which promises to spotlight castaways who've been 'burned, betrayed or blindsided.' And according to insiders, that drama isn't just happening on camera. 'Jonathan is furious,' one producer confessed. 'He's been calling past players privately. Not just to say goodbye but to vent. He was blindsided and he's not hiding it.' Daily Mail Australia understands LaPaglia only learned he was being replaced after internal negotiations stalled and executives quietly moved on without him. 'He truly thought he was part of Survivor's legacy,' the insider added. 'Now he's been dumped and the show's taking a victory lap with a theme that cuts deep. 'The new set of players have all signed up for revenge, redemption and resurrection. 'The new set of players have all signed up for revenge, redemption and resurrection. It's about fighting back after being hard done by and it feels ironic that JLP fits that theme.' It's about fighting back after being hard done by and it feels ironic that JLP fits that theme.' The revenge-fuelled season promises major shake-ups, but with LaPaglia's loyal fan base already crying foul, the real drama may be unfolding off the island 'They've poked the bear,' one production source warned.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
MAFS expert John Aiken breaks silence on cast being snubbed from Logies and why the reality juggernaut will never win TV's top gong
Married At First Sight may be one of the biggest shows on Australian television, but in a surprising twist, it has never taken home a Logie. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia ahead of Sunday night's Logie Awards, expert John Aiken admitted that despite dominating the ratings every year, the reality series has never been recognised with a win on Australian TV's night of nights. 'We have never won anything at the Logies,' Aiken admitted. 'But we're pretty happy with the ratings that we have. At the end of the day it all comes down to who's prepared to vote. 'The shows that win usually have people who get online and vote. With MAFS, while we have a lot of committed viewers, they don't seem to vote.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Aiken said the team does not measure success by trophies. 'We don't do it to get a Logie, we do it because it's fun, it's exciting and a lot of people watch it. The real prize is the huge audience engagement we get every year,' he said. This year, like in the past, many MAFS cast members have been left off the official Logies guest list, something Aiken says is out of everyone's hands. 'It's a privilege to be invited, but it's completely out of my hands and out of the hands of the talent. Every year people are going to miss out, but you have no control over it,' he explained. And even if the show did win a Logie, Aiken joked it would be risky to let some of the brides or grooms accept the award. 'You'd have no idea what they're going to say,' he said with a laugh. 'They're very brave people who put themselves out there and I'm grateful to them for doing the show, but you never know what they'll do once filming wraps.' Aiken says that while the Logies may elude them, the show's reach is undeniable. 'It's now in its 13th season and it just keeps growing. It's sold into over 120 countries and it's consistently high in the ratings here. We keep putting out a high-quality product that people respond to,' John said. The social media ripple effect is also huge. 'TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat - it's all part of the cast's life now. Even if they don't get to go to the Logies they still get big opportunities in the media afterwards,' he said. Aiken says the show is polarising and that is exactly why it works. 'People either love it or hate it, but no one feels lukewarm. If it gets people talking, frustrated, cheering or angry, we're doing something right.' As for Sunday's Logies, Aiken is expecting a ribbing. 'I'll cop a little serve from all sorts of people. But you've got to have a thick skin and be able to laugh at yourself in this industry,' he said. With filming on the new season underway, Aiken teased that viewers can expect a fiery group of women leading the charge. 'We've got a cast full of very powerful, opinionated, outspoken women who will hold everyone to account. Some also have a heavy TikTok flavour to their dating approach which is very entertaining,' John explained. He says the cast is unlike anything we have seen before, with fresh cultural diversity, a sports presenter who loves cricket, and personalities who break the mould of previous seasons. Fans can also expect Aiken to continue his no-nonsense approach at the dinner parties. 'My role is clear now. I call out bad behaviour and hold people to account,' he said. 'Over the last few seasons I've become more direct and blunt because sometimes the behaviour is more extreme. People at home learn from that too.' Aiken also weighed in on some of last season's breakout stars – and why they became household names. 'Eliot Donovan was such an interesting journey. He came in polarising, had some ups and downs, but by the end people could see a different side of him. That redemption arc is rare on reality TV and it made people lean in,' Aiken said. Aiken meanwhile praised fellow bride Jamie Marinos, calling her 'a total breath of fresh air'. 'Jamie was bubbly, funny and had that unfiltered way of speaking her mind that you just cannot script,' he said. 'People loved her energy and it translated into huge social media engagement.' He added that these big personalities are exactly why MAFS continues to dominate the cultural conversation. 'They're authentic. Sometimes that makes them controversial, but it also makes them relatable. Whether people are cheering for them or against them, they're watching.' Voting is now open for all awards and will remain open until 7pm AEST, Friday, August 1.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Aussie cricket star reveals heartbreak after splitting with her wife - and shares a classy message about the young daughter they share
Aussie cricket star Megan Schutt has confirmed her separation from wife Jess Holyoake - but also declared 'there is no one she would rather co-parent with'. The couple married in 2019 and will now share their daughter, Rylee. A heartbroken Schutt, 32, took to Instagram to state she and Holyoake 'have decided to end our relationship' following 'an action-packed 10 years together'. Anything but bitter, the decorated quick also pledged to maintain a 'happy and healthy relationship' with Holyoake, 'just not a romantic one'. Schutt has enjoyed a phenomenal career following her debut for Australia in 2012. She is the leading wicket-taker in women's T20Is and has also snared the most scalps in T20 World Cups. The Adelaide raised star, affectionately known as 'Shooter' is a medium-pace bowler who attacks the stumps, often with the new ball. Off the field, Schutt has constantly advocated for gay rights - and hasn't hesitated to call out trolls online. 'Sometimes I don't/can't shrug it (online gay hate) off; they are just hard days,' she previously told Daily Mail Australia. 'But I try to remember sometimes that a lot of people either haven't had any experiences with gay/minority groups so haven't had their thoughts challenged (which most don't like) - or have never been able to empathise/show feelings. 'Most people fear what they don't understand and some just can't fathom sexuality - they can't fathom someone being different from them. '(But) when it is just instances of vile hate - that's when I know they are a person beyond repair.' What Schutt won't tolerate is some individuals - often supposed cricket fans -linking homosexuality to paedophilia. 'They can say things like, "You've been coerced because your teammates are same sex". Coercion – everyone in cricket is gay, that is why you're gay,' she previously told NewsCorp. 'That comes back to thinking that gay is a choice. Which, obviously, it is not. 'The coercion one used to p**s me off the most, because it is also implying lesbians are predators and that we are just out there to turn all these straight young girls gay.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Disgraced TV host Peter Everett breaks silence after being charged with sexually touching teenage boy without consent
Former Ready Steady Cook host Peter Everett has broken his silence after he was charged with sexually touching a teenage boy without consent. The TV host was accused of the offence relating to a 16-year-old boy, alleged to have occurred in the Central Coast town of Toukley last Friday. He was subsequently required to report for bail at Waverley Police Station in Sydney's east, where he stopped to speak to media on Tuesday. "I am holding up as well as possible," Everett told Daily Mail Australia. "My solicitor has advised me not to speak, but I am pleading not guilty." Everett first attempted to evade a waiting media pack by driving around Sydney's east for two hours before returning to make the statement. Mandatory interim conditions, including bans on assaulting, threatening, stalking, harassing or intimidating the alleged victim, remain in place. Meanwhile, police on Monday sought an Apprehended Violence Order against Everett on behalf of a third party identified as 'MD'. The matter will be heard at Wyong Local Court on Thursday. Everett fronted Sydney's Parramatta Court on Saturday, where the fallen TV star pleaded not guilty and denied the sexual touching allegations. He was granted bail with strict conditions, which include reporting to the police station twice a week. Everett was arrested and spent Friday evening incarcerated before appearing in court the following day. A NSW Police spokesperson told officers were investigating the alleged sexual touching of the 16-year-old boy. "Following extensive inquiries, police arrested a 66-year-old man at a home at Toukley," the spokesperson said. "The man was taken to Wyong Police Station where he was charged with sexually touch another person without consent." Everett was sacked from the Australian adaptation of Ready Steady Cook in 2011, a competition show that features two teams, each consisting of a chef and a guest, competing to prepare meals using given ingredients. He was about to board a plane for an overseas holiday when he received a call from Rory Callaghan, former CEO of Southern Star Productions (Endemol Shine Australia), informing him he was not to return to the show. The TV host opened up about the matter in 2019 and said Callaghan told him during the phone call he thought he was "greater than the show." "I had no idea what that meant," he told "I think it meant I thought I was so indispensable and that they couldn't do the show without me." "I said, 'I am a large part of the show, but I just want the best for the show'." Callaghan defended his decision, telling TV Tonight Network Ten had "reached a point" where production needed to progress without Everett. "It was a hard production with him, so it was time to move on," he said. Everett hosted the show five years after he took over the reins from Nick Stratford in 2006. He went on to transform it from a low-rated show into a commercial success, with the program nominated for three Logies during his tenure. Comedian Colin Lane next replaced Everett, who in 2023 launched a fiery spray at Channel 10 for not inviting him back to the 2024 reboot. Everett admitted to being like a spoiled child at being snubbed for the hosting role, which was handed to Chef Miguel Maestre. "I was like a three-year-old for a couple of days, who constantly asks, "Why, why, why?'" he told New Idea. "They didn't approach me for some reason. Who knows why? It's a shame."
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Top Aussie Scientologist is found dead after devoting her life to the mysterious religion - as details of her incredible link to its leader and her tragic cause of death are revealed
An Australian woman who was run out of Melbourne as a child due to her family's Scientology beliefs has died in Florida. Marion Pouw, 72, died near the Scientology city of Clearwater where she spent much of her life dedicated to the controversial religion and its leader, David Miscavige. Former friends - who say they were cut off from her after they left the church - revealed she had died from pancreatic cancer. Pouw was said to be Miscavige's right-hand woman, with some former Scientologists branding her his 'henchman', while another said she was one of his 'closest lieutenants'. A never-before-seen picture exclusively given to Daily Mail Australia reveals Pouw at her first wedding, with Miscavige's wife, Shelly, one of her bridesmaids. Ms Miscavige inexplicably vanished 18 years ago and has never been found. A death notice listed by Tampa funeral home Brewer & Sons shared that Ms Pouw was born on February 7, 1953, and died on June 20, 2025. The listing has since been mysteriously deleted, but still appears online in a Google search. An obituary on US website Echovita revealed that Ms Pouw died in Clermont, Florida, just a stone's throw from Scientology's Clearwater headquarters. The obituary farewelled her 'Earthly form'. Scientology's core belief is that humans are immortal spiritual beings, called thetans, who are in a continual cycle of reincarnation on Earth and other planets. Ms Pouw's work for the church flew mostly under the radar, but she appeared in a Scientology video slamming David's father, the late Ron Miscavige, for leaving the church and writing a memoir about it. Ms Pouw said she had helped Ron at his lowest point when his brother Red died, and that they were close family friends for more than 40 years. In his book Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, Ron described Pouw as his son's henchman, which infuriated her. 'I find the fact that he references me as a 'top henchman' both offensive and insulting,' she said in the video which was posted online and revealed a lingering trace of her Australian accent. 'I mean we're talking a 40 year relationship… a close family friend that's gone out of her way for… and cared for him. 'And to now depict that relationship in that manner - a friend doesn't say that about a friend, ever. No matter the circumstances, you just don't say that. 'And I find it very insulting and such a gross misrepresentation of the relationship that… that I had with him. 'He was a friend - he's not a friend now - but he was a very close friend. I was family. And frankly, I was stunned.' Ron Miscavige died in 2021, aged 85. Pouw and her siblings were raised by Dutch parents in Melbourne, but the family fled to the church's UK HQ in Saint Hill after a 1965 government investigation into the religion, which stifled its activities in Victoria at the time. She was raised alongside fellow Australian Scientology children, Terri, Janis and Peter Gillham. According to Janis and fellow former Scientologist Mike Fisher, who co-host Scientology - Peeling The Onion, a YouTube series on life outside of the church, Marion spent her 'entire life' in the organisation's shadowy pseudo-navy, Sea Org. Janis said Pouw's family left Scientology when she was a teenager, but as soon as she turned 17, she returned and signed up for Sea Org, an 'elite' subsection of the religion that spent much of its time at sea. Pouw rapidly ascended the ranks, and became an assistant for Mary Sue Hubbard - the wife of Scientology founder, L Ron Hubbard. It's understood she was incredibly close to the Scientology boss, especially in his latter years before his death in 1986. Her unwavering loyalty then switched to his successor, Miscavige. They were so close that Miscavige's wife Shelly was a bridesmaid in Pouw's wedding to fellow Scientologist, Bill Meisner. Shelly has been a subject of global fascination since vanishing in 2007. Actress and former Scientologist Leah Remini has been tireless in her quest to find Shelly, but Pouw never publicly commented on her friend's disappearance. Janis, who left the church in 1990, was devastated that her friend and Aussie compatriot had died without ever getting to reconnect with her. She exclusively shared pictures of Marion with Daily Mail Australia. 'She had a dedication and drive to had a goodness about her that got buried,' Janis said. Her YouTube co-host Mike Fisher countered Janis' kind words by saying, 'But she chose that [the church] over her family and her friends that she'd known for years'. Janis added: 'The sad part is she didn't go back to Holland to see her mum and dad. 'When her father passed away, he didn't tell Marion [that he was dying]. His thoughts were that, 'She didn't care enough about me when I was alive, why would she care that I'm dead?' 'They missed so many years with her, so there is that big hole.' Janis, who now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, recalled Pouw lecturing her father Peter Gillham Sr that he needed to 'Handle Janis and Peter Jr' after they left because they'd been 'speaking out against the church'. Marion, third from left, is seen with Janis and her sister Terri, and another woman Janis revealed her regret that Pouw did not come to see her, even if it was to apparently silence them. 'If Marion had come to see us, we would have turned her,' she said. She alleged Pouw had formed a crucial part of Scientology's defence of mass protests in the mid-2000s, which were sparked by an exposé from internet activists Anonymous. 'She would go around and rope people back in [to the church] for Miscavige,' she said. It is believed Pouw's mother Wilma is still alive, in her 90s, and living in the Netherlands. Janis' late mother Yvonne was the brains behind Scientology's world-famous Celebrity Center in Los Angeles. The church responded angrily to speculation about Ms Pouw's life and death when approached by Daily Mail Australia. 'How dare you use someone's death—someone who cannot respond—to spread lies,' said public affairs spokesman Karin Pouw, believed to be Marion's sister-in-law. 'Marion would be outraged to know her honorable name is being used to promote a bigoted agenda against the Church she served and the people she so deeply cared for. 'Marion stood for truth, compassion, and justice. That her name would be used to spread lies would violate everything she lived for and hurt those she truly loved. 'Marion is deeply missed and will long be remembered by her true friends who worked side by side with her day in and day out for five decades. 'We urge you to reconsider what you are doing. If you proceed, you will not only be spreading falsehoods—you will be participating in the willful defamation of someone who can no longer defend herself, but who is not without people willing to do so.
