The other thing we learnt last night was that eliminations won’t start for another four weeks. Hopefully there will be other tension inserted into the show to keep the viewer watching.

I am sure some of The Biggest Loser contestants would be wanting to hire Gabby Milgate to have a word to their trainers. Last night she got into a stoush with trainer Christian about whether they were being pushed to hard and that was making injuries occur. Anyway as usual the trainer had the last word and they kissed up and made up. But fair ask I reckon considering Dipper injured himself sprinting.

It appears the change of timeslot and channel has angered one cast mate with Ajay Rochester blogged her displeasure.

According to the Herald Sun Ajay said:

In a rant on her blog entitled “Channel 9 have some balls”, Rochester implored Nine to reconsider.

“I am currently stuck on the bum’s f— end of Australia, Kangaroo Island, when the ratings/channel say that we should move channel,” the former Biggest Loser host wrote.

“I know that I risk not ever being employed by channel nine again, but I also did that with channel 10. Don’t flick US (our show) off onto another channel in the first week without standing behind the product you sell. SHAME ON YOU.”

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If you have allotted calories left over in the day, why not consume them, cheese and crackers are not that bad. Nor could they be worse then having your body go into starvation mode. To be cheered for not giving into ‘temptation’ and not eating over that long period I thought sent out the wrong messages.

The black and red team did not partake at all.

However the young boys team did give in eating nearly 3000 calories between them, with Ryan appearing to be the one manipulating his team mates into it. The viewer has to wait until tonight to see if the white team of the young girls also decided to go for team immunity.

Also Tiffiny Hall fan site has Tiffiny doing a weekly blog post for them, and in this weeks blog she hints at a romance between Michelle and Hamish. Personally I am calling bollocks on that one, as I just can’t see Hamish in the Casanova role at the moment, but then stranger couples have been known.

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Tonight it was the NSW team of Sam and Jillian to cook, they are potential future in-laws, as Sam goes out with Jillian’s son. In fact the poor bugger is not ever going to be able to break up with her as his mum would give him too much stick.

The girls say fashion and food that brought the two ladies together. Even though they looked well presented I wasn’t quite sure what the floral head wear was they were wearing. It was to big to be a fascinator, and there was no fruit on it to make it look like a homage to Carmen Miranda. By the end of the night they were complaining of sore feet, which was not surprising considering the height of the heels they were wearing. It is hard merging food and fashion together.

For entree they made Pea Soup with Parmesan Pillows, for main it was Sesame Encrusted Tuna with Pan Fried Potato, Ginger Garlic Aioli, Asparagus and Jamon Crumbs and dessert was Earl Tea Bomb Alaska for dessert.

You knew the parmesan pillows were going to be a huge part of the plot line, as we had the shot of getting the different agar-agar, and Manu saying what an important component of the dish it was. Fast-forward to kitchen prep time and it is a disaster. To be fair it was not really Sam’s fault. She decided not to put it in the dish and thus served just the pea soup… in a jar. There were smirks all round when they were told about the parmesan pillow disaster.

Peter from Queensland seemed to take offence at the soup being served in a jar,  however everyone else appeared to think it was  a fun thing to do. In fact the Victorian girls of Carly and Emily seemed to really like the presentation and the jar. I wonder if there is any potential for them hooking up with Nick and Rocco from South Australia?

Sam sobbed while Pete and Manu tasted her soup this did not improve the criticism of it. Manu said it was overcooked as it was not as green as it should be. Pete thought it was one dimensional.

Peter thought they should have improvised with the parmasan pillows, however  how do you improvise with an ingredient like agar agar?

For the main again we had a team who had not worked out how they were actually going to cook the dish. I say this just about every recap, why don’t they practice their whole menu in the allotted time frame. This time the issues was how to do the sesame crust on the tuna and also they made too little of the ginger aoili, so they decided not to serve even a small amount on each plate. Also it was well over an hour between entree and main being served.

Maybe she was hoping the oil from the fish would give some moisture to the plate. She was shallow frying the tuna rather then searing it. The oil dripping off it looked unappetising.

However none of the judges said anything about that,  Peter criticised the lack of seasoning and Manu said it was too dry.

They redeemed themselves with their dessert Bombe Alaska, helped by the entertainment value of their serving bowl accidentally catching alight.

It was tough scoring on the first night with  TAS giving a five, WA a five, Vic gave a six, Qld gave a six, and SA gave a six for a score of 28 out of fifty.

Manu Feildel scored a five for the entree, five for main, and a nine for dessert.

Pete scored five for the entree, four for main, and a nine for dessert.

So a respectable total score of 65. Not good, but not bad either.

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He said he wants people to know the truth about their marriage and how it only occurred for TV ratings.

And really what can she say everything else about her life has been televised. However I suspect this is his strategy to get the extremely wealthy Kim Kardashian to increase his divorce payout on the condition it is not televised.

(Source: News.com.au)

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In a court case between two of her former managers it has been revealed she demanded $8000 for a charity event.

The Daily Telegraph reveals:

Far from the glitz of the catwalk, the behind-the-scenes deals have been laid bare in the dispute over the 2009 Miss Universe Australia’s earnings.

In a statement tendered to Downing Centre Local Court, Double Bay model manager Grant Dwyer said he brokered a deal for Finch to appear as a celebrity ambassador for the McHappy Day fundraiser, which raises money for Ronald McDonald House Charities, after learning that the beauty once worked for the fast-food chain. But the model insisted on an $8000 fee.

Not really up on the world of celebrities and charity events, I know some do them for free, and some do charge. However considering her image is based on her nice girl next door image it is probably not a great look, but a girl has to eat.

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The article states:

VICTORIAN My Kitchen Rules contenders Thomas Carr and Carla Mangion blame ruthless program editors for turning them into TV villains.

The pair, who failed to win over judges with their dinner and scored the lowest dessert score in MKR history for their blueberry and lavender cheesecake, said they felt they weren’t being shown fairly on the Channel 7 reality show.

“It’s really disappointing that Carla and I are being portrayed quite badly,” Carr said.

“Monday night was a fine example. We said beautiful things about (the soldiers’) desserts and their entrees, but the only time I was shown talking was my negative remark about the main course.

“I hope people acknowledge it is a TV show and the characters they’re building aren’t really us.”

Mangion said they were trying to stay positive. “Just being here is an achievement. No one’s dead. No one has cancer. It’s a television show. Our family and friends know who we are and hopefully that will shine through a bit more,” she said.

Maybe they need to pop into Chris Badenoch’s beer joint Josie Bones and commiserate over a few beers as he was edited as the bad boy in Masterchef Australia in Season One.

However it is not a negative to be cast as the villain as the Tassie Tiger Mel testify, as she now has a column in New Idea commenting on this series. In fact she is about the only one people can remember from last year. Who is on the front cover of magazines? Princess Jen.

Also the Executive producer of the show Rikkie Proost talked to Media Week Australia and he said  “80% of the success of television is in the casting”. He had said they had chosen this year, and that “This is the best series yet.”. Well they always say it is the best series.

Casting is key but how they slice and dice is also crucial as we can see above Tom and Carla are feeling the effects of this.

Also we have not even got to the pair that may make Tom and Jen look like pussycats as tonight we get to see Peter and Gary on our screens.

My Kitchen Rules on Channel Seven Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm.

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Tonight it started with a raft building exercise and many to-camera pieces from Darren Lyons. Is he the only one giving good to-camera pieces? Or are they just trying to build the tension between him and Lisa? It would be great for other people to get more screen time. Most times Gabby Milgate says something it is amusing and pithy, but at the moment it feels like the Darren and Ajay show.

Also last night host Kate Cebrano was not sighted – Christian the trainer, and Joanna the nutritionist did the challenges. What is Kate’s actual role?

After the raft challenge where the grey team of Brant and John came first there was a diet challenge where the contestants had to identify good and bad food. The trick was there was no bad food, with Joanna saying you could eat anything but just in moderation. However I know she is a nutritionist, but in my opinion people who have food addiction issues really find it hard to stop at that one piece of chocolate or the few chips. As could later be seen with Brant Webb continuing to drink.

I was also vaguely amused with Kevin Federline squirming about being asked about his ex-Brittany Spears, why else does he think he is on the show? His dancing skills? In fact the way he handled his break up with her increased the respect people had towards him, but that is his is claim to fame.

It was then time to reveal the scoreboard with Christine and Nathan at the top with ten points, followed by Brant and John, and Gabby and Ben. Darren and Lisa were at the bottom of the leader board.

Tonight we should see what these points mean after they go before the judges again to see how they measure up this week.

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But the ex-wife is calling bollocks and outlines why the pair separated, if her posting on the official Facebook page is truly her.  She said not only was it is weight issues but his lack of control over money, he allegedly lost the marital home.

I must confess I did find his speech a little bit hard to believe particularly as he appeared quite bitter about the reason for the breakdown in their relationship. Thanks Katrina for sending it in.

So does he have gambling issues as well? We may never know. Don’t expect a reconciliation between this pair soon.

She also had a spray on her own Facebook page. Clearly she is very frustrated about the matter as you would be if you thought you had been slandered. Hopefully we will get to hear more of her side of events. At the moment Simon is being portrayed as the house nice guy.

Clearly some of the contestants are playing the game, as why else would you vote Shane out. He has a young autistic son, as well as a sister who passed away of morbid obesity at the age of thirty two.

However he has a better chance of winning then Michelle and so he was eliminated. It was good to see he had continued outside of the house and had lost 23 kgs.

Then their was the big reveal that there were webcams in the house. Shannon got  shocked about Ryan’s secret eating, and Margie revealed she was a sneaking food as well.

Michelle Bridges made a big song and dance about contraband in the pantry which was diet chocolate mousse, and cheese, however it was then revealed the contestants are not allowed out of the house, so how could they have actually put them there. Or do they order online?

Then it was onto the aforementioned public speaking where Simon gave his side of the marriage breakdown. Also Ryan talked about his food addiction, Lisa about the death of her son, and Michelle sang. It was all very moving.

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Tonight it was Tom and Carla’s turn to cook and their theme was Grazed which seemed like a racing theme, I am sure a Victorian team last series had a similar theme.

For entree they served Wheat Beer and Mussel Soup, main was Lamb Kofta with Smoked Eggplant, Pistachio Tabouli and homemade Roti, and dessert was Minature Lavender and Blueberry Cheesecake.

The question has to be asked what did they do in their prep time of three hours. OK they stuffed around for 20 minutes of it looking for lost groceries, but they only appeared to have done the soup, bread and the base of the cheesecake in the allotted time.

They had done no prep for the main and the guests had to wait two and a half hours between entree and main. Points should be deducted because of that. Also the wait between main and dessert was an hour and twenty minutes. It is a wonder they were not all sozzled.

Their meal started out on a high.

Manu loved the entree as did Pete, he thought the mussels had been cooked perfectly. However Leigh from SA was having issues about the mussels as she thought the beards were still in there.

The main was a disaster. Even with the length of time it took them to cook they then spent ages plating up and fighting over how much greek yoghurt should go on the plate. All it was really was an up market kebab. Tom had not even tasted the meat and this got them into strife as they were raw and had no flavour.

Pete Evans said he was really disappointed and Tom got razzed for not tasting it and called it boring meatballs. Manu criticised the tabouli for not having enough parsley in it, nor was the eggplant smokey enough.

Then it was time to pour the lavender and blueberry bit onto the cheesecake and this was to take an hour to set in the freezer, however it took much longer.

Manu said it was the worst thing he had had in his mouth. That is a big call, and Pete said it tastes like soap and it was inedible. Tom disagreed.

I was surprised that Pete after laying down the law about not mixing seafood with fruit, did no say you should not cook flowers with anything.

Simon from the New Zealand team dramatically spat his out. However not much of it was eaten by any of their fellow contestants.

However the scores were not going to be good.

SA gave them a four, Qld gave a four, NZ gave a four, NSW gave them a four, WA gave a four. This was  a total of 20 out of 50.

Manu gave an eight for entree, four for main, and one for dessert

Pete gave a nine for entree, three for main, one for dessert

They got a total of forty six and this landed them in last place. However the twist was the bottom three teams of New Zealand, the Queensland boys and the Victorians will be up for elimination, but first the next six teams have to cook. This kicks off tomorrow night and  those boys from Queensland will make Princess Jen and Leigh look like Mother Theresa.

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To be fair it was always going to be tough with two weight reality TV shows going head to head and viewers are either going to prefer the dramatics of The Biggest Loser or the more holistic nature, the personalities and locations.

However here are some random thoughts about the show:

• Last night there was a swimming challenge which was a perfect opportunity for some shots of personal trainer, Christian sans shirt but sex does sell.  Yes I know it is gratuitous but this strategy has worked for Survivor which has lasted over 22 seasons in the USA?
• To attract the viewer into watching program it would have been good to have seen a weekly competition where the prize was a trip to the area of Australia which was being showcased that week on the show;
• What was thought to be an advantage of having great scenery and different locations may have meant a decrease in drama, as it is harder for the contestants to get on each other nerves as you do when you are locked in a house with limited contact with the outside world;
• The backstories are always interesting and Lana is 31 years old and never been kissed. Why? She is attractive she must have zero self confidence;
• Dr Tim the show’s psych goes under the handle of @drhappy on Twitter, which I swear my friends of friends tell me was the name of at least five drug dealers at the raves in the nineties however he uses paintbrushes as his truth serum;
• Ajay Rochester talked about being adopted and her birth mother committing suicide after she had re-connected with her which must have been very traumatic;
• Nathan talked about his fear of being gay bashed, and Kate Dearaugo talked about her negative thoughts that are holding them back.

What are your thoughts on Excess Baggage, what do you like or not like about the show?

UPDATE: Adnews is reporting the show will be moved to GO next week  at 6.30pm time slot. The Australian confirms it.

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