Alex Casey 
Alex Casey tackles the sixth week of The Bachelor NZ, including tuk tuk tension, elephant dung and a dolphin in the mansion. In a bold comparison drawn by Ally, spending time with Zac in Bangkok this week was like “winning a ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.” Swapping out the everlasting gobstoppers for dried scorpions, and … Read more
Alex Casey interviews Eleanor Bishop, a theatre-maker whose new work reimagines the rugby classic Foreskin’s Lament in the world of Tony Veitch and the Chiefs stripper scandal. If a phone case is a window to the soul, the pink “well behaved women seldom make history” emblazoned on theatre-maker star Eleanor Bishop’s pretty much nails it. … Read more
Alex Casey tackles the fifth week of The Bachelor NZ, including unauthorised Jenga, bad poetry and an incredible bombshell. Ahh, nothing better after a long Easter weekend than to rest your rotten chocolate-coated dentures in a vat of Colgate Optic White and kick back in front of a relaxing episode of The Bachelor NZ. That … Read more
Two years ago, Alex Casey climbed into the on-set trailer belonging to Dominic Bowden – then Dancing With the Stars US backstage host, now host of The Bachelor NZ – to talk live TV, Kiwis vs Americans, and making it in Los Angeles. Just as all roads lead to Rome and all Suzukis lead to … Read more
Alex Casey tackles the fourth week of The Bachelor NZ, including The Others, an elephant and a dramatic injury. Honestly, put me inside an egg and soak me in horse pee for 100 days if this wasn’t the best week of The Bachelor NZ so far. In his own words, Zac’s whole world has been turned upside … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Sandra Clark and Francesca Emms about Together We Make a Nation, their multimedia storytelling project that shines a light on refugee women in New Zealand. Seeking to tell the stories of former refugee women who now call New Zealand home, Together We Make a Nation weaves together video, yum recipes, data … Read more
With the two-part miniseries now available exclusively on Lightbox, Alex Casey tells you why you need to take a trip to the scary island of And Then There Were None. What’s the story? Imagine… if you were invited out to a mysterious island with a bunch of people you didn’t really know, who slowly started … Read more
Alex Casey tackles the third week of The Bachelor NZ, including blind tasting, onion layers and a scary bedroom clown. This week on The Bachelor NZ we got the first big ol’ proper pash, a huge avalanche of Tim Tam tat-peddling and a very, very, very overdue Shrek reference. Aka, the show is finally starting … Read more
Alex Casey interviews Doctor Dan Dopps, creator of a new vaginal adhesive that hopes to seal the menstrual product deal … literally. Bleeders, palm off your pads, trash your tampons and shoot your mooncup straight to the moon. There’s a brand new innovation in time-of-the-month technology called Mensez, a lipstick for your other set of … Read more
With The Mindy Project season five coming to an end today, Alex Casey rounds up some reckons from the dramatic finale. Contains spoilers and delicious food. The Mindy Project remains one of my most reliable sitcoms these days, maintaining my affections where New Girl lost it years ago. It’s a love letter to the modern rom-com, … Read more
Alex Casey tackles the second week of The Bachelor NZ, including Shakespeare, funny tummies and bathroom tears. Time is limited. You could go at any point. Nobody is safe. That is both a beautiful haiku about the fragility of human mortality, and a direct quote from The Bachelor NZ last night. It’s the second week … Read more
After watching both Adele and Justin Bieber storm Mt Smart Stadium one week apart, Alex Casey puts the pop heavyweights head to head. Last week I traveled back and forth to Mt Smart, more than any human should ever have to, all in the name of pop music megastars Adele and Justin Bieber. Among the flurry … Read more
Rent Week continues with Alex Casey on the woes of owning a pet as a renter, and ways you can convince landlords that furry flatmates are fine. Here is a concise list of things I have managed to do inside my home as a human adult woman: 1) Tripped down the stairs holding a giant … Read more
Right now at the Civic, the audience screams are spiking right off the charts. And with good reason: the Auckland Arts Festival show Horror is scary good, says Alex Casey. I’ll admit it. I once hit a werewolf over the head with my handbag. In my defence, he did lunge at me in a haunted house … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her first power rankings for contestants of The Bachelor NZ 2017, including many dazzling teeth, Dombo prayers and Zac Franich laughs. “It’s easy to meet people, but hard to find someone,” said our new Bachelor Zac Franich, eyes narrowing on the distance as he tried to figure out what he had just … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down the first episode of The Bachelor NZ season three by way of very accurate statistical analysis. The Bachelor NZ roared back into our screens tonight like a burnt orange Suzuki Ignis driven at about 7km an hour by none other than Zac Franich himself. Before I put my stake in the ground … Read more
Alex Casey interviews No Activity’s Darren Gilshenan about wearing wet church pants, missing out on Margot Robbie and making something out of nothing. No Activity is a difficult show to describe, and one even harder to recommend. So I’ll just say this: it’s really fucking funny. A low-budget Australian comedy first commissioned by the online … Read more
A huge day for reality television and digital communications of emotion in New Zealand. Hold the phone, hold your loved ones, hold Mike Puru – there are emojis for The Bachelor New Zealand now. The Bachelor NZ launched their BachMoji app for both iOS and Android this morning, rattling the emoji community harder than when … Read more
Alex Casey speculates as to the meaning of the single white rose, a new addition to The Bachelor NZ as it enters its third season this Sunday. Some intriguing Bachelor NZ news has rippled through the internet this morning like a fart on a pristine beach: they are introducing a mysterious white rose to the proceedings. … Read more
In the wake of International Women’s Day, Alex Casey remembers an unlikely feminist hero: a squirrel who lives in a plastic dome under the sea. Call the police if you like, but I still think SpongeBob SquarePants is good and funny. I recall long childhood afternoons when I would eat Yum Bars, small bags of … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Jackie Clark, donations co-ordinator for several women’s refuges in Auckland, about New Zealand’s gender violence problem and what people can do to help. Trigger warning: partner violence and emotional and psychological abuse. The first time I met Aunty Jackie she was flashing her breasts at an MRA activist on Queen Street … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Maha Albadrawi and Lucy Zee about bringing New Zealand women’s stories to life in So This Happened. Every woman has at least one of those stories. Like gremlins, they often creep out at night in small circles over wine and cheese, more rarely over hushed coffees by daylight. Sometimes they are … Read more
Alex and Joseph sprinted to Spinoff HQ to record this Pop on the Couch emergency after Lorde dropped her new single ‘Green Light’ on Friday morning. It’s been a long week of teaser clips, green beaches and smoking cars, but Lorde finally released the first single ‘Green Light’ from her sophomore album Melodrama on Friday morning. … Read more
Alex Casey compares the dramatic re-enactments of Sensing Murder to fellow bad creep show Celebrity Ghost Stories, to find the true winner in the art of the corny reconstruction. The dramatic recreation remains the hokiest thing to ever grace the creepy TV genre from Sensing Murder to Celebrity Ghost Stories, consistently bad and funny no … Read more
Murder Week continues: Alex Casey spends an evening with Sensing Murder’s Sue Nicholson during her Answers From the Other Side tour, and doesn’t get a lot of answers. Look, I’m not strictly saying I believe in ghosts. All I’m saying is, when I was 14 I’m pretty sure I talked to David Lange through a … Read more
Hibiscus Coast kayaker Zac Franich was announced as New Zealand’s next Bachelor on The Project tonight. Alex Casey delves deep into the internet underbelly to find everything you need to know. Following Jordan Mauger, proprietor of the worst possible Gollum impression of all time, Zac Franich has just been announced as the next brave soul … Read more
Alex Casey interviews world famous drag queen Courtney Act, star of Guy Sebastian-era Australian Idol and runner-up on RuPaul’s Drag Race. I had a Transparent-style mic drop moment when I was informed by a friend that Courtney Act’s name was a pun. Cou-rt-ney Act. Coouurr tttnee Aaactt. CAUGHT IN THE ACT. With my mind in … Read more
Trans activist and academic Lexie Matheson was a key figure in instigating transgender friendly toilets at Marlborough Girl’s High School, a decision made to accommodate the first trans student on their roll. She talked to Alex Casey about the process, and Family First’s Ask Me First response campaign reported on by the Herald yesterday. Yesterday, homophobic, transphobic, … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. I remember doing Art History in high school and stumbling my way through all the endless old blokes from ages ago, trying and failing to connect with some rude nude dude holding a stone. That was until we were presented … Read more