It’s out of the instant restaurant frying pan and into the sudden death cook-off fire – and half the Shortland Street cast has come for tea. “You’ll need to get over being starstruck very quickly,” celebrity chef judge Pete Evans warns the two pairs of chefs before they disappear into the kitchen to cook for … Read more
How is Married at First Sight NZ getting better and worse at the same time? Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey hit the therapist’s couch to find out. The reality TV “experts” at The Real Pod’s eyes were bulging like the biceps on a genetic pitbull at the explosive MAFSNZ dinner party this week. … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the sixth week of Married at First Sight NZ, including an explosive dinner party, wank confessions and an exciting makeover. The reunion was supposed to be a chance for growth, the experts told us while barely stifling their own laughter, a time for the couples to come back together to share … Read more
Messages leaked to The Spinoff reveal Married at First Sight NZ‘s Andrew Jury sent a series of abusive and racist DMs to another user of the service in 2015. Andrew Jury, a participant on Married at First Sight NZ, sent abusive messages to a woman on Tinder, calling her a “whore” after she refused his request … Read more
Henry Oliver reviews Drake’s show at Spark Arena on Friday 3 November 2017. Drake and I have always had an ambivalent (one-way) relationship. When he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere but actually with a few years worth of unremarkable mixtapes, the Canadian actor-turned-rapper was part of a wave of post-808s and Heartbreak rappers making sing-songy, … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Sufjan Stevens, N.E.R.D, Kelly Clarkson, The Beths and more… SONG OF THE WEEK The Beths – ‘Great No One’ A thing about making things As you would expect from Auckland pop-rockers the Beths, their new (well, new-ish) track ‘Great No One’ is chock-full of wonderful, introspective … Read more
With another tremendous season of Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty coming to an end, Tara Ward rounds up some key tips for better living. Kiwi legend and my latest imaginary BFF Rachel Hunter spent the last few weeks travelling through the Americas on an epic search for beauty. I didn’t think she’d find anywhere more … Read more
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is the star of Arnott’s latest ad and film campaign. Madeleine Chapman attended the premiere and still doesn’t know what it’s supposed to be. Something big is happening at Arnott’s. In August they released two “trailers” to a supposed real-life film starring notorious great-but-boring person Steve Hansen in a quest … Read more
Earlier this week, the ‘handpicked’ support acts for Lorde’s New Zealand tour were announced. In case you weren’t up with all of them, Lauren Spring has made you a playlist. New Zealand’s high priestess of pop is coming home for a string of shows in early November, supporting her sophomore album Melodrama. She recently announced … Read more
Dynastic hero and top vlogger Max Key has just released an emotional reaction video in response to the Spinoff’s universally lauded parody, and we love it. Our story begins in 2014. The National Party, led by John Key, ran an ad with an Eminem-esque theme. Owners of the Eminem original, Eight Mile Style, sued the … Read more
Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) used to tour New Zealand as a rapper and, before that, as a drummer in punk bands. This November he and singer-songwriter Skyscraper Stan are playing 17 towns around New Zealand and Hoey will be reporting from the road for The Spinoff – a sort of state of the nation through the … Read more
Will Jacinda Ardern and her new cabinet mess with our beloved remote? Duncan Greive inspects the broadcasting policies of Labour, NZ First and the Greens to find out. The elevation of Jacinda Ardern to prime minister has led to torrents of words being typed – about her youth, her gender, her impact on national sporting … Read more
A couple of weeks ago The Spinoff streamed a Facebook Live performance by Bic Runga and her band, ahead of their three-date tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of her debut album Drive. Here’s her performance in full, for your viewing pleasure. And while you’re here, you may be interested in reading a condensed transcript of … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘Creme de Menthe’, the seventh episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. There were bedroom hijinks aplenty in this week’s episode of Outlander, but sadly none of them involved Jamie Fraser’s naked butt cheeks. I thought Jamie’s post-coital wig was the worst crime their bedroom would … Read more
The demon foodies of Christchurch get brought down to size by a French celebrity chef as My Kitchen Rules NZ prepares to enter the sudden-death cook-off round. From Chris and Bex’s fortress of broken culinary dreams in Wanaka we head up country, to Christchurch, for the final instant restaurant of MKRNZ 2017. Lying in wait … Read more
The Brit Award-winning blues singer with a hip-hop heart just announced he’s coming to New Zealand in April. Yo New Zealand! I'll be over in April '18 doing some shows. Tickets on sale this Friday 👍 pic.twitter.com/oRuTdNK2T8 — Rags (@RagNBoneMan) October 29, 2017 What’s a Rag’n’Bone Man? Rag’n’Bone Man in the stage name of Rory … Read more
The Real Pod team are back together to talk about the important stuff, namely poo and poo-adjacent topics. This week on The Real Pod, we get stuck into the fifth week on Married at First Sight NZ in all it’s grimy glory. What the heck is a “surrender date”? Is Haydn a good wrestler? And … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the fifth week of Married at First Sight NZ, including wrestling, a new type of pavlova and a severe toilet scare. It only took five weeks for me to realise that the inner workings of Andy’s rancid flat is basically the perfect symbol for the Married at First Sight NZ couples. … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Campbell Smith, music mogul and the man behind Auckland City Limits, about bringing the festival back after sitting out a year. “Anyone got any drugs?” Campbell Smith, a man who has done nearly every business-y thing it is possible to do in New Zealand music, yells to no-one in particular as … Read more
Craving some spooky TV that isn’t soaked in 80s kitsch? Try the bone-chilling Channel Zero: Candle Cove, writes Aaron Yap. Syfy, look at you! First The Expanse, now Channel Zero? It’s like I might have to start paying attention to your shows or something. Where the former – a superb piece of serious, high-end science fiction … Read more
Ahead of the season four premiere of The Brokenwood Mysteries, Alex Casey speaks to two of the show’s stars about their favourite murders. Everyone wants their friends to throw them a nice surprise birthday picnic, but nobody wants the party to be crashed by a mangled skydiver who never quite got his parachute open. Really … Read more
Eager to outrun the tide of media irrelevance creeping at its doorstep, TVNZ has finally come round to the new world order by going ‘big on local, big on audiences, and bigger OnDemand’. Jihee Junn sits down with some of the company’s biggest execs to hear about their plan for the future. Ever the quick-witted … Read more
Max Key vowed to avenge the National Party after they lost their recent court case against Eminem’s Eight Mile Style. In a Spinoff exclusive, Max Key* releases his diss track. * Comedian Paul Williams The National Party lost a lot this year. An election, a fiscal hole, a Winston Peters, and now a healthy sum … Read more
With season four arriving to Lightbox tomorrow, Sam Brooks previews the return of excellent family dramedy Transparent. I dilly-dallied on watching the third season of Transparent, which I am ashamed about now. Season two ended with one of the strongest images I’ve seen on TV – the image of a baby being born many decades ago, screaming … Read more
Avid Chainsmokers defender Joseph Moore went to see the Chainsmokers play Auckland’s Spark Arena on Tuesday night and survived the drop to tell us all about it. I paid my own money to see The Chainsmokers. The Spinoff offered me free ones to review it but I had already paid seventy actual New Zealand Dollars … Read more
Despite 30 years of relentless sales, the Briscoes Lady remains as energetic and positive as ever. Tara Ward tries to figure out why. New Zealanders can always be certain of three things – the prime minister cursing the All Blacks, Mike Hosking wearing ripped jeans and Briscoes having a sale. As we know, a Briscoes sale … Read more
Drake’s chart-dominating, streaming record-breaking ‘playlist’ More Life is a grab-bag of global influences. To celebrate Drake’s forthcoming Auckland shows (and a limited offer of $59.90 tickets – see details below), here’s David Bell to guide you through it all. This article was first published in March 2017. I’ve always found Drake to be a kind … Read more
The long-awaited decision on the National Party’s use of an ‘Eminem-esque’ track in its 2014 election advertising has finally arrived. These are our favourite parts from the judgment. The case of Eight Mile Style vs The National Party has all the makings of a wonderful, epic, hideous hip-hop opera. Even the judge has the perfect … Read more
New Zealand’s top broadcaster has been on a journey since Winston Peters went left. Madeleine Chapman charts the Hosk’s passage through Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief. The takes have been coming in hot since Winston Peters rose ceremony’d the entire country and chose to marry Labour (and adopt their large adult son called the Greens). But … Read more