For some reason, there’s a prohibition theme this week on Dancing with the Stars NZ! Alcohol or no, these are the power rankings. ELIMINATED: Marama Fox (and Brad) – Foxtrot Calling it now: Meghan Trainor killed Marama Fox’s chances of winning this thing. Marama Fox is a charismatic, beautiful Māori woman, and it’s sad to … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we do a dramatic Paso Doble between Survivor NZ and Dancing With the Stars NZ. Why has New Zealand kicked all the dancing reality stars to the curb so … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, Alex has only stopped spewing, Duncan has just woken up from a five-day coma, and Jane is trying to get away from both of them. Together they have a … Read more
Sometimes the judges on Dancing with the Stars can be just a little bit rough. Need proof? We’ve rounded up all this week’s meanest comments about celebrities moving around the dance floor. Presenting #DWTSNZ – Harsh Words. This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent folk … Read more
It’s week three but it feels like we’ve never had a world without Dancing with the Stars. We’re down one Real Housewife™ but there’s still eleven contestants left. We power-rank those who remain, and farewell one more star. ELIMINATED: Naz Khanjani (and Shay) – Cha cha Naz had something that nobody else in this competition had: a … Read more
It’s week two on Dancing with the Stars and one star must combust. Sam Brooks and Alex Casey power rank the contestants with varying levels of expertise and insight. ELIMINATED: Gilda Kirkpatrick (and Shay) – Samba Look, if Gilda’s insta story from last Sunday night is anything to go by, her elimination is a tremendous loss to … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we are on a high after an extremely strong two episodes of Dancing With the Stars NZ. Which star is basically The Real Pod come to life? Which star … Read more
Light up your bleak office life with our cut-out-and-circulate Dancing with the Stars NZ Sweepstake kit. Please feel free to repurpose as bingo or a drinking game or whatever. To print, click here for PDF. Brought to you by Toby Morris, Tina Tiller, Mad Chapman & Alex Casey This content, like all television coverage … Read more
We’re two nights into the dance off, and now we’ve seen all the acts. So with a lot of trash talk, but absolutely no back-walking or mascots, we’re going to do a power ranking. Dance off. These are the power rankings for the first week of highly anticipated not-dropping-dancer-celebrity show, Dancing with the Stars NZ. In … Read more
They challenge you to a dance-off. No trash talk, no back walk. Dance off. These are the power rankings for the first episode of highly anticipated celebrity-moving show, Dancing with the Stars NZ. From its first moments, it was clear Dancing with the Stars NZ came here to play. They knew they had stars, they knew … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we dive into the still Thailand lake of Survivor NZ season two. Alex brings all the exciting gossip from the premiere event at TVNZ, and we get to … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we are inundated with hard-hitting real news from around New Zealand. There’s a slide in Dunedin that doesn’t slide, Anika Moa hitting the hot seat on Seven Sharp … Read more
Look at him. Just look at him. This is amazing. Former New Zealand cricket player Chris Zinzan Harris is going to be on Dancing With the Stars. To me, an avowed fan of both the legendary all-rounder and the harmlessly stupid celebrity dancing show, this could just about be the greatest thing that has ever … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, the team try to put together the pieces after an explosive end to Married at First Sight Australia. Why is Sean suddenly dipped in gold? What were Tracey’s sexy … Read more
David Seymour and Gilda Kirkpatrick are confirmed. Now the Spinoff’s Dancing With the Stars pundit attempts to predict the remainder of this year’s celebrity line-up. Watching Australian celebrities debase themselves for cash every night on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! it’s tempting to wish for a New Zealand version. Which Kiwi celebs … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down some of the key changes, newbies and returning old faves to local television in 2018. Take one more look at your crappy holiday viewing habits, because the last of the delicious summer TV wine has nearly run dry. Soon we are back to regimented programming, which means no more corny Lord … 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
In this topic-driven series, Alex Casey gets reality star Chrystal Chenery’s take on the world over coffee and scones. Her opinions about both her time in the spotlight and life in general were so fierce – and so candid – that we decided to publish them over the course of a week. Today she remembers Dancing With the Stars … Read more
In a week-long series, Alex Casey gets reality star Chrystal Chenery’s take on the world over coffee and scones. Her opinions about both her time in the spotlight and life in general were so fierce – and so candid – that we decided to publish them in a topic driven series. Click here for part one on The Bachelor, … Read more
Revisiting Alex Casey’s piece about ‘crotchgate’, an issue which took over the internet, broke our website, and revealed some heavy truths about shock jocks, women’s bodies and rape culture in New Zealand. I have spent a very large chunk of 2015 floating on the choppy whitecaps of the MediaWorks reality TV sea. I’ve recapped and … Read more
Thank our heavenly Dads, we’ve made it to the grand finale of Dancing With the Stars NZ for 2015. Congratulations Simon Barnett, it’s time for us to crack into The Spinoff’s wig department, and finally hear Jane’s chilling story of Ronan Keating and the bad catering. Join Flapper-era Siobhan Marshall (Jane Yee), satin shirt-era Red … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her semi-final round of Dancing With the Stars power rankings, including deep conspiracies, low-resolution underwear decals and a winning NZ flag pitch. It’s semifinals week, and we are all but a meat hand away from the finish line. The couples each performed two dances this time around, which meant far less time … Read more
It’s the tense semi-finals this week, and the old crew are back together to freestyle their recap with no props, no scripts and no clue. With each dancer having two chances at the disco ball trophy of dreams this week, there’s more action to rip through than Dom Harvey’s terrible stripper pants. Does Jane think … Read more
Jono and Ben have combined two of The Spinoff’s favourite things this week: massive pranks and our good friends at Dancing With the Stars NZ. They were nice enough to lend us this teaser trailer of what mayhem is coming tonight at 7.30pm. All the classics are in there: Hayley Holt, Candy Lane, Sharyn Casey, Simon Barnett … Read more
1) John Campbell Live in Samoa Say what you want about John Fellett, but he’s as adept at the counter-punch and exploiting an opportunity as anyone in television. So when TV3 dramatically dumped John Campbell a few weeks back, you can bet one of the first calls the broadcaster took was from a Sky exec, … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her sixth power rankings for Dancing With the Stars NZ, including an audience member’s momentous belch and Chrystal Chenery’s revival of Joe Dirt-based insults. I wasn’t around in the ‘80s, but boy oh boy do I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lives in it now. It was all about shocks this … Read more
Get your crimpers, your fluffy skirts and your Shane Cameron-style halter tops – it’s ’80s week on the D-Floor. Duncan returns from Spain to teach Jane and Alex the ways of the Spanish pasadoble, and the latest Magic Mike XXL movie. There’s gossip aplenty from kiss scandals to chocolate sauce, and some very slick segues … Read more
I love the films, me. In fact, the only thing I love more than a lovely film is a lovely, lovely episode of Dancing With the Stars NZ. You should have seen my face when I found out my two favourite things were colliding! Oh the possibilities! Oh the opportunities for beautiful homages to the … Read more
With Duncan still luxuriating with our theme music USB on the sandy shores of Spain, Jane Yee and Alex Casey recruit Brendon Green to join them on D-floor. Being the official Dancing With the Stars NZ warm-up guy, Brendon brings with him some backstage scoops, diplomatic answers and very weird pronunciations of ‘muesli’ to the table. Recapping … Read more