The season is over but there’s one more power ranking left to do. Who won the season – really? And who truly, truly lost the season? And who the hell is in between? Sam Brooks power ranks Dancing with the Stars one last time. 12. Robert Rakete Poor Robert Rakete. Coming into this competition, you’d think … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Phil Twyford talks up prefab housing industry, massive alleged money laundering scheme uncovered, and all the latest in strike news. Housing minister Phil Twyford is looking to prefab housing to make the Kiwibuild plan possible. Under the Kiwibuild plan, Labour has promised 100,000 homes over ten years. … Read more
It’s ’90s week on Dancing with the Stars – approximately the decade when this series started. We’re doing the power rankings again. And they have to dance not once, but twice! There is neither rhyme nor reason to these power rankings, so I will rank by dance, not by contestant. There’s just one more week to … Read more
Week after week on Dancing with the Stars, the ACT leader has cheated eviction at the hands of the judges thanks to massive support from viewers, to the extent that he’s comfortably received more text votes than he did in the election last year. Anecdotally, much of his support is coming from young people. But why? … Read more
It’s a wintry theme this week on a Cato-less Dancing with the Stars. Who adjusts to the winter chill and who is left out in the cold? These puns and more in week eight’s power rankings. Note: Each contestant danced twice this week – once with their partner and once in a team – and I … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today, Act leader David Seymour updates us on his Dancing With the Stars training. The Spinoff TV screens Fridays at 9.45pm from June 22nd on THREE. Thanks to NZ on Air. Click here … Read more
Seven weeks into Dancing with the Stars, The leader of the ACT Party has collected more votes to keep him on the show than he did in Epsom last September, The Spinoff has learned. The hard-twerking member of parliament for Epsom, David Seymour, has comfortably now received more votes for his efforts on Three’s Dancing with the … Read more
It was a rough week for Dancing with the Stars, with a lot of low-lights (twerking, reggaeton) and only one shining highlight. Sam Brooks is here with the week’s power-rankings. ELIMINATED: Suzy Cato (and Matt) – Samba This is an absolute travesty. What is going on with this show. Suzy Cato is not just one of … Read more
Marama Fox is gone, god is dead, but Dancing with the Stars is still here – with TRIO dances? Sam Brooks power ranks whoever is left on this show. ELIMINATED: Robert Rakete (and Nicole AND Fabio) – Cha cha The big problem with these trio dances is the celebrity ends up being their very own … Read more
National might be the largest polling party, but they’re sorely lacking any serious parliamentary sidekick. ACT clearly isn’t the solution, so how about contriving a new splinter-party? Good luck getting that past the electorate, writes Alex Braae Voters are a strange group of people to lump together. By and large they have little in common … Read more
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
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: PM steps in to cattle disease response, spotlight put on possible worker abuse in strip clubs, and a big win for local game company Grinding Gears. The bill for combatting cattle disease mycoplasma bovis is expected to grow, according to the Prime Minister. One News reports that the … Read more
Amazingly, Dancing with the Stars NZ continues despite Naz’s untimely and controversial departure from the show. And as surely as the sun rises and sets, the power rankings come in. ELIMINATED: Zac Franich (and Kristie) – Paso Doble We bid adieu to the third Bachelor! The one thing I will give Zac Franich is that he seems … 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
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
With all 12 Dancing with the Stars NZ contestants now announced, Sam Brooks already knows who is going to win based on their promo videos alone. These are his absolutely correct predictions. They’re all out now. I’ve watched them all at least 20 times each, especially the first one, and my hard drive is stuffed … Read more
Last week The Spinoff’s managing editor published an op-ed celebrating the nation-building value of taxation. Act leader David Seymour was unimpressed. Very, very unimpressed The Spinoff is hosting Tax Heroes – a series covering tax, who pays it and what it means. Click here to read more. Duncan Greive’s article Tax Heroes: Forget the rich … Read more
Last night, the Dancing with the Stars NZ Facebook page dropped the first bizarre, post-apocalyptic and surprisingly dance-free promo for the new season. Sam Brooks watched it very closely. 00:01 – White paper blows across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Is it a metaphor for broadcast TV? The state of affairs when the first people you announce … Read more
Alex Casey rounds up the highlights from a very funny RNZ interview with David Seymour about his very stupid and sexist t-shirt. Everyone knows that meat = sex. Ham steaks? They are boobs. Chicken breast? Also boobs. Sausages? Phwoar. Rump? Come ON. It is in this hot and heavy climate of carnal carnivores that David … 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
ACT’s party vote dropped to a record low of 0.5% this election, and leader David Seymour will again be ACT’s sole representative in parliament. So is there still a place for a right-wing, classically liberal party in New Zealand? Somewhat unsurprisingly, Seymour argues there is. The Spinoff asked me to write a sober reflection on … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today: a look back at some of the faces and sounds of the election campaign.
Calum Henderson watches Face the Classroom, TVNZ’s two-night special that forced our politicians to confront their harshest critics yet – the children of NZ. Move over Mike Hosking, Paddy Gower, Lisa Owen – it turns out the best political interviewers of this election campaign might just be a classroom of 8-12 year old kids from Ellerslie … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today: David Seymour sets out his ‘performance pay for teachers’ policy. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
There’s a lot riding on the Epsom election, with four current MPs in the race and everything from glory to humiliation at stake – for the candidates and for their parties too. Simon Wilson went along to a debate. How many houses were built in Auckland last year? Should a cabinet minister know the answer? After … Read more
Families who can’t afford children shouldn’t have them, according to ACT Party deputy leader Beth Houlbrooke. Here’s a list of 25 New Zealanders whose parents probably weren’t in a position to fully fund their child’s life at birth. Imagine New Zealand without… Stan Walker, recording artist, actor and TV personality Dr Michelle Dickinson, nanoscientist and … Read more
Matt Vickers, widower of physician-assisted dying advocate Lecretia Seales, responds to the news that David Seymour’s assisted dying bill has passed the first hurdle to becoming law. I can imagine Bob McCoskrie’s eyebrows twitching in fury at the news that David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was drawn out of the parliamentary ballot on … Read more
The 36 Questions Project is a new series in which Meg Williams takes a politician on a date and asks them the 36 Questions, a series of conversation-starters designed to make two people fall in love. In this inaugural installment, Young Greens co-convenor Williams dates Act leader David Seymour. Will opposites attract? This is an … Read more