On the Rag: Victories in the courts and dramas over shorts

The On the Rag team assemble to dissect the previous month in news, media and feminism.  It’s somehow the end of February so we’re here to look back at the month in Women’s Stuff. Uniform shorts are sending young women into counselling sessions at a a local high school, but why? How the hell did … Read more

The Real Pod: When the dance floor closes, a firehouse door opens

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. The team is back to give it a good old Kiwi try across the seas this week, perhaps one of the biggest reality TV weeks of the year. Dancing With the Stars NZ had one explosive finale, … Read more

The Real Pod: Who is going to win Dancing With the Stars NZ?

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week the pod has been cursed with an almighty stench, but that won’t stop us recording our first full-length international podcast. It was an explosive semi-final week on Dancing With the Stars NZ, containing everything from … Read more

Julz Tocker is the most interesting man on NZ television

Alex Casey meets Julz Tocker, the Dancing With the Stars NZ judge who refuses to sit down.  If you’ve ever seen Dancing With the Stars NZ, you’ll know that judge Julz Tocker doesn’t do anything by halves. If anything, he does things by doubles. He meditates twice a day for 20 minutes. He has two … Read more

The Real Pod: In which the dancing stars are actually good

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. In the hangover of Married at First Sight Australia, we are overjoyed to shimmy onto the shiny lino of Dancing With the Stars NZ. Well, two of us are. Duncan only watched Laura’s dance on Instagram. Which … Read more

Power-ranking the celebrities of Dancing with the Stars 2019

It’s that time of year again when we push celebrities onstage and make them dance for charity and also our amusement. Armed only with a limited knowledge of sportspeople and breakfast radio, Sam Brooks power-ranks the celebs lining up to compete in Dancing with the Stars. It is with the heaviest, arterially-clogged heart that I … Read more

Dancing with the Stars, final week: And the winner is…

It’s the final dance off, fully voted on by the public – and here are your final power rankings. Dancing with the Stars, it is over. ABSOLUTELY NOT: Dai Henwood – Contemporary Interpretative It’s not a super successful parody dance if that dance is better performed than one of your contestants performed just the previous … Read more

Dancing with the Stars, week six: Lightning crashes, an old Robbie cries

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

Marama Fox on exiting Dancing with the Stars: ‘I wanted to beat David Seymour!’

Marama Fox’s elimination from Dancing with the Stars NZ on Monday caused outrage across the nation. She talks with Leonie Hayden about leaving the show, ‘scrapping’ with producers, and why she wouldn’t back down on using her performances to showcase Māoritanga. Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox is often painted, fairly and unfairly, as firey, mouthy … Read more

The Real Pod: Another week of ‘bum bum’ dancing on the telly

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 feast upon a delicious meal of Nando’s (and wash it all down with some Peri Peri chips) while we recap that week that was. Which celebs have we … Read more

The Real Pod: In which the return of Dancing With the Stars NZ is extremely good

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

The Real Pod: Mike Hosking crashed his car and Max Key is lying to us

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

The Real Pod: We are officially warming up for Dancing With the Stars NZ

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 begin warming up for an all-new Dancing With the Stars NZ following the announcement Gilda the Queen and David the Seymour will be joining the cast. We … Read more

The Real Pod: Holy Si Barnett, Dancing With the Stars is back?!?

The Real Pod assembles in The Spinoff boardroom of dreams to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture, thanks to Nando’s.  This week on The Real Pod, we are all on a come-down after an amazing pre-record with Queen Matootles, which will be our Christmas gift to you all next week. With Nando’s firmly … Read more

Summer Reissue: In Defence of Chrystal Chenery

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

Podcast: Dancing With the Stars Week Three – Tumbles, Flashes and C-Bombs

Jane Yee invites The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and Duncan Greive to the D-Floor to discuss this week’s Dancing With the Stars action. It was an action-packed week, with the elimination of PM-in-waiting Colin Mathura-Jeffree, Teuila’s XXX-rated routine and Jay Jay’s vicious tumble. Also features a shock piece of actual bonafide analysis from Jane, which leaves … Read more

Podcast: Dancing With the Stars, Episode Two – Does Maz Quinn Like Bruno Mars?

Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive bring you all the moves from Dancing With the Stars’ second week, bringing you our live reaction to the shocking first elimination. We bid a stone-faced farewell to Maz, earnestly discuss whether Simon Barnett’s knee dislocation is real and moon over CMJ’s lustrous hair. iPhone users click here … Read more

DWTSNZ: A Rapid Fire Response to the Full Cast of Shimmying Celebrity Contestants

Alex Casey grapevines through the Dancing With the Stars NZ lineup for 2015 and makes some early predictions. The full cast of Dancing With the Stars was revealed on X Factor NZ last night, exploding from inside a huge disco ball like spray tanned chicks hatching from the egg of their glittery mother, MediaWorks. And what … Read more