The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Join us in the church of reality television for our latest sermon, including some great goss about Zac and Erin’s wedding rings, Alex and Duncan getting owned at the TV awards and Naz getting called out on … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. We’re back and we’re tired and we’re sorry. There’s too much real news to keep up with, what with all the big media announcements, MAFSNZ break-ups and the return of New Zealand’s greatest comedy show. Plus, Jane … Read more
The final dinner party on Married at First Sight NZ brought an ugly misogyny to light. But it was far from the first time sexism reared its head this season, writes Alex Casey. It began with a man being edited out of the show after his domestic violence charges came to light, and it ended … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. The holy trinity is finally reunited on the holiest of days, Duncan’s birthday, to discuss the highs and lows of the week in reality. Married at First Sight NZ came crawling to an end with the final … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s another duo pod this week and we’ve pulled out all the stops. Stings. Segments. Crannies. Grannies. Join us as we traverse the week in news, from Hobsonville Point residents furious about undies to an Elvis … Read more
Alex Casey wraps on a tinfoil hat and falls down the rabbit hole of the Married at First Sight NZ universe. Shared universes and character crossovers are having a massive moment right now. The last Avengers movie was basically just the Met Gala of superheroes. M. Night Shyamalan pulled a classic “him” on us all … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Jane is away, so the mice will play. Call the coppers, its a chaos pod this week no with proper doc, no proper stings and no proper adults. It’s been a great week of reality television, with … Read more
When a Married at First Sight NZ contestant is a singer/songwriter, we simply have no choice but to listen to their entire back catalogue. It’s always exciting when a Married at First Sight NZ contestant has dipped their toes into some other public-facing arena. Bel Clarke gave The Bachelor NZ a go that time. Samuel … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married At First Sight NZ … Read more
What is it like to crash a Married at First Sight NZ wedding? Two brave reality TV fans went to Swanson to find out. A couple of months ago, Alex Casey and Tina Tiller of The Real Pod, The Spinoff’s weekly reality TV podcast, headed out to an undisclosed location in West Auckland to watch … Read more
A local photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ requesting they work “unpaid” on Married At First Sight NZ. Update 17 July: Warner Brothers have responded with a comment attached to the bottom of this story. A wedding photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ on Reddit after the production company requested that … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on the pod we’re absolutely snowed under with exciting news from the reality TV world, the real world, and the Nando’s world. There’s a 24 year-old sheep knocking around, the old Milo formula is the … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. You asked for it: we’re all back in the same room, at the same time. Kind of. Alex is 20 minutes late and Jane got the time wrong, so Duncan starts an eight minute monopod. There’s much … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the sixth week on Married at First Sight Australia, with special thanks to Nando’s. If we told you this wasn’t a rude pod, we’d be lying. What more can you expect from such a rude week on MAFS AU, complete with naked calendar shoots, brazen buttcracks and passionate party pashing? … Read more
Alex Casey rips open the velcro on Married at First Sight Australia‘s biggest scandal yet. There’s a lot to be said about the latest sordid season of Married at First Sight Australia. For a start, there’s the slimy cheating scandals, the violent outbursts of rage and the relentlessly sexist gaslighting. And then there’s the very … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the fourth week on Married at First Sight Australia, with special thanks to Nando’s. Your favourite Married at First Sight Australia experts are back to look at a week on MAFS that may or may not have gone too far. Innes and Sam have gone full steam ahead in the sauna (allegedly), … Read more
In his special guest appearance on The Real Pod, with special thanks to Nando’s, Haydn Daniels from Married at First Sight NZ covered everything from the secret tapes to what happened to his wedding ring. In his debut appearance on The Real Pod, Haydn Daniels from Married at First Sight NZ discussed the hidden camera … 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
Alex Casey watches the final week of Married at First Sight Australia, and comes away with some important lessons for the new season of the New Zealand franchise. It’s been a difficult relationship with Married at First Sight Australia. Late nights have meant I haven’t always been there and, when I made the effort, sometimes the … 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 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
There are over 350 minutes of Married at First Sight Australia a week on Three. Should you spend almost all your spare time watching them? Married at First Sight Australia returned this week, a few months after our first season ended in the abyss. Of our six couples, only one survived the show, which became … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It must be getting close to Valentine’s Day, because romance is in the air on The Real Pod. We welcome back one of our favourite reality shows in Married at First Sight Australia, swoon over … Read more
The Real Pod assembles for the first time in 2018 to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive are back for another year with a new and improved Real Pod, featuring more new segments than you can shake a … Read more
The contrivances of the first generation of reality shows are being overtaken by higher stakes games, writes Duncan Greive. This story was originally published on November 15, 2017. The first season of Married at First Sight NZ is over, and I for one am an absolute wreck. For the past three years I’ve been part of ‘The … Read more
Alex Casey and Calum Henderson relive the top 10 most electric, shambolic and memorable New Zealand television moments of 2017. 10) When Wolf met Cheryl He was just a boy in a leather jacket, standing in front of a girl, asking her to let him steal a fistful of cigarettes. Episode four of Westside season … Read more
At the end of every year, our columnist Aaron Yap wraps up his likes, dislikes and learnings from TV’s shifting media hellscape. Jeez, what a stinking hot mess. As 2017 thankfully draws to a close, reflecting on the year that’s been for TV has become quite the exercise in existential soul-searching – to couch it in the … Read more
This week Jane, Duncan and Alex bask in the glory of their new sponsors at Nando’s and relive an incredible night at the New Zealand TV awards. Call the police, call the midwife, call your parents: The Real Pod has now got a luxury sponsor in Nando’s. And what a week for them to come … Read more
Alex Casey watches The Seven Year Switch on TVNZ2, a familiar-sounding social experiment that matches up married people with complete strangers. There are perhaps no sweeter three words to the gnarled ear of a television writer than the phrase “controversial social experiment.” The latest series to return to this increasingly-full arena is the second season … Read more
The contrivances of the first generation of reality shows are being overtaken by higher stakes games, writes Duncan Greive. The first season of Married at First Sight NZ is over, and I for one am an absolute wreck. For the past three years I’ve been part of ‘The Real Pod’, a podcast which has chronicled … Read more