The Real Pod’s bumper reality TV quiz of the year

Think you know your Lings from your Zings and your Fleischls from your Brettschneiders? Take The Real Pod’s reality TV quiz and prove it, with special thanks to Nando’s.  Here at The Real Pod, The Spinoff’s own weekly popular culture and reality TV podcast, we live and breathe reality television and real life in New … Read more

The Real Pod: In which the bread is dead and the top sheets divide us

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Are top sheets good or bad? Who is leaving giant dog poo piles everywhere? And why did Max Key delete his last Instagram post? Our investigative journalism continues as we try and get to the bottom of … Read more

The Real Pod: MAFSNZ is hell and My Restaurant Rules NZ is heaven

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

The Real Pod: Can we do-over all of The Block NZ?

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s a galaxy brain episode of The Real Pod this week and we’re not just talking about the new Australian Bachelor who is trying to find another Earth. Sam Wallace has been talking about udders, Alex bought … Read more

The Real Pod: The fiery return of Gizzy Hard to The Block NZ

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. There’s a lot of Real News to get through this week as bakeries around the country lose their marbles completely. From the shouty pie women in the south and skimpy ham sammies in the north, our team … 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

Will Max Key wash up on Celebrity Treasure Island? I bloody hope so

The most anticipated reality TV event of the year, Celebrity Treasure Island may have just got its first castaway.  Hit the dab, 2019, you’ve done it again. I might still be moderately drunk from Hogmanay, but The Spinoff has been handed some extremely piping hot intel from a high level source that Max Key is … Read more

The Real Pod: Jeff’s eyes have changed and we are yelling

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s a huge week for the almighty pod as Jeff’s eyes on Bake Off are officially not as blue as they used to be. Ploughing through another great week of reality TV, we ask more … Read more

The Real Pod: How can you watch reality TV without your eyeballs?

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 assemble with armfuls of Halloween candy to talk about the past week in reality TV and real life in New Zealand. MAFSNZ is over, so what did we … Read more

The Real Pod: On the big baby elephant in the room

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Call the police, because it’s time for a CHAOS POD this week. Cracking open a couple of ice cold Red Bulls, your friendly Real Pod team dissect all the real news and reality TV that … Read more

The Real Pod: We are reunited to talk MAFSNZ, Bake Off and Get It to Te Papa

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 finally reunited… kind of. With Duncan coming and going from the studio as he pleases, we are momentarily joined by Hayden Donnell, host of the Lightbox exclusive … Read more

The Real Pod: Cucumber terrors and recycled pizza socks with old mate JT

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. With Duncan holidaying in Fiji, we’re joined once again by noted celebrity influencer JT Muirhead to dissect the week in reality television and real news. And what a week it’s been, with the badger botching … Read more

The Real Pod: The Block NZ experiences a dramatic solar flare

The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. On this week’s Real Pod, the dream team are back together after a mad week and there is much to discuss from telly land. Heartbreak Island has come to an extremely poetic end, Survivor NZ … Read more

The Real Pod: In which we cannot name a more iconic trio

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, our trio is outshone by the amazing thruples on Dancing With the Stars NZ. Why are Jess Quinn’s angels shirtless? What do you call Chris Harris’ leg cape? And … Read more

The Real Pod: Survivor NZ is back and these celebrity cats have a secret

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: Are Zac and Erin coming for Art and Matilda’s crown?

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 wash up in a MAFS-free world. Luckily, our favourite celebrity couple Zac Franich and Erin Simpson (Zarin) are marking their three month anniversary by moving in together. … Read more

The Real Pod: A shark ate a mince pie… à la Troy

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, Jane returns to the hosting chair and Duncan and Alex couldn’t be more relieved. We look at an exciting and delicious incident involving a shark and a pie, take … Read more

The Real Pod: If Mark Richardson is not in the media, where is he?

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, Jane is away and things quickly fall into complete disarray. Madeleine Chapman joins Alex and Duncan as co-host to look at the past week in New Zealand, including a … 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 Spinoff Reviews New Zealand #52: Official Max Key fidget spinner

We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, an anonymous staffer reviews the official merchandise of the former First Son. On a sunny Saturday afternoon in December last year I sat outside my flat, sweating into my phone, too ashamed to put my name on an order … Read more

The Real Pod: an apology to Polly and Grant and a lament for the Champagne Lady

This week Jane, Duncan and Alex (and fill in recordist Don Rowe) really lean into this whole post-MAFS life. Pray for them.  This week’s #realpod starts, like all should, with an apology. To Polly, and to Grant. We implied that they were no longer surfing the airwaves. We were wrong – they are rockin’ More … Read more

The Real Pod: In which life goes on after Married at First Sight NZ

Free from the shackles of Married at First Sight NZ, The Real Pod gang talk mostly about Married at First Sight NZ, with a touch of Bachelor news and the triumphant return of Max Key Corner.  We’ve packed up our things and moved back to Lincoln on The Real Pod this week, which means the … Read more

MAXCLUSIVE! Max Key* destroys Eminem career in diss track

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

The Real Pod: Art and Matilda are engaged and we are not going to be chill about it

The Real Pod team assemble in the boardroom of dreams to talk reality TV and real life in New Zealand, including The Block disaster, Max Key’s new merch and the engagement of the King and Queen of New Zealand television.  It’s been a tremendous week for The Real Pod team this week, with New Zealand TV … Read more