It’s week two on Married at First Sight NZ, and several of our couples have lost their rose-tinted glasses already. Green up those boogie board bags, pack your versatile sarongs and make sure you say hi to Cat from The Bachelor Australia: we’re off to bloody Bali this week! With the final weddings taking place … Read more
Alex Casey walks back down the aisle for a second season of Married at First Sight NZ. Dust off your matchmaker iPads, rouse the digital birds and get that Sodastream making effervescent farts: Married at First Sight NZ is back for another romantic rollercoaster of a season. Look, I tried to predict what season two … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Jane returns to save Alex and Duncan’s souls in this very special episode of The Real Pod, convened to celebrate and commentate the return of Married at First Sight NZ to our screens. The team … Read more
Gogglebox NZ takes a bunch of ordinary Kiwis, chucks them onto a sofa and films them as they watch television. Tara Ward watched them watching. “Don’t laugh too much, your teeth might land on the table.” Last night three new stars flew into our lounge rooms like a pair of falsies hitting the coffee table. Retirement … Read more
It’s the home stretch on The Block NZ and things are getting more fragile than a marshmallow spaghetti sculpture. It’s Week eleven of The Block NZ, and the wheels have officially come off. Life in Hobsonville Point is careening out of control like a bunch of balls Mark Richardson just threw onto a footpath in the … Read more
Alex Casey crunches the numbers on the new Married at First Sight NZ contestants and returns with some shocking predictions. Ahhh, time. She’s a fickle mistress. She’s a relationship-ruining text sent from your Nokia 3315 to the person that the text was about. She’s a pig that’s nicked your toothpaste, slipping through your fingers as you … Read more
The hugely popular British show about people watching telly is finally getting a New Zealand version. And Calum Henderson, for one, can’t wait. Good news: TV’s not dead. There are still people out there who regularly sit down, in their living rooms, and just… watch it, sometimes for hours at a time. Now, some of … Read more
Alex Casey goes for a stroll on the foot-shaped sands of Heartbreak Island, week three. I truly couldn’t have put it any better than Josh himself, when he looked down the barrel of the camera and sincerely announced that “Lord of the Flies is kicking off.” Except, this time, the infamous conch is a tumbler … Read more
It’s week ten of Survivor NZ and things just got weirdly Jurassic. Last week on Survivor NZ we saw Matt make undoubtedly the biggest move of the season, blindsiding Brad who left the game with a hidden immunity idol still in his pocket. Brad’s exit has completely shaken up the game, leaving a huge power vacuum in … Read more
Luke Harries dives deep into the drink of Survivor NZ week seven, including a shock exit and a tense mud challenge. Contains spoilers, obviously. Would you believe, we’ve already made it to the halfway point of Survivor NZ’s second season?! The first half has already packed in more drama, sassier villains and fresher pizzas than … Read more
Two more ex-Bachelor NZ contestants are headed to represent New Zealand on the international stage, and Alex Casey is bloody excited. Following the news that Gollum impressionist and second AD Jordan Mauger will be representing New Zealand in The Bachelor Winter Games, The Spinoff has learned that the Kiwi contingent will be bolstered by Lily … Read more
Calum Henderson makes some very well-informed predictions for the finale of My Kitchen Rules NZ tomorrow. Pour out a jug of rich, tasty jus for the four fallen teams of My Kitchen Rules NZ 2017: North Shore students Charlotte and Maddie, Rotorua soulmates Tash and Hera, Auckland besties Jaryd and Ben and – in a shock elimination after last … Read more
Superfan Joseph Harper tackles the last week of Survivor NZ, and makes his predictions for the big finale. Click here for last week. So we’ve got our final three. Three big episodes down and one massive (very long) finale to go. Tom, Barb, and Avi have squirmed, tricked, and made nice all the way to the … Read more
Superfan Joseph Harper tackles the seventh week of Survivor NZ, including Nate’s totally normal axe collection and Barb’s scampi feast. Click here for last week. After the fireworks/glimmer of hope last week offered, this week took a step back into ‘New Zealand yeah alright no worries’ mode. We said goodbye to the universal people’s champ and … Read more
This is Auckland, where new money meets old. Alex Casey is going to try and laugh at The Real Housewives of Auckland through her weekly power rankings – because if we can’t laugh then all we have is the void. Click here for previous instalments. 1) Angela Stone Hell has frozen over, the pigs are flying through the air … Read more
This is Auckland, where new money meets old. Alex Casey is going to try and laugh atThe Real Housewives of Auckland through her weekly power rankings – because if we can’t laugh then all we have is the void. Click here for the first instalment. 1) Marley Blanchard Just when you thought Real Housewives couldn’t get any … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week eight of The Block NZ, including the moment that the schist hit the fan. Whatever the opposite of hissing is, it’s happening on The Block right now. Eight weeks in and the fatigue has finally hit me. I’ve watched every damn episode ever … Read more
Jane Yee watches the glittering official promo for The Real Housewives of Auckland, and isn’t even a little bit disappointed. If there’s one thing New Zealand TV does well, it’s turning the purses of overseas reality franchises into sow’s ears. We take the glamour and glory prescribed by the international reality overlords, throw some number 8 … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week six of The Block NZ, including terrifying face cushions and some really cereal stuff. It’s been a whopper week on The Block NZ as the contestants faced the daunting task of completing both the master bedroom and ensuite. Along with the regular excitement … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week three of The Block NZ, including Benjam ‘Dylz’ Button and shocking banana experience. It’s bathroom week on The Block NZ, and it’s been bloody hard going. A million tradies, two million different types of tiles and three million visits from (and hugs for) … Read more
Calum Henderson watches the return of The Block NZ, and pines for the rhombus daybeds of yesteryear. Host Mark Richardson took a deep breath and began to speak slowly, measuredly, the way a judge might deliver a long prison sentence. “Welcome… to The Block… for 2016.” It has been 178 days since the last edition of … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week six, including stolen dogs, a birthday for Naz and a daredevil massage. Ah well Rebecca, that’s us then. Farewell to the greatest potential reality TV love story ever told. Farewell to the book deal resulting in a global bestseller, the inevitable reality spin-off series called Pinky … Read more
Madeleine Chapman, her Aunty Henga and her Mum Pani assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. Last week, Aunty Henga left Pani and Pani in Auckland and flew to Wellington to visit Pani, my mum. Which means you get not one, but two island experts weighing … Read more
In a Spinoff exclusive, we have rare intel about where The Block 2015 is going down. An anonymous tipper, currently living in the Sandringham/Mt Roskill border sent us this lovely bit of mail this morning: There has been speculation that this is the potential spot for all of the drama, pregnancies and pant ripping that … Read more