Confirmed overnight by the creator of the show, Jordan Mauger is set to represent New Zealand on the international Bachelor stage. Jordan Mauger, conductor of the tremendous trainwreck that was The Bachelor NZ S2, is headed to represent New Zealand in The Bachelor Winter Games, a new spinoff of the dating competition set to air … Read more
Seven years ago today, Outrageous Fortune ended forever. To mark the occasion, Madeleine Holden rewatched the entire series to see if the years have been kind. As a bona fide West Aucklander myself, I have fond memories of watching Outrageous Fortune the first time around. The show followed the lives of a West Auckland family with … Read more
After five years in which our local TV successes went largely uncelebrated, New Zealand once again has a national television awards. The full list of nominees has just been announced, along with the winners of the technical craft awards which are doled out early. Duncan Greive analyses the list and picks some winners. Incredibly strange … Read more
With Kiwi hero Anna Paquin gracing Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams this week, some of The Spinoff’s greatest minds* attempt to dissect her reality-bending episode. If you haven’t heard of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams by now, it’s basically a buzzy anthology series from the dude who dreamed up Blade Runner that burrows deep into your … Read more
Before she became prime minister, Jacinda Ardern went on a valiant journey to trace her ancestry on TVNZ’s DNA Detectives. How’s this for a sign of Jacinda Ardern’s rapid rise: in the year or so between filming her episode of DNA Detectives and it screening on TV last night, she has become deputy leader of the Labour … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘First Wife’, the eighth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. You know you’re in for a treat when Outlander begins with a close-up of a pie. Feast your eyes, my pretties, because that pie was a beautiful piece of symbolism about the endless pleasures bursting … Read more
It’s out of the instant restaurant frying pan and into the sudden death cook-off fire – and half the Shortland Street cast has come for tea. “You’ll need to get over being starstruck very quickly,” celebrity chef judge Pete Evans warns the two pairs of chefs before they disappear into the kitchen to cook for … Read more
How is Married at First Sight NZ getting better and worse at the same time? Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey hit the therapist’s couch to find out. The reality TV “experts” at The Real Pod’s eyes were bulging like the biceps on a genetic pitbull at the explosive MAFSNZ dinner party this week. … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the sixth week of Married at First Sight NZ, including an explosive dinner party, wank confessions and an exciting makeover. The reunion was supposed to be a chance for growth, the experts told us while barely stifling their own laughter, a time for the couples to come back together to share … Read more
Messages leaked to The Spinoff reveal Married at First Sight NZ‘s Andrew Jury sent a series of abusive and racist DMs to another user of the service in 2015. Andrew Jury, a participant on Married at First Sight NZ, sent abusive messages to a woman on Tinder, calling her a “whore” after she refused his request … Read more
With another tremendous season of Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty coming to an end, Tara Ward rounds up some key tips for better living. Kiwi legend and my latest imaginary BFF Rachel Hunter spent the last few weeks travelling through the Americas on an epic search for beauty. I didn’t think she’d find anywhere more … Read more
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is the star of Arnott’s latest ad and film campaign. Madeleine Chapman attended the premiere and still doesn’t know what it’s supposed to be. Something big is happening at Arnott’s. In August they released two “trailers” to a supposed real-life film starring notorious great-but-boring person Steve Hansen in a quest … Read more
Will Jacinda Ardern and her new cabinet mess with our beloved remote? Duncan Greive inspects the broadcasting policies of Labour, NZ First and the Greens to find out. The elevation of Jacinda Ardern to prime minister has led to torrents of words being typed – about her youth, her gender, her impact on national sporting … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘Creme de Menthe’, the seventh episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. There were bedroom hijinks aplenty in this week’s episode of Outlander, but sadly none of them involved Jamie Fraser’s naked butt cheeks. I thought Jamie’s post-coital wig was the worst crime their bedroom would … Read more
The demon foodies of Christchurch get brought down to size by a French celebrity chef as My Kitchen Rules NZ prepares to enter the sudden-death cook-off round. From Chris and Bex’s fortress of broken culinary dreams in Wanaka we head up country, to Christchurch, for the final instant restaurant of MKRNZ 2017. Lying in wait … Read more
The Real Pod team are back together to talk about the important stuff, namely poo and poo-adjacent topics. This week on The Real Pod, we get stuck into the fifth week on Married at First Sight NZ in all it’s grimy glory. What the heck is a “surrender date”? Is Haydn a good wrestler? And … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the fifth week of Married at First Sight NZ, including wrestling, a new type of pavlova and a severe toilet scare. It only took five weeks for me to realise that the inner workings of Andy’s rancid flat is basically the perfect symbol for the Married at First Sight NZ couples. … Read more
Craving some spooky TV that isn’t soaked in 80s kitsch? Try the bone-chilling Channel Zero: Candle Cove, writes Aaron Yap. Syfy, look at you! First The Expanse, now Channel Zero? It’s like I might have to start paying attention to your shows or something. Where the former – a superb piece of serious, high-end science fiction … Read more
Ahead of the season four premiere of The Brokenwood Mysteries, Alex Casey speaks to two of the show’s stars about their favourite murders. Everyone wants their friends to throw them a nice surprise birthday picnic, but nobody wants the party to be crashed by a mangled skydiver who never quite got his parachute open. Really … Read more
Eager to outrun the tide of media irrelevance creeping at its doorstep, TVNZ has finally come round to the new world order by going ‘big on local, big on audiences, and bigger OnDemand’. Jihee Junn sits down with some of the company’s biggest execs to hear about their plan for the future. Ever the quick-witted … Read more
With season four arriving to Lightbox tomorrow, Sam Brooks previews the return of excellent family dramedy Transparent. I dilly-dallied on watching the third season of Transparent, which I am ashamed about now. Season two ended with one of the strongest images I’ve seen on TV – the image of a baby being born many decades ago, screaming … Read more
Despite 30 years of relentless sales, the Briscoes Lady remains as energetic and positive as ever. Tara Ward tries to figure out why. New Zealanders can always be certain of three things – the prime minister cursing the All Blacks, Mike Hosking wearing ripped jeans and Briscoes having a sale. As we know, a Briscoes sale … Read more
New Zealand’s top broadcaster has been on a journey since Winston Peters went left. Madeleine Chapman charts the Hosk’s passage through Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief. The takes have been coming in hot since Winston Peters rose ceremony’d the entire country and chose to marry Labour (and adopt their large adult son called the Greens). But … Read more
Duncan Greive watches Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, a miniseries following the true 90s case that gripped the world and caused a media circus. You know the true crimewave is getting out of hand when Law & Order is getting in on the game. The franchise, of which True Crime: the Menendez … Read more
This week on My Kitchen Rules NZ, Chris and Bex learn you can lead ten amateur foodies to Wanaka for tea, but you can’t make them like it. From Charlotte and Maddie’s al fresco kitchen nightmare in Auckland, we head south, to Wanaka, for the penultimate instant restaurant of MKRNZ ’17. Hosts Chris and Bex … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘A. Malcolm’, the sixth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. Say your goodbyes, Sassenachs, because this week’s Outlander will strike you down dead. The emotion will slay you, the passion will cut you into a thousand tiny pieces, and you’ll end up a wizened, wrinkled … Read more
Despite having relatively dry skin and therefore dry lives, The Real Pod team still assemble to talk about a scandalous week four on Married at First Sight NZ. This week on The Real Pod, there’s more chat flying around than Haydn’s DMs on a Sunday morning. On Married at First Sight NZ, the couples have … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the fourth week of Married at First Sight NZ, including new living quarters, a tonne of counselling and one very overdue breakup. This week, the cocktail party continued well past that tipping point in an evening where any reasonable person would have already left to get a McChicken and sob to … Read more
Alex Casey previews Wait For Me Hollywood, the final TVNZ1 Sunday Special following movie star James Rolleston in the aftermath of his near-fatal car accident. When James Rolleston was a little boy, he used to peer at the TV from his front lounge in Ōpotiki and say “I want to be in there.” Several years … Read more