news articles 9 april 2005

[Inside Australian Idol]

Dan's welcomed to the neighbourhood
April 9, 2005

NOT so long ago both of them were lining up with thousands of people to audition for reality TV shows.

Dan O'Connor ended up in a singing contest and Blair McDonough proved he could sit around a house for a few months.

Now the Australian Idol and the Big Brother contestants find themselves playing brothers somewhere in Erinsborough. O'Connor had his first day on the Neighbours set this week – and said he was such a novice he kept accidentally calling the actors by their screen names.

"I was really packing it," O'Connor told Confidential.

"I came on set and I didn't know anyone, only knew the cast by their characters."

O'Connor landed the guest part as Stuart's (Blair McDonough) brother, despite having no acting experience.

But Neighbours isn't the only acting gig O'Connor has on his plate right now.

Along with pole-vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva, fellow Idol Marty Worral and Home and Away actress Emily Perry, he is busy filming a mobile phone soap opera which is called Random Place.

The six week project involves thousands of still photographs being taken in character, which will then be packaged up with dialogue and sent to the phones of subscribers.


dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1266&storyid=2934030

[Inside Australian Idol]

Judges reflect on Aussie 'X Factor' failure
Saturday, April 9 2005, 16:31 BST -- by Daniel Kilkelly


Mark Holden, a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor, has admitted that the show is seen as a failure.

Holden thinks that viewers have failed to connect with the show's contestants in the same way they did with Australian Idol's Guy Sebastian and Casey Donovan.

"They need to grab the bull by the horns – they have to make these big moments happen, like Guy did and like Casey did," Holden told Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph.

"We can all remember their big performances, moments when they just blew apart the television screen, and that's what these X Factor people have to do, and they haven't done it yet.

"I'm trying my hardest, with my two groups, to try to create a huge moment like that."

Holden's fellow judge, John Reid, has confessed that he thinks there are problems with the format.

"It kind of owned Saturday night in Britain – it was just gigantic," Reid said.

"But the format was a bit different: they got into the performance shows a bit quicker. I think here there were too many preamble shows, I think everyone agrees with that.

"I think if they did it here again they'd have to fine-tune it a bit more for Australian audiences."


www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds20537.html