news articles 13 april 2005

[Inside Australian Idol]

Stars out on a limb on the ratings tightrope
April 13, 2005

CHANNEL 9 has released the names of the celebs who will take part in its upcoming Celebrity Circus, a bunch obviously not afraid to make clowns of themselves.

Not that several of them haven't already done so during their careers, such as former ABC music TV personality Dylan Lewis, who will co-star with Toni Pearen, Kimberley Davies and ex-Idol Ricki-Lee Coulter.

Cameron Daddo, beach volleyballer Kerri Pottharst and former Home and Away actor Dieter Brummer round out the cast, with veteran actor Charles "Bud" Tingwell taking the role of narrator.

The network's latest attempt to find a ratings winner will begin shooting on Monday in Melbourne's Fountainhead (where TV's Kath and Kim happen to spend a lot of their time) at the headquarters of the family-run Silvers Circus.

The show, to be produced by The Block's David Barbour and Julian Cress – which effectively means that show is on hold indefinitely – aims to mine the celeb factor that drove the success of Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Overhaul.

It won't be competitive, so there will be no voting-out of celebs.

"Unless they fall off the trapeze, they'll be there until the end," a Nine spokesman told Confidential yesterday.

Davies said:

"I can't wait for my kids to see me perform in the circus." Come series end, she may have a different opinion.


www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1266&storyid=2955459

[poop]

damn I love the block!

[Inside Australian Idol]

Dicko goes potty
From Adelaide Confidential
April 13, 2005


Potty ... Dicko's gets in touch with his domestic side.

MOST guys pine over their mate's new sports car but not Ian "Dicko" Dickson. "I'm suffering saucepan envy," he says.

"Every time I go into a different kitchen, I start eyeing off the utensils greedily and jealously.

"I've got a brand new set of chef's knives on the way and I'm looking at these new pots and pans.

"I'm clinging on to my heterosexuality. You can tell, can't you?"

Dicko admits his utensil collection has boomed since he began hosting reality show My Restaurant Rules.

While your mouth might water at the thought of Dicko's signature dish, paella, the real winner in all of this is his wife, Mel.

In Adelaide to visit the Greedy Goose, Dicko is very complimentary about our MRR hopefuls, John and Justine Hall, but admits Perth mother-son pair Sandy and Andre Shannon have provided some of the show's off-camera gold.

"There was one time when (food critic) Patrick Collins said 'would someone get one of those teletubbies to come up here and pour me a glass of wine please'," he says.

While the former music and marketing man admits he knows Adelaide the least well of all Australia's capital cities, he's not about to hit up former resident Mark Holden, with whom he judged Australian Idol, for a guided tour.

"He didn't invite me to his birthday party, so I can't imagine Mark's going to be falling over himself to give me a guided tour," says Dicko, who defected from Idol late last year.

And, no, he's not sorry he's left the bright lights of Idol-mania behind him.

"Occasionally, I wonder how I would feel like now being just three weeks away from going out on the (Idol) audition trail and I get cold sweats thinking about it,"he says.


entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,10221,12841331-10229,00.html