Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Dancing with the Stars wins above Australian Idol

Tuesday night televiewing in this house for much of this year has been taken up by Dancing with the Stars. Last night was the grand final dance-off between media clown Ahn Do and McLeod’s Daughters star Bridie Carter. I have to confess that I never watched McLeod’s Daughters beyond the opening credits and now it's too late because its been axed. I seem to remember Ahn Do occasionally appearing in Fat Pizza, but I'm not sure. So I've mainly come to know these two people through their regular performances on Dancing with the Stars.

I've liked watching both through the series, as well as their professional dancing instructor partners. (Forgotten their names already.) Without them the two 'stars' would never have gotten past the barn dance stage. In fact I think I would have voted for them rather than the two stars had I been asked. But I didn't vote for anyone because I'm too stingy to cover the cost of a call to any TV telephone polls. I suspect they are all rigged because the actual numbers are never released.

I've pretty well liked everything about this spectacular series. The judges for their careful commentaries, the competitors for their dedicated effort, the brilliant costumes for their colour and glamour, the fantastic band and its singers for their versatility, the clever camera work, and even the apparently bumbling host Darryl Summers and his neo-Amazon cohort, what's her name.

Last night Bridie took off the bling-like winner's trophy, a mirror ball on a plastic globe stand. Ahn Do was indeed lucky to come second. It was a ranking as I expected.

The presentation was made by last year's winner Kate Ceberano. It was only a few days ago on 18 November 2007 that I wrote about her concert performance in Fremantle. This gives me the opportunity to reveal that I've since learned from a reliable source that the singer received a flat fee of $30,000 for that show, plus having everything else like first class accommodation at Freo's Esplanade Hotel covered for her and her two assistants. This was only one of dozens of performances she's done around Australia this year, so the tax man will be very pleased. I don't suppose she performed last night for free either.

This is the second expensive TV show to wind up this week. The other was the songfest Australian Idol. We watched it quite a bit in the early days, but it started to lose it's appeal as people with real talent were eliminated and others seemingly not so blessed were elevated to the fore. I think the switch-off point for me came when Briony Carpenter was eliminated. I wrote about her and the AA show on 18 September 2007.

The extravagant grand final was held for thousands of screaming teeny boppers in front of Sydney's Opera House on Sunday night. We watched the telecast for a while and the general agreement was that we were glad we were not there amongst the throng. The fireworks exploding behind the Opera House were pretty impressive.

I didn't stay up for the whole show. I gave up shortly after the two finalists Matt Corby and Natalie Gauci arrived. I sort of regret now that I didn't persist. I do recall making the observation that the female finalist appeared to be preggers, but other family members howled me down. They just reckoned it was her choice of attire - a $2899 bling special created by fashion wunderkind George Cross. He'll be cross George now because the fashion critics have been unkind. I thought that in a way the gown seemed appropriate for an appearance on the steps of Australia's ugliest building. See it for yourself by clicking here.

The bloke in the middle is American singer Lionel Ritchie. He'll be doing some performances in Perth soon with Australian Idol judge Marcia Hines. She's been the nice AA judge.

As for 17 year old Matt Corby's blue velvet suit, well what could one say about that apart from where were the blue suede shoes? Elvis would have loved the outfit, as apparently did the teeny boppers. Reportedly one of the nasty AA judges Mark Holden described the youngster in public as a spoiled brat just prior to the big night, but I suspect not many people like Mr Holden either.

I've heard a rumour that sacked Prime Minister John Howard might be asked to participate in Dancing with the Stars next year. I just love free-to-air TV.

© MMVII Paul R. Weaver.

About the writer

Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words.

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