Quote of the day goes to Jermaine, the semi-professional footballer from reality TV show Dumped (where 11 individuals try to live on a landfill site for 3 weeks):

…if it wasn’t for the prize at the end, I’d be seriously considering… err… leaving. Purly because I’m not that economically friendly. Not that I wouldn’t mind being more-so, but I can’t see myself going home and hugging trees.

Lets hope the experience teaches him to be more “economical”.

I never really understood what the appeal was with the whole Big Brother thing. I mean sure, I watched the first season in Australia – or parts of it at least – because it was something new and different. But since then, I figure it’s all pretty much the same thing.

I suspect that my feelings may be changing though. One of the benefits of our new TV is that it has built in Freeview tuner, which effectively means it receives free, digital broadcasts using a normal antenna. Unfortunately though, the antenna we are connected to isn’t exactly the bomb, so our signal is a bit hit-and-miss, depending on conditions.

Anyway, to cut a long story slightly shorter, one of the channels that we get a great signal on plays Big Brother Live for about 18 hours a day. Why on earth would anyone would want to watch that much Big Brother was previously beyond me; however I flicked on the telly at around 7AM the other morning, and “watched” for 5 minutes or so, and was absolutely riveted.

Yep, for the whole time I watched, the entirety of the footage was this bloke (/chick?) sleeping. Now that’s entertainment.

Our cable TV is on the blink. I can’t work out if it’s the signal coming from Time Warner, or if it’s our DVR box (though I suspect it’s the latter); but either way, I’m pretty sure that What Not to Wear shouldn’t look like this:

Of course, it’s not a huge deal to me that What Not to Wear isn’t showing in all it’s glory, but unfortunately the faults are carrying over to the good shows too – Eureka, Rockstar Supernova, etc – and that’s just not acceptable.

Old mate from TWC will be round in a week to suss out the problem. I hope it doesn’t get any worse; what would we do without our high quality American TV shows?

I never got into the Rockstar INXS show that was airing over here (and in Australia I believe). I don’t know why, maybe because I was never the hugest INXS fan – I mean, I have their Greatest Hits CD, but that’s about as much love as I’m willing to give them.

But last night whilst running at the gym, the new season of the show – Rockstar Supernova – flicked across the screen. As usual, I couldn’t be bothered changing channels, so I continued watching. And I was impressed!

Basic premise of this series – a new band is forming (“Supernova”), and they’re auditioning for a new singer – American Idol style. The band will feature former members of Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, and even Tommy Lee from Motley Crue! Unfortunately, you don’t get to see the original audition shows (which are usually the only ones I’m willing to watch in the Idol series); but that means you only get the quality contestants.

It’s being dubbed as a “worldwide show”, and the voting is open for 24 hours after it airs in the USA… so I’m guessing that it’s also airing in Australia now; if so, and you like classic rock type of music – then check it out!

I’ll happily admit that we’re reality tv show addicts. I don’t like the oh-so-sleazy Big Brother, or the not-so-talented Australian/American Idol. But we’re hooked on pretty much all the others.

So when I was invited to the taping of a finale show, I couldn’t resist! Admittedly, it wasn’t Survivor (I wish!) or even the Apprentice, but rather a new, little known show called The Ambasasdor.

And it’s no wonder I hadn’t heard of it: it’s an Israeli reality show. The show “pits 14 young Israelis against one another in tasks designed to test their skills at selling Israel’s image”.

Yes, I am serious.

The production values didn’t quite rival a Mark Burnett program, but I can see how you’d get hooked. Tasks include arguing Israel’s case at Cambridge University, selling holidays to Israel on the Champs Elysees, and persuading Swedes to do volunteer work in a Israeli kibbutz. Today’s challenge was to deliver a speech on the topic of peace, to United Nations staff etc congregated in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

The program has stirred up a lot of controversy (apparently) and is watched by one in three Israelis. Tune in to the series finale in May and you’ll see me, in a very prominent seat by the door, as the four finalists enter. It screens on channel 2 on the Israeli network.

Maybe their presence explains the heightened security mentioned in the prior article…

No doubt you’ve seen that the Winter Olympics has started in Torino, Italy. I’m not sure how much we’ll get to see, but the Snowboard Cross sounds particularly interesting.

We caught a bit of the opening ceremony last night though, and we were particularly impressed with the massive skiier. Basically, about 400 people dressed in different colours ran around in a group, which from above became the form of a skiier. They moved about in unison to imitate the skiier going down the snow, then over a jump, and finally landing safely. It was just brilliant! I tried to find a photo of it on the ‘net but without success.

But my favourite part of the ceremony was a comment made by one of the American commentators, as the athletes walked onto the stage. “Most of these athletes have absolutely no chance of winning a medal”. Nothing like a bit of positive thinking to kick things off on the right foot!