Rachel Glucina Gossip Monger Exposed

Aspiring Mayor, Herald on Sunday columnist Rachel Glucina aka The Gluc aka Pork Chop, was the focus of a 20/20 report on the New Zealand gossip industry. The report profiled Rachel as the newest professional gossip monger - people who get paid to quaff cocktails and champagne by night and deliver poisoned barbs by day. And no one’s better qualified for that job than Rachel. The job also apparently requires one to accessorise at all times with a Louis Vuitton scarf.

In support were two of Auckland’s most media shy celebs, Gilda I don’t Remember Names Kirkpatrick, and Aja I’m Keeping a Low Profile Rock. Absent was buddy Ricardo Simich who is rumoured to be the source of much of the gossip in the Spy pages. Also absent was rival Bridget Saunders, other than some stock footage of an impossibly young looking Bridget laughing at a party. Bridget declined to be interviewed, not wanting to be associated in any way with Rachel.

The voice over talked grandly about mixing with A-list celebrities and included montages of celebrities. However, it was noticeable that few A-listers were interviewed for the piece. Instead we heard from the man Rachel labels Banksy’s lapdog, the woman who doesn’t sleep with her very rich, very much older husband and cha cha charmer Brendan Cole.


We also heard from HoS editor Shayne Currie who demonstrated his maths skills, telling us that Rachel’s column added 15% or 3,000-4,000 copies to the weekly sales shortly after being launched. According to New Zealand Audit Bureau of Circulation Inc the weekly circulation is a little over 90,000. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that sales have increased during Rachel’s reign. Nor does 3,000-4,000 agree with the 15% figure. This from the man that says they carefully check facts and get them right 99.9% of the time.

But back to the “star” of the show. Rachel holding a glass of champagne. Rachel tossing her hair and flirting with the camera. Rachel munching lovely cocktail food. Rachel tossing her hair and flirting with the camera. Rachel on the phone sarcastically saying someone is not that young. And the LV scarf which deserves its own column.

Cut to more celebrities and then Rachel at home in her trackies. Presumably not designed by Karen Walker, who was pilloried by Rachel as a fashion frump for daring to wear a smock after giving birth. Rachel has also criticised musos Scribe and Andy Summers (The Police) for putting on weight.

Not that Rachel regrets it. She is the mighty crusader of the truth - except for when it comes to her undercovers err undercover assignment with Mick Jagger.

Herald colleague Ana Samways says

Rachel Glucina, the Herald On Sunday’s gossip columnist, appeared on 20/20 on Thursday night and revealed how she was hurt other media suggested she may have slept with Mick Jagger to get a story, yet she took no responsibility for the hurt she caused by wrongly suggesting Trevor Mallard was having an affair with a high profile netballer. With her chubby chipmunk face and cute lisp, you’d think butter wouldn’t melt. Even with the hypocrisy revealed, I’m not sure if it’s covering for ruthlessness or general dumbness.

Whaleoil adds his bit saying

No doubt (P)Ricardo and Porkchop will start a whispering campaign against Ana.

Rachel makes it clear in her interview that the path to good press is being nice to her. Sounds like Ana is about to be sent to the naughty chair.

Accusations of meanness are met with lots of hair tossing, and claims that she’s “honest” and simply reporting the gossip. Celebs say Rachel loves to stir the pot, and does her best to not only report gossip but to manufacture it. An interview with Dancing with the Stars judge Brendan Cole is case in point. Why he asks are they writing an article about him not fancying Miriama Smith when it’s never been an issue? According to Brendan this sort of fanciful invention smacks of

I’m a useless reporter and I’m prepared to write anything I want just to make sure someone reads my story.

This antipathy to reporters (except the lovely people at Hello! Magazine who paid him for his story and lots of glossy photos of him riding a horse, sprawling on a bed with gorgeous girlfriend Zoe Hobbs, walking with her, sipping champagne with her, and more) might explain why Rachel wrote a rather peevish piece on him, complaining that he refused to give up his girlfriend’s name.

RG’s defence is that you can’t have it both ways selling your story on the one hand and complaining when other media write about you. Fair call. Celebs seem to think they should only get good press. Score one for Rachel.


The reporter then moved on to what was described as a massive blunder, describing the story Rachel ran stating that Trevor Mallard was having an affair and then led to a punch up with Tau Henare, but the reporter missed a lot of other gems:

Plagiarism

9th September - Herald on Sunday
"Which Auckland trio is on the path of trouble with one on P, one on E and one who cheats around so much on his wife that he's single-handedly supporting several prostitutes?"

4th September - New York Post
"Which Hollywood trio of friends is in trouble? One is on crack, one's on smack, and the other cheats so much on his wife that he single-handedly is supporting several hookers"

Factual errors

Lord knows I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to celebrities. I wouldn't know Aja Rock from Kid Rock, Karl Urban from Keith Urban, Rachel Hunter from Sharon Hunter - the list goes on. But for someone who specialises in this area, the Herald on Sunday's Rachel Glucina makes regular, elementary blunders. In her breathless report on Playboy Enterprises CEO Christy/Christie Hefner's visit to Auckland last month. "Spy is the only media...invited..." (shouldn't that be medium?) She went on to tell us that Hefner would be accompanied by "husband Billy Marovitz, a former US Senator". (Actually he was a former Illinois State Senator). She continued, "(Hefner) is a regular contributing blogger at The Huffington Post " (she isn't, but Marovitz has occasional entries)...and is regularly featured in the Forbe's (sic) Most Successful Women List. Also, (possibly because she's a medium) Rachel claims The Constant Gardner's John Huston was spotted at Ponsonby's Prego restaurant. I very much doubt it, since he's been dead for some years now. Perhaps it was son Danny. And in a missed opportunity to legitimately use the weasel word "partner" she decided Susan Sarandon was visiting NZ with "hubby" Tim Robbins. (He isn't). And Spy spied local boy made good Martin (sic) Csokas on her rounds

Conflict of interest with Pink PR
Rachel refuses to provide a client list. Depending who you believe this is because she has no clients, or it’s because there’s a significant overlap between those that pay for her PR services and those that appear regularly in her column.



Updated:
Found! One MA in Art History
Rachel Vesna Glucina graduated Master of Arts with Second Class Honours First Division in Art History, 06 May 1998.


You can watch the video online at TVNZ.