Jessie Gurunathan & Geeling Asia Downunder

Asia Downunder is back on TV One promising to show viewers, what Asian New Zealanders think about, where and what Asian Kiwis eat, what is popular with Asians and what Asian New Zealanders hope for in their new home.

The show includes two reporters who may be familiar to viewers, Miss Popularity Jessie Gurunathan and Geeling Ng who takes time out from her million and one media interviews to present a cooking segment.

Jessie Gayathri Claire Gurunathan is 24 years old and is the newest addition to the Asia Downunder team. She was born in Auckland where she spent a short few months before moving with her parents to her father's hometown Penang, Malaysia.

Her father Guru (a Malaysian of Southern Indian/Sri Lankan descent) met her mother Claire (a New Zealand European of Scottish, English, Spanish and Maori descent) while studying Political Science at Victoria University in Wellington.

Jessie says she had the best of both worlds growing up not only within a multi cultural family but in Penang's uniquely multi cultural society which is made up of Chinese, Indian and Malay.

Jessie moved back to New Zealand in 1995 and lived with her family in Kapiti. After completing high school she studied Tourism and Travel and then worked briefly as a flight attendant.

In 2005, she won the TV reality show, Miss Popularity, which kick-started her television career.

Since then Jessie has appeared on numerous television programmes including So You Wanna Be a Popstar?. She now works part time singing and modelling, has been a presenter on Fight for Life, Maori Television's sports programme Code and even a travel series called 'Kiwi Cure' which was for a UK channel. Jessie has also made guest appearances on Asia Downunder and cooked her father's famous chicken curry recipe alongside Bharat on ADU Kitchen.

Vital Stats:

• Favourite Movie: It's a tie between Crash and A Beautiful Life
• Star Sign: Cancer (or year of the pig)
• Favourite Food: Southern Indian and Tom Yum soup.
• Often Seen: Singing at various gigs around Auckland. Also laughing A LOT and usually at herself - life's too short to take yourself too seriously all the time.

Asia Downunder screens at the following times:

• TV ONE - Sunday 8.30am.
• CTV (Christchurch) - Sunday 11.30pm, Thursday 7pm, Saturday 10am
• Channel 9 (Dunedin) - Monday 6.30pm.

You can also catch it on TVNZondemand

Photos: TVNZ, The A-List

Geeling Ng Still Whining

China Girl Geeling Ng is still crying and whining about being criticised on Dancing with the Stars. To quote Brendan Cole, "Does she want some cheese with that?".

Honestly, has the woman never watched DWTS? Surely, she knows half the entertainment is in watching the contestants embarrass themselves.

Geeling Ng is making certain she gets her full 15 minutes of fame telling all to anyone who will listen. Well, not quite all – check out Geeling Uncensored. If Miss Prozac had a suspicious mind, she'd wonder if this is all a preliminary to launching a product with thousands of luminous spheres or the run-up to a new TVNZ program.

In this week’s NZ Woman’s Weekly she talks about her upbringing and becoming a model. Naturally, no interview is complete without a mention of you-know-who, saying how touring the world with him blew her headline hungry mind.

Today’s Sunday News carries the story of needing to recover after being ripped to shreds by the judges. Apparently it took her nearly all week to stop crying.

"I thought it would take a miracle to bring me back." The actress, who manages popular Auckland restaurant Soul, said it was tough to come back after week one.

"I think I drowned my sorrows last week. After show one I cried a river. Honestly, I didn't have enough tears left this week," she said.

"The Tuesday night was pretty awful after the show and the Wednesday night was not great.

Miss Prozac hates to imagine what would happen if she ever had to cope with a real tragedy.

The Herald on Sunday has a similar story but greatly embellished.

Former model Geeling Ng said the TV show's over-critical judges had "stomped" on her heart and should hold fire on their "mean" comments.

Is she kidding? Given the lack of real celebrities, waiting for the after-dance critique is the best part of the show.


She should take a leaf out of Martin Moobs Devlin’s book. He was able to laugh at being told he looked like he didn’t have a pulse and was less sexy than a plank.

Craig the Dancing Judge, who calls a spade a wild Latin rhythmic love machine compared to me, was a little insensitive about my very average rumba, saying he could see more sex in a plank.

I can take the criticism but I feel the need to say it's reciprocal I'd rather strip wallpaper.

I know he won't take it personally and give me a 2/10 on Tuesday!

None of those judge's comments will crush my deluded sense of self. I know I have a masculine frame and Monty-esque muscles and I won't be donning a disguise to buy Viagra any time this side of Easter.

Unfortunately, Geeling can't see the bright side. Say, for example, the fact that she got paid to learn Ballroom and Latin dancing. Most of us would give our eye teeth to have someone like Brian teach us for free, let alone get paid for the privilege.

She criticised judges Craig Revel-Horwood, Paul Mercurio, Brendan Cole and Alison Leonard for being too harsh after her first performance two weeks ago.

"I felt like I'd been torn down," the 47-year-old restaurant manager told the Herald on Sunday.

On Tuesday's show, Geeling said the comments after the first performance had left her in tears for most of the week.

She told the Herald on Sunday judges on an American version of the show were told to be encouraging and constructive on the first night and the same should happen here.

"Be critical, absolutely, but try to end on a that-was-good note."

She was almost relieved after Tuesday's episode but went out to "drown her sorrows" afterwards.

Geeling will be heading overseas to visit her boyfriend before returning for the show’s finale. No doubt she will be shedding a few more tears too. When the results were announced after show two, Miss Prozac was initially disappointed that Peter Urlich didn't get the boot, after he failed to do much more than be a lamp post for Hayley Holt to lift her leg on. But after this performance, Miss Prozac can't be the only one who is glad to see the back of Geeling Ng.


Related Stories:
Craig Doesn't Regret Making Geeling Cry
Geeling's Backstage Tears

Photos: TVNZ

Geeling Ng China Girl Uncensored

China Girl Geeling Ng’s horizontal mambo with David Bowie’s err trouser mambo created a big sensation when the video was released, and was eventually censored before distribution.

At the time there was a lot of talk that no acting was required, as the sex scenes were real and the video footage showing Bowie's bare butt was considered rather racy for the time.

Geeling accompanied him on an international tour after the video was completed, and built a short-lived acting career on the back of her one claim to fame.

According to Geeling she was a serious child and a straight A student. Miss Prozac wonders if the A stands for Amorous?



Unfortunately Geeling's vertical dancing wasn't up to par, despite several attempts to get horizontal while entwining herself around her partner Brian Jones, and she was the first contestant to leave Dancing With The Stars 2008.

Geeling’s favourite TV show is The Amazing Race, and Miss Prozac thinks we can all guess her favourite muso. Geeling and her highly plucked eyebrows host a cooking segment on TVNZ's Asia DownUnder. Miss Prozac prays there are no onions on that show because she could not stand to have to watch any more tears.

Geeling says she’s most likely to be seen in Doubtless Bay (Far North, New Zealand), eating oysters, listening to you-know-who and wearing Manolo Blahnik sandals.


Photos: TVNZ

Dancing With The Stars First Elimination Photos

After Geeling Ng’s stiff performance in the first show, the China Girl shed a few tears, had a chat to imaginary friend David Bowie and put on a much improved performance in this week’s Rhumba.



When the judges’ scores were tallied, Geeling was tied for fifth place with Monty, and it looked like she had a chance of staying in the contest.


However, the public voted to see more of blonde bombshells Hayley Holt and Lauren de Boeck slithering and gyrating around Martin 'Moobs' Devlin and Peter 'I'll just sit down on the job' Urlich. Not that Miss Prozac is suggesting that the public is superficial...

Check out our episode recap here...

Photos: TVNZ

Craig Doesn't Regret Making Geeling Cry

Craig Revel-Horwood is unrepentant that his severe criticism saw Geeling Ng in tears after the first episode of Dancing with the Stars.

He also says he's feeling the loss of politicians in this year's line up, saying they make for good entertainment. Miss Prozac agrees that we need a better mix of celebs. This year's sporting bias with four of the celebrities competing in or commentating on sports lacks entertainment.

Train wreck entertainment aka Rodney Hide's spear tackle, make memorable television. But, some sadists out there keeps voting to keep the uncoordinated twats in week after week with Vote for the Worst campaigns, and good dancers suffer early elimination. Bringing the clowns on for a week or two is fine, but what this show really needs are high profile celebs. Perhaps the dishy Karl Urban could be persuaded to rhumba? After that Miss Prozac's list runs dry. Do we have any other celebrities in New Zealand that haven't already been on DWTS?

Caustic Craig or Mr Honest?
But back to Craig. At one stage, the UK magazines reported that Craig had been transformed from the nasty judge on Strictly Come Dancing to the fair and reasonable judge. For a time, he appeared that way on Dancing With The Stars.

But, it seems Mr Nice guy has been locked away and Caustic Craig is back with a vengeance. His vituperative comments about Brendan Cole are starting to cross the line. Just last week he said Brendan's comments suck and has previously described him as a womaniser and an arsehole. Is labelling himself honest, just an excuse to be cantankerous?

Luckily we’ve got the charming Paul Mercurio to counterbalance any harsh criticism. Miss Prozac is loving having him back on the judging panel, and the battle between Craig and Brendan is pretty amusing. The less said about The Cliché Queen Alison Leonard the better.

Craig told the gossip mags that it’s his job to be honest and that’s all he was doing. Craig conceded he did feel a bit bad – for about two seconds – when he saw Geeling Ng crying at the after party, but he asks, is it his fault, if she does a lousy waltz?


Geeling's Bowie Affair
In other news in the gossip mags, Geeling says that she had a month long affair with David Bowie (yes, yes, we know you've heard it all before), travelling the world with him to exotic locations. Bet she wished she was anywhere but Wellington last Tuesday...


DWTS After Show Party
For those of you who are wondering about 'The After Party', the cast and crew get together after each show for a few drinkies and watch the show again at Avalon Studios. After that they throw their keys in a bowl to see who they’re going home with.

Alright, Miss Prozac was just kidding about the keys, but you have to wonder. Last year, Candy Lane said at least two couples were doing the horizontal mambo, and Paul Holmes said he thought it was three couples. Whatever the case, there are times when the off-screen action is more exciting than the on-screen action.


Related Stories:
Craig vs Brendan Round 1

Photos: TVNZ

Geeling Ng’s Backstage Tears

Geeling Ng was so devastated by the harsh judges’ comments on her waltz that she was crying in her dressing room. Darling, we know you worked hard but it’s just four people’s opinions. Of course, they did have a point or two about the performance... Which just goes to show that David Bowie was wrong when he gave her the imaginary advice to go out and be the star that she is.

Geeling may have to toughen up because this sort of drama is what reality television is all about.

Geeling Ng had high hopes for Dancing with the Stars saying that this was her year – the Year of the Rat – and she could expect great things. Perhaps being plucked from obscurity might qualify? Unfortunately, battling the judges won’t be her only problem. Geeling and her finely pencilled eyebrows will also have to win the public’s support, and sadly most of us don’t remember her.

The dancing was mediocre, although to be fair Craig Revel-Horwood’s comments that it was reminiscent of a Tango can only be described as hyperbole.

However, that’s why the stars get paid the big bucks to be on the show – so the judges and the public can tear them apart. Reality TV queen Julie Christie must have said 980,643 times; reality television is about conflict and jeopardy. Brendan Cole and Craig provide the conflict (much to the amusement of Miss Prozac), and the stars provide the jeopardy, by putting themselves at the mercy of the public and risk public humiliation, creating memorable television moments a la Rodney Hide's now infamous spear tackle.

While Martin Devlin is trying hard to fill the vacancy for the resident clown, the standard is higher this year with the absence of politicians and The Gnome (Paul Holmes) lumbering about the dance floor, so the judges need someone to criticise. In the first episode it was Geeling and Tina Cross who came in for the most scrutiny. Tina has wisely resolved to take all the feedback on-board with a smile. Let’s hope Geeling can do the same.


Related Stories:
Miriama Smith's Latin Passion
Curvy Nerida Jantti on Shane and Monty


Photos: TVNZ
Sources: NZWW and Australian Woman's Weekly (NZ edition) March 2008

China Girl Geeling Ng on DWTS

Geeling Ng is best known as China Girl on the video that accompanied the song of the same name. The video included shots of Geeling and singer David Bowie lying naked in the water, and created a bit of a sensation at the time.

From there, Geeling went on to claim the role of Jasmine on TV series Gloss before moving into the restaurant business. She currently manages Soul Bar and Bistro on Auckland’s busy Viaduct.

If memory serves correctly, Geeling was also briefly married to another actor, Gloss co-star and Shortland Street nasty, Mark Ferguson.

Geeling recently returned to the small screen to be interviewed by Paul Holmes on Whatever Happened To…? where she talked about the audition for the role of China Girl (David Bowie knew from the moment he saw her that she was the one), and smiled knowingly when she mentioned that she didn’t need her room key. Paul Holmes looked delighted at this little snippet of gossip and asked her to confirm that she slept with David Bowie, which she was happy to do.

Geeling loves dancing, and is super-fit, having recently completed the New York marathon.

In a recent TVNZ interview she says:

When was the last time you stepped onto a dance-floor?
Unstructured wiggling - New Years Eve.
Structured dancing - at school. Well before computers and mobile phones.

Who is your dancing idol?
Old school - Gene Kelly. He just seemed a bit more relaxed than Fred.
New school - weirdness aside, it would have to be Michael Jackson, with Madonna coming a close second.

What style are you worried about?
Anything that requires me to be thrown around in the air.

What style are you most excited about?
See above.

Message to fans...
You mean besides 'vote for Geeling & Brian!'

Geeling says this year is the year of the Rat in Chinese Astrology and says that this is her year! She's expecting good things from 2008.

Geeling Ng will be dancing with Brian Jones, who is a member of the Candy Lane Dance Company, and partnered Beatrice Faumuina in the 2006 season of Dancing With The Stars.

Geeling’s charity is the Breast Cancer Research Trust.


Related Stories:
Celebrity Dance Pairings for 2008 DWTS

Photos: TVNZ, Eyeworks Touchdown

Confirmed Dancing With The Stars 2008 Line Up

The final four dancers in the 2008 series of Dancing With The Stars returning in February to TVNZ have been confirmed.

Former Silver Fern Temepara George, actor and restaurateur Geeling Ng, radio DJ and musician Peter Urlich, and World Surf Ironman champion Cory Hutchings, will team up with professional dancers for this year's series.

The final four will join boxer Monty Betham, actor Miriama Smith, radio and TV presenter Martin Devlin, and performer Tina Cross, who were confirmed in December.

While I’m delighted that this year’s selection means that we no longer have to put up with politicians clumping their way around the dance floor, I am disappointed at the strong sports bias in the selection. I think Cory Hutchings will be magnificent. He is always extremely cheeky and entertaining when he appears on Game of Two Halves and he makes great eye candy, but the lack of a good cross selection of celebs concerns me.

In the final tally the selection is limited to:

• Four sporting personalities (Temepara George, Monty Betham and Cory Hutchings plus a sports DJ and Game of Two Halves panellist Martin Devlin),
• Two singers/musos (Peter Urlich and Tina Cross), a third celeb that appeared in a singer’s video (Geeling Ng appeared in David Bowie's China Girl),
• And the inevitable ex Shortland Street actress (Miriama Smith).

Yawn.

Update Professional Dancers:
We also have the exclusive list of the professional dancers for the 2008 series of Dancing With The Stars.

Related Stories:
Who will be judging DWTS 2008?
Best & Worst of DWTS 2007

Photos: TVNZ

Dancing With The Stars 2008 Line Up

The worst kept secret in TV has been confirmed... Monty Betham will form part of the line up for TVNZ's 2008 series of Dancing With The Stars.

Also confirmed are actress Miriama Smith (Mercy Peak), who has been romantically partnered with previous contestants Brendon Pongia and Frank Bunce, Game of Two Halves lad and radio host Martin Devlin plus singer Tina Cross.

The final four celebrities will be confirmed early in the new year. Dancing with the Stars is a BBC format based on popular show Strictly Come Dancing.

Other stars rumoured to be taking part are Ironman and television presenter Cory Hutchings, ex Gloss star Geeling Ng (most famous for being David Bowie's China Girl and recently featured on Paul Holmes' show Whatever Happened To...?), ex Shortland Street actor Karl Burnett, Reality TV and gossip regular Aja Rock, netballer Temepara George and Lotto presenter Hilary Timmins. The show is currently scheduled to go to air in February 2008.

The judges will be confirmed in early 2008, but we understand Jason Gunn and Candy Lane have the hosting roles stitched up. Yummy Mummy Nerida Lister who is believed to have given birth to the world's first Dancing with the Stars baby will also be back.

The final confirmed contestants are listed here.

The list of professional dancers rumoured to be in DWTS 2008 are here.



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Photos: TVNZ