Dancing With The Stars 2006 Recap

We continue our recap of past seasons of Dancing with the Stars.

In the second season of DWTS (2006) the former boss of WINZ, Christine Rankin and partner David Yeates were first to go. She had the legs, she had the earrings, but she couldn’t win the public vote.


Coast to Coast champion Steve Gurney hoped learning to dance would give him confidence for dating, but it was probably his chest wax, that sealed his fate, seeing Steve and Sharan Phillips the second pair to go home.



David Wikaira-Paul and Rebecca Nicholson showed a lot of promise with energetic routines but went home from the competition early despite entertaining performances.



Another Shortland St actor quickly followed. Christened a Yummy Mummy by host Jason Gunn, Angela Bloomfield showed her flexibility doing the splits in her routine with partner Jonny Williams.



Despite poor rhythm and an inability to master basic Ballroom or Latin dancing steps Rodney Hide continued in the competition by spending most of his time campaigning for votes.


He was nicknamed the dancing potato and dropped his patient partner Krystal Stuart on her head during the now famous spear tackle move but he kept smiling, and went on to continue losing weight after the competition taking up swimming and running.



Swimmer Danyon Loader was paired with Hayley Holt sparking rumours of on-and-off stage chemistry. Labelled a ‘ballroom boy’ by judge Alison Leonard, Danyon finished third in the second season of the show.




Discus champion turned television presenter Beatrice Faumuina partnered with Brian Jones was an early favourite and widely tipped to win the competition. She had superb characterisation of the dances but in the latter stages of the competition, did not achieve the same levels of technical performance.

Brian created fun routines for Beatrice and in the Jive pretended he was about to lift Beatrice, and then got flipped by her!


Lorraine Downes and Aaron Gilmore were crowned the 2006 winners of Dancing with the Stars winning both the judges’ scorecard and the public vote.







Related Stories:
Dancing with the Stars 2005 Recap
2007 Best & Worst of Dancing With The Stars Awards
Click here for the full line up of dancers and celebrities for 2008 Dancing With The Stars

Photos: TVNZ, Scoop

NZ's Best & Worst Dressed Celebs

David Hartnell's Best & Worst Dressed List 2007 has been published in this week's NZ Woman's Weekly and as usual Miss Prozac wonders how he chooses the best dressed. Does he throw a dart at a board and pick the names out of a hat? The "supreme winners" are elegant dressers, and a decent bit of eye candy but some of the other contenders for Best Dressed are boring and umimaginative in their choice of clothes.

Best Dressed Woman:
Former Miss Universe and Dancing with the Stars champion Lorraine Downes

Best Dressed Man:
Hunky newsreader Eric Young

Also on the Best Dressed List

• Singer Hollie Smith who could only be well dressed if she covered those hideous tatts
• Pebbles Hooper, who dresses like some preppy school girl. Oh hang on a minute. She is a school girl.
• Singer Brooke Fraser who is so beautiful she could make a sack look attractive - which is handy because some of the clothes she wears bear a stunning resemblance to paper sacks
• Breakfast/Sunrise hosts Pippa Wetzell & Carly Flynn
• The recently engaged MTV Presenter and Model Amber Peebles also makes the list of stylish dressers and deservedly so but the pink leopard print dress in the accompanying photo has to be the ugliest thing Miss Prozac has ever seen her wear. It makes her look dumpy and frumpy.
• TV One's cute weather presenter Tamati Coffey
• Boring Bob Parker
• Lorraine Downe's partner Martin Crowe
• Shelton Woolright. Sigh. If lime green sneakers and a hoodie qualify one for the best dressed list then it's time for David Hartnell to hand over his crown to someone with 20/20 vision
• Shortland St actor Ben Mitchell who would like good in anything, and even better sans clothes
• Trendy Dancing with The Stars pro dancer and teacher Jonny Williams

Fashion Boo Boo award
Topping the worst dressed list is TV presenter Paul Holmes

Also making the worst dressed list:

• Publicity Hound Nicky Watson
• Journo Ingrid Leary
• TV personality Louise Wallace
• Lynda Topp (Camp Mother). Boo hiss. Miss Prozac likes Camp Mother and thinks her tacky clothing great comedy
• Labour MP Ruth Dyson
• Radio DJ Pauline 'Polly' Gillespie
• Weather presenter Jim Hickey
• Reality TV contestant John Horse McLeod
• Muso and Pop's Ultimate Star judge Peter Urlich
• TV presenter Mark Sainsbury
• Comedian Te Radar
• Radio and TV presenter Marcus Lush

Photos: TVNZ, infonews.co.nz

Nicky Watson & Lorraine Downes as role models?

Dancing with the Stars contestants Nicky Watson and Lorraine Downes were celebrity MCs for New Plymouth's Let's Hear It For The Girls Expo. The expo is apparently a celebration of femininity and "all the things it means to be a modern woman."

"Events like this are a blessing," Watson said.

"It's great for the young ones to be able to come along and learn about being a female."

The day that Nicky Watson is an appropriate role model to teach women about being 'female' is the day that all men must surely rejoice. After all, the woman says it's fine to sleep with as many men as you like "so long as you respect yourself". Actually, Miss Prozac has no dispute with that, but she does wonder when parading around the race course telling the 20/20 camera crew she is wearing no knickers, saying "F**k" upon realising that she doesn't know who Rodney Hide is, and having her nipple pierced on national television became the hallmarks for self-respect. Nicky appears to belong to the "If you've got it flaunt it, If you don't then get those bazookas upsized to an eye-popping D cup and then flaunt it" school of thought. Which by the way are her third set of fake boobs, because well you know, the girl is a perfectionist. So, this is the modern woman's role model?

Then there are the rumours that Nicky belongs to one of those Date a Millionaire websites which seeks to match up rich or famous men, with women who qualify to be on the website by virtue of their looks. Either that or all the rich men in the world happen to know which toilet wall her phone number is scribbled on, because it is an amazing coincidence that Nickerless has so many rich/famous male 'friends'. Perhaps it's just a case of all the special people sticking together.

This is topped off by publicity hound Nicky's candid revelations about a threesome with a Party Pills King, a former Miss Erotica and a large pole in the bedroom. Classy, eh?

Beautiful Lorraine Downes is another woman who has made money from her looks. She first came to fame when she won Miss Universe. She later established an image consultancy and more recently modelled for Petrena Miller Design. Lorraine is a classy lady, who doesn't rush to the tabloids to tell stories about her ex lovers, and doesn't go to every party just to be seen, or thrust herself in front of the camera, or otherwise "expose" herself.

But Miss Prozac still wonders what message are we sending our women when our celebrity role models both make their dough off their looks?

Photos: TVNZ

Who will win tonight?

If word around the message boards is to be believed Suzanne Paul will win this year's Dancing with the Stars. However, the multi-voting format of the show does leave the way open for surprises.

Last year Beatrice Faumuina was the early favourite, winning the most votes in the first programs. Her efforts resulted in a contribution of $127,271.82 to her charity, National Heart Foundation.

The final result was extremely close. Lorraine Downes won the final show with 50.05% of the public vote, on top of a high judges score. Her charity, the Child Cancer Foundation scored $111,961.63. Beatrice Faumuina won 49.95% of the public vote, and a lower score from the judges.

We wonder if this year's results will be as close.

The way the voting works is that the judges results are given equal weighting with the audience vote. In the event of a tie the contestant with the highest audience vote wins, even if they only receive 1 more vote than the other contestant.


Related Stories:
DWTS News 28 May 2007
DWTS Episode 7 Recap – Tears and Tantrums
Readers’ Poll: Suzanne Paul Snarky or Sassy?

Megan Alatini denies over-confidence + Suzanne's dancing background

Megan Alatini has told the NZ Herald that she's not smug, cocky or over-confident. Apparently she doesn't like the reports she's been reading that bloggers (surely not us?), message boards and other public forums have been describing her as arrogant, overconfident and having an unfair advantage with her performing background.

Alatini said she was a "terrible bundle of nerves" in the lead-up to showtime each week.

That may be true, but nerves and self-confidence are two entirely different things. Megan never shows a moment of self-doubt about her abilities. Whenever the judges offer constructive criticism or suggest improvements she defends what she's done instead of listening and accepting that there is room for improvement. Does Megan have any doubts about her ability to win the competition? We don't think so.

On the plus side self-confidence is a self fulfilling prophecy. Psychologists call it self-efficacy. In short the more confident that you are in your abilities to perform a task the more successful you will be. We think Megan has self-confidence in spades. So she gets nervous before going on stage? So do many of the top actors and dancers in the world. That doesn't mean they don't have confidence in themselves.

Of her dancing background Megan says:

In the TrueBliss days our dance routines were side to side, back and forward, up and down and if that is called dance experience then I don't know.

We're inclined to think Megan is naturally talented in the dance department, and her dance experience is certainly less than last year's winner, Lorraine Downes, who had been taking Tango lessons. Our concern is that Megan Alatini is not a true celebrity, and should never have been cast for the show. Her entire career is underpinned by reality television. She auditioned for girl band, TrueBliss, which subsequently failed. Then by some miracle she was asked to judge NZ Idol - probably because the real celebrities refused to be associated with the show. Megan Alatini is not in the same league as Jonah Lomu, Sir Ed Hillary or even former TV icon Paul Holmes.

We're also disappointed that April Ieremia was eliminated so early. The cha cha cha costume and choreography was "naff" but April showed dancing talent.


Suzanne Paul was also interviewed:

Paul, who took ballet and tap lessons at her local church hall while growing up in England, said her younger rival was "naturally gifted and a wonderful mover" but agreed that her background was not necessarily an advantage.

"Some people have a natural rhythm and ability, but I think I have my own charm which I bring to the dance floor. I just try to ... let the personality show through."

The marketing genius behind Natural Glow said she was enjoying her time back in the spotlight "showing people another side of myself" and hoped to relaunch her television career.

In our 'Suzanne Paul: Snarky or Sassy' poll, Suzanne received significant support, with 68% of respondents, believing that her response to the judges was appropriate. Suzanne appeared to receive a lot of sympathy for the microphone incident (Stefano's microphone got caught in the straps of Suzanne's outfit during the Waltz) and people felt her tears and snarky comments were justified. We think it was bad manners and childish.

Megan is the best dancer. She does display a tendency to be overconfident and talk back to the judges, and we know she would never tolerate that happening to her if she was the judge (anyone remember Aroha from NZ Idol? Megan undermined her confidence with consistent negative feedback). I guess what we're saying is Megan isn't our favourite personality but she's the best dancer and we would like to see the voting public get behind her.

We think it's ironic that viewers are so willing to forgive Suzanne Paul her dance background and her sulky and snarky attitude in the last show than they are to approve of Megan. Around message boards we have seen a large number of people who are voting not for Suzanne but against Megan. As one message boarder put it, "I'm voting for Suzanne to stop Megan from winning and I consider it $5 well spent."

Surely, this is not what a celebrity dancing contest is about. This should be about finding the best dancer and raising funds for charity in a positive fashion. We would much rather see two finalists that people like and want to vote for than someone like Suzanne winning because Megan is so unpopular. (And yes, we know Suzanne does still have some genuine fans).

Images: TVNZ

Related Stories:
DWTS Episode 7 Recap – Tears and Tantrums
Why Megan Alatini should be this year's DWTS champion
Readers’ Poll: Suzanne Paul Snarky or Sassy?
Megan's bedroom secrets and other DWTS goss
Celebrity Recycling on Pop's Ultimate Star

Who will be Eliminated from DWTS This Week

Last year's winner Lorraine Downes with Aaron Gilmore

It's nearly down to the wire. This Tuesday one couple will be leaving Dancing with the Stars, leaving the final two to battle it out for the title in next week's final.

Based on form, it's clear that Suzanne Paul and Megan Alatini are the best dancers. However, the voting public has the final say and this year we have an interesting showdown between three dancers with different strengths.

All three contestants have had a turn in the bottom two and will no doubt be nervous about the upcoming elimination. Professional dance partners Stefano Olivieri and Jonny Williams have been creating technically complex dances for their partners. In light of Brendon’s scores last week, they may be wiser to consider simpler routines performed to perfection in the final show.


Brendon Pongia and Hayley Holt
Brendon The Body lags behind Suzanne and Megan technically, however he is our only male finalist and has shown that he can capture the mood and character of the ballroom dances. His foxtrot and waltz were both competent dances, although I don’t believe his waltz merited the two 10s awarded in the last show. To be awarded a 10 the execution should be flawless. Brendon Pongia did a lovely waltz but it was far from perfect. His pigeon toes were still in evidence and heel leads were missing.

According to Sunday Star Times, Brendon is hoping for support from his home town. Brendon is the last male on the show and will garner some support from people wanting a male in the final. Interestingly season 1’s finale was between two males, and season two was between two females. Could this year see a male-female showdown?

The Herald on Sunday reported that ex All Black Jonah Lomu is spending $200 per week supporting him, and other sporting stars are thought to be doing the same. He will appeal to the younger age group who are more likely to spend money on text and phone voting. He also has the advantage of being paired with the gorgeous and popular Hayley Holt.


Suzanne Paul and Stefano Olivieri
Suzanne Paul started with a hiss and a roar. Her first week’s performance was superb, but in later weeks it has been evident that she is finding it harder to learn and polish new dances in a short timeframe. In part, this could be due to the technical difficulty of the choreography. Discus champion Beatrice Faumuina made it to the finals with less technically complex routines, but shined with her star quality and superb presentation skills.

Suzanne’s support is likely to come from an older demographic. Unfortunately, this demographic is less likely to spend money on phone or text voting. She will however have support from the gay community who may vote to keep sexy Stefano in the show.


Megan Alatini and Jonny Williams
Megan has proved that she can master complicated routines in both ballroom and Latin dancing. She has been consistent every week and has scored at the top or near the top of the judges' scores each week. However until last week she has appeared ultra confident to the point of smugness and this has alienated other voters. We noticed that host Jason Gunn made the point in last week's episode that Megan's confidence shouldn't be taken at face value. This appeared to be a calculated effort to counteract the uberconfidence showed in previous shows.

There have also been rumours that Megan Alatini has a dance background. Similar rumours surfaced when last year's winner, Lorraine Downes took to the dance floor. RealityTV.com has not been able to find any evidence that Megan has learned ballroom dancing, however she did learn dancing routines during her auditions for failed girl band True Bliss. Megan's support appears to come from young men who think she's hot as well as from watchers of NZ Idol. These tend to be younger viewers which may help her in the text and phone votes.

Our pick? It's tough. By rights Suzanne and Megan should be in the finals but we wouldn't be surprised if Brendon nudges one of the gals out for a place in the final.



Related posts:
DWTS Episode 7 Recap – Tears and Tantrums
Readers’ Poll: Suzanne Paul Snarky or Sassy?
Why Megan Alatini should be this year's DWTS champion
Wardrobe Malfunctions in Dancing with the Stars

DWTS expects to raise even more money in 2007

According to TVNZ, the series three 'Dancing With The Stars' two-hour finale extravaganza will be bigger and better than ever before. All eight couples will be back on the dance floor for the very last time, dancing their favourite dances.

Frank and Krystal will be performing their sexy rumba that got the whole nation talking, and Paul Holmes will don his red jacket and sparkly glove and cut up the dance floor like no-one else can.

Producer Deb Kelleher says the encore broadcast on Saturday nights has driven a second wave of voting each week. She hopes this series will see a significant increase in the money raised for the stars' chosen charities. The sums will be announced approximately 90 days after the series finishes, when all the counting and verifications have been done. Last year Lorraine Downes raised $111,961.00 for her charity, the Child Cancer Foundation, with a total amount of $333,655.00 raised by all eight celebrities for their charities.

Unfortunately that is only a fraction of the money spent on voting.

Lorraine Downes Being Crowned Miss Universe

I stumbled across this old video of Lorraine Downes, winner of Dancing with the Stars Season 2, being crowned Miss Universe in 1983.

Lorraine Downes Interview

Carly has me inspired LOL. She was enjoying the youtube videos so I dug out this old TVNZ video link and we'll be putting more up during the week.


This is an old interview from last year with Aaron Gilmore and Lorraine Downs chatting with TVNZ's Breakfast co-host Kay Gregory.

The Glitz and the Glamour of DWTS

We were promised eight celebrities plucked from television, politics, music and sports for season 3 of Dancing with the Stars. Candy Lane stated that this year's celebs would be the best so far, and they didn't disappoint.

During the show they will be learning five Latin and five ballroom dances. The dances tonight were the Waltz where the focus is on:

• Timing
• Technique
• Topline

And the Cha cha:

• Characterization
• Choreography
• Correct footwork

The show kicked off with a repeat of Aaron Gilmore and Lorraine Downes’ series 2 winning Pasa Doble. You could feel the energy and excitement; what a great way to start this season’s show!


Paul Mercurio reckoned he was “bummed out” about now being able to join us for Season 3 of DWTS. We were introduced to his replacement Craig Revel-Horwood including a clip where he described fellow judge Brendan Cole and his partner from Strictly Come Dancing as limp and lack-lustre.


Suzanne Paul described partner Stefano Oliveieri as gorgeous and a sweetie before taking to the floor to do a Cha Cha to Anastacia’s I’m outta love. It was a pretty good showing from the infomercial queen who appeared confident and polished. Her upper body appeared stiff but overall it was a relaxed and competent performance for the first celeb out of the starting gates. The judges were very positive.

True to form, the only criticism came from Craig who said her neck was lurching forward and the line of her arms needed improvement, but described her timing and footwork as being good. Brendan also commented on the stiffness of her arms and topline. An excellent performance despite injuring her neck and ribs and sporting large bruises.

The judges awarded 7, 8, 7, 8 for a total of 30 points.


Frank Bunce is renowned for his fancy footwork on the rugby field but how will he fare on the dance floor? He reckons he doesn’t even dance when he’s by himself so this will be a challenge for him.

Paired with spear-tackle Krystal Stuart, Frank danced the Waltz to classic melody Your True Love. He appeared nervous but completed the waltz without any mistakes. It was a reasonable first effort but lacked the polish that we hope to see in later shows. Carol wanted him to stand up more and improve his frame. Craig was horrified by his flat-footed laboured performance which he said improved as the dance went on.

Judges scored 5, 6, 5, 7 for a total of 23.



Michael Laws reckons you can’t suddenly teach a 50 year old body to dance – awww come on Mike, of course, you can do it. Suzanne Paul is 50. Surely, if she can do it you can too. Ummm well, maybe not.

Michael broke his toe in two places which has added to the struggle to learn a new dance and be intimate on the dance floor with partner Lauren de Boeck. Describing himself as the ‘token unco’ Michael spent more time posing than Cha Cha-ing but appeared to be having a lot of fun prompting Jason Gunn to quip that Michael brought his ‘dance face’. Either that or he had a toffee stuck in his cheek.

Craig said his timing was off, his mouth gaping open, the footwork flat and pigeon toed and went on to give him a score of 1. Laws took it all in good spirit. The other judges gave constructive criticism describing the performance as okay.

Scores: 4, 6, 1, 6 for a total of 17.


Greer Robson first appeared on the screen at the age of two years so we can expect her to be very confident on stage. Partnered with last year’s winning dancer Aaron Gilmore, Robson is enjoying the dancing and says it’s great for getting rid of excess baby blubber. Pretty in pink, Greer danced a flowing Waltz with grace and poise.

Alison’s one criticism was that she was holding too tightly to partner Aaron. Craig loved her performance and congratulated Gilmore and Robson on their connection but Carol-Ann and Brendan thought the steps were rushed.

Scores: 5, 5, 7, 6 for a total of 23.


NZ Idol judge, Megan Alatini is used to being on the other side of the judging table, how will she cope with being picked apart by critical Craig? Dancing the Waltz to Queen of my Heat with Jonny Williams I didn’t see many heel leads but perhaps they were hidden beneath the long gown. Carol-Ann made a similar comment.

Overall, it was a beautiful controlled performance. Alison liked Megan’s lines. Craig thought Megan and Jonny moved nicely and gave an emotional performance. Brendan said Megan did a fabulous job.

The judges rewarded Megan with 8, 8, 8, 8 for a total of 32.


Mr Good Morning, Brendon Pongia looked dashing in the previews wearing a tux but tonight he was wearing a partially zipped black top that made him look like a 60s biker boy.

Hayley Holt described Brendon as a natural dancer. The movements were a little jerky but he had fun and with good hip movement and nice lines. I enjoyed the dance. The routine ended with a very fancy through the legs flip of his partner. Very impressive!

Craig thought he had a funky right arm and needed to work up on his balls more. I presume he means the balls of his feet. Brendon danced to ‘Here I am signed sealed and delivered, I’m yours’ – I wish! There is something very sexy about a man who can move his hips in time to music.

Scores: 7, 8, 7, 8 for a total of 30 putting him neck and neck with Suzanne. I thought Brendon was slightly better.


April Ieremia gelled with partner Csaba Szirmai and looked to be having a lot of fun in their rehearsals. On the night the Cha Cha performance lacked energy and excitement. They danced in lettered white costumes reminiscent of a High School musical that weren’t especially flattering. I’d have liked to see April in a Latin-styled outfit and doing more dancing and less fooling around with the basketball. The choice of music was also a bit flat which is a shame as April showed talent.

Craig didn’t like the choreography (I’m with him). Carol-Ann thought April danced well but Brendan and Alison thought the dance lacked energy.

Scores: 5, 7, 4, 7 for a total of 23.


Paul Holmes appeared to enjoy being bossed around by Rebecca Nicholson. She commented that he has osteoarthritis as a result of cancer which restricts him from doing lifts. Rebecca’s choreography was lovely but Paul’s movements, including his face, were somewhat wooden.

The judges were pleasantly surprised by Paul’s performance. Brendan thought it was a delightful routine but lacked the rise and fall essential in ballroom dancing. Even Craig went so far as to say it wasn’t bad.

Scores: 6, 7, 6, 8 for a total of 27.


At the end of the night Megan was leading with 32, with Brendon and Suzanne tied with 30 points, but none of that matters as no one gets eliminated in week one.

Dancing with The Stars celebs on minimum wage

Hmmmm, if the publicity is to believed the celebs who will soon be gracing the small screen for series 3 of Dancing with the Stars for the paltry sum of $12.50 per hour.

In series 1 and 2 there were rumours of stars making up to $4,000 per week from the show. Other news releases suggested that the stars were being paid the equivalent of a professional speaking fee which would suggest they are earning around $2,500 per week.

Jason & Candy

According to The Sunday News the stars are putting in 40 hours a week training for the next season. At $12.50 per hour that equates to only $500 per week. It's hard to imagine TVNZ being quite that stingy after the deal Norm Hewitt swung in series 1 that gave him the rights to his images. In that deal (and I'm sorry I can't lay my hands on the link right now) Stormin' Norman prohibited TVNZ from using his images in future advertising without paying a significant royalty. I guess that's one chap that knows how to make money.

Even without the lure of a big paycheck (hey, isn't this meant to be for charity?) the celebs make out well with extra profile, opportunities to sell books and to market themselves. Lorraine Downes is now the new face of Petrena Miller Design and is enjoying a rebirth of her modelling career. Shane Cortese hosted TV3's So You Think You Can Dance