NZ's Got Talent Closes Today

Today is your last chance to enter New Zealand’s Got Talent – the show that offers $100,000 to the winner – and D-leb judge Miriama Smith is eagerly awaiting your entry.

The British version of the show launched the career of Paul Potts, but it’s also responsible for some bizarre and weird moments as it entertains a studio audience and at home viewers. For example, Damon Scott describes himself as a “unique speciality act” as he performs with Bubbles the puppet monkey.



Miriama Smith, the first of three judges to be confirmed for the show, says

"I want to be awed, I want something different, maybe something uniquely Kiwi... sheep shearing or something we haven't seen yet anywhere else. People at home will enjoy that as well because it gives us a sense of ownership."

So if you’ve got your gumboots handy and can yodel or wield a drenching gun it sounds like you could be in with a chance, although from all accounts Miriama would rather see a George Clooney lookalike. Goodness only knows Miss Prozac would prefer Brad Pitt doing a strip tease to a sheep shearer in his wife beaters.

"I'm going to treat everybody the same way.

"Even if there's a contestant who's 6ft 4, incredibly good-looking, really nice, teaches yoga and can cook, I'm still going to treat him the same ... honest!"

If she could enter the show herself, Smith says, her specialty would be stand-up comedy.

"I would be like Ellen [Degeneres] and talk about irony and human nature.

Woah! Anyone else curious about Miriama likening herself to a gay icon?

When you're a well-known personality in a normal New Zealand environment, people treat you differently. Like when I'm out at the bar with my girlfriends and there's a lot of guys and they're all drunk, they'll say, `Hey, you should totally give me your phone number', even though I've never met them before in my life."

Miss Prozac is sure the invites don’t have anything to do with the fact that Miriama is pretty, slender and a self-confessed party girl.

You have until until Friday 6th June to apply for New Zealand’s Got Talent. You'll also have a chance to get free tickets to be part of the live audience.


Photos: Sky TV

Rachel Hunter v Miriama Smith

Supermodel Rachel Hunter's swimsuit range Lola is modelled by Miriama Smith. In the battle of the hotties, who wears it better?

Rachel Hunter





Miriama Smith

Miriama Smith to Judge New Zealand’s Got Talent

Miriama Smith is the first of three judges to be announced for Prime’s upcoming variety series, New Zealand’s Got Talent.

Mata Hari Miriama most recently appeared on New Zealand screens in the 2008 series of Dancing with the Stars and Food TV's New Zealand on a Plate.

"I’m thrilled to be part of New Zealand’s Got Talent," said Miriama. "The international versions of this show have been hugely popular and I am pretty sure that New Zealand has even more weird, wacky and wonderful talents than our overseas cousins!

"Plus, let’s not forget there’s a $100,000 prize up for grabs. That’s the kind of money that could change someone’s life and with a week to go before registrations close, I’m encouraging everybody to get in there and give it a shot."

Miriama’s acting credits include core cast roles on Mercy Peak, the long-running serial drama Shortland Street, kids’ series Karaoke High and the Australian series Last Man Standing. She’s also appeared in Serial Killers, Atlantis High and The Tribe.

Miriama’s presenting roles on television include: Destination New Zealand, House and Garden and Intrepid Journeys. She has also featured on the big screen in films such as Spooked, Toylove, Other Side of Heaven and We’re Here to Help.

You have until until Friday 6th June to apply for New Zealand’s Got Talent.

Photos: TVNZ

DWTS Semi-Final Photos

Last night Miriama Smith was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars, leaving Temepara George and Monty Betham to contest the final next week.

Click here for the full episode recap.

Temepara George and Stefano Olivieri Paso Doble



Temepara George and Stefano Olivieri Waltz



Miriama Smith and Jonny Williams Jive


Miriama Smith and Jonny Williams Foxtrot



Monty Betham and Nerida Jantti Paso Doble



Monty Betham and Nerida Jantti Tango

Photos: TVNZ

Miriama Smith Tall Poppy

Miriama Smith’s extreme modesty continues its relentless march.

She previously proclaimed that her beauty, intelligence and talent were the reasons that she remains single. Now she says she’s getting a hard time from voters as a result of the “tall poppy” syndrome. Guess it doesn’t occur to her that Monty got more votes last week because he is more popular and continues to improve each week.

Even judge Craig Revel-Horwood said that Mata Hari’s poor performance in last week’s show was possibly due to her overconfidence.

Miss Prozac isn’t so sure about that. Something was seriously wrong. Mata Hari looked like she was going through the motions. She was either suffering as a result of injuries (which Candy Lane attributes to poor technique in newbie dancers) or her heart wasn’t in it. Either way it was a plastic performance. She’s still gorgeous no matter how you look at it, and she can move, but last week’s dancing was uninspired and wooden compared with previous weeks.



Of the three semi-finalists Mata Hari has the most dance experience. She learned ballet and jazz as a kid and took some Latin dance lessons in South America. She also keeps flexible with Bikram Yoga.

Let’s hope for better from her tonight. She’s certainly capable of it, and much as Miss Prozac loves Monty’s pec shimmies, his technique and performance isn’t up to scratch. If the final comes down to Monty Betham and Temepara George it will be a joke. Mata Hari deserves to make it to the Finals, but as everyone knows, it comes down to performance on the night and the whims of the public. Who will you be voting for?


Related Stories:
Enter our caption contest and win prizes

Photos: TVNZ

DWTS Mata Hari: Miriama Smith

In what is sure to be welcome news to all the men in TV-land, Dancing with the Stars’ resident Mata Hari, Miriama Smith tells Sunday News that she’s not ruling out wearing skimpy costumes in future episodes. Describing last week’s streamers masquerading as a dress she said

"It was awesome."

Mata Hari says she just pops on whatever the wardrobe department give her. That would set her apart from leading contender Temepara George whose partner Stefano Olivieri is said to be a perfectionist, works closely with the wardrobe department to ensure his partner is costumed to his specifications. His proudest moment, being the raunchy PVC numbers worn by him and Suzanne Paul in the Paso Doble.



Like Suzanne, Miriama will be dancing this week with a rib injury. She’s been seeing a physio, an acupuncturist and taking anti-inflammatories since spraining her ribs last Thursday. Since then she’s been resting and using her time to visualise the routine. Although it hurts to breathe, she has no plans to pull out. Expect Jason Gunn to make a big mention of this in next week’s show, and the possibility that the sympathy vote will come into play.


Mata Hari says she’s been finding the speculation about a possible romance with partner Jonny Williams challenging, but unsurprising. You’d think she’d be used to the attention. She has been romanced by three high profile television/sports personalities and modestly describes herself as:

I am intelligent and beautiful and clever!

And modest, obviously.

Photos: TVNZ

NZ On A Plate with Miriama Smith

Miriama Smith presents a new homegrown series, NZ On A Plate, which features the finest cuisine New Zealand has to offer.

Top New Zealand chefs, including Rex Morgan from Citron and Paul Jobin from Pure Tastes, create delicious new signature dishes using premium local ingredients. Each mouth-watering dish is matched with the finest local wines to give you the best of New Zealand – on a plate.

Watch NZ On A Plate Sundays from 30 March at 5.30pm on Food TV.


Photos: Sky Television

Miriama and Jonny’s Special Connection

Mention of dance partner Jonny Williams was conspicuous by its absence in Miriama Smith’s interview with Woman’s Day where she talks about her love life. We can now reveal why.

It turns out they sold that exclusive to a competing gossip mag. NZ Woman’s Weekly has the story of Miriama and Jonny’s “special connection”, although as far as Miss Prozac can tell, Miriama’s only special connection is to her agent, who must be working overtime booking all these interviews and spinning the stories.

Do you think they regret Miriama revealing she was “falling” for Jonny in that ridiculous fake video interview, when they later got snapped looking cosy (but not as intimate as the photos of Brendan Cole and girlfriend pawing each other), and then had to back pedal?

Oh, and the special connection. Well, of course, they’re going to be friends forever. Haven’t we heard that somewhere before on Dancing with the Stars? They’re just like brother and sister and get on amazingly well. All a bit of a yawn really.


Photos: TVNZ

Miriama Smith’s Single Life

Dancing with the Stars hottie Miriama Smith sets the record straight in this week’s Woman’s Day.

Clearly doing a spot of damage control (and earning a few extra bucks) after photos of her appeared last week looking uber-friendly with her Dancing With The Stars pro dancing partner Jonny Williams, Miriama talks about how much she loves being single. Mention of Jonny is conspicuously absent, although we did print his denial last week that there was anything romantic between the pair.

Miriama also denied any horizontal Rhumba in yesterday's Sunday Star Times. That would be much more convincing if she hadn’t been spotted getting up close and personal in Woman’s Day on Monday, and then looking uncomfortable at being close to Jonny on Tuesday’s show. That just makes us suspicious that she didn't like being "caught".

31 year-old-Miriama says that she may be single but is never alone, and describes her past relationships with high profile television personalities. We’ve mentioned her links to Frank and Brendon on several occasions, but Woman’s Day fleshes out the details

• She was with Frank Bunce for 2½ years
• She was engaged to Brendon Pongia and had a relationship with him for about a year
• She lived briefly with Aussie soap actor Blair McDonough who came to fame in reality show Big Brother

Perhaps Jonny isn’t famous enough for Miriama?

It isn’t mentioned in the article, but Miriama Smith will be hosting NZ On A Plate, on Sky’s Food Television channel, starting Sundays from 30 March 2008 at 5.30pm, where it appears she has the tough job of drinking wine and eating gorgeous food.

It’s a hard life, dating hunky men, getting paid to dance with cute young Jonny, and topping it all off with a glass of vino. No wonder she prefers the single life!


Photos: TVNZ

Jonny Williams & Miriama Smith Gossip

Miriama Smith and Jonny Williams, last night's top scoring couple on Dancing with the Stars were seen looking cosy in this week's Womans Day, but according to Jonny you can't believe everything you see.

Jonny says,

There is pretty much nothing going on in the romance department!

Darn, they make such a lovely couple. We'll be chatting to Jonny soon, so we'll let you know how the friendship develops and whether they're just good friends, or friends with benefits.


Photos: TVNZ

Miriama Smith & Jonny Williams Lovers?

Dancing with the Stars contestant Miriama Smith was spotted doing an altogether different rhumba with her dance partner Jonny Williams.

This week’s Woman’s Day (which also includes a story on Golden Balls Beckham playing away with a mystery woman) has photos of Miriama and Jonny cuddling and holding hands at the beach while sipping wine. Looks like Dancing With The Stars has performed its magic again with yet another pairing hooking up off the dance floor.

Miriama (31) is six years older than Jonny and as we reported earlier both are footloose and fancy free.



Does anyone remember their video interview before last week's Rhumba? At the time we commented that it was strange for them to acknowledge the rumours so openly. Now, we see why!

JW: Miriama’s great. we get on really, really well. Everything’s cool. So…

JW: Hello. How’s it going?

MS: Great.

JW: Good.

JW: Bit late today.

MS: Yeah. Sorry.

JW: Is the traffic bad?

MS: No. No. something just came up.

JW: Okay. Is everything okay?

MS: Not really, no. I can’t with you any more Jonny. I think I’m falling for you.

JW: Well you wouldn’t be the first one, babe.

In the last series, Megan Alatini confessed that she had the hots for Jonny and rumours were flying that the two were enjoying a horizontal rhumba or two while sequestered in Wellington. Jonny had a girlfriend at the time, but the gossipers say that she was soon moved aside. One source told us that Jonny and Megan were seen sneaking out of a hotel room very early on the morning of the final of last year's Dancing with the Stars. Perhaps, they were getting in some early err dance practise!

It puts the comments in a new light, doesn't it?

Hubby Pita Alatina clearly heard the same rumours as he was spotted in the audience glowering at the pair. They later attempted damage control, giving a media interview where they talked about the secrets of their marriage and pawed each other for the benefit of the journalist.


Update: Jonny denies romance

Photos: TVNZ, Woman's Day

Miriama Smith’s Latin Passion

In this week’s Woman’s Day Dancing with the Stars contestant Miriama Smith tells how she was seduced by dance - and Latin Lotharios - in her recent Latin American adventure.

During her three week holiday she got the chance to learn samba and salsa:

The most valuable lesson Miriama learned through her various encounters with Latin Lotharios was to feel the music and dance with her heart, not her head.

The judges are likely to agree, after swooning over the “heart” shown in Peter Urlich’s waltz during last week’s episode.

Describing herself as a party girl at heart, Miriama welcomed the opportunity to take Salsa lessons, but says she’s not used to letting the man be boss on the dance floor

”They would slap our wrists and say, ‘I’m the chief, I’m the boss.’ They said, ‘You have got to learn to be led.’

Miriama says she is expecting her Latin dancing to be her strength on Dancing with the Stars. She learned jazz and tap as a child, and now keeps fit with yoga and aerobics. Those should both be helpful – yoga improves flexibility and the aerobics will help her fitness and coordination.

So, it seems that Tina Cross isn’t the only contestant with dance experience, and we can look forward to a sultry Rhumba next week with professional dance partner Jonny Williams.

For those of you who are wondering, 31 year old Miriama is single, but so is her dance partner Jonny. Could they be the next hot romance on Dancing With The Stars?


Related Stories:
Nerida Jantti talks about Shane and Monty


Photos: TVNZ

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

Miriama Smith’s 7 Deadly Sins

Actress Miriama Smith is set to strut her stuff in the 2008 season of Dancing With The Stars. Miriama's television roles have included Mataku, as well as Atlantis High, The Tribe, Xena, Young Hercules, Moko Toa, a major guest role in Shortland Street, The Tribe, Serial Killers, Power Rangers, Last Man Standing, and Karaoke High.

In addition, she has appeared in several feature films including the American productions The Other Side Of Heaven and Double Exposure as well as Harry Sinclair's Toy Love. In 2004 she starred in Geoff Murphy's Spooked, and in 2007 she starred in We're Here to Help.

Miriama also appeared in reality show Intrepid Journeys where she travelled to China for 15 days.

Miriama was nominated for TV Guide Best on the Box People's Choice Award for Best Actress for Mercy Peak in 2004 and 2005.

Miriama Smith was recently interviewed by New Idea magazine and describes her 7 Deadly Sins…

Pride
I make a wicked ambrosia dessert

Gluttony
I love feijoas, especially the massive ones in my dad’s olive grove.

Anger
I lost my temper when the taxi company picked me up 20 minutes late and I nearly missed my flight.

Lust
I lust after anyone who lives life to the full

Sloth
I’m at my laziest when I go the family back on the East Coast.

Envy
I envy people sipping vino in the sun on a hot summer’s afternoon mid-week.

Greed (last luxury purchase)
My Canon G7 camera.

Related Stories:

Latest Dancing with The Stars News

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.



If you enjoy reading this blog, please vote for us in the Best Blog category of the NetGuide People's Choice Awards

Photos: TVNZ

Dancing with the Stars News & Gossip 12 July 07

Frank Bunce Mum on Baby

It turns out that Frank Bunce and partner Carla Rawson have been keeping secrets! They are expecting a child in December.

Frank, 45, already has three children from two previous relationships, including sons Chance (21), and Jordan (13) and daughter Sam (16).

This will be the first child for Carla Rawson, aged 34.

Carla was clearly distressed by all the gossip surrounding Krystal and Frank. The pair is hoping this will end rumours of romance between Frank and his dancing partner Krystal ‘Miss Friendly Hands’ Stuart.


Here’s a picture of Carla Rawson, with a cast off from a drag queen’s wardrobe slung from her neck, chatting with Kelly Swanson Roe, who mistook the affair for a costume party and came disguised as an ostrich.


Also at the KidsCan Charity fundraiser Sapphire Ball was one of Bunce’s exes, Miriama Smith and Pop’s Ultimate Star judge Jordan Luck (with singer/songwriter Donald Reid). Hold your horses! Be with you in just one moment Jordan, baby.


Bernice’s Baby Fat

Netballer Bernice Mene, who graced our screens in the first series of Dancing With The Stars, chats this week to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly about getting her baby figure back after the birth of baby Solomon nearly a year ago. Apparently she struggled to get her figure back and struggled to walk around the block when she first started out. Surprising for an ex-elite athlete.

But in three weeks of walking, pilates, yada yada she turned it all around. Does anyone really care?



Hayley Holt Beauty, Brawn or Brains

Hayley Holt asks which you rate more important - Beauty, Brawn or Brains.

Is this a trick question? Surely the answer is D. none of the above. The most important attribute is your bank account, err I mean what you're like on the inside. Anyway it all sounds like a good excuse for her fans to reassure her that she's beautiful, talented, strong and clever. Yawn. Mind you if she was really smart, she'd already know that, wouldn't she?

She says:

I don't believe in being bound by traditional stereotypes or expectations of
women. I try not to create limitations for myself when it comes to what I can
achieve in life. I have many interests and do my best to pursue them all.

In response her mate from DWTS, Aaron Gilmore, says:

This is Aaron from DWTS. Go you Girl. I think the most important thing is who you are as a person. And for all out there Hayley is a beautiful person.

Lots of love to you. Aaron