NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Duncan Greive: MediaWorks serves up fresh celeb hybrid hell

Duncan Greive
By Duncan Greive
Duncan Greive is founder and publisher of The Spinoff·NZ Herald·
30 Mar, 2016 05:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Not even the very funny Dai Henwood could save <i>Celebrity Family Feud</i>.

Not even the very funny Dai Henwood could save <i>Celebrity Family Feud</i>.

Duncan Greive
Opinion by Duncan Greive
Duncan Greive is founder and publisher of The Spinoff
Learn more

We finally hit peak MediaWorks on Monday night, as the hosts of a breakfast radio show battled characters from a reality show on a quiz show hosted by a team captain from another quiz show in the timeslot of a news show.

So - was Celebrity Family Feud cross-promotional heaven or hell? Despite its occurring on Easter Monday, one of the most hallowed of the Bible's Monday-ised public holidays, I'm leaning toward hell based on the night's evidence.

There were two combatants, each tremendously excited to be there. Team one was the Harveys, lead by The Edge's Jay-Jay and Dom, shock jocks who manage to regularly participate in revolting, inhuman stunts while somehow still remaining lovable everykiwis in the public's eye. They were joined by Sue, Dom's mum, and Poull (pronounced Paul), a brother to one or other of them.

Opposing them were the Walkers, whose name conjures zombies years into an outbreak, as does the general manner of their leaders, Pete and Andy from season two of The Block. They wore gumboots, a point important enough to spend a solid minute on.

Alongside the pair were two sweet and regular folks, brother-in-law Wade and a cousin, whose name I didn't catch. It doesn't really matter - the whole point of the show, assuming it had one, was to allow the celebrities to clown about and promote all the various associated enterprises - while also raising nearly 10 grand for charity! Who says private equity doesn't give back?!

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The basic premise of Family Feud, which screens at 5.30pm weeknights on TV3, is that contestants are asked an open-ended question, which has also been posed to a group of New Zealanders. The aim is then to guess how middle New Zealand would answer the question.

It was more often interesting for wrong answers than right, particularly those of Sue, the mum from Team Harvey who apparently told Dom: "You should try and get us on Family Feud, I watch it at home and I'm really good at it." This was absolutely not borne out by her performance on the show.

She gave us instead Dadaist anti-answers: all of them words; none of them right. Five questions in a row ended with an angry, obnoxious buzzer and a large red X on screen. Given that there were literally dozens of easy points dangling ripe and in front of her, it was quite an achievement.

Her sweet bewilderment was preferable to the attempts at comedy. In response to "what would you do in the bath?", Jay-Jay came up with "this isn't something I do - is it fart?", which epitomises the night's humour. It's like 7 Days Goes to Kindergarten, a collection of bad and bland jokes wrapped around a game show. At one point one of the Block-men came out and did a little dance, and it was both one of the most aggressively dumb things I've ever seen on television, and a high point for the show.

Later, Jay-Jay called her dog from the crowd, and host Dai Henwood was forced to make a joke at his own expense concerning his and the dog's mutually petite stature. Henwood is a very funny man, but not so funny that he can make this show swim underneath all this dead weight.

Discover more

Entertainment

Hosts revealed for TV3's new morning show

11 Mar 05:00 AM
Opinion

Steve Braunias' Secret Diary of The Bachelor

11 Mar 04:00 PM
Opinion

John Drinnan: Filthy Rich lacks courage as networks become more risk-averse

18 Mar 01:45 AM
Entertainment

Bachelorettes to 'tell all' in live event

29 Mar 10:00 AM

Eventually, the half-hour lumbers clumsily to a close. The scoring system is oddly complex, for a show with such a primitive vision of humanity, involving points correlating to percentages, multiplied by 10 with bonuses as a kicker. Whatever - Team Harvey won, sending $7000 to Fertility New Zealand, their nominated charity. Fine, I guess.

Afterwards, all celebrated as the credits rolled. Wade, from Team Walker, picked up Jay-Jay in an extravagant embrace, and spun her round again and again. It was a picture of human ecstasy, prompted no doubt by the knowledge the show had finished. I could relate.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Debate on this article is now closed.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

Lorde releases new single ahead of Virgin album

19 Jun 10:47 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

From Jacinda Ardern to Air NZ: 32 of the best lifestyle and entertainment stories of the year so far

19 Jun 10:00 PM
World

Trump gives TikTok 90 more days to find buyer, again delayed ban

19 Jun 05:53 PM

Help for those helping hardest-hit

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Lorde releases new single ahead of Virgin album

Lorde releases new single ahead of Virgin album

19 Jun 10:47 PM

Hammer the last song the Kiwi singer will release before her album comes out next week.

Premium
From Jacinda Ardern to Air NZ: 32 of the best lifestyle and entertainment stories of the year so far

From Jacinda Ardern to Air NZ: 32 of the best lifestyle and entertainment stories of the year so far

19 Jun 10:00 PM
Trump gives TikTok 90 more days to find buyer, again delayed ban

Trump gives TikTok 90 more days to find buyer, again delayed ban

19 Jun 05:53 PM
Premium
TikTok made Addison Rae famous. Pop made her cool

TikTok made Addison Rae famous. Pop made her cool

19 Jun 06:00 AM
Inside Leigh Hart’s bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi
sponsored

Inside Leigh Hart’s bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP