Does Dancing with the Stars finalist Barbara Kendall have an unfair advantage, given that she was once a former professional dance teacher for Julie Cotter Dancers? I think so. And worse, Kendall hasn't been shy to skite about her experience in the past, but now the votes are being counted,
it appears she's less keen to play it up.
On her website the competitive Olympic athlete says she began dancing at the age of 8 at the Howick Community Centre; by 12 she was teaching; and by 18 she was managing a dance school with 450 students. Crikey!
So much for it being amateur night at Avalon Studios! How is poor Tamati Coffey meant to compete on the dance floor on Tuesday night using TV meteorology and experience as a children's show host?
Kendall told the Howick and Pakuranga Times that when she got back in the dancing studio for DWTS she thought she "had lost everything".
Somehow I don't think so. She says it wasn't until the second week of the show she felt like she "could do it". She admits her dance background has given her extra confidence to dance before television viewers. Kendall wasn't the only famous face from the Julie Cotter dance school.
Others include former Auckland cheerleaders Alison Brooke (nee Imm), Wendy Petrie and Suzy Clarkson (nee Aiken). Monique Ottaway (nee Dixon) was a student at the school about 20 years ago, and she posted her memories on the Old Friends website: "I remember my first year of dancing.
Barbara Kendall was my teacher and for our first concert routine we were little Indians. I went on to have lots of different teachers, including Suzy Aiken." There's no denying ultra-competitive Kendall is a great dancer and focused on the top prize, but is she sportsmanlike?
She squashed her competition on Wednesday morning when she claimed on The Breeze that Coffey has a media machine behind him given he's the daily weatherman for TVNZ's Breakfast. She even cried foul that there's a billboard of him "seven storeys high" in downtown Auckland. It seems to me that if Barbara doesn't get her way in Tuesday night's grand final, that little smile might instantly evaporate from the dial.
* * *
Just in time for Easter, the clever folk at adidas launched something to keep the rugby widows entertained during the Super 14 season while their hubbies are glued to the sport. It's called the jersey swap game.
Basically, it's like pin the tail, except not. You choose from five hot rugby players online and select which ones you'd like to strip off and swap tops. It's a perver's paradise.
There's Tamati Ellison, Jimmy Cowan, Ali Williams, Liam Messam and Richie McCaw. Check them out at www.jerseyswap.co.nz. The viral clip follows an earlier campaign that invited people to wear this season's Super 14 jerseys to games with the chance of swapping them with a player afterwards.
The online promo is targeted at women but that hasn't stopped it attracting gay porn sites around the world. Comments posted on popular satirical website Gawker give you a taste of some viewers' appreciation.
WindowSeat said: "Gayer than an Easter bonnet! I've got a Resurrection now;" and Our Lady of the Massacre wrote: "Oh my Jesus. What a great Easter this has been". Not that adidas and their creative team at TBWA\Whybin are complaining. The gay vote is an added bonus to a genius little campaign. We love it.
Rachel Glucina
Barbara Kendall and Jonny Williams. Photo / Supplied
Does Dancing with the Stars finalist Barbara Kendall have an unfair advantage, given that she was once a former professional dance teacher for Julie Cotter Dancers? I think so. And worse, Kendall hasn't been shy to skite about her experience in the past, but now the votes are being counted,
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.