Throng

Fair Go presenter Kevin Milne is battling a benign brain tumour and has taken sick leave.  He may need surgery to protect his eyesight and brain.

Dane Moeke's winning performance on Maori Television's Homai Te Pakipaki last month, singing Whitney Houston's "I will always love you" has been watched on YouTube more than 7000 times.

Shortland Street's Michael Galvin (Doctor Chris Warner) is on stage for the first time in more than a decade in his self-penned black comedy play Station to Station.  Galvin has taken a few weeks off Shortland Street for the play. The play also stars Outrageous Fortune's Antonia Prebble (Loretta West).

Gordon Ramsey's profits have dropped by 87% and has narrowly avoided bankruptcy.  However, he still earned nearly $30 million from TV, live shows and books.

Scribe has pitched a TV show with two networks said to be interested.

Hugh Sundae aka Hugh Hughes is rumoured to be presenting on 20/20. 

Deborah Hill Cone rips apart Aussie show Packed to the Rafters - she criticises the "comfort viewing" show for its "wholesome ordinary people".  She says it's a "bog-standard drama about a bland baby-boomer couple", "deeply pedestrian", "not even very realistic" and "not twisted enough". 

America's Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker wanted $25,000 to appear on Telethon - even though it is a charity event. 

Confirmed for the Telethon are:

Martin Henderson
Ada Nicodemou (Leah on Home and Away)
Bernard Curry (Hugo on Home and away)
Carly Flynn
Miriama Smith
Will Hall (Kip on Shortland Street)

Celebrities have recorded a new version of the Telethon anthem "Thank you very much for your kind donation" - with OpShop's Jason Kerrison and Donald Reid behind the music. 

The spelling of the word "orthopaedic" has come into question after the finale of Wheel of Fortune.  The show said there was no "a" in the word, despite being the spelling that medical professionals use or British spelling conventions.  Americans do not have the "a" in it.  The show's makers say the spelling was not wrong and didn't affect the outcome of the show. 

Stars in their Eyes winner Mandy Pickering (32) says she wanted to do things out of her comfort zone this year. 

"I never thoughts for a second I'd get to the final, let alone win it.  I wasn't even 100% sure I could sing.  I hadn't really sung in public before as an adult."

Pickering and her husband and sons are off to live in Tonga for three weeks to live the simple life. 

Amber Peebles shares a week in her social diary which includes boxing classes, interviewing Early Birds, shooting MTV News and travelling to Sydney to film for four days. 

Laura and Hosanna from New Zealand's Next Top Model were on the catwalk for Trelise Cooper. 

Paul Holmes comments on the John Campbell medal thief interview and believes that Campbell never met the thief, but was handed a recorded interview via lawyers and filmed him asking the questions but doesn't want to admit he doesn't know the name of the thief as it would harm his reputation as a journalist. 

The media continues its obsession with celebrity tweets and prints tweets from TV personalities such as John Campbell, Carol Hirshfeld, James Coleman, Susan Wood, Clarke Gayford and Mike Hosking.  Speaking of Mike, Spy asks if he's being hypocritical for talking about what his daughters are up to on Twitter after taking New Idea to court over paparazzi photos of his twins in 2003. 

Back Benches host Wallace Chapman (40) is interviewed in Sunday magazine.  Writer Rose Hoare is full of compliments for him: "incredibly generous with his praise" and "so enthusiastic".  His father was a Fijian Methodist Minister, he wrote ads at bFM for five years, hosted breakfast at bFM for a year, does afternoons at Kiwi FM and is on Good Morning's political panel.  Chapman had Gaucher's Disease - a deficiency in an enzyme which breaks down fat that can collect in organs and bones.  He spent five years using a walking stick in pain until treatment became available.  His mobility is still limited and he can't walk long distances, can't travel for long periods or live overseas for lack of access to medicine.  He has fortnightly transfusions. 

There's an article on just how bad TV is for your health -  from obesity, violence, eating disorders, higher cholesterol, unfitness, attention deficit disorders and lower academic performance.  The article says an average 6 year old in New Zealand has already spent more than one full year watching TV.  Is that right?  They watch an average of 4 hours a day?  The writer, Olive James says public health officials should be mounting a public-health campaign to persuade us to watch less TV. 

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