It has taken the non-commercial ABC TV to ‘monetise’ the appeal of the runner-up in the MasterChef Australia program on the Ten Network, a move that also exposes the falsity of the claims that winning, or doing well in these programs, is a ticket to fame and fortune. The ABC said this week that Poh Ling Yeow, will be the star of ABC TV’s new cooking show to be screened in 2010.
Poh’s Kitchen will be produced in her hometown of Adelaide, and will go into production in November 2009. If it works from the early shooting, it could replace The Cook and The Chef in the 6.30 pm timeslot which concluded last night.
The ABC said in a release the show will see “Poh travelling throughout Australia on her journey to expand her knowledge of food and to add to her every increasing collection of recipes”:
Across the year long series, she will be joined in her kitchen by some of Australia’s leading chefs, who will work alongside her to cook the produce she has sourced. The series will be Executive Produced by Margot Phillips on who with the ABC Adelaide production team created and produced The Cook and the Chef.
ABC Books has signed Poh for a two book deal with the first cookbook to be published in late 2010.
So we now have the runner up with a profile, her own TV program and two books. The winner, Julie Goodwin, scored cash and appearances and wants to open her own restaurant. Poh looks like ending up with a longer career in the public eye than Julie, who seems to have different ambitions.
But what the news from the ABC does show is the absolute paucity of opportunities for winners of these reality programs on commercial TV and especially on the networks which originally hosted the programs they won.
Many are used and abused and then become the stuff of lightweight tabloid gossip hacks and hackettes driven by jealousy and the TV current affairs programs. Damien Leith, who won Idol a couple of years ago when Ten and the producers started lifting the age profile to an older demographic and away from tweenies and other under 20 female viewers, is probably the most successful of all the winners from that program.
If successful, Poh (and she will have to make some changes to appeal to ABC viewers) could very well end up with the highest profile of all reality program winners and a career based on her own ability, not on her ability to look spunky and appeal to readers of the Confidential pages in News Ltd tabloids
“Damien Leith, who won Idol a couple of years ago when Ten and the producers started lifting the age profile to an older demographic and away from tweenies and other under 20 female viewers, is probably the most successful of all the winners from that program.”
That sentence in your article had me in stitches. I would have thought one of the requirements for writing a good article would be to check your facts, but as you haven’t, I think I need to do it for you. Lets run through Damien’s achievements compared to the winner of the first Australian Idol.
Damien: 1st album 4 x platinum. Won the highest selling album at 2007 ARIA Awards.
First winner: 1st album 6x platinum and just 10 thousand sales short of 7 X Platinum(Those over accreditation sales validated in various press articles and also on Sony sites). The highest selling Australian Idol album of all time. The next highest selling being the first runner up’s 5x platinum debut album. Both these albums nominated for highest seller at the 2004 Arias.
Damien’s 2nd album: Platinum, and going on stories in the press did not actually sell the full amount.
First winner’s 2nd album: Platinum, and recorded both in the press and on Sony sites as having sold in excess of 100,000. Nominated for highest selling album at 2005 ARIA Awards.
Damien’s 3rd album: Gold accredited and sold around 55,000 going on figures posted on media sites at the time.
First winner’s 3rd album: Platinum and fully sold.
Damien’s 4th album: Not released yet.
First winner’s 4th album: 2x platinum and the 7th highest selling Australian album in 2007 after only 6 weeks of sales. Nominated for highest selling album at 2008 Aria Awards, finishing 3rd. The 3rd out of his 4 albums to receive that particular nomination at the annual ARIA Awards.
Total album accreditations.
Damien: 5 and one gold.
First winner: 10 (highest album accreditations for any Australian Idol contestant, winner, runner up and right through to last place).
Singles.
Damien: One #1 single, one #11. No other single has charted in top 50.
First winner: Four #1’s, including one currently sitting at #1 on the Aria charts. Second highest amount of #1 singles in Australian chart history for an Australian male solo act. One behind John Farnham who has five. Also one #3, two #11’s, one #15 and a #32 charting single. Winner of the 2004 Aria for highest selling single.
Total singles accreditations.
Damien: 1 platinum.
First winner: 6 platinums and 3 gold. Latest single will become platinum within next two weeks, as it is only a few thousand short at this time and as already mentioned is still sitting at #1 on the ARIA charts.
Overseas: Damien #8 in Ireland for first single and #43 for second album.
First winner: #1 with first single in Malasia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. #1 in Malaysia and #3 in New Zealand with first album. 3 platinum accreditations in New Zealand. Reason he never charted again. Because when Sony took over, they decided not to release his follow up albums there, despite him having only just left the NZ charts a few weeks before his second album was released in Australia. Strange. Very strange. Has now been signed to US label Sony/Victor to release an album in America next year.
Total sales in Australia.
Damien: Around 500,000 units including about 400,ooo albums.
First winner: Over 1.3 million units including 800,000 albums taking into account the 60,000 over accreditation he sold for his first album, and the 40,000 over accreditation he sold for his second album which is totally validated on various sites.
Now none of this takes into account all the amazing musicians who have jumped to work with the first winner. Memphis soul legend Steve Cropper and other members of the legendary Mgs who not only played on his fourth album but came to Australia to be his backing band on his tour. John Mayer who plays guitar and sings backing vocals on some of the songs on his new album. Not to mention the awards both publicly and industry voted the first winner has won or been nominated for. Damien has a few including an Aria nomination for break through artist in 2007. But the first winner leaves him for dead in the award tally.
The main reason I am writing all this is because your misinformed article is being oohed and aahed at by Damien fans on his forum. They need a reality check, and you need to learn the importance of research before writing an article.
I don’t give a rat’s about Idol and ordinarily I don’t give a rat’s about cooking shows, but I admit to being hooked on Poh’s personality when I channel surfed onto MasterChef finals.
I think the ABC is on a winner with her.