New Gogglebox Household Announced Ahead Of Season 9

Brother and sister, Tim and Leanne, will join the Gogglebox cast from the beginning of Season 9.

One new household will join the cast of Gogglebox Australia when Season 9 premieres on Foxtel’s Lifestyle Channel this Wednesday, February 6 at 7.30pm (and on Network 10 on Thursday, February 7 at 8.30pm).

Brother and sister, Tim and Leanne, are like two peas in a pod. They blog together, eat together and drink together. Of Malaysian heritage, Tim was born in Penang but moved to Melbourne with his family when he was nine years old, and two years later Leanne was born. Family is incredibly important to both of them and since Tim came out, Leanne has been a huge support to him and become a big advocate for LGBTQI rights.

Their eleven year age gap doesn’t stop the pair from being equally loud and assertive in their individual opinions. When it comes to TV, though, they’re both passionate about cooking shows – if people are cooking or eating it, chances are they are watching it.

Tim works as a retail technology consultant and lives in the suburbs with his fiancé and their new Boston Terrier, River. When he’s not daydreaming about travelling the globe, Tim is busy eating food, photographing food, filming himself talking about food, or thinking about what food to eat next.

Leanne lives with her partner in a compact apartment with two adorably neurotic Chihuahuas. Working as an operations manager in a factory environment with a lot of blokey blokes, Leanne is an avid gamer, occasional artist and musician, full-time dog lover, and wannabe knitter who is partial to a weekend-long book or TV show binge. 

Tim and Leanne will join returning cast members bubbly Greek best friends Anastasia and Faye; happily married couple Lee and Keith; the adorable and sports-crazy Jackson Family; the fun-loving and cricket-mad Delpechitra Family; best mates Adam and Symon; dealers in Indigenous art Mick and Di; the close-knit Dalton Family; married couple Matty and Sarah Marie and their friend Jad; and the three generations of women in the Silbery Family.

Gogglebox Australia is an Endemol Shine Australia production for Foxtel and Network 10. Season 9 premieres 7.30 AEDT Wed 6 Feb on Lifestyle, 8.30 AEDT Thu 7 Feb on 10.

Meet The Four Designers Changing Rooms For Australia

Tim Leveson, Jane Thomson, Naomi Findlay and Chris Carroll have been tasked with ensuring that colour, bold prints, texture and statement pieces are incorporated into our changing rooms.

Four designers have been announced for the revamped version of Changing Rooms, which premieres 7.30 Wednesday 13 February on Channel 10.

Tim Leveson, Jane Thomson, Naomi Findlay and Chris Carroll are the lucky designers tasked with putting homeowners through a jaw dropping design boot camp whilst ensuring that colour, bold prints, texture and statement pieces are incorporated into their changing rooms.

Each Changing Rooms home transformation will be screened over two big nights with two designers going head to head to finish three rooms in five days. With a budget of $20,000 they will be hoping to change families’ lives forever with colour, style and good design.

Will a pleather kitchen be the ticket to spicing up your life? Is animal print the answer to taking a walk on the wild side? Or is artificial turf the outdoorsy escape you have been looking for? Will courageous and bold design choices pay off big time, or will they fail spectacularly? These are questions that only our designers can answer. Find out more about each of them below.

Tim Leveson (Interior Designer)

Having grown up in the wonderful world of interiors, Interior Designer Tim likes to live on the edge and take risks with his designs. He enjoys creating a vibrant look and experimenting with pops of colour, lots of greenery and spaces that speak to the soul. Tim likes to challenge his client’s views and introduce them to styles they have never considered or felt too intimidated to undertake themselves.

Jane Thomson (Interior Designer / Stylist)

With over 28 years of experience, Interior Designer and Stylist Jane has an individual approach with a pinch of eclectic. Her design and decoration ethos is simple; collaborate and connect. Jane’s style favours bold statement pieces with selective use of colour and her aim is to leave a space feeling elegant and luxe.

Naomi Findlay (Design & Renovation Expert)

Designer Naomi is a ‘Rapid Renovation’ expert and describes her style as earthy and totally liveable. While she takes a very considered approach to design, she enjoys being creative and transforming spaces that allow others to thrive and grow - to hone in on the sentimentality of the family and lifestyle.

Chris Carroll (Interior Designer / Stylist)

Interior Designer and Stylist Chris believes in attainable design. He prides himself on being the “anti-designer, designer” and extolls “skimp meets splurge” - incorporating a few pricey investment pieces combined with affordable luxe pieces that won’t hurt your hip pocket. He has always been obsessed with design and tries to push clients out of their comfort zone.

Changing Rooms premieres at 7.30pm on Wednesday 13 February on 10 and WIN Network.

Cameras Roll On ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’

Production has started on the most heart-warming show of 2019.

Filming is currently underway on the heart-warming factual series Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds. Co-produced by ABC and Endemol Shine Australia, the series is based around a unique social experiment where a group of older retirement home residents are brought together with a group of pre-schoolers, to see if this inter-generational contact can improve the health and wellbeing of the older people, thus helping them to lead happier, and healthier lives.

Over a period of seven weeks, our two groups of ten elderly and ten pre-schoolers will be brought together for planned, mixed activities each day in a specially designed nursery built within a care/retirement home. Here they will share a structured timetable that encourages physical activity, social interaction, learning and happiness.

This social experiment will be run by a team of geriatric experts and a child education expert who will scientifically analyse and monitor the progress of both groups throughout, tracking quantifiable and measurable changes (both physical and mental) that results from the experiment to the health and wellbeing of the older group, and correspondingly, the developmental growth of the children (to chart the changes in language, cognition, movement, and emotional and social development).

Endemol Shine Australia CEO, Mark Fennessy says, “Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds is a carefully crafted mix of Science, Heart & Humour. With its unique cast of characters from two fundamentally different worlds it has the potential to be the most insightful, uplifting and talked about show of 2019”.

“Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds is another fine example of what the ABC does best – asking questions and finding solutions to important issues in our society,” says Steve Bibb, ABC Head of Factual. “This clever and inspiring series does that with incredible warmth and great heart as it explores the increasing isolation and loneliness of older Australians.”

‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’ is an Endemol Shine Australia production in association with the ABC which will be aired in 2019.

Endemol Shine Australia Receives Three AACTA Award Nominations

MasterChef Australia and Australian Survivor both nominated in the Best Reality Series category whilst Gogglebox goes up for Best Entertainment.

The 2018 AACTA nominations have been announced, with Endemol Shine Australia up for three awards. MasterChef Australia and Australian Survivor have both been nominated in the Best Reality Series category, whilst Gogglebox Australia is up for the AACTA Award for Best Entertainment Program.

It’s the eighth time MasterChef has been nominated, and the nomination follows four consecutive wins in the Best Reality Series category. Along with Australian Survivor, it will compete with My Kitchen Rules, The Real Housewives Of Melbourne and The Single Wives for this year’s award.

Gogglebox goes up against Little Big Shots, Hard Quiz, Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery and The Weekly With Charlie Pickering in the Best Entertainment Program category. 

The 2018 AACTAs mark the 60th anniversary of AFI | AACTA and see 395 individuals from 105 productions competing for a total of 54 Awards.

AFI | AACTA CEO Damian Trewhella, says, “We’re thrilled to see such a wealth of screen talent recognised at this year’s Awards – from some of the earliest AFI Award winners to many emerging and early-career practitioners – and we look forward to celebrating their fine achievements, as well as our 60th Anniversary as the longest standing national screen culture and industry development organisation at the 2018 AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel in Sydney.”

The winners of the 2018 AACTA Awards will be announced at an industry luncheon on Monday 3 December and The AACTA Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 5 December.

Building Begins On Lego Masters

Nine’s brand-new family entertainment series will be hosted by Hamish Blake and feature fanatical brick builders from all around Australia.

Production has commenced on Endemol Shine Australia’s brand-new family entertainment series, LEGO MASTERS®.

Bringing together the most fanatical brick builders from around Australia, the scene is set for a competition unlike any other where eight pairs of LEGO-loving characters surprise and delight with the funniest battle of the bricks ever staged.

Unashamed LEGO tragic and big kid at heart, Hamish Blake will be in his element as host and ringleader of the fun, ably assisted by judge and resident LEGO expert Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught. As the Southern Hemisphere’s only LEGO-certified professional – and one of only fourteen in the world – no one is better placed than The Brickman to put these talented amateur builders to the test.

We’re expecting nothing short of jaw-dropping, show-stopping models that must be seen to be believed from each of our eight teams taking part. There will be challenges to test the LEGO lovers’ design and engineering skills, their storytelling ability and adaptability when all is not as it seems. With many hours of intricate building ahead, stamina and a sense of humour will be key as they are pushed to their LEGO limits.

Michael Healy, Director of Television for Network Nine, says: “We are very excited about LEGO MASTERS. It will redefine family entertainment in 2019 because there’s no greater brand that resonates more with families than LEGO.”

With $100,000 in prize money up for grabs and 2.5 million LEGO bricks in play, the possibilities are mind-bogglingly big. The team who consistently impresses with the best use of bricks, plates, tiles, studs, knobs and tubes – that’s LEGO to the rest of us – will walk away victorious, LEGO trophy held aloft and bragging rights intact for the rest of their days.

Filled with passion, imagination and creativity, LEGO MASTERS® is a production for Nine set to air in 2019.