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Where Are They Now?
- Thread starter darknstormy
- Start date
A
aylaah
Guest
me too
J
jase
Guest
Yeah, she's so lovely. Very happy for her success.
J
jase
Guest
Chrissie has been nominated for the Gold Logie. Good for her!
M
Miajahar
Guest
G
goffy
Guest
Chrissie Swan? Ex BB runner up (to regina,so 2003?) and now one of the ladies on the circle.
Mud Cake
God
Oh I C
bluegroper
An old member
And she likes Crazy Phillip
, good that she is a big fan of Reality TV and if BB ever came back to Australia I want her to host it. 
I wish her well, and good luck with the Logies
bluegroper
An old member
Christina Davis (Ballerina) from BB1 and best friends with Sarah Marie on the show is now living in LA California and is doing very well as a standup comedian, this is her website http://www.christinadavis.com/index.htm , twitter http://twitter.com/#!/cdaviscomedy .
She is one HM with a varied career starting out as a Ballerina touring with WA Ballet co and The Monte Carlo Ballet co and now has made it in Stand up Comedy and lives in the US. She has had many gigs in the US including an Aussie St Pats Day show, she is next performing at the Pig N Whistle in Hollywood Blvd on April 7th.
She is one HM with a varied career starting out as a Ballerina touring with WA Ballet co and The Monte Carlo Ballet co and now has made it in Stand up Comedy and lives in the US.
She has had many gigs in the US including an Aussie St Pats Day show, she is next performing at the Pig N Whistle in Hollywood Blvd on April 7th.
Last edited:
bluegroper
An old member
Following on from my last post. Happy Birthday Christina (Ballerina) hope you rocked it last night at the gig and have a wonderful day.
M
Miajahar
Guest
From TV Tonight
Big Brother reunion
2011 as the year of TV reunions continues with A Current Affair hosting a reunion tonight for Big Brother.
There are 13 former Big Brother housemates, plus Mike Goldman, appearing in a group interview with Ben McCormack.
They include Sara Marie Fedele, Reggie Bird, Pete Timbs, Jemma Gawned, Peter Corbett, David Graham, Camilla Severi, Bree Amer, Trevor Butler and more. No Gretel Killeen?
Given the series is returning to the UK what do ex-housemates think about a porrible Aussie revival?
It airs at 6:30pm tonight on Nine.
Big Brother reunion
2011 as the year of TV reunions continues with A Current Affair hosting a reunion tonight for Big Brother.
There are 13 former Big Brother housemates, plus Mike Goldman, appearing in a group interview with Ben McCormack.
They include Sara Marie Fedele, Reggie Bird, Pete Timbs, Jemma Gawned, Peter Corbett, David Graham, Camilla Severi, Bree Amer, Trevor Butler and more. No Gretel Killeen?
Given the series is returning to the UK what do ex-housemates think about a porrible Aussie revival?
It airs at 6:30pm tonight on Nine.
M
Miajahar
Guest
Tim Brunero is going to be a guest on this week's episode of Insight (Tuesday, 7.30 on SBS).
The topic: "This week Insight explores narcissism: what causes it, whether social media is
feeding it, and when narcissistic tendencies verge into serious disorder. "
The topic: "This week Insight explores narcissism: what causes it, whether social media is
feeding it, and when narcissistic tendencies verge into serious disorder. "
M
Miajahar
Guest
M
Miajahar
Guest
Hey, big sister
John Mangan
April 24, 2011
SMH
The unexpected popularity of live morning show The Circle has been attributed to presenter Chrissie Swan. Photo: Simon Schluter
Big Brother was Chrissie Swan's springboard to an unexpected career. Now she's a long shot for the Gold Logie next Sunday.
AFTER two hours of intense clapping, laughing and suppressing of coughs, the audience of another broadcast of Channel Ten's live morning show, The Circle, can relax as the final credits role. Comedian Fiona O'Loughlin and Olympian Tamsyn Lewis have been interviewed, the hot cross buns have been baked in the cooking segment, the ritual advertorials have been observed. Now, through the morass of cameras, microphones, lights and cables steps bubbly presenter Chrissie Swan to bid adieu to the several dozen squeezed into the bleachers.
''It's my birthday today, Chrissie,'' calls one audience member. ''Can I have a hug?'' She beams with delight; after all, it's not every day you get embraced by a Gold Logie nominee.
Eddie McGuire may not agree - he famously decried her nomination recently on radio - but after almost a decade of TV and radio, Swan is riding a wave of popularity. Since early last year, the former advertising writer has been building up a dedicated following on the couch of Ten's morning program with Yumi Stynes, Denise Drysdale and Gorgi Coghlan, as they cajole, empathise, question and giggle their way through two hours of live TV five days a week.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Part of McGuire's grievance with Swan's nomination was that The Circle doesn't have a big enough audience - OzTam estimates fewer than 100,000 watch at any given time, compared to the million-plus who watch some other nominees such as Packed to the Rafters' Rebecca Gibney and Jessica Marais.
But fans argue The Circle is a show people dip into for 30 minutes or so, which means the cumulative audience across the week would be substantial, possibly about 1 million. They attribute the Gold Logie nomination, as well as the nomination for most popular light entertainment program, to its wide reach.
While The View, the US show with Whoopi Goldberg that The Circle is most often likened to, has argumentative presenters, the Australian program's veteran executive producer, Pam Barnes, says one of the key qualities they were looking for when casting hosts was warmth. ''We wanted it to be like having four girlfriends around for coffee and a chat, talking about the topics of the day,'' says Barnes, who's worked with a few Gold Logie winners in a career extending from Hey Hey! and The X Factor back to In Melbourne Tonight with Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton.
''We were looking for people the audience could identify with who were intelligent and had a sense of fun. Chrissie ticked all the boxes. She's very perceptive and makes everyone feel comfortable. It's so easy to love her, it really is, which is why so many of our viewers voted for her [in the Logies].''
Former TV newsreader and regular guest presenter on The Circle, Indira Naidoo, says the Logie nomination reflects various factors. ''No matter what show you put Chrissie in, she would shine through,'' Naidoo says. ''She's a really extraordinarily naturally gifted talent. She genuinely loves people, she has wonderful comic timing, and she's a really, really funny interviewer - her brain is thinking on 20 different levels at the same time. And people feel a sense of connection with her.''
Long-time Age TV reviewer Jim Murphy enthuses about the chemistry of the Circle team. ''There's never been a time when I've tuned in that I haven't been amused and enjoyed it,'' he says.
''They just look like people you'd like to be with at a dinner party. The format is pretty stereotypical, but it's done so well.''
As for Swan, he's struck by her freshness. ''She's just sunshine on a stick, that big smile, so welcoming. She seems to be genuinely interested in everybody and comes across as one of those people who gets a lot of fun out of life.''
Time and again, those who know her say that the person you see on TV is the genuine Chrissie Swan. It's one of the qualities that put her in the national limelight back in 2003 when she wrestled with the opportunity to appear on Big Brother.
Set for a lifetime career in advertising, having done a spell with a big agency in Indonesia, the thought of taking time out for a holiday on the set of Big Brother seemed a mixed blessing.
''Applying for it had been a kind of joke for me and my friends,'' she says. ''I loved the show and we thought it would be funny if one of us was in it. As I kept going through the different short-lists, I thought; surely, at the next one they're going to tell me, 'Don't be ridiculous'. Then when I was selected, I was still thinking 'I just can't walk away from my life for a few weeks'.''
She ended up staying in the Big Brother house for three months. ''I just forgot about the cameras completely. Since then, people will say things to me about myself, and I'll be thinking, 'How did you know that?'
''They don't realise that when you're in there it's not like being on a TV set, you can't see the cameras, so I didn't learn anything about making TV being there.''
She did learn how other people saw her. The qualities her group of friends had always taken for granted became talking points among the strangers in the house. ''My laugh, in particular, was something people remembered. I'd never heard people remark on that before. They were saying my laugh was infectious and I had such a positive outlook on life, all of these were things I'd never heard before, so that was interesting.
''The fact that I love a laugh and will pursue that at the cost of everything else is, I think, my defining characteristic.''
Swan describes herself as ''not very ambitious''. Instead, what has shaped her career is seizing opportunities. ''I'm a calculated risk-taker. I hate the idea of living with the what-if.''
Big Brother offered the first taste of fame, but it was the next offer - an invitation to do breakfast radio on the Sunshine Coast - that properly launched her media career. It was another what-if moment. ''Commonsense told me, 'No, I don't need to move to Queensland. I love living in Melbourne, this is my home, I was born here.' But there was this nagging feeling, 'What if it's great, what if I love it?' ''
She did love it, chalking up eight years behind the microphone. The relentless hours were a perfect training for her dual role of combining a daily morning show with bringing up toddler Leo. She'll be taking time off from the show in three months to have a second child.
''I look forward to starting at 6.45am,'' she says. ''It's a breeze after breakfast radio where we started at 3.45am, which is truly evil! Doing it for two mornings in a row was bad enough, let alone for months and years. So my current routine, it's great. I'm home by about 2.30pm, so I get to have an amazing job and then be home with Leo.''
A decade ago Swan was a St Kilda Road office worker. This week she's showing ultrasound pictures of her baby on national television. Next Sunday, she's going to have the cameras on her when Australian television's greatest award is announced. Swan is taking it all in her stride, being herself.
''I don't have a filter,'' she says. ''I learned in radio that the media is a hungry beast and you need to feed it all the time. In the first three weeks of radio I thought I was running out of things to say.
''If you contrive a character, if you try and deliver something to the listeners or viewers that isn't 100 per cent authentic, it's really hard. I figured that if I was just open slather, like I am with my friends, it'll work.''
Awards or not, Swan says this is the best gig she could possibly have. On top of the requests for hugs from fans, the presenters just enjoy each other's company. ''I look at The View, and it's a good show but it doesn't have the fun that we have. Overseas guests who've been on it tell us those girls aren't having a singalong in the green room before the show like we are!''
The Circle is on 10am weekdays on Ten.
John Mangan
April 24, 2011
SMH
The unexpected popularity of live morning show The Circle has been attributed to presenter Chrissie Swan. Photo: Simon Schluter
Big Brother was Chrissie Swan's springboard to an unexpected career. Now she's a long shot for the Gold Logie next Sunday.
AFTER two hours of intense clapping, laughing and suppressing of coughs, the audience of another broadcast of Channel Ten's live morning show, The Circle, can relax as the final credits role. Comedian Fiona O'Loughlin and Olympian Tamsyn Lewis have been interviewed, the hot cross buns have been baked in the cooking segment, the ritual advertorials have been observed. Now, through the morass of cameras, microphones, lights and cables steps bubbly presenter Chrissie Swan to bid adieu to the several dozen squeezed into the bleachers.
''It's my birthday today, Chrissie,'' calls one audience member. ''Can I have a hug?'' She beams with delight; after all, it's not every day you get embraced by a Gold Logie nominee.
Eddie McGuire may not agree - he famously decried her nomination recently on radio - but after almost a decade of TV and radio, Swan is riding a wave of popularity. Since early last year, the former advertising writer has been building up a dedicated following on the couch of Ten's morning program with Yumi Stynes, Denise Drysdale and Gorgi Coghlan, as they cajole, empathise, question and giggle their way through two hours of live TV five days a week.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Part of McGuire's grievance with Swan's nomination was that The Circle doesn't have a big enough audience - OzTam estimates fewer than 100,000 watch at any given time, compared to the million-plus who watch some other nominees such as Packed to the Rafters' Rebecca Gibney and Jessica Marais.
But fans argue The Circle is a show people dip into for 30 minutes or so, which means the cumulative audience across the week would be substantial, possibly about 1 million. They attribute the Gold Logie nomination, as well as the nomination for most popular light entertainment program, to its wide reach.
While The View, the US show with Whoopi Goldberg that The Circle is most often likened to, has argumentative presenters, the Australian program's veteran executive producer, Pam Barnes, says one of the key qualities they were looking for when casting hosts was warmth. ''We wanted it to be like having four girlfriends around for coffee and a chat, talking about the topics of the day,'' says Barnes, who's worked with a few Gold Logie winners in a career extending from Hey Hey! and The X Factor back to In Melbourne Tonight with Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton.
''We were looking for people the audience could identify with who were intelligent and had a sense of fun. Chrissie ticked all the boxes. She's very perceptive and makes everyone feel comfortable. It's so easy to love her, it really is, which is why so many of our viewers voted for her [in the Logies].''
Former TV newsreader and regular guest presenter on The Circle, Indira Naidoo, says the Logie nomination reflects various factors. ''No matter what show you put Chrissie in, she would shine through,'' Naidoo says. ''She's a really extraordinarily naturally gifted talent. She genuinely loves people, she has wonderful comic timing, and she's a really, really funny interviewer - her brain is thinking on 20 different levels at the same time. And people feel a sense of connection with her.''
Long-time Age TV reviewer Jim Murphy enthuses about the chemistry of the Circle team. ''There's never been a time when I've tuned in that I haven't been amused and enjoyed it,'' he says.
''They just look like people you'd like to be with at a dinner party. The format is pretty stereotypical, but it's done so well.''
As for Swan, he's struck by her freshness. ''She's just sunshine on a stick, that big smile, so welcoming. She seems to be genuinely interested in everybody and comes across as one of those people who gets a lot of fun out of life.''
Time and again, those who know her say that the person you see on TV is the genuine Chrissie Swan. It's one of the qualities that put her in the national limelight back in 2003 when she wrestled with the opportunity to appear on Big Brother.
Set for a lifetime career in advertising, having done a spell with a big agency in Indonesia, the thought of taking time out for a holiday on the set of Big Brother seemed a mixed blessing.
''Applying for it had been a kind of joke for me and my friends,'' she says. ''I loved the show and we thought it would be funny if one of us was in it. As I kept going through the different short-lists, I thought; surely, at the next one they're going to tell me, 'Don't be ridiculous'. Then when I was selected, I was still thinking 'I just can't walk away from my life for a few weeks'.''
She ended up staying in the Big Brother house for three months. ''I just forgot about the cameras completely. Since then, people will say things to me about myself, and I'll be thinking, 'How did you know that?'
''They don't realise that when you're in there it's not like being on a TV set, you can't see the cameras, so I didn't learn anything about making TV being there.''
She did learn how other people saw her. The qualities her group of friends had always taken for granted became talking points among the strangers in the house. ''My laugh, in particular, was something people remembered. I'd never heard people remark on that before. They were saying my laugh was infectious and I had such a positive outlook on life, all of these were things I'd never heard before, so that was interesting.
''The fact that I love a laugh and will pursue that at the cost of everything else is, I think, my defining characteristic.''
Swan describes herself as ''not very ambitious''. Instead, what has shaped her career is seizing opportunities. ''I'm a calculated risk-taker. I hate the idea of living with the what-if.''
Big Brother offered the first taste of fame, but it was the next offer - an invitation to do breakfast radio on the Sunshine Coast - that properly launched her media career. It was another what-if moment. ''Commonsense told me, 'No, I don't need to move to Queensland. I love living in Melbourne, this is my home, I was born here.' But there was this nagging feeling, 'What if it's great, what if I love it?' ''
She did love it, chalking up eight years behind the microphone. The relentless hours were a perfect training for her dual role of combining a daily morning show with bringing up toddler Leo. She'll be taking time off from the show in three months to have a second child.
''I look forward to starting at 6.45am,'' she says. ''It's a breeze after breakfast radio where we started at 3.45am, which is truly evil! Doing it for two mornings in a row was bad enough, let alone for months and years. So my current routine, it's great. I'm home by about 2.30pm, so I get to have an amazing job and then be home with Leo.''
A decade ago Swan was a St Kilda Road office worker. This week she's showing ultrasound pictures of her baby on national television. Next Sunday, she's going to have the cameras on her when Australian television's greatest award is announced. Swan is taking it all in her stride, being herself.
''I don't have a filter,'' she says. ''I learned in radio that the media is a hungry beast and you need to feed it all the time. In the first three weeks of radio I thought I was running out of things to say.
''If you contrive a character, if you try and deliver something to the listeners or viewers that isn't 100 per cent authentic, it's really hard. I figured that if I was just open slather, like I am with my friends, it'll work.''
Awards or not, Swan says this is the best gig she could possibly have. On top of the requests for hugs from fans, the presenters just enjoy each other's company. ''I look at The View, and it's a good show but it doesn't have the fun that we have. Overseas guests who've been on it tell us those girls aren't having a singalong in the green room before the show like we are!''
The Circle is on 10am weekdays on Ten.
