Sydney to 'fanboy' Gabriel Mann's taste

Actor Gabriel Mann in Sydney / Pic: Media Mode Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Fashion model turned TV favourite Gabriel Mann - AKA good guy tech guru Nolan Ross on Revenge - has made his first trip to Australia to drum up some (more) buzz for the soap-thriller's second season finale.

Looking much younger than his 41 years, the former Calvin Klein pin-up was spotted out in Bondi yesterday, heading into Icebergs for the requisite visiting-celeb lunch, later tweeting that he is "already a fanboy" of Oz.

However it is the food of his onscreen ally, Emily VanCamp, that Mann really raves about. "She's such an amazing cook," he said. "She can make me banana chocolate-chip muffins any time. She has cooked the most incredible meals up at her house and she hosts the best parties for our cast."

Is she only good in the kitchen?

"She's just fun. She's a very well-adjusted, really intelligent person who I've really appreciated having as a co-star," he said.

Mann will be in Sydney only two days.

Revenge star Gabriel Mann pays a visit to Sydney

Revenge stars Gabriel Mann and Emily VanCamp. Source: Supplied

The Daily Telegraph reports

Revenge fans rejoice: Nolan Ross, Emily Thorne's loyal sidekick, is coming to Sydney.

Well, the actor that plays him, former fashion model Gabriel Mann, is.

Mann is expected to hit town on May 25 for three days to promote the final episodes of the second series.

"I can't wait to experience the hospitality and humour that has been a hallmark of all the Aussies I've had the pleasure of getting to know and call friends and fans along the way," Mann said.

Networks unveil Monday night ratings winners: Here's what happened

Head-to-head: Revenge on Channel Seven; Channel Nine's The Block All-Stars; My Kitchen Rules on Channel Seven. Source: news.com.au

The Daily Telegraph reports

Monday night was the first big night of TV for the year, with all of the networks pulling out the big guns and unleashing their ratings winners upon viewers.

Our favourite renovators returned with the premiere of The Block All Stars on Channel Nine.

Channel Seven came out guns blazing with a spicy episode of My Kitchen Rules, followed by the first episode of Season 2 of Revenge.

Over on Channel Ten, MasterChef: The Professionals contestants faced the wrath of Marco and Matt after Sunday night's "reinvention" test.

For those of you who couldn't manage three channels at once, here's what you might have missed:

The Block All Stars (Channel 9):

Dust, despair, repair, Scotty Cam in flannel, blatant product placement... it must be another series of The Block.

Australia’s favourite renovating show returned to our screens tonight but this time with some old friends – former contestants Amity and Phil from Season One, Mark and Duncan from Season Three, Josh and Jenna from Season Four and Dan and Dani from Season Five.

All are back to give the title another shot and they have six weeks to renovate a heritage listed house in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Tamarama and build a few rooms onto the back “all by themselves”.

Yes, the big shock of this series is that the “Blockheads” are totally in charge of the build. But haven’t they always been before, you ask?

We thought so too, but apparently not.

The look of shock and horror on the faces of the contestants when they learned of their fate was priceless, especially poor Amity and Phil who quite rightly pointed out that they are the rank outsiders.

“Everyone else has at least one tradesperson and we have us, people who put on concerts for a living,” said Amity who has been writing a musical about motherhood since leaving The Block and who will juggle raising children with rendering walls this year.

The smart money is on newlyweds Josh and Jenna who rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty straight away, much like young guns Dan and Dani who had similar enthusiasm but who have decided to go it without a builder, a decision that will no doubt prove cataclysmic. Have the All Stars learnt nothing? Always, always, always get professional help.

The worst thing about this series is the format, it’s been 10 years since the first series of The Block so we are covering old ground here and let’s be honest, if you’ve seen one renovated marble fireplace you have seen them all.

But the best and most important element of the show is the couples, who are not just familiar faces by now but from what we have seen so far, nice people. It may only be episode one but everyone has been helpful, kind and obliging – even the uber competitive Dan and Dani.

It's too early to say whether The Block will win the tough ratings timeslot but at least it gives viewers who don't care for cordon bleu and croquembouche another option.

My Kitchen Rules (Channel 7):

It's almost ironic that "karma" is an Indian term but karma is exactly what was served up to Spice Girls Jessie and Biswa on tonight's episode of My Kitchen Rules.

For the girls who promised "three straight 10s", they couldn't have executed a more epic failure if they tried.

Viewers and fellow contestants alike delighted in their demise as their cocky attitude unravelled into a televised cooking cock-up.

From the moment they offended their guests by declaring "no more boring dinners", they'd already left a bad taste in their mouths - but no one knew that bad taste would progress to the point of "inedible".

The girls were dealt the blow of one of the worst - if not THE worst - score in MKR history.

After all their criticism, all their snarkiness and promises of grandeur, the girls were given dismal threes by their rivals, with Pete Evans giving one dish a horrifying one point out of ten.

But the contestants were lucky they got any food at all.

Just when viewers started to think one of their tactics was to starve their guests within an inch of their lives so that anything they served up tasted like a gift from the gods, their entree came out two hours after guests had arrived.

Poor old Mick said he almost ate the elephant ornament on the table and "wouldn't have cared if the dog had just eaten out of his meal" he was that deliriously hungry.

Their samosa was given a pass, the pani puri described as "weak" and "below average" by Evans and the disappointing yogurt lassi left guests feeling "queasy".

As they cried into their goat biryani main, it only got worse with Manu declaring the meal "read better on the menu with their fancy Indian words" than it tasted.

The verdict overall was not good.

With more tears, away went Jessie's fake eyelashes and her dreams of impressing anyone at this point.

Despite vowing to pull it together for the best dessert ever, their gulab jamun - consisting of a deep-fried donut ball in a curdled yogurt mess - was described as "foul" "inedible" and "really unpleasant" by everyone at the table.

In the end, the girls gathered their dismal 41 points out of 110, slumped into a heap on the floor and felt humiliated that they had let "their whole culture and the whole Indian community down".

"I just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear", said Biswa.

It will be interesting to see if their attitudes change at the judging table from now on. Perhaps they should make like the real Spice Girls and retire.

Meanwhile, over on MasterChef, there was a lot less drama in the kitchen and food being served a whole lot quicker.

The quick fire challenge gave contestants 30 minutes to cook their dishes in round one, 20 minutes in round two and just ten minutes in round three, all using one core ingredient.

Cassie was the talk of the night with viewers asking, can you serve chocolate with vegetables? Apparently you can.

Revenge (Channel 7):

Where to begin? In the wake of last season's antics in the Hamptons, the first episode of season two rocked viewers with an explosive debut episode filled with more lies and conspiracies.

The first thing we learn is that the increasingly corruptible Daniel Grayson is now dating Ashley Davenport (Victoria's assistant) following his called-off engagement with Emily Thorne - just why he is dating her, we are yet to find out but we're sure the social-climbing Ashley has not exactly fallen head-over-heels.

Fun-loving socialite Charlotte Grayson is stuck in rehab after an attempted suicide last season and it's thought her father, the ever-shifty billionaire CEO Conrad, is keeping her there to control her inheritance.

The faux Amanda Clarke is now heavily pregnant with Jack's baby - or is it? Jack finally tackles the big issue of the baby's father but we're all left wondering.

The two big shockers are that Emily's mother, long-since thought to have died, is suspected to be alive and Emily is on a mission (with the help of her trusty sidekick Nolan) to find her.

Finally, matriarch Victoria Grayson, who we all thought had perished in an airplane crash at the end of season one, is alive and in hiding while the feds build a case against her estranged ex, Conrad.

The end of the opening episode leaves even more unanswered questions than the end of season one as Emily ponders her next move and the stakes are raised even higher.

Revenge star Ashley Madekwe talks off-field fashion

Revenge star Ashley Madekwe. Source: Supplied

Debbie Schipp, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

She may not be familiar with the form guide or the Melbourne Cup field, but Revenge star Ashley Madekwe is set to kick it home in the fashion stakes at Flemington on Tuesday.

Madekwe, who plays scheming social climber Ashley Davenport on hit US drama Revenge, flies into Australia today as Channel 7's Melbourne Cup guest.

The British-born actress scored a couple of days off filming the second season of Revenge to make the trip, where she will indulge her love of fashion.

"I've never been to the races. The closest I've been is polo, but I'm excited," Madekwe says.

Madekwe started her own personal style blog, Ring My Bell, in 2008, and its popularity has gone through the roof since Revenge became a hit.

She is heavily involved in styling her character Ashley on the program.

"It's the perfect clothes horse show, and our costume director comes in with a huge rack, presents the items she thinks are great, and we decide together," Madekwe says. "On shooting days I have all my accessories and I style the final look."

Madekwe will frock up in an Australian designer's outfit for Cup day, but the jury is out on whether she'll wear a hat, a fascinator, or go without a headpiece.

"I know it's supposedly required, but I looked and Sarah Jessica Parker didn't, so maybe I can get away with it too," she says.

Madekwe shot episode nine of Revenge before heading to Melbourne and says viewers can expect to see a tougher Ashley - and learn more of her back story - in season two.

"I don't know that she's going to be more nasty or conniving - well, maybe a little - it's just she is going to be more out for herself," she says.

And expect fireworks between Ashley and one of the show's biggest personalities.

Revenge was Seven's biggest drama hit this year, averaging 1.8 million viewers, and season two will headline Seven's 2013 ratings assault following the network's Australian Open tennis coverage.

Madekwe married fellow actor Iddo Goldberg (the pair met as co-stars on Showtime series Secret Life of a Call Girl) in England in June, but he isn't coming to Melbourne with her.

Instead, she will have great mate Tolga Safer, who had a role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in tow, and plans to catch up with another pal, Mischa Barton, who is a guest of Emirates on Cup day.

"I haven't seen Mischa since our wedding. She's been in England and I've been in LA so we have swapped lives. I can't wait to surprise her," Madekwe says.

Revenge co-stars Emily VanCamp and Josh Bowman hold hands as they see Super Rugby match between Waratahs and Crusaders

On and off-screen lovers ... Revenge co-stars Emily VanCamp and Josh Bowman hand-in-hand as they head to watch NSW Waratahs play Canterbury Crusaders in a Super Rugby match in Sydney. Picture: Big Australia Source: Supplied

Holly Byrnes, The Daily Telegraph, reports

It’s one of the hottest and most talked-about romances in Hollywood - and one which we weren't supposed to broach on their PR visit to Sydney this week.

But this picture confirms rumours that on-screen Revenge co-stars and lovers Emily VanCamp and Josh Bowman have taken their romance off-screen.

While the pair refused to discuss the relationship with media yesterday, the couple cosied up on their way to the weekend Super Rugby match between the NSW Waratahs and Canterbury Crusaders - not the usual tourist trail for actors but a must-see for Bowman, a former professional player with UK club side Saracens, who was forced out of the game - and into acting - by an injury at the age of 19.

The heartthrob caught up with fellow Pom and now released Melbourne Rebels bad boy Danny Cipriani - in fact they share an uncanny resemblance.

Sunday lunch at Rose Bay's Catalina restaurant would have been more to VanCamp's taste, after jetting in direct from another press junket in Japan.

The reel-to-real lovebirds are locked in to another day of interviews today, before seeing the sights with VanCamp's Tokyo-based big sister and her husband on a four-day stay.