Sophie Monk stars in talk show Live From Mt Richmore

Sophie Monk on the set of her new talk show in Nashville. Source: Supplied

The Daily Telegraph reports

After a short-lived singing career and mixed results as an actor, Sophie Monk has turned her attention to a Chelsea Lately-style talk show.

Confidential has obtained images of the Australian singer-turned-actor on set of her new series, Live From Mt Richmore, which is being pitched to America's NBC network to lead in to its popular Saturday Night Live program.

Monk's program was shot in Nashville and will also feature appearances from guests including actor Michael Ray, politician and actor Fred Thompson and The X Factor USA winner Tate Stevens.

"The show on paper sounds like a circus: a country music star, a three-foot 'little person', a six-foot black rapping cowboy and me," Monk says.

"But the dynamics all work. I think they were shocked by how I look and what came out of my mouth. I think a few are still confused."

Guest vocalist Guy Sebastian has a good ear for the right song with Canadian rapper Swift K.I.D.

Guy Sebastian is moving from success to success. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Guy Sebastian is set for another tilt at the top 10 but this time as the guest vocalist.

The Australian chart king has lent his voice to Bed Of Clouds, the debut single from Canadian rapper Swift K.I.D., who was all over the airwaves with the Belgian DJ Laurent Wery's hit Hey Hey Hey (Pop Another Bottle) a couple of years ago.

Sebastian has an uncanny knack for picking the right partners for pop gold, smashing the airwaves with Jordin Sparks (Art Of Love), Eve (Who's That Girl) and Lupe Fiasco (Battle Scars).

"I really loved that track Hey Hey Hey Swift K.I.D. cut with Laurent Wery a couple years back - (he's) a cool

cat and got some good things coming," the Australian singer said.

Bed Of Clouds will be released today with a Kris Moyes video, which was shot in Los Angeles during Sebastian's recent American promo tour.

Twitter barrage: Soundwave promoter attacks Joel Madden

Joel and Benji Madden Source: News Limited

Nui Te Koha, The Daily Telegraph, reports

A leading festival promoter has unleashed a furious Twitter tirade on The Voice judge Joel Madden.

Soundwave boss AJ Maddah went full tilt at Madden, who fronts US pop punk band Good Charlotte, in an angry online rant.

Maddah claimed Madden had upset local fans.

Maddah tweeted: "Do you remember looking at your fans clutching your shirt and albums at Perth Airport and saying 'what the f--- do these people want from us' + 'wish they'd just f--- off?'

"Do you remember making fun of a 12/13-year-old girl that was crying because she met you and (sic) telling fat jokes about her.

"I don't hate you. That'd be a waste of my energy. I despair that you have so much disdain for fans to who you owe your career.

"Your lifestyle is financed by gullible fans who love you.''

Maddah also attacked Madden's role spruiking chicken for KFC.

He tweeted: "Your total lack of integrity is staggering. Seriously, WTF is wrong with you? Anyway, goodbye and good luck. I hope you find your humanity 1 day and genuinely appreciate your fans' love; not just their money.''

A shell-shocked Madden tweeted later: "I called AJ and we spoke. He's been upset for 10 years and I'm glad we talked about it and squashed it b/c I respect him and Soundwave.''

Maddah also confirmed on Twitter: "Just spoke to Joel Madden for the first time in 10 years. We've cleared the air.''

Soundwave, with headliners Metallica, Blink 182, Linkin Park and The Offspring, will tour Australia in March. It has sold out nationally.

Sonia's dry run for Ellen

TV presenter Sonia Kruger. Picture: Tim Hunter Source: The Sunday Telegraph

Debbie Schipp, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

Sonia Kruger will host Ellen DeGeneres' first official function when the US talk-show queen hits Australia next month, but it'll be a dry affair for Kruger.

The Mornings presenter will steer clear of the cocktails thanks to a new year detox.

The event, at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, will be the welcoming party for DeGeneres who'll record segments for her show here.

Kruger admits she's anxious about the gig but won't be calming the nerves with a drink. "It makes me more nervous than the launch night of Big Brother because she is so fabulous. We all love Ellen," she says.

"I think I'm going to keep it straight, but I'd love to get a bit of groove on with Ellen.

"If I don't feel better at the end of (the detox), I am never doing it again."

With MasterChef judge George Calombaris catering, the party's food should suit Kruger's health kick, as well as DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi, who are strict vegans.

At 47, Kruger has a body most women half her age would kill for and confesses she hardly exercises.

"It's from years of dancing. I'm lucky if I walk the dog." She enjoys doing Zumba, hip-hop and jazz, but struggles to make it a regular commitment.

Kruger is back co-hosting Mornings with David Campbell on Nine from tomorrow and will again call the shots on Big Brother this year. She says Mornings is planning a more "magazine" style format for 2013.

"I think now there are a lot of opportunities for morning television to fill in the gaps. We are going to try to do a few more outside broadcasts this year. To do a bit more out of Queensland and also get down to Melbourne when the opportunity presents itself."

ACA's Tracy Grimshaw queen of tv current affairs

A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw is delivering strong ratings for Channel 9. Source: Supplied

Colin Vickery, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Tracy Grimshaw has won the battle of the TV current affairs queens with crushing ratings wins over Helen Kapalos and Sharyn Ghidella last night.

A Current Affair, presented by Grimshaw, smashed rival new-look Today Tonight, in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

In Sydney, A Current Affair averaged 339,000 viewers - way ahead of Today Tonight's 264,000.

The gap was even wider in Melbourne where ACA averaged 366,000 viewers to TT's 241,000.

New Seven recruit Kapalos presented the Sydney and Melbourne editions of Today Tonight.

In Brisbane, A Current Affair averaged 270,000 viewerrs - well in front of Today Tonight's 200,000.

The Brisbane edition of new-look Today Tonight was hosted by Sharyn Ghidella.

The result is a blow for Seven which had been tinkering with rolling Today Tonight into a one-hour news bulletin over past weeks.

The first new-look Today Tonight featured a 13-minute story on a Brisbane bikie gang and a 30-second piece on My Kitchen Rules 'Spice Girls' Jessie & Biswa.

Derryn Hinch presented a segment where viewers were encouraged to vote on whether a woman injured while having sex should be entitled to compensation.

Today Tonight beat A Current Affair in Adelaide and Perth - 135,000 to 78,000 and 189,000 to 81,000 viewers respectively.

In need of a Rebel: Ten calls on comedian to boost slumped ratings

Rebel to the rescue! The Aussie actress will appear several times on Channel 10 next week Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

Melissa Hoyer, The Daily Telegraph, reports

The Ten Network is hoping funny girl Rebel Wilson will revive this week's disappointing ratings figures, having the comedian appear in a swag of their live TV offerings next week.

Rebel is heading home to appear in-studio as a special guest on The Project and later the same night on the Chrissie Swan hosted Can Of Worms.

The Aussie actress, writer and stand-up comedian will entertain viewers with her own brand of controversial and straight-talking conversation.

Following her CoW appearance next Monday, the Bridesmaids actress will front up again on Tuesday, to co-host The Project alongside Carrie Bickmore, Charlie Pickering and Dave Hughes.

"I'm really excited to come back to Australia and appear on Ten next week. I'm not sure which tracksuit to pack... Now that I live in Hollywood I get a lot of free tracksuits. It takes the phrase 'freeloading bogan' to a completely new level" says the 27-year-old.

"I've been talking with an American accent all week for a pilot I've been filming in LA, so it'll be super relaxing for my face to come back to Australia and just be myself for a few days."

Monday night's season debut of Can of Worms was watched by just 351,000 viewers nationally - crushed by rivals on Seven and Nine.

Ten's use of Chrissie Swan's smoking confession while pregnant as their opening topic of conversation - 'have you ever kept a secret from a loved one?' - seemed not to fare well with audiences.

Bad Jarratt a sheep in Wolf clothing

John Jarratt is actually a really nice bloke who initially had trouble playing such an evil man. Now, though, he can turn it on like a tap. Picture: Chris Pavlich Source: News Limited

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Mick Taylor is back. And this time, Crocodile Dundee's psychopathic cousin intends to fool around with your funnybone before he knifes you in the back.

"There will be laughs in the first five minutes of the movie, I guarantee it," said director Greg Mclean this week on the set of Wolf Creek 2 in South Australia.

"The first movie was really just a relentless sledgehammer to the head. It was just splat. End. There are horrifying things in this film, but it has a tonal difference."

It has taken Mclean seven years to get the sequel to his R-rated feature film debut, which took a whopping $28 million at the box office, off the ground.

The delay was partly to do with funding - the cameras were ready to roll three years ago when one of the investors pulled out - and partly with Mclean's determination to get the screenplay right.

"It delves deep into everything that was interesting about the first film ... like why that character connected to Australian audiences," Mclean said during a break from filming at an abandoned homestead on the outskirts of Port Wakefield, an hour and a half's drive out of Adelaide.

"We spend more time with him, because he was definitely one of the more enjoyable parts about (Wolf Creek)."

In spite of the delay, veteran actor John Jarratt, 61, said Taylor's hat and multiple tatts fitted him like a second skin.

"The first time was a bit different because, well, I have got six kids and I had to find a way into the character because he is anathema to me. I had to find a justification for (what he did).

"Now I can turn it on like a tap. He's kinda been sitting on my shoulder (for the past seven years). Because he's such an iconic character, someone comes up to me every second day and asks me to do the laugh."

According to Jarratt, who based the character on his own father, Taylor would actually be a fun bloke to be around, if he wasn't evil.

"If Mick was how you think he is, when you first you meet him, a good humoured larrikin Australian guy, he'd be my dad."

Like the first film, inspired bythe stories of Ivan Milat and Bradley John Murdoch, Wolf Creek 2 is inspired by real events, but Mclean is not saying which ones.

"You'll be able to work it out pretty quickly when you see the film."

Distributor Roadshow films is aiming for a December release for the $7 million film, which stars Packed to the Rafters' Ryan Corr as a British backpacker who makes the unfortunate mistake of straying into Mick Taylor's hunting ground.

The original 2005 low-budget film was shot in five weeks with a small crew and went on to make more than $30 million worldwide.

Jarratt's character is a product of the outback like famed knockabout Mick "Crocodile" Dundee, but this Mick - a Vietnam war veteran and marksman - is a sadistic serial killer who captures and tortures three backpackers in the chilling first film.

The crimes of convicted serial killer Ivan Milat, Falconio murderer Bradley Murdoch and the gruesome Snowtown murders are all said to have influenced the creation of the baddest bad guy in Australian cinema.

Cheesy TV comes with Ellen fever

Ellen DeGeneres

The Daily Telegraph reports

We’re polishing our Down Under Dance moves for Ellen DeGeneres's March arrival, just as we wept, and screamed and hollered for Oprah Winfrey when she brought her American audience to Australia in 2010.

Yes, even in a country known for its laconic, laid-back attitude to life, we seemingly cannot get enough of the cheesiness and cringe-inducing moments that's all part of the Ellen and Oprah talk shows.

I should know.

When I went on the set of The Ellen Show last month with a bunch of other typically, cynical hard-nosed Australian journalists, I not only found myself hugging the person next to me but we danced so much in our seats that we almost worked up a sweat.

So if we can all take to the female talk-show formula so much, why don't we have an Australian Ellen or Oprah?

For a long time it seemed that Kerri-Anne Kennerley would take that mantle until her morning show became stale and overrun by advertorials.

Recently it seemed that the Seven Network would help to revitalise her until it was announced last week that her yet-to-be announced project had been put on hold.

Australia even had its own successful talk show queen in former Playschool presenter, Trish Goddard.

But that didn't happen for her until she returned to the UK where she now hosts her hot talk show, The Trish Goddard Show, on Channel 5.

Sonia Kruger, who will host a welcome party for Ellen in Melbourne, is another contender.

The Mornings presenter who also endeared herself to many by hosting Big Brother on 9, is hugely likable, funny and glamorous, but would she be able to lay open her soul the way that Oprah does?

That leaves Chrissie Swan, who has recently endured a trial by media when she was snapped smoking while pregnant. Swan currently hosts Can Of Worms and has already won a 2011 Logie for Best New Female Talent.

It would certainly be unfortunate if Australians could only get excited by American talk show talent. This would mean that the cultural cringe is well and truly back.

Surely we have moved on much too far for that.

Miranda hits the beach in Sydney for new Kora Organics campaign

Miranda Kerr shooting a campaign for Kora Organics on Palm Beach. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

There was no Sunday lie-in for supermodel Miranda Kerr yesterday.

She spent her weekend working on a new campaign at Palm Beach.

Even hidden under a hat and glasses, there was no mistaking the 29-year-old as she spun on the sand as part of an advertising shoot for her Kora Organics skincare range.

Photographed by friend and long-time colleague Chris Colls and styled by Romy Frydman, Kerr celebrated the end of the day with a late lunch with the crew at The Boathouse.

Confidential's spies up north say the health nut - whose beauty routine revolves around rose hip oil and juice cleanses - feasted on smoked trout pate, salt and pepper squid and a mixed leaf salad.

Yesterday it was revealed the Gunnedah gal's mother, Therese, had stepped down from her position as the chief executive of Kora Organics.

Kerr will leave Sydney at the end of the week to reunite with husband Orlando Bloom and son Flynn in LA.

Zach Braff checks out the sites in Sydney

Zach Braff meets a koala. Picture: Instagram Source: The Daily Telegraph

Joel Christie, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Scrubs cutie Zach Braff has ticked off that celebrity Sydney tourist must-do - meet a koala.

Flying into Sydney early on Sunday morning, the 37-year-old US actor - who is in town promoting Disney’s Wizard Of Oz prequel, Oz The Great And Powerful - headed straight to Bondi for a walk along the promenade before stopping by Wildlife Sydney.

Poking fun at the sleeping koala, Braff Tweeted that the thought the bear was either “high” or had been “up partying all night”.

The Scrubs star is facing a full day of media Monday, starting with breakfast television appearances.

While Oz The Great And Powerful is lead by James Franco as the newbie Kansas wizard and Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weis as the three varied witches, Braff’s character is an animation.

He plays Finely the Flying Monkey, the wizard’s assistant.

Directed by Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi, the film takes place before the events of L Frank Baum’s legendary 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

The movie is yet to be critically received, but Braff says it is meant to stand alone from the original Oz movie, which was released in 1939.

“The Wizard Of Oz is one of the most treasured movies of all time, but Sam has the luxury of not trying to remake that movie,” he said.

Oz The Great And Powerful hits theatres on March 8.