SBS Gujarati Australian update: 22 July 2025
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News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Hamish Blake's cake night stuns fans once again
Media personality Hamish Blake has won hearts once again after documenting his attempt at making a birthday cake for one of his children. Blake shares two children, Sonny, 11, and Rudy, eight, with his wife, beauty guru Zoë Foster Blake. Every year, on the eve of one of his children's birthdays, the 43-year-old father documents his endeavour to make a birthday cake, with Rudy's eighth birthday was no exception. It's a Blake family tradition that's become something that many Australians look forward to, with brands and fans alike weighing in. 'This is our Roman Empire,' one social media user added. One commented: 'This is our Super Bowl.' 'She's going to be a spectacular cake,' another added. One social media user said: 'I love the algorithm of Instagram. I don't see your face on my feed at all until it's cake night.' 'Cake night is life, excited to see the LOL cakewalk extravaganza,' another commented. Ahead of the activity, the Lego Masters star took to Instagram to wish people a good morning and 'Happy cake night'. 'Tomorrow is my daughter's eighth birthday party. Tonight, it is cake night,' he said. 'The brief is not impossible — it's a doll. They're called LOL dolls. If you've got young kids, you will know what they are. 'If you don't, good for you. It's a doll with a pretty big head and massive eyes.' Blake said the cake would require a runway, lights, a rainbow plait and an off-the-shoulder shirt. A swinging handbag was also part of the ensemble. Blake said the hardest part was that he was filming with Andy Lee in Melbourne and needed to fly back to Sydney, where he lived, at 5.30pm — which meant the cake process would be starting later than usual. But, the hands-on dad delivered and documented the while journey. He started by making the dolls head and attaching it to a pole, which would later form the body. Blake attached it to the store-bought cake, which he had iced, and then started on the hair. The fondant kept breaking on it. 'I thought it would be like a hair plait, but it's not hair and it's not behaving like hair so we're just going to move onto other stuff,' he said, according to Mamamia. Blake moved back to the runway and the outfit, which was a little smaller than intended. He remedied the issue and pushed along. Eventually, he came back to the hair. It did prompt a slight panic but he pulled through. While the cake did look like a doll, Blake was an extra harsh critic on himself and declared it was only 'Okay'. Finally, at 3am, he was officially done. 'Thanks for hanging in there gang. Happy birthday to the greatest daughter I could imagine,' he added.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
The Block 2025 Episode 1 recap: NSW snubbed with no applicants deemed good enough
The Block is back and, this year, the devil will be in the detail. For the first time in 20 seasons, every house on The Block is being built purely for the show. And every 365 sqm house has the same floor plan (meaning minor details like fittings and fixtures become major selling points). Each house sits on a 2000 sqm block in the Victorian township of Daylesford. Although identical inside, all five houses will have their own distinct exterior. Most notably, some have a gabled roof while others have flat tops. This meant the five teams had very clear ideas about which ones they wanted to renovate. So, who are the teams hoping to go big when they go home after renovating their homes in 2025? Emma and Ben, from Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula, are high school sweethearts. Ben is a civil engineer. Emma is a woodwork and textiles teacher who also moonlights as a pole dancing instructor. 'It's the best job in the world,' she smiles. The only tools that South Australians Mat and Robby have been on are the scissors. Mat is a hairdresser and Robby is a barber. Robby is a new dad to baby son Brooks, while Matt is a former figure skating champ. The duo has been best mates for 15 years. Alicia and Sonny hail from Queensland and have three children. He's a plumber. She works in a dental clinic. After a tearful goodbye to their kids — and promising not to embarrass them on national TV — the couple arrived in Daylesford to quickly clock they were 'the old couple on site'. West Australian couple Han and Can don't just have names that sound alike, they look alike too. They met on a dating app and hit it off talking into the wee hours about their shared love of dogs and wine. A geologist who once worked in the mines, Han is no stranger to gruelling hours. Can less so. She has worked in marketing and fashion and likes 'balance and harmony'. Taking one look at the lookalike blondes, the other teams assumed the pair are sisters rather than partners. The glamazon couple are not the only representatives from the West. Police officers and parents of two, Britt and Taz live in a dusty, outback town. That means in a Block first, no applicants from NSW made the grade this year. In good news, nobody must rough it in a tent this year. Instead, the teams all get their own caravan to live in (including host Scott Cam) during the three-month build. 'They are the duck's nuts,' Scotty tells them of their accommodation, (which provides yet another handy opportunity to plug a sponsor). Mat decrees their caravan will be a 's**t-free zone' explaining that otherwise, the confined environment would become a 'dungeon of stench.' His decree falls on deaf ears though and Robby's bowel motions and night-time rumblings quickly become a regular plot point. After touring their new digs, Scott reveals the first challenge will be a little different. The five teams will have to draw on all their creative skills and showmanship to create a float for Daylesford's annual Chillout Festival, which is a celebration of the town's LGBTIQ+ community. Judges Shaynna Blaze, Marty Fox and Darren Palmer would decide whose float performance made the biggest, sparkliest impact to determine house selection order. The event had special significance for some of the teams. An emotional Can said: 'We need to do the lesbians proud and make this big and amazing!' 'Having the chance to be out and proud means so much. 'For a lot of my teenage years I felt a lot of shame and insecurity around my sexuality. I have not professed that I have a girlfriend or that I am gay and I still hide it from certain people and in certain instances. So, to come on national TV is a big thing.' The challenge was equally meaningful to Mat who explained: 'High school was probably the toughest time of my life because I was a figure skating, gay boy at a private Catholic school with lesbians for parents, so s**t wasn't f**king easy in the late 90s, I'll put it that way.' The boys were perhaps a little too eager to make an impact with their float. And Scotty had to step in to gently remind them The Block was a family show upon seeing them turning an inflatable hammer into a large male appendage with the addition of two strategically placed disco balls. 'My mum watches the show,' Scott warned. The laid-back host wasn't concerned about the boys' wardrobe choices for the parade, assuring them the Block crew could find somewhere else to tuck the microphone pack when they stripped off their trousers and into budgie smugglers. The cops stole the official Block sign for their float as well as Mat's wardrobe choice, with Taz also donning a pair of tight-fitting swimwear for the parade. Judging the parade gave Darren the perfect opportunity to get the guns out. Again. Meanwhile Shaynna was visibly delighted by the sight of Mat and Caz in their togs. For Marty, it was business as usual with the eager real estate agent already focused on auction day. 'Unlike other seasons where we have been comparing apples with oranges, this season it's apples with apples, with apples,' Marty explained. 'So, it's important you understand what style you are going to go for and what the buyer in the Daylesford market is looking for.' The bedazzled Britt and Taz took out the win and chose House Three, distinguished by its timber frontage and pitched roof. The other teams were stunned that Britt and Taz had chosen the property in the centre of the street rather than what all other teams agreed were the more prized locations at either end of the strip. Emma and Ben came second and swooped on the dark and moody House One. Robby and Matt took the bookend property with House Five. With all the pitched roofs gone, a devastated Han and Can grabbed House Two, leaving losers Alicia and Sonny with House Four. 'I hate it. It's like letting go of my child,' Han moaned of missing out on their dream home (House One) and discovering their property had a retaining wall blighting their view. Han decided to have a long cry in the bath while Can got to work on Google looking for silver linings to their flat roof. The teams now have $20,000 to renovate their first room, a bathroom. With all the plumbing already in place, everybody will be using the same bathroom layout leaving the teams to distinguish themselves via their finishes. And it will be a case of first in, first served because nobody is allowed to have the same, tiles, fittings and fixtures. As usual, Scott urged the teams to hold some cash in reserve for landscaping week. And there's an added incentive to budgeting well this season. Every week, the team who is best at balancing their books will be gifted a $10,000 bonus. 'That's a massive incentive because, even if you don't win the room or finish you could still come out with $10,000,' Can said. Crunching the numbers, Sonny said the new cash bonus meant there was up to $50,000 up for grabs every week (if you factored in bonuses for perfect scores as well as room wins). Mat and Robby saw the additional prize money as a means to fund a wine cellar. If they can scrape together the cash to do it, the pair believe a cellar could be the thing that sets them apart from their neighbours. It also meant asking a very sun smart foreman Dan, if they could follow the fine Aussie tradition started by Dale Kerrigan on The Castle to dig a hole. Understanding that it was a big risk, Mat mused: 'If we spend money on a cellar and don't win anything, we could end up with a very big hole.' Although they've never renovated anything before, Mat and Robby have decided on a contemporary country look for their bathroom, with lots of dark timber finishes. Unfortunately, Alicia and Sonny had a similar brown aesthetic, prompting some friendly rivalry over fittings. Melburnians Emma and Ben — who have done the rounds of the kitchen with renovations — have gone for a mid-century modern vibe, with lots of green tones to reflect their surrounds. Britt and Taz liked a 'modern and organic' look and so have chosen bathroom tiles in soft pinks and natural-coloured stones. Can was hamstrung by Han's desire to micromanage all her decisions. Eventually, after some input from Han via phone, Can went with floor-to-ceiling tiles and with a green feature wall. 'In an ideal world we would be shopping together, always,' Can explained.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
MasterChef fan favourite sent packing in shock elimination, as top five revealed
One of the fan favourites on this season of MasterChef Australia has been eliminated just shy of the grand final. Sunday's high-stakes episode saw the remaining contestants battle it out to make the top five, with debut MasterChef winner Julie Goodwin and most recent victor Nat Thaipun forming part of the special-look judging panel. The current season of the long-running Ten cooking series has seen past stars return to the kitchen for another shot at the title. In Sunday's elimination, Goodwin and Thaipun set the contestants a challenge of creating a meal with ingredients they each used in their respective winning dishes. With just 60 minutes on the clock, Depinder and Ben ultimately came out on top, joining last week's immunity winners Callum and Laura to make up the top four. Sarah and Jamie were then sent to a second round for the final spot, tasked with whipping up yet another dish from Goodwin and Thaipun's pantries. Sarah, who recently went public with her relationship with fellow MasterChef star Declan, set herself the almighty feat of making Pork Assiette – which required her to cook pork three different ways in just 60 minutes. Jamie, meanwhile, leant into classic flavours with roast chicken and vegetables. After a last-minute hurdle, in which Jamie was forced to abandon his failed gnocchi, the first-time returnee was ultimately victorious over Sarah, with the judges unable to look past her undercooked pork belly. The third-time MasterChef competitor, and runner-up in season 14, broke down in tears upon realising she just missed out on the top five, as the judges rallied around her. 'Sarah. You are so unique,' Jean-Christophe Novelli said. 'It is a pleasure watching you cooking. Every single dish you came out with were very different, and please, do not change. 'It's just a bad day in the office. You are so credible. Trust me. I really admire you.' While Sarah didn't make it to the final, the TV cook did leave the show with a new love in her life, Declan, who was eliminated several weeks ago. The pair revealed their secret relationship to Stellar in June, saying they began dating during filming of the latest season in Melbourne. 'We instantly got along and started spending a lot of time together,' Declan, 27, said. 'Nothing was ever rushed or forced – we just enjoyed spending time together. And Sarah, being from Melbourne, knew all the places to go. So we'd go to the beach, or go-karting, and we went out for lots of dinners.' It was Declan who made the first move on Sarah, who has a 14-year-old son, as she faced elimination for the first time. 'I was [panicking]. 'Oh sh*t. I've been spending all this time with this bloody amazing chick and now she might be leaving,'' he told the magazine. 'And so, as she's walking into the elimination [challenge], I said, 'Sarah, can I ask you something? Would you like to go on a date with me?' And she just looked at me and said, 'You're a bloody idiot!'' MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA'S TOP FIVE REVEAL THEIR HIGHLIGHTS: Ben Macdonald, New Zealand 'Travelling to Doha and winning immunity cooking in an Alain Ducasse restaurant. Unforgettable,' Macdonald said. Callum Hann, South Australia 'All the way back on day one, I was lucky enough to be the leader of the Green Team in the Gordon Ramsay service challenge, and we won! Afterwards, Gordon said to me 'if this is how you run your restaurants, I can't wait to make a reservation'. To get that positive reinforcement from one of the best chefs in the world was a pretty incredible feeling. 'Another great memory was our trip to Doha and cooking with so many ingredients in the desert that I've never heard of or seen before. Winning the first immunity challenge of International Week was incredible. 'Cooking with Hugh Allen and Vue de Monde, with another ingredient I wasn't familiar with, was also a very special experience.' Depinder Chhibber, NSW 'My proudest achievement would be winning immunity in the final challenge in Doha. I had a rough week so winning that immunity just made it all worth it. 'My fondest memory is the Dough-Fest team challenge where Callum and I were safe [with immunity] and we got to roam the MasterChef Garden and taste everyone's the dishes.' 'My fondest memory of the season far is definitely winning a business class flight to Doha in the travel challenge. Getting to travel in style with some of my good friends was pretty wild.'
