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Media Watch: Monday 14/7/2025

Media Watch: Monday 14/7/2025

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It's the show everybody loves until they're on it. Media Watch returns with a new host. Sitting in the hot seat will be four-time Walkley award-winner Linton Besser, an investigative reporter and former foreign correspondent.
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Block 2022 competitors Dylan and Jenny's house back on the market
Block 2022 competitors Dylan and Jenny's house back on the market

News.com.au

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  • News.com.au

Block 2022 competitors Dylan and Jenny's house back on the market

A Gisborne house transformed on The Block's 2022 season by contestants Dylan and Jenny has hit the market with a $4.3m price tag. The five-bedroom pad at 225 McGeorge Rd shocked viewers when it passed in for $4.075m, below the $4.08m reserve, during the season's televised auctions. Records show that after being relisted with a $4.08m-$4.4m asking range, the house eventually sold for $3.9m in December that year — a hefty $180,000 below its prior reserve. The property, set on 5.3ha and featuring a 40m-long hallway, outdoor wood-fired pizza oven, hot tub and heated pool, is one of the least successful homes in The Block's history. Apart from Queenslanders Jenny and Dylan, the only other contestants who earned zero dollars from their renovated home's sale were sisters Amie and Katrina. They starred in season four and oversaw the upgrade of a Richmond abode that sold for $860,000 after initially being passed in. In season nine, two sets of competitors – ex-Collingwood and Sydney player Darren Jolly and his now-former-wife Deanne, plus Queensland's Michael and Carlene – earned just $10,000 each from the sale of their respective Prahran properties. Evans Realty Group's Kirrily Evans said the Gisborne residence's current owners, a family who enjoy having their adult children and grandchildren visit, had significantly enhanced the property's outdoor area across the past two years. The owners have relocated a small self-contained house, that was previously near the dam, closer to the pool where it serves as guest accommodation. In addition, they added stone steps and a path leading from a balcony to the pool, extensive landscaping, a cubbyhouse, in-ground trampoline and a seating area near the pizza oven and a barbecue kitchen. Ms Evans said that if Jenny and Dylan had enough time to install the extra outdoor features when filming The Block, it could have potentially helped them to achieve a sale at the time. But she added that Block contestants were always under pressure to have their projects completed to a tight schedule. Ms Evans said the enhanced outdoor area would be a major drawcard for buyers. 'I have no doubt interest will be strong and people will be keen to see the improvements that have been made,' she said. She described the house as 'a beautiful country retreat' that could be completely off-grid thanks to a 50kW solar farm with a battery and generator backup, geothermal heating and cooling, triple-glazed windows, 250,000 litres of water storage and underfloor heating in the bathrooms. The property offers uninterrupted views of Mt Macedon and Red Rock to the north, a seven-star energy rating, wraparound veranda and an open-plan living area. 'It would suit many people including families and anyone seeking a treechange,' Ms Evans said. A main kitchen fitted with Smeg appliances connects to a butler's pantry and catering kitchen, laundry and mud room. In the main bedroom there's a dressing room, gas fire and an ensuite with a freestanding bath. Ms Evans said the owners were selling with plans to possibly move closer to the coast, as their grandchildren 'missed the beach'. The house that Block host Scott Cam renovated on the show's 2022 season sold for $3.75m in December 2024. None of the other homes from that season have changed hands since selling under the hammer when the program originally aired. The Block's latest season is now filming in Daylesford.

Beloved AFL presenter Abbey Holmes set for shock return weeks after giving birth
Beloved AFL presenter Abbey Holmes set for shock return weeks after giving birth

News.com.au

timean hour ago

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Beloved AFL presenter Abbey Holmes set for shock return weeks after giving birth

Beloved presenter Abbey Holmes has revealed she will make her return to Seven's AFL coverage next Friday, just weeks after she welcomed the birth of her first child. Holmes will be back in action for the Round 20 clash between Essendon and Western Bulldogs on July 25, just seven weeks after giving birth to Braxton John Brooksby, on June 11. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. It is an incredibly quick turnaround considering the pregnancy did not go to plan either, with the 34-year-old requiring a C-section procedure. The new mum, however, won't be jumping back into full-time work straight away, instead planning to work two days a week while managing her maternal duties. 'I feel incredibly lucky to step back into a job I love, while also soaking up the joy of being a mum,' Holmes said in a statement to Channel 7 on Thursday. 'It's the perfect balance, and I'm so grateful for the support from both my family and my work family to get me back doing what I love. 'Coming back to work fills me with so much excitement. 'I've missed the team, the buzz, and being part of the action. I'm ready to hit the ground running next Friday night at Marvel Stadium and can't wait for little Brax to see his mumma in action. 'It's been such a special time at home with Braxton and Keegan and I feel so lucky to be able to go back to a job that I love and come home to our family. 'I've been watching so much footy and now I'm rapt to be back in the thick of it,' Holmes said about her pending return to commentary. 'I'm so thankful to the amazing team at Seven who made it easy for me to take the time I needed, and who've welcomed me back with open arms. 'It's the best feeling to know I can have both – a career I love and precious time with my family. 'Being a mum has changed me in the most incredible ways, but one thing that hasn't changed is my passion for my career and the game. I couldn't be more ready to be back.'

Pedro Pascal and The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast are a family on and off screen
Pedro Pascal and The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast are a family on and off screen

ABC News

time2 hours ago

  • ABC News

Pedro Pascal and The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast are a family on and off screen

On a cold winter night in Sydney, at a fan event to promote Marvel's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Pedro Pascal (The Last Of Us) tells the origin story of the film's cast. From his perspective, it had been years in the making. Pascal had previously worked with Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) — who plays Johnny Storm in the film — on the set of Gladiator II. And for years, he and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) — who portrays Ben Grimm in the film — "were in casting rooms together in New York City". "He was getting all the jobs," Pascal says of Moss-Bachrach. And while he had never previously met Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) — who plays his on-screen wife, Sue Storm — Pascal notes that they move in similar circles and he credits her for convincing the producers to bring him onboard after the other three had already been cast. "And so then, when we were finally together," he explains, "it felt like family." Often referred to as Marvel's First Family, The Fantastic Four is a comic book superhero team created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Debuting in 1961, in the midst of the Space Race, the team consists of brilliant scientist Reed Richards, his wife Sue, her brother Johnny and Reed's best friend Ben. During a mission to outer space, the four are exposed to cosmic rays that imbue them with superpowers. Reed becomes Mr Fantastic, who can bend and stretch to superhuman proportions. Sue, AKA the Invisible Woman can, true to her moniker, turn invisible and produce powerful force fields. Johnny, the Human Torch, can generate flames on his body and is able to fly. And Ben has superhuman strength and durability, due to his rock-like skin. Despite their impressive powers, it's being a family that has always separated The Fantastic Four from other Marvel teams, such as The Avengers. "[There's] something about the domestic thing that every person can identify with in every way," says Kirby, "And the idea of making it work with each other against the external things. "And that's something that's so universal and that makes it really, really special." In person, on stage, the cast certainly looks the part of a family, displaying a genuine level of comfort and affection for one another. Pascal and Kirby are the parents, the headliners and the leaders of the group (Pascal further-cementing his 'Internet's Daddy' status). Quinn is the younger brother — his own star ascending (most recently in a head-turning performance in Alex Garland's Warfare). And Moss-Bachrach is more than happy to play the uncle role — equal parts comedian and curmudgeon — making an audience-splitting joke to open the Q+A session, which I won't repeat here. They also reveal that they have an active and vibrant group chat, called ABBA — after another famous foursome. But most startlingly, Kirby, whose character, Sue was pregnant, and then a mother, is now expecting her first child in real life. "It's definitely been surreal," says the English actor, "But I feel like I have been so emotional and mov[ed] because, you know, Sue's Marvel's mother. I was wearing a fake pregnancy bump for half the film. We have a little baby in the film." Having played a superhero mum has provided Kirby with a template for her own impending motherhood. "I think the main thing is that she's a working mother. She doesn't stop for a second. Not only does she have to defend the world, but she also has to be a new mother with a newborn and keep going. "And thank God, you know, the woman is not sidelined just because she's a mother. And so she told me that that's possible." To complete the vision of the film, director Matt Shakman placed the family in a retro-futuristic re-imagining of 1960s America. He previously brought a similar aesthetic to the beloved Marvel series, WandaVision (2021). "He came in with a very distinct vision, and he had the tenacity to make it, and to lean into practical filmmaking whenever he could," explains Quinn. "So, there were these incredible sets that took months to build, and he wanted the world to feel authentic and tangible. And so that was a very exciting thing." And being set in an alternate version of the 60s gave Shakman and the cast a level of creative license. "It was interesting for us because the retro future thing meant that we weren't making a period piece, you know, like Mad Men," says Kirby, who knows a thing or two about period pieces, having made a name for herself portraying Princess Margaret on The Crown. "So [it's] futuristic and it wasn't, and it was quite hard finding that balance because you didn't want to have the etiquette or the gender politics of certain times in history. It was more like the freedom to create." Despite being an ensemble, make no mistake, Pedro Pascal is the film's main drawcard. On this night, the Chilean-American actor deftly works the crowd — signing autographs and taking selfies with fans. Right now, Pedro Fever is as strong as it's ever been, with a hit series (The Last Of Us) and three movies (Eddington, Materialists, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) to his name in 2025. But success didn't come easily for him. And it certainly didn't come early. Pascal was famously a jobbing actor, playing small roles for years in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Law and Order, before his breakthrough, at the age of 39, when he was cast as Oberyn Martell in HBO's Game of Thrones. And he's quick to remind us that he is still more actor than star. "We all are theatre animals that really kind of cut our teeth on stage," he says about himself and his cast mates — his family. Beneath the $US200 million budget, costumes, elaborate sets and CGI spectacle, Pascal sees their role as making "human beings out of people who have superpowers". Or, as Moss-Bachrach puts it: "Our job is really to take care of the hearts of the characters and the relationships and trust that a great team will do the rest of that stuff." Reflecting on his career, Pascal thinks it was never about choosing to continue being an actor, even when times were tough. "It becomes the thing that you know how to do. And if you keep doing it long enough, you don't know how to do much else. So, I think that's one part of it," he says. "And another thing is that you can't really choose love. You know, it kind of chooses you. "And so, if you're in love with something, recognition isn't the point. Survival is vital, you know, but the love of it is really the thing that'll keep you in it." The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in cinemas from July 24.

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