lara bingle

Michael Clarke Will Make These Children Paaaaay!

9:27AM Clem Bastow | It’s always nice to hear that Australia’s model bedding cricketing heroes are doing something for the kids – like WeetBix commercials, or cricketing coaching sessions at the local orphanage. Or, if you’re Michael Clarke, charging schoolkids $50 to have a photo taken alongside him. That’s the Aussie sporting spirit, Pup! Except, wait a second, it looks like it’s the school’s bright idea. Even better! A Brisbane Catholic school has some of its flock in a flap after announcing a plan to charge kids $50 to have their photo taken with cricketing star Michael Clarke and his baggy green cap at their fete. Clarke and fiancee Lara Bingle will attend the St Columba’s Primary School fete on August 2 in an appearance agreed upon through his manager Chris White, whose children attend the school. And while pictures of the future Australian skipper without his sacred green cap will be free, a snap of Clarke and the child with the cap on is being sold for $50 – with all money going towards the construction of an outdoor, undercover sporting shelter for the school in Brisbane’s northern suburb of Wilston. Well, that’s kind of disappointing. It would’ve been better if the story had gone along the lines of Clarke charging the children $100 each just to talk to him, while he and Bingle teased them to the point of tears, and then said something like, “F–k this pie stand, let’s go to the Hog’s Breath Cafe” before turning over some fete stalls and riding out of the school on a Harley. A girl can dream, right? More »

From Spin To Spinning Letters, Could Lara Bingle’s Star Be On The Rise?

9:00AM Clem Bastow | Just last week it seemed the best thing They could come up with for Lara Bingle’s career renaissance was to appear on an advertorial travel show on Nine; hardly worth all the fanfare her return to the tele was generating. Hold your horses, then, because it looks as though Lara might have something even more spectacularly exciting in store for viewers: SHE MIGHT BE THE NEW ADRIANA XENIDES. By that we don’t mean she’ll disappear from public view only to reappear in a haze of driving offences and bizarre medical conditions, but rather that Lara could well be the new “letters girl” on the revamped Wheel Of Fortune. It’s understood Nine is casting for the co-hosting gig of the new-look Wheel Of Fortune with Tim Campbell and Lara, who is currently employed by Nine as part of its Holidays For Sale program, is a frontrunner for the game-show gig. A rep for Nine yesterday confirmed auditions for the job were being held in Brisbane but stopped short of naming Bingle as one of the starlets in line for the job. “We are auditioning for the part of co-host at the moment but we would never say who is taking part in those auditions,” the spokesperson said. “I can’t say that she is or isn’t being considered for the role. I cannot say either way.” Good lord, man/woman, don’t keep us hanging like this! IS SHE OR ISN’T SHE?! You are toying with the nerves of fans of crappy afternoon light-entertainment! We feel Lara would be great for the role. It would finally afford her the chance to learn to read and spell. More »

From “Advertorial” To “Travel Series”, What A Difference Half A Day Makes In Lara Bingle’s World Of Spin

8:30AM Clem Bastow | We were reading yesterday about Lara Bingle’s new gig at Channel Nine, which comes as a surprise of sorts after more or less being dropped from the payroll after a nothing-much year at the network and we’re sure has nothing to do with her fairly high-profile engagement to Michael Clarke. In any case, when we went back to post on the topic, we couldn’t help but notice how a few bits of data had been “massaged” in the transition from news.com.au ‘news’ to Sunday Mail ‘entertainment’ stories over the course of the day. Here’s how the Mail breathlessly described Bingle’s new role: Bingle, 20, filmed her first episode of Channel 9’s new travel series, Holidays For Sale, on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays last week. The model has been hired as a travel reporter to co-star with veterans Shelley Craft and Laura Csortan as well as Underbelly actor Frankie J. Holden and swimmer Sam Riley. “Travel series”! A “travel reporter”! That sounds awfully professional and exciting! And what a great cast, too! However, travel (ho ho!) back in time eleven hours or so and News.com.au tells a noticeably different tale: More »

They May As Well Just Change The Name To ‘No Idea’ And Be Damned, Now

8:52AM Clem Bastow | We’re almost – almost – starting to feel sorry for New Idea magazine these days. To say it’s been an eventful few months would be an understatement, and things just seem to be getting worse. Apparently editor Mirella Cestaro – who is only a month into her role as the women’s mag’s editor – decided to cough up mad bucks for the Michael Clarke and Lara “Intellegent” Bingle engagement story. Problem is, if New Idea’s competitors’ decisions are to be believed, her readers probably don’t even want to hear about Bingle. The Pacific Magazines title paid a massive $135,000 for a two-part love story of the blonde couple’s engagement, despite ACP competitor Woman’s Day pulling out of negotiations at $80,000 – saying it wasn’t worth more because Bingle does not resonate with female readers. Following poor sales after Monday’s “exclusive”, billed as such despite the fact the news had already broken, Cestaro is understood to be facing criticism for orchestrating an overpriced and unsuccessful deal. Drunkards, alleged domestic violence perpetrators, gold diggers, dorks – perhaps Cestaro should just make expensive cover deals with unpleasant people her “thing”, and try and own this shaky time in New Idea’s life? We suggest a tell-all cover story about Ivan Milat’s high school sweetheart, the readers will love that! More »