It's shaping up to look like Beijing 2008 is just not going to be Tina Sparkle's Olympics. After she was hooted at for asking whether 48kg meant the weight-lifters lifted or weighed 48kg (one would think a reasonable question... sort of), Sonia Kruger has found herself in the hosting deep end again - although this time, because of what she didn't say rather than what she did. Confused yet? Read on.

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God, you pipe up with one reasonable question about weightlifting, something your average Australian has probably been gagging to ask but was too afraid of being ridiculed (and rightly so, it seems, mores the pity), and those judgemental bastards over at the Daily Telegraph begin using words like "clanger" and "faux pas" in their article about the incident like they're going out of style.

Sonia Kruger may have found her feet on the TV variety dance floor but the ballroom blonde showed her roots while on assignment at the Beijing Olympics yesterday.

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So they announced the Dancing With The Stars, er, stars yesterday, but still no word on who is stepping up to host in Daryl Somers' absence.

And since I am currently placing all my bets on Larry Emdur stepping in to fill the all hostin', all punnin', sometimes dancin' gig, I am hoping that they make up their bloody minds soon - evidently, so does Larry himself. Or at least his fans.

And in an extraordinary public response to Confidential's previous report of Emdur's early screen test for the role, Sydney voters have backed the former Price Is Right guy to win.

The TV veteran scored 39 per cent of more than 1550 votes in an online survey, ahead of former contestant Fifi Box (20 per cent) and Weekend Sunrise co-host Andrew O'Keefe (17).

Seven colleagues Chris Bath (10), Andrew Daddo (8) and David Koch (3) rounded out the field of six possibles to star opposite Sonia Kruger.

Seven publicists have refused to confirm potential appointments, with rumours the successful host will be named this weekend.

Whoa, slow down there egghead - when did a Daddo enter the field?

Personally, I'm still on team Larry, although, this also opens up the possibility for Sonia "Tina Sparkle" Kruger to potentially take on all the hosting duties. If that's the case, I will not only watch every episode, but threaten to drink poison unless everyone I know watches it, too, and pumps up the ratings.

You can thank me later, Seven!

While I can't speak for my beloved Defamer Australia Editor, one of the main reasons I stopped watching Big Brother (or, perhaps more accurately, one of the only reasons I watched it for as long as I did) was because of the presence of the wondrous Gretel Killeen.

And since she's been so "under the radar" that she was more or less off it for the past few months, I'm glad Mix 106.5FM's Todd McKenney and Sonia "Tina Sparkle" Kruger have thought to ask her how she feels about the show grinding forward in her absence:

"I think it's much better not to have seen it," she said.

"I wouldn't want to say its time has come or gone because it's not fair to the people who are doing it.

I think people can sometimes exaggerate where the ratings are."

Killeen also said she did not regret leaving the show, saying she was "ready to go".

"I was ready to go, I'd done it for seven years," she said.

Right, well, that settles it, doesn't it? Hopefully Gretel will return her hand to writing young adult fiction; My Life Is A Toilet remains one of the funniest books I have ever read, and its narrator Fleur's description of a bloke as being "about as sexy as a soap with a pubic hair stuck on it" could well stretch to describe replacement host Kyle Sandilands.

Look, I'm not going to claim credit for Sonia Kruger's demands being met by MIX 106.5FM management, but I think it's fairly obvious Defamer Australia's public support of Tina Sparkle (and her wish to see her beloved producer returned to the studio) certainly helped the situation somewhat, don't you agree?

READERS: "NO"

Very well.

In any case, Sonia is happy once more!

Sonia Kruger has got her way at radio station MIX FM. Her executive producer has been reinstated on the breakfast program following Kruger's threat to quit.

Management at MIX FM knows which side its bread is buttered when it comes to the pulling power of the station - yesterday reinstating the breakfast program's executive producer after star recruit Sonia Kruger threatened to walk.

The popular presenter came in to bat for her MIX colleague Brenden Wood after he was benched "indefinitely" last week, seemingly scapegoated after McKenney's on-air jibes about Channel 9 newsreader Mark Ferguson.

The decision to shelve Wood after Nine pulled the rug on an estimated $100,000 worth of advertising pushed Kruger to fight her producer's rights - and winning - with management confirming Wood would be back in the studio this morning.

VIVA LA SONIA!

Defamer Australia BFF and Mix 106.5FM breakfast host Sonia Kruger is not a happy camper, and when The Kruges is grumpy, we're grumpy.

MIX FM's breakfast could turn scrambled today, after it emerged star recruit Sonia Kruger has threatened to walk unless the program's executive producer is reinstated from suspension.

Kruger was in Los Angeles on assignment for Channel 7 last week when her MIX colleague Brenden Wood was sent packing by management over a stunt which sledged Nine newsreader Mark Ferguson.

Confidential understands the decision to shelve Wood, after Channel 9 pulled $1 million worth of advertising, left Kruger to champion her workmate's cause from Tinseltown. Adding to her stressful work schedule, the Mix maven is believed to have written to her Australian Radio Network boss Bob Longwell over the knee-jerk reaction.

SHE DOES NOT NEED ANYMORE STRESS IN HER LIFE. God, she couldn't even accept a Logie without Daryl Somers jumping in front of the mic and hogging the limelight. Not. Good. Enough. Someone arrange a massage and some chocolates for Sonia, and assure the woman her beloved producer is on his way back to the studios.

"It's not for Sonia to tell management what to do but she has found Brenden to be a terrific producer and doesn't want this to affect the team's success," (Kruger's manager) Klemens said. "She's been very supportive of him as a colleague and a friend. The discussions we've had with management have been open and frank about that." Wood, who declined to comment yesterday, was benched "indefinitely" last Wednesday and has not returned to the station's North Ryde studios since.

Defamer Australia strongly supports anything Sonia wants.

Just when you thought the only thing worth noting about these radio ratings wars we keep hearing about was whatever Kyle and Jackie O are doing, Sonia "Tina Sparkle" Kruger has thrown a bit of spice into the mix, lashing out - albeit in a relatively vaudevillian manner - at her Sydney breakfast radio rival, Alan Jones.

Evidently Kruger had a swipe at Jones' worst-kept-secret/most-scurrilous-rumour in radio, and Jones' 2GB cronies buddies were quick to jump to his defense.

The showbiz reporter, who registered a poor 4.4 per cent audience share compared with Jones's 19.1, antagonised her rivals when interviewed about the survey results, joking: "Now we know the real queen of breakfast radio is Alan Jones."

A furious Hadley told Confidential her comments were "cheap shots at a man who had done nothing but help her career".

"I don't know the woman and I don't want to know the woman but she has shown she has no class or dignity, taking a cheap shot at Alan's expense," he railed.

On air earlier in the day, Hadley described Kruger's Mix co-host Todd McKenney as a "pelican", threatening to "put (his) hands around his skinny little throat".

Right, so it seems the prerequisite for getting into radio (in Sydney, at least) is to be willing to take cheap shots at your competitors and to use stand-over tactics when things aren't exactly going your way, all the while getting paid ridiculous amounts of money?

Where do we sign up!?