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Monday, 20 July 2009

Daily Tele serves up a big plate of fail

by Ruth Brown

Keen to scoop all the other news outlets with the story of who won last night’s MasterChef Australia finale, the Daily Telegraph filed their story on it half an hour before the fact — and with the wrong winner.poh2

The story — which has since been removed from the Daily Tele’s website, but you can download a full PDF here — includes quotes from both a joyous Poh, celebrating with her family (and reminding us — in case we forgot — that she’s an artist), and a “disappointed but humble” Julie:

“This is really a surreal feeling,” the 35-year-old, who hails from Norwood in South Australia told The Daily Telegraph.

“New ground is forged when you take risks and I’ve taken a few during this competition which have paid off.”

…

“Poh’s a very deserving winner,” [Julie Goodwin] said. “I’m proud of her, she’s a good friend and I wish her every success in the world.”

It’s no secret that news organisations pre-write this sort of thing in advance, but who decided to push the publish button (especially given the real result was so predictable, even Stevie Wonder saw it coming; Australian reality TV always goes for the salt-of-the-earth bogan)? And did MasterChef’s producers pre-release the quotes from both contestants, or is the Tele twisting some words?

8 Comments

  1. Heathdon McGregor
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 10:49 am | Permalink

    Gee Ruth, The one you liked didn’t win so you go for the racial abuse. Classy.

    Po lost because she tried to put her own spin on the recipes and a bit of bad luck. She fell the way she had other times by being creative and it not quite working. Julie worked like an apprentice, showing the judges what they had taught her. Both worthy winners

  2. Fiona
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 11:11 am | Permalink

    Well done Telegraph…

  3. Ruth Brown
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 12:36 pm | Permalink

    Racial abuse? Where?

    (For the record, I was equally un-enthused about both finalists. Andre forever!)

  4. Heathdon McGregor
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 12:46 pm | Permalink

    Define the word bogan.

  5. Ruth Brown
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 12:52 pm | Permalink

    Classist, maybe; racist? No.

  6. Daniel Ashdown
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 12:54 pm | Permalink

    Julie cooked up good dishes, won the competition, and her cookbook will sell and make squillions.

    Chris was a dour bore. A good cook though, and his beer bar will be a success.

    And the Daily Tele is a complete waste of paper and ink.

  7. Daniel Ashdown
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 12:54 pm | Permalink

    A complete waste of bandwidth, in this case.

  8. Heathdon McGregor
    Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 at 12:55 pm | Permalink

    we disagree then, no definition forthcoming.