Australia’s Next Top Model standout Simone Holtznagel gets behind the wheel for the Gumball 3000 rally

IT was Simone Holtznagel’s curves which saw the Wollongong wonder girl stand out on Australia’s Next Top Model contest.

Matt Preston in his guest appearance on Neighbours.

IT was Simone Holtznagel’s curves which saw the Wollongong wonder girl stand out on Australia’s Next Top Model contest.

Now, as a newly-minted Guess campaign model, the 21-year-old is going to have to learn how to really handle them — behind the wheel of a sports car, that is, after being recruited by the brand’s boss Paul Marciano to represent the fashion house in the famous Gumball 3000 rally.

The action adventure, which will see about 100 racers set off on a trans-Atlantic course — starting in Stockholm and finishing in Las Vegas — is the latest perk of her modelling work, after being scouted off Instagram by Marciano just six months ago.

Last week saw the publication of the first images of Holtznagel as an official poster girl for a new collection of Guess accessories — the same label which helped launch the careers of Anna-Nicole Smith, Claudia Schiffer and current model-of-the-moment (and Aussie pop prince Cody Simpson’s girlfriend) Gigi Hadid.

Swept up in a whirlwind of test shoots, castings and daily bookings, the glamorous blonde has barely had time to settle into her new base in Los Angeles (a pad off Sunset Boulevard which she shares with her pal, X Factor host Luke Jacobz).

Speaking from LA, where she was due to take delivery of her own Penelope Pitstop-style racer’s suit, the reality TV grad-donegood was almost as excited as her father at starting in the supercar race on May 23.

“The good thing is dad made me learn to drive in a manual and this year, Gumball are racing Dodge Vipers and I’m the only one of the three (Guess models) going who can drive a stick shift.

“I’ll probably just drive as we leave all the checkpoints, but I can’t wait to have a go.”

No one would be cheering on her international success more than the late Charlotte Dawson, who took Holtznagel under her wing on ANTM and mothered her fledgling career after she placed third in the Fox8 competition (which returns for a new season at 7.30pm on Thursday, April 30).

The young model has felt “Daws” guiding hand in the last year, as she has realised the potential Dawson saw in her during the 2011 model search series.

“It’s been especially great to think ... I just hope that she’d be proud,” Holtznagel said.

YAEL’S MARRIAGE NO PRISON DRAMA

ORANGE Is The New Black’s Yael Stone and her actor husband Dan Spielman are the first to admit their newly married life didn’t exactly go to the usual script.

Yael Stone and Dan Spielman. Picture: Getty

Sydney-born Stone and The Code star wed in 2012 at a “pretty crazy” period in both their careers, when work seemed determined to get in the way of the relationship.

We got married, I got the (OITNB) job, then he got a part in (ABC telemovie) An Accidental Soldier.

Three days after the wedding he was in Western Australia, I was in New York — literally you cannot get further away from each other,” Stone told me during a Netflix press call at Sydney’s Q Hotel.

“I called him and said ‘how are you?’ and he said ‘ah, I just did a pretty intense sex scene with Marie Bunel, the French movie star’ and I said ‘well, I just did, you know a sex scene with (co-star) Natasha Lyonne in a dirty bathroom in prison’ and we were both like ‘great, I love you, everything’s good, good start to the marriage.”

His acclaimed role last year on The Code “meant there was less kissing, but only by a small amount,” Stone added

“But I love that show. I’m really excited to see the new season.”

STEFAN’S RAMSAY STREET SECRETS

HE’S the longest-serving cast member on Australia’s longest-running drama, so Neighbours star Stefan Dennis had a long list of secrets to tell at the show’s 30th anniversary celebrations in Melbourne last Thursday night.

Acting as MC at the party at Carousel cafe, Albert Park, Dennis recalled the day he had to juggle acting duties with daddy daycare for his then three-year-old son.

The toddler happily played on set right up to the moment Dennis was due to start filming and then the little lad made his displeasure known, crying inconsolably.

In a bit of clever improvisation, Dennis revealed: “The scene had to be shot from my waist up because my son spent the whole time clinging to my leg and just wouldn’t let go.”

Meanwhile, the undisputed star of the party was Bouncer the dog, who shocked some when he arrived to work the photo wall with his former Ramsay Street co-stars.

The real shock?

Cate Blanchett is keen to work on Downton Abbey. Picture: Getty

‘He’ was actually a ‘she’ dog on the night (the original Bouncer died of cancer in 1997).

IS OUR CATE PART OF THE GILDED AGE?

CATE Blanchett has previously revealed she made it known to all the right people she was keen to work in the hallowed halls of Downton Abbey — but after the announcement the UK series is to end after season six, could the Aussie Oscar winner be bound for the writer’s next TV project instead?

US network, NBC has fast-tracked The Gilded Age, the new period drama from the pen of Downton creator Julian Fellowes, which will be a fictional tale drawing on the lavish lives of New York millionaires in the late 19th century.

Given Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton are soon to relocate to America, and you just know how she loves a costume drama, we see this bird flitting perfectly in a Gilded cage.

ONE TO WATCH: Akos is new doctor in the house

Akos Armont.

BORN in Budapest, Akos Armont set his sights on a life in ballet. But when a dancing injury left him sidelined as a child, drama lessons filled the void and inspired a new dream.

Fast forward to impressive roles in Janet King and Winter, the 29-year-old NIDA graduate has joined the cast of Nine’s House Husbands for season four (filming now) playing Dr Saxon opposite Julia Morris and Natalie Saleeba.

Time Of Our Lives’ Justine Clarke, Home & Away’s Indiana Evans and The Panel’s Jane Kennedy have also signed on.

TV GOSSIP: Acting up gets mum’s approval

HE’S been a household name for years in Australia and is gathering a fan following for his debonair appearances on MasterChef wherever it airs.

But it wasn’t until last week when Matt Preston’s cameo on Neighbours was broadcast in the UK that he finally got the seal of approval from back home.

Matt Preston in his guest appearance on Neighbours.

“It was a huge honour and Mum’s beside herself. Mum being the woman who voted for Lincoln Lewis when I was up for a Logie rather than me ... mum’s all about Australian soaps, so maybe now I’ve won my way into her favour.”

DON’T MISS: Sunday best with Billy Crystal

AFTER seeing Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays on stage when it toured Sydney in 2007, his performance has remained one of my most cherished memories of the comedian and his extraordinary ability to keep a crowd enthralled.

American actor/comedian Billy Crystal is in Melbourne to perform his play '700 Sundays'.

In this two-hour special, taped in front of a live audience on Broadway, Crystal is again a tour de force and simply unmissable in this play where he tells the story of the characters who influenced his childhood and helped make him the man he is today.

Monday, 7.35pm, showcase