The Scoop: Inside the world of Queensland’s movers and shakers
A major Queensland TV network is rumoured to be on the brink of announcing a new late-night panel-style show with a well-known face tipped to take the lead. WE’VE GOT THE SCOOP.
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Speculation is rife on the mountain that Channel 7 is set to launch a brand new late-night panel show, with Queensland crew likely to play a big role.
Scoop hears that it could be hosted out of the Mt Coot-tha studios and that 7News Queensland’s new chief reporter, Katrina Blowers, is likely to be front and centre in the show.
Blowers’ new gig was announced this week alongside confirmation that Sarah Greenhalgh is the new co-anchor of the 6pm bulletin, alongside veteran Max Futcher.
Greenhalgh replaces Sharyn Ghidella, who was sacked by the network in July after 17 years.
BLUEY’S METRO LINK
Brisbane’s new Metro line has been given a helping hand from a rather famous face – or voice, in this instance.
Brisbane City Council has revealed that Melanie Zanetti, who voices the beloved Bluey matriarch, Chilli Heeler, will now also be the Voice of the Metro, providing travel information and updates on routes and stops.
“I’m happy that my voice will accompany thousands of residents and visitors on their Brisbane Metro journeys every day,” Zanetti said.
The Metro will launch its first route – the 169 – on October 21.
REPORTER’S SURPRISE RETURN
Veteran Nine News Queensland sports reporter Jonathan Uptin is set to make a surprise return to the newsroom next week after a mysterious four-month absence from the television screens.
Uptin, a familiar face in Queensland’s sports reporting scene, went on leave back in July under unclear circumstances, sparkings peculation across the industry. Insider sources revealed to Scoop that Uptin was allegedly pulled from a highly anticipated reporting assignment for the Paris Olympic Games at the last minute.
It was believed that the seasoned journalist had been scheduled to cover the Olympic surfing events in French Polynesia.
Confirmation of Uptin’s return was made via an internal email from news director Amanda Patterson on Friday.
ABC ACCUSED OF ‘PLAYING DIRTY’
Live Nation has accused the ABC of “playing dirty” ahead of an expose on the live entertainment giant, set to air on Monday. The Four Corners episode reportedly delves into allegations of market manipulation, artist exploitation, and the company’s overwhelming influence on Australia’s music scene.
In a statement, Live Nation criticised the timing of Four Corners’ promotional material, claiming the episode had no input from the company. It said it received Four Corners’ questions just hours before the program’s promotional video was released on YouTube.
The upcoming investigation features high-profile figures, including former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, who accused the company of disregarding Australian artists.
“I don’t think Live Nation cares at all about Australian artists, and they are basically calling the shots,” Garrett said. Renowned promoter Michael Chugg was similarly scathing, saying Live Nation “f-ked it up, basically.”
However, Live Nation refuted all allegations, citing their efforts to promote Australian talent. They highlighted their role in supporting 100 local artists last year, and their advocacy for Australian acts to open for international performers in85 per cent of their events.
QLD ENTREPRENEUR ‘EXHAUSTED’
“Mentally and physically exhausted” – that’s how Queensland entrepreneur Maxine Horne says she felt after filming her first season of Channel 10’s Shark Tank.
The telco and beauty guru, who is worth a reported $900 million, is an investor on the latest season of the show, which sees aspiring entrepreneurs try to secure funding from moguls.
Horne, who established telco giant Fone Zone and Artisan Aesthetic Clinic, described her first TV endeavour as “interesting”.
“You feel like you have to be as ‘on’ for the last entrepreneur as the first one and I was really conscious of that,” the 61-year-old said.
DANCING CEOs CAST UNVEILED
The star-studded cast for the 2025 Dancing CEOs has been unveiled, with 19 influential figures from a wide range of industries set to hit the dance floor to raise crucial funds for Women’s Legal Service Queensland (WLSQ).
The event brings together leaders from fields like fashion, fitness, tourism, law, and real estate to support WLSQ’s mission of helping women and kids escape domestic violence.
Among the high-profile participants are Olympian Sally Pearson, former cricket star Lee Carseldine, and TV presenter Liz Cantor. Each CEO is tasked with raising $41,000.
Cantor has also made a cameo on the hit children’s show Bluey, in the newly released mini-episode Blocks, “Brizzy weather-presenting pup, that’s got to be a career highlight. Well, folks, I’m finally a cool mum,” she joked.
REAL ESTATE YOUNG-GUN MAKES PARTNER
Real estate whiz Michael Bacon has become a full partner at the Place Real Estate Agents at just 26 – the youngest across the firm.
Mr Bacon has bought into Place Kangaroo Point, partnering with Simon and Courtney Caulfield, a couple he has affectionately called mum and dad since moving to Brisbane from Central Queensland.
His career has set an astronomical pace in the past eight years amid the biggest property boom the world has known.
“My first sale was in 2016 in Yeppoon … I think it was a $105,000 block of land,” he said. “To be where I am now is pretty amazing.”
DOBBO BACK AT WORK
Brisbane radio and TV personality Ben Dobbin is amazingly back at work, less than two weeks after breaking his neck in a horror cycling accident.
“Dobbo” fractured two vertebrae when he crashed headfirst into a pole while training for the Noosa triathlon late last month.
He narrowly escaped being permanently paralysed and underwent risky spinal surgery in the Wesley Hospital.
But despite still being in a neck brace, Dobbin was back on air this week with fellow Triple M Rush Hour presenters Leisel Jones and Liam Flanagan.
He said that a few days lying in a hospital bed were enough to convince him that he had to get “back on the tools”.
“I got up and had a shave and went back to the studio,” he said.
“I’ve got to take it easy and I’m a bit of a passenger but I just need to work for my mental health.”
Dobbin said Triple M and Channel 9, for which he files rugby league reports, had been “terrific” as he embarked on his long road to recovery.
DYLAN ALCOTT REVEALS SECRET PAST
Australian former wheelchair tennis star Dylan Alcott may be best known for his incredible sporting achievements, but he recently shared that his life could have taken a very different path.
In a candid confession ahead of Ability Fest, the music festival hosted by the Dylan Alcott Foundation, set to take over Brisbane’s Victoria Park on October 26, the Paralympian admitted that he passed up a major opportunity in music when he was younger — a decision that still weighs on him today.
“I used to be in the Australian Boys Choir,” Alcott said. “My mum asked me if I wanted to take singing lessons, but I told her, ‘Mum, singing lessons are lame — I want to do sport.’ It’s my biggest regret.”
When asked if he would consider pursuing music now, Alcott admitted the chance had passed, as his voice has changed significantly over the years.
However, he did joke that he now has “a voice for rapping” and even revealed he once performed on stage with the legendary Wu-Tang Clan.
IRONWOMAN’S EXCITING PERSONAL NEWS
Legendary Gold Coast ironwoman Courtney Hancock has revealed she’s going to become a mum.
Ahead of this weekend’s Coolangatta Gold, the epic race she has won a record four times, Hancock took to Instagram to announces he and husband, former professional cricketer turned model Nick Buchanan, were expecting their first child.
“Baby Buck launching 2025,” she wrote beneath a black and white photo of her and Buchanan caressing her pregnant belly, with their dog muzzling in on the tender moment.
Well-wishers posting congratulations included Olympic gold medallist Shayna Jack and fellow iron racing stars Matt Poole, Harriet Brown and Georgia Miller.
Hancock, 36, and Buchanan, 33, met at the Noosa Triathlon in 2015 and married last year in Fiji.
Hancock, who has also won two Australian ironwoman championships and three Kelloggs Nutri Grain titles, has been head coach at Tallebudgera Surf Club after retiring from full-time professional racing last year.
Buchanan, a former Brisbane Heat Big Bash player who also represented Australia in the U19s World Cup, is the son of former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan.
Originally published as The Scoop: Inside the world of Queensland’s movers and shakers
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