Australian swimming legend – Michmutters
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Entertainment

The Masked Singer 2022: Jamie Durie revealed as the Tiger

WARNING: Masked Singer spoilers below.

A fourth celebrity was revealed on Sunday’s episode of The Masked Singerwith the Tiger revealed to be…

form Backyard Blitz host and very successful Aussie export, Jamie Durie.

After his unmasking, Durie reflected on his massive career – from Manpower dancer, to TV presenter, to friend and colleague of Oprah after his move to the US: “Not bad for being a glorified bloody gardener.”

The Tiger sang the Phil Collins classic In The Air Tonight. Much like last week, all the clues had pointed to Durie – the Tiger was shown dancing the Charleston (Durie’s been a two-time contestant on Dancing with the Stars). He said he spends a “lot of time in the back” (Durie was the host of Backyard Blitz). There was also a reference to being “very Manly” – and as judge Chrissie Swan, who’d picked Durie since the start, pointed out, Durie was born in Manly.

Elsewhere, Sunday’s show opened with the Rooster performing a confident rendition of the Mamas and the Papas classic California Dreamin’ that sounded very different from his debut performance last week. It’s still hard to get a handle on this performer’s real voice, but it’s clear he’s a skilled singer.

Then the Snapdragon – who I know, in my heart, to be Eurovision and The Voice singer Sheldon Riley – performed a ballad version of the Whitney Houston smash How Will I Know. The Snapdragon’s clues package made reference to being “universal” (That’s Sheldon’s record label) and being “not the same” as other snapdragons. Sheldon’s 2022 Eurovision song was called Not The Same – come on, Ten, you’re making it too easy!

Then it was on to the Popcorn, who sang the Harry Styles hit adore you. From the moment he opened his mouth last week, I pinned the Popcorn as Black&Gold singer Sam Sparro – and the new clue package certainly pointed to that. There were references to Lindsay Lohan (Sam’s penned songs with her) and George Michael (Sam was on the line-up for an Aussie tribute concert to the late star).

Last Sunday’s Masked Singer premiere got the season off to a cracking start, with one of the show’s best-kept secrets revealed when actor Ryan Moloney – aka Toadfish from neighbors – was unmasked after a surprisingly decent rendition of an Ed Sheeran hit.

There was another surprise the following night, when the Caterpillar was revealed to be Australian swimming legend Lisa Curry.

And on Tuesday came the reveal of another celeb it felt like nobody had guessed correctly, when the Thong was unmasked as Looking for Alibrandi actress Australian Survivor winner) Pia Miranda.

Meanwhile, we’ve had our annual guess at who exactly is beneath each of the remaining masks this season – and we’re confident we’ve correctly picked at least five of the contestants’ true identities.

The Masked Singer continues 7:30pm Monday on Ten.

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Categories
Sports

Candice Warner drops brutal Kyle Chalmers truth

The swimming is officially over at the Commonwealth Games and while Australia dominated with a towering medal tally, there was plenty of attention on the Dolphins over what was happening outside the pool.

Kyle Chalmers slammed the media for delving into a reported “love triangle” between himself, Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson, saying all the attention and “clickbait” focused on his personal life might drive him out of the sport.

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Chalmers was romantically involved with McKeon before she started dating Simpson, whose incredible comeback to swimming from his music career has been one of the biggest storylines in Birmingham.

The swimmers involved have repeatedly denied there’s any bad blood between them, while Chalmers went on the offensive and ripped into the media. His father Brett did the same, blasting the national obsession with Simpson as he complained not enough credit was being directed to other swimmers and their achievements in Birmingham.

Kyle Chalmers’ outstanding results were overshadowed by his angst with the media. Picture: Glyn KIRK / AFPSource: AFP

Candice drops truth bombs on Kyle

Ex-Aussie swimmer turned popular TV presenter Johanna Griggs said earlier in the week Chalmers was “feeding” the media frenzy by constantly engaging with it, and former Ironwoman Candice Warner is on the same page.

Warner said she was “really surprised” by how Chalmers handled the headlines, saying she expected someone who dealt with the attention thrust upon him in 2016 when he won gold in the 100m freestyle at the Rio Olympics to be better prepared for the media barrage.

“He knows how to deal with the pressure. Why is he allowing the media to make these comments?” Warner told Fox Sports program The Back Page this week.

“Why hasn’t he put a self-imposed media ban (on himself) until the Games are over? I’m just really a little bit confused by the situation and why he’s engaging with the media.

“He’s not in the wrong, but he also has the power and ability to stop it and also just to focus on his swim events.

“Should I know how to deal with this pressure? Should I know how to deal with this completely?”

Reports of possible friction between Chalmers and Simpson first emerged at this year’s national championships in Adelaide, leading Warner to question why the 24-year-old wasn’t more prepared for the questions he’d face in Birmingham.

“Would there not have been a strategy put into place before these Games? We haven’t just started talking about this now, we’ve been speaking about this love triangle before the Commonwealth Games,” Warner said.

She adding Chalmers’ team and Swimming Australia should have “put some sort of strategy into place knowing this could have been a possibility”.

Warner also said Chalmers — who she described as an “alpha male” — would understandably be affected by McKeon’s relationship with Simpson given their history, suggesting “his ego would be burnt a little bit”.

Candice Warner believes Chalmers needed to come into the Commonwealth Games with a smarter strategy. Picture: Michael Errey/AFPSource: AFP

‘He likes the attention but not the scrutiny’

Chalmers has been irked by attention being lavished on Simpson and his personal life at the expense of other swimmers whose feats also deserve praise. Courier Mail chief sports writer Robert Craddock suggested Chalmers craves positive headlines about himself but can’t handle it when coverage isn’t so rosy.

“It appears to me as if he likes the attention but not the scrutiny — and there is just a fine line between them and they often overlap,” Craddock told The Back Page.

“I think he’s one of those guys who can’t live with it and can’t live without it and finds it very awkward.

“He’s on Instagram, he’s out there, he’s happy to put himself front and center but like a lot of swimmers, when it’s big time, when it’s Games time, the force of the coverage hits them hard.”

Australian swimming legend Susie O’Neill had a different take on how the situation has affected the national team in Birmingham.

O’Neill — who was in Tokyo for last year’s Olympics — was adamant there is no rift among the Dolphins and said it’s harder for athletes these days to block out negative publicity because of social media and the insatiable news cycle.

“I think what they’re struggling with is, if you think about swimmers, they spend 30-40 hours a week trying to improve one one-hundredth of a second — such specific, objective goals,” she told The Back Page.

“So when they get asked subjective questions not even to do with their sport, you know, reality TV stuff, they’re confused and I think get offended by that.”

The sprint king wanted to silence his critics. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

Why Chalmers is kicking up a stink

Meanwhile, SEN boss Craig Hutchison believes Chalmers is struggling in adjusting to the added scrutiny because he’s been so used to positive coverage for the majority of his career.

“He has had a charmed run as a young man with the media. That rarely happens to the bulk of society and you get a disproportionate comfort that you are … a figure that gets a lot of adulation,” Hutchison said on his media podcast The Sounding Board.

“So when things go wrong, you’re not emotionally equipped to necessarily handle the negativity.

“Then it often sways the other way because you overreact, or react to a certain way.”

Journalist Damian Barrett told The Sounding Board: “What he (Chalmers) doesn’t get… you can’t control media. No matter who you are and what run you’ve got.”

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