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"Why are you attacking my dad?": I'm A Celeb finalist reveals behind-the-scenes heartbreak

<p>The emotional on-air reunion between <em>I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here</em> contestant Matty J and his wife, Laura Byrne, along with their two children, Marlie-Mae and Lola Ellis, was a heartwarming moment <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/tv/abrupt-viewers-stunned-by-i-m-a-celeb-winner-s-reveal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">during Sunday’s finale</a>. However, behind the scenes, Byrne has opened up about the significant challenges she faced while participating in the momentous event.</p> <p>In the lead-up to the finale, Byrne undertook an exhausting journey from Sydney to South Africa with their two young daughters. Speaking on the <em>Life Uncut</em> podcast, she detailed the arduous travel experience, which involved “three separate flights” and 24 hours of transit. “That in itself was really hard," she said. "It was like 24 hours by the time we got door to door. Midnight transfer with two children who were absolutely f***ing ropable.” </p> <p>The long journey was only the beginning of the difficulties though. Upon arrival, Byrne and the children had to share a single room with inadequate sleeping arrangements, all while preparing for a demanding day on set.</p> <p>Byrne also revealed that the experience of managing two young children on a chaotic production set was overwhelming. “I felt like I was the emotional buffer between the children and production … I felt like I’d just been flogged for days. It was hard. It was really hard for me,” she said.</p> <p>During the finale, Matty J and his fellow top three contestants – <em>Big Brother</em> star Reggie Bird and retired NRL player Sam Thaiday – were reunited with their families before participating in the final challenge. While this was an exciting moment for viewers, it was an emotionally challenging experience for the family.</p> <p>Matty J recalled the moment he had to part ways with his children soon after reuniting. “When we had our reunion, it was maybe half an hour I think where we had time together and then they’ve got to pull us apart,” he said. “The kids don’t get it, the kids don’t understand. They’re like, ‘I’ve just met my dad, and then I’ve got to go.’ And then we did that trial where we had to have s**t poured on our heads, and Lola’s in tears being like, ‘Why are you attacking my dad?’”</p> <p>Byrne explained that their children were repeatedly reunited with their father, only to be separated again. This happened three times – during the initial reunion, the final trial and then the announcement of the winner. The constant cycle of emotional reunions and abrupt separations took a toll, particularly on their youngest daughter, Lola.</p> <p>After the winner was announced, Byrne and the children expected Matty J to return home with them, but he was kept on set for several more hours. “They kept Matt on set until 6 o’clock and we went home earlier. And it was so hard on Lola particularly,” Byrne revealed. “And then I had to deal with her big emotions around ‘Why is my daddy not coming home?’ And it felt like this unfair false start.”</p> <p>She admitted that the combination of exhaustion, sleep deprivation and trying to manage the emotional needs of their children made the experience incredibly difficult. Byrne also shared that she had been against Matty J’s participation in the reality show right from the outset. “I wasn’t a supporter of it in the first place,” she admitted, reinforcing that the experience had only confirmed her concerns.</p> <p>Even Matty J himself struggled with the demands of the show. He confessed that he broke down early in his time at camp, an emotional moment that wasn’t shown on TV. “I just burst out crying, and I was like, ‘I f**king cannot do this,’” he recalled, explaining that a moment of solitude while washing dishes left him questioning his decision. “What have I f**king done? This is a nightmare.”</p> <p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">It appears that, for the Byrne-Johnson family, what seemed like a joyful televised reunion was, in reality, a deeply exhausting and emotional ordeal.</span></p> <p><em>Images: Network 10</em></p>

"Abrupt!": Viewers stunned by I'm A Celeb winner's reveal

<p>After a gruelling month of bug-eating, celebrity bonding and questionable jungle hygiene, Season 11 of <em>I’m A Celebrity! … Get Me Out of Here</em> wrapped up in a fashion so abrupt that even the credits seemed caught off guard.</p> <p>And the winner is…</p> <p>Sam Thaiday! The former Brisbane Broncos NRL player has joined an elite group of reality TV champions, becoming the sixth man (and fourth pro athlete) to claim the jungle crown. A remarkable feat, though fans barely had time to process it before the show’s ending hit like an unexpected power outage.</p> <p>Thaiday’s victory was followed by what can only be described as the world’s fastest television sign-off. No emotional speech, no teary gratitude, no dramatic last look at the jungle – just the words “Sam Thaiday wins” and a sudden, jarring cut to whatever program followed (presumably an infomercial about knives that never go dull).</p> <p>Viewers, understandably, were left bewildered. Social media reactions ranged from “abrupt” to “anticlimactic”, with one user likening the finale to “watching the season finale of Game of Thrones, only with fewer dragons and more termites”.</p> <p>Adding to the mystery, Thaiday, fellow contestant Matty J and host Julia Morris were spotted arriving at Sydney Airport earlier on Sunday – while the live finale was still airing. Either they had access to a teleportation device, or <em>I’m A Celeb</em> filmed multiple endings, choose-your-own-adventure style, before hastily selecting the right one based on viewer votes.</p> <p>This wouldn’t be the first time reality TV pulled such a move, but it does raise a few questions – like, did Sam even know he won? Or was he as surprised as everyone else when he touched down in Sydney to find himself suddenly more famous?</p> <p>Thaiday’s triumph capped off a season filled with unexpected eliminations – Dave Hughes and Sigrid Thornton among them – and some genuinely emotional moments. The final three, including two-time Big Brother champion Reggie Bird and former Bachelor star Matty J, had their families visit in the finale, leading to a lot of misty eyes and possibly the jungle’s first recorded case of a crocodile shedding tears out of sympathy.</p> <p>While Thaiday took the title, Bird remained a sentimental favourite. Ahead of the season, she revealed that her $250,000 winnings from her 2022 <em>Big Brother</em> victory had gone toward staying afloat rather than securing her dream home. “I feel like I’m a mouse in one of those spinning wheels," she told news.com.au "I just can’t get off this vicious circle.” A brutally honest assessment that may also apply to viewers endlessly watching reality TV finales that don’t quite deliver the dramatic payoff they expect.</p> <p>She also spoke about the harsh reality of the housing market: “I went to the bank to get a loan and couldn’t, because you need to borrow well over half-a-million dollars to buy a house on the Gold Coast, and I don’t have a job. No-one wants to employ me because of my vision. I’ve been trying to get a job, but I just can’t get any work, so I can’t get a loan.”</p> <p>It’s a sobering reminder that even reality TV winnings can’t always buy real-world security. And perhaps a sign that the true ultimate survival challenge isn’t the jungle – it’s the Australian property market.</p> <p>As for Thaiday, whether his jungle win translates to bigger opportunities remains to be seen. But if nothing else, he now has bragging rights as the man who won <em>I’m A Celeb</em> so decisively, the show itself barely had time to process it.</p> <p><em>Images: Network Ten</em></p>

Dave Hughes reveals I’m A Celeb weight loss

<p>Dave Hughes spent 25 days in the jungle for this year's season of<em> I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! </em>and despite being eliminated, his three-and-a-half weeks of camp life had a staggering effect on his body.</p> <p>“I lost eight kilos and I’m stronger now than when I went in there,” he told <em>news.com.au</em>.</p> <p>He explained that when he first joined the show he struggled to do laborious tasks like carrying a crate of firewood back to camp without assistance.</p> <p>“I’d be holding one side of the crate while my fingers almost snapped off, with another burly bloke like (former NRL player) Sam Thaiday on the other side,” he said.</p> <p>“But by the end of the month, I’m carrying the whole crate on my own. My fingers are loving the task. I’m just living my best life.”</p> <p>He also made progress in the "jungle gym" a workout station contestants could use to keep fit. </p> <p>“There was a bench press there and on the first day, the heaviest weights, I could do 20 (reps). On the day I got kicked out, I did 52," he said. </p> <p>“Sam (Thaiday) says I now look like a pregnant greyhound … I think that’s a compliment, so I’m happy," he said. </p> <p><em>Image: I'm A Celeb/ news.com.au</em></p>

Body

Radio host reveals "ridiculous" amount he was offered for I'm a Celeb

<p>Beau Ryan has revealed the "ridiculous" amount of money he was offered to appear on <em>I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!</em></p> <p>The radio presenter and former NRL player has appeared on a plethora of reality TV programs since retiring from NRL in 2014, including <em>Dancing with the Stars</em>, <em>Top Gear Australia</em>, <em>Gladiators</em> and <em>The Amazing Race.</em></p> <p>While speaking with <em><a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/radio/beau-ryan-offered-ridiculous-amount-for-tv-show/news-story/9726320fdc4af29266cb5ca462c8ce59" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news.com.au</a> </em>to promote his new radio gig on Triple M, the 39-year-old opened up about his showbiz career and revealed he actually turned down his most lucrative offer.</p> <p>“I got asked to do the first six (seasons) of <em>I’m a Celeb</em>,” Ryan said. “The money for the second season, it was more than I’ve ever seen.”</p> <p>Ryan admitted that the offer, which was worth more than $500,000, came at a time when Network 10 was keen to attract big names for the relatively unknown show in its early seasons.</p> <p>“The money was big … because everyone didn’t know how the show was going to pan out,” he said. “Back then it was a lot more money and it was a ridiculous amount.”</p> <p>He revealed that he turned down the offer because he was contracted to work with Nine at the time, and it wasn't until 2022 that he jumped ship to Network Ten that he agreed to appear on the show for far less money.</p> <p>“I said (to Ten), ‘do you still have that offer from 2015 or 16?’ and they said, ‘no, we don’t,’” he laughed.</p> <p>Ryan was in the jungle for two weeks, quitting the show with just a few days to go because he was “mentally cooked and physically drained”.</p> <p>Beau also candidly shared that he’s rejected a number of other TV offers over the years, including <em>Celebrity Apprentice</em>,<em> The Masked Singer</em> and <em>SAS Australia</em>.</p> <p>“My kids love <em>The Masked Singer</em> … and were filthy when I said no to that,” Ryan laughed. “(But) I couldn’t do it because of timing and because I can’t sing.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Ten / Instagram </em></p>

Money & Banking

Dave Hughes spills on worst A-list celeb interview

<p>Dave Hughes has revealed the "rudest" A-list celebrity he's ever interviewed in the latest episode of <em>I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!</em></p> <p>The radio star was talking about all his celebrity interviews throughout the years with campmate Max Balegde, who then asked him: “I want you to be honest – who was the rudest?” </p> <p>“If we’re going to be honest … it hurts me to say it, but it’s … Ben Stiller. I was a big fan, and he was just a pain in the a**e," Hughes replied. </p> <p>Hughes then joked that he might've “ruined his Hollywood career” by calling out the A-list actor and director known for films like <em>Zoolander </em>and <em>Meet the Parents</em>. </p> <p>The radio broadcaster didn't reveal when he'd encountered Stiller or why the actor was a "pain in the a**e" . </p> <p>In the latest episode of <em>I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!</em> former MAFS star Samantha Moitzi was the first of this season's contestants to be evicted from the jungle. </p> <p>Last week, Aussie TV legend Sigrid Thornton was the latest celeb to join the show in its 11th season. </p> <p>It's the first time the actress appeared in a reality show during her 40-year career, telling <em>news.com.au</em>: “I felt like if I was going to say yes to a challenge like this, then this was the time for me. I mean, I’ve never done reality television; I’ve never done anything remotely like this.”</p> <p>“But I don’t hold any particular judgement around it; I’ve removed all potential judgement because I don’t know what it’s going to be. All I know is that it will be extraordinary, exciting, unexpected, and I hope a little bit wonderful.”</p> <p><em>Image: I'm A Celeb/ 10</em></p> <p> </p>

How I'm A Celebrity producers keep cast anonymous

<p><em>I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! </em>has been back on Aussie screens for a week, and now an inside source has revealed how everything works. </p> <p>Speaking to <em>Yahoo Lifestyle</em>, the source revealed that the show will be dropping one more celebrity into the jungle, this time "a 'famous' Australian actress that is known internationally," with the code name 'Seal'. </p> <p>The code names are an essential part of ensuring that the celebrities stay anonymous before they go into the jungle, with this year's theme for code names being animals you would find in the ocean. </p> <p>"Network 10 created codenames that allow producers to get the ‘celebrities’ into 'the jungle' without worrying about who hears their name," the insider said.</p> <p>"Producers have been referring to Hughesy as 'the dolphin' for weeks," they said. </p> <p>They cited a few other examples including: Matty J who was given the code name Manta-Ray, Nicky Buckley had the code name Narwhal, Reggie Sorenson was the Red Emperor and Shayna Jack was Starfish. </p> <p>"To get the cast of 'celebrities' into the jungle without revealing the line-up is a covert operation that has been getting more complex every year," the insider said. </p> <p>The source revealed that this is because one of the previous competitors, Sam Dastyari, found the names of all the celebs before entering the jungle and texted the complete cast list to a journalist in Australia.</p> <p>“We don't even tell Julia Morris and Robert Irwin until we absolutely have to because we literally trust nobody," they continued.</p> <p>“Some people swore black and blue they knew our cast this year but most were way off and that is done on purpose."</p> <p>The insider also revealed the the flights to South Africa were all spread out, with some celebrities flying up to 10 days before they enter the jungle, while others arrived the day before. </p> <p><em>Image: Channel 10</em></p>

"He's got my vote": I'm A Celeb fans praise "kind" sporting legend

<p><em>I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!</em> viewers have praised former rugby league star Sam Thaiday for his kindness to other campmates while in jungle. </p> <p>In one clip, Thaiday was seen helping Reggie Sorenson - who emotionally shared the story of her worsening eyesight - navigate her way around the camp. </p> <p><em>I'm A Celeb</em>'s social accounts shared the clip of Sam guiding Reggie up a set of stairs towards the bathroom and making sure there were no spiders in the toilet, before Reggie told the cameras, "He is really my guide dog in here."</p> <p>The show wrote alongside the video, "The world needs more Sam Thaidays!"</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFHyNZcMyCB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFHyNZcMyCB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by #ImACelebrityAU (@imacelebrityau)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Many viewers agreed, with one person saying, "So good to see a different side to Sam Thaiday rather than the guy on the footy field. What a nice, kind man."</p> <p>"He creates such a safe space for Reggie and is so thoughtful in all he does," another said.</p> <p>"Loving getting to know Sam," another said. "Legend on the field... Legend of a gentleman."</p> <p>"Sam's one of the nicest humans out," a third wrote. "He's like that in real life. I've met him and treated me just as nice."</p> <p>"What a true gentleman and support for Reggie!" someone else said. "He has my vote!"</p> <p>"What you see, is what you get with Sammy," yet another agreed. "A heart of gold."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Ten</em></p>

I'm A Celeb cast reduced to tears over devastating health confession

<p>Former star of The Bachelor Matty Johnson has been reduced to tears after hearing of his fellow <em>I'm A Celeb</em> campmate's degenerative health condition. </p> <p>While opening up about their personal lives in the jungle, Matty J spoke candidly with Reggie Sorenson, who was the first female winner of Big Brother Australia in 2003.</p> <p>Sorenson, 50, has previously revealed she is legally blind due to having a rare degenerative eye disease, and also shared in 2022 that she has been diagnosed with stage two Usher Syndrome, which impacts vision and causes hearing loss.</p> <p>While facing her health issues, Sorenson explained to Johnson that she had faced online bullying since her diagnosis. </p> <p>“I posted a video (on social media) of me dancing and (it was), ‘how can she be dancing, I thought she was blind’,” she explained.</p> <p>“People need to be educated that blindness is a spectrum. Not everyone has to have the big black glasses and sit at home and not do anything. That is what people have in their heads.</p> <p>“There is such a misunderstanding about blindness. Because I try and keep going all the time, sometimes you get knocked down because you try to keep going.”</p> <p>Johnson then asked Sorenson about the future of her illness, asking, "Are you scared?"</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFE704OPlLs/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFE704OPlLs/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by #ImACelebrityAU (@imacelebrityau)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“I think … I reckon I will probably change when it is all totally gone, I won’t be able to do as much as what I do now,” Sorenson replied.</p> <p>When Johnson asked her what she will “miss most” upon losing her vision completely, her response saw him become visibly emotional.</p> <p>“Seeing the kids, I think,” she told him. “I’ll miss the kids."</p> <p>“I never know if it is my last day of when I will see again. That day is going to come, and that is why I am so blessed to be here, to enjoy and see all of this stuff and chuck it in the memory bank, to make the most of it.”</p> <p>Later on, speaking to producers about their conversation, Johnson broke down in tears.</p> <p>“Knowing what Reggie’s gone through … she’s a mum who is afraid of never being able to see her kids again, because she’s going blind,” Johnson said. </p> <p>“All of a sudden, my struggles seem so insignificant (compared to) what she’s going through.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Ten</em></p>

Caring

"Please stop": I'm A Celeb viewers slam Ten's "ridiculous" broadcast

<p>Viewers of <em>I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!</em> have slammed Network Ten's broadcast of the program over their relentless interruptions. </p> <p>After only two episodes back on air for the 2025 season, frustrated viewers have taken to social media after admitting they turned the show off thanks to the sheer amount of ads.</p> <p>Not only were there constant advertisements during the episodes, but the show's editors also interrupting the action and, at some points, even cutting people off mid-sentence. </p> <p>Viewers have taken to social media to slam Ten for the constant interruptions and voice their frustrations. </p> <p>One fan shared their frustration on X, writing, "Love the show but PLEASE STOP THE ADS!!! OMG!! It is ridiculous!! Literally 5 mins of footage and then 10 minutes of bloody ads!! So over it."</p> <p>"Anyone else’s ads starting randomly in the middle of a sentence & cutting off part of the show?" another asked.</p> <p>"Seems to have been an issue @channel10au," a third said. "Less than half of the program being shown with ads out of nowhere interrupting most key moments."</p> <p>"What’s with all the ads, counted 12 in a row," someone else wrote. "Think I’ll just watch it later on 10 Play," another said. "The ads are ridiculous."</p> <p>"Just as many ads on 10 Play," one viewer responded. "I missed a bit last night and just wanted to skip through to find it… had to sit through several ad breaks"</p> <p>"Omg the ads and now the show is jumping ahead seriously sort it out," another wrote.</p> <p>"More ads than celebrities? Switching to the tennis..." yet another said.</p> <p>The criticism comes after the 2025 season of <em>I'm a Celeb</em> was slammed for their lacklustre cast. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Ten - Instagram </em></p>

Olympic champion breaks down over drug scandal

<p>Olympic swimming champion Shayna Jack has broken down over the drug scandal that almost ended her career in 2019. </p> <p>After entering the jungle as one of this year's <em>I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!</em> cast mates, Paris Olympics gold medallist Jack opened up about the 24-month ban she copped from her sport in 2019.</p> <p>She was banned for competing for two long years, for an anti-doping rule violation relating to her unintentional use of the anabolic agent Ligandrol. </p> <p>Jack then spent months embroiled in a case to prove her innocence in which she spent over $180,000, with the case putting her under intense emotional and financial strain. </p> <p>Jack broke down as she revealed to her campmates that her longtime partner, Kookaburras hockey player Joel Rintala, was scared to leave her at home alone for fear she might hurt herself. </p> <p>“Some nights I was in a bad place. He said those nights were the most fearful. He said he’d speed home because he just didn’t know if he was going to walk home into something that he wasn’t able to cope with. [If] I’d done something that I would eternally regret,” she said.</p> <p>Speaking directly to camera in the jungle's confessional, Jack went on to explain why she chose to share the story with her fellow cast members. </p> <p>“It’s using the people around me to continue to open up about it and face those difficulties and stop giving it so much power,” she said of the scandal. </p> <p>“I feel like the more I take it off my chest and take it off my heart, the more I can try to move forward with my life and not feel this huge aspect of my life pulling me back."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Ten</em></p>

Legal

I'm A Celeb season premiere divides audiences

<p>The cast of the new season of <em>I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here</em> has been revealed as the 11 famous contestants entered the jungle on Sunday night. </p> <p>An Olympian, a stand-up comedian, reality TV royalty and a 90s TV star are among this year’s celebs, as the first episode of the 11th season provided many awkward moments of the celebrities not recognising their fellow contestants. </p> <p>Entering the jungle this year and vying for their chance to win money for charity are Olympic swimmer Shayna Jack, <em>Love Island</em> star Tina Provis, former AFL player Zack Tuohy, comedian Geraldine Hickey, Aussie TV presenter Nicky Buckley, former <em>MAFS</em> star Samantha Moitzi, UK social media personality Max Balegde, comedian and presenter Dave 'Hughesy' Hughes, two-time <em>Big Brother</em> winner Reggie Sorensen, NRL favourite Sam Thaida, and former <em>Bachelor</em> star Matty J.</p> <p>As the highly-anticipated new season aired on Sunday, many viewers took to social media to express their disappointment over the cast, as the show was quickly panned by viewers as "unfunny" while the cast of celebrities were labelled as "nobodies". </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/DFAL9h-PkRe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DFAL9h-PkRe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by #ImACelebrityAU (@imacelebrityau)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>While hosts Julia Morris and Robert Irwin quipped and laughed with the new batch of contestants, loyal fans turned on the show and took to X to share their thoughts on the premiere. </p> <p>"The lowest common denominator with desperate has-beens. Can’t they invest in Aussie actors, directors and writers instead?" wrote one person. </p> <p>"Biggest load of rubbish ever," said another, while one more posted, "Some of Julia’s jokes are older than me. And not as funny."</p> <p>"Look at them looking at each other trying to figure out who each other is. Absolutely no idea," said another viewer. </p> <p>"Yeah this show peaked last year and the fall from grace is extreme. No more #ImACelebrityAU for me," another wrote. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Ten </em></p>

Fans threaten to boycott I'm A Celeb over casting rumour

<p><em>I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! </em>has teased the next season's cast on social media, but the potential appearance of a "headline-grabbing Olympian" has the rumour mill spinning. </p> <p>“A headline-grabbing Olympian has a ticket to the African wilds! 🎟️”, the show posted on Instagram. </p> <p>Hosts Robert Irwin and Julia Morris hinted that a "freestyle lover" will face the jungle in Season 7, set to air in January. </p> <p>While some followers posed a number of Olympians who they thought fit the mould, others speculated the possible TV return of the controversial breakdancer, Raygun, and many of them were quick to express their disdain. </p> <p>“Okay, I’m going to assume it’s Raygun,” one person said. “But other freestylers could include: Ariarne Titmus — Freestyle Swimming. Sally Fitzgibbons - Surfing. Torah Bright — Freestyle Snowboarding.”</p> <p>“Former Olympian Pole Vaulter Liz Parnov,” another suggested.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC4y8Y0u4XL/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC4y8Y0u4XL/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by #ImACelebrityAU (@imacelebrityau)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“I’m boycotting the show if it’s Raygun 🙄,” one person commented.</p> <p>“If it’s Raygun, I’m not watching 🤷‍♀️,” another claimed.</p> <p>"I’d rather watch paint dry than Raygun on TV … what on earth are the producers thinking," a third wrote. </p> <p>"Please NOT the "breakdancer" Don't make me boycott for the first time ever. Noooooo! 😬😭" a fourth added. </p> <p>The reality show drops celebrities into the jungle and forces them out of their comfort zone.</p> <p>On Wednesday, the series hinted the famous personalities set to appear on the next season, with clues including: a “stadium superstar”, a “football strongman”, and a “comedy genius”.</p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p> <p> </p>

Freddy Krueger at 40 – the ultimate horror movie monster (and Halloween costume)

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/adam-daniel-301018">Adam Daniel</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/western-sydney-university-1092">Western Sydney University</a></em></p> <p>Movie monsters have captivated audiences since the days of early cinema. They evoke fascination and terror, allowing audiences to confront their fears from the safety of the movie theatre or living room.</p> <p>Arguably one of the most enduring and captivating of these monsters is Freddy Krueger, the villain of the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087800/">A Nightmare on Elm Street</a> series who celebrates his 40th screen birthday this November.</p> <p>Memorably played by Robert Englund, Freddy quickly became a cultural icon of the 1980s and 1990s. Beyond his burned face and iconic bladed glove, Freddy’s dark humour and acidic personality set him apart from other silent, faceless killers of the era, such as Michael Myers in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_6_nm_0_in_0_q_halloween">Halloween</a> or Jason Vorhees in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080761/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Friday the 13th</a>.</p> <p>Written and directed by horror maven <a href="https://theconversation.com/wes-craven-the-scream-of-our-times-46915">Wes Craven</a>, 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street garnered positive reviews for its innovative concept: Freddy stalked and attacked his victims in their dreams, making him inescapable and allowing him to tap into their deepest fears. The series (seven films plus a 2010 remake and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329101/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Freddy vs. Jason</a> spin offs) blended supernatural horror and surrealism with a dark and twisted sense of humour.</p> <h2>Scary … but funny</h2> <p>Humour was key to Freddy’s “popularity”. Both sinister and strangely charismatic, Freddy’s psychological torture of his adolescent victims often oscillated between terrifying and amusing.</p> <p>A famous kill scene from 1987’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093629/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors</a> demonstrates this paradox.</p> <p>Aspiring actress Jennifer drifts off to sleep while watching a talk show on TV. In her dream, the host of the talk show suddenly transforms into Freddy, who attacks his guest before the TV blinks out. When Jennifer timidly approaches the TV set, Freddy’s head and clawed hands emerge from the device, snatching her while delivering an iconic one-liner: “This is it, Jennifer – your big break in TV!”</p> <p>Freddy turns his victims’ fears or aspirations – their dreams – against them.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dCVh4lBfW-c?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">‘Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep.’</span></figcaption></figure> <h2>Creating a monster</h2> <p>Craven has shared how the character of Krueger came to life in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1510985/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy</a>, an oral history of the series.</p> <p>He described a childhood experience of seeing a strange mumbling man walking past his childhood home. The man stopped, he said, and looked directly at him “with a sick sense of malice”. This deeply unsettling experience helped shape Freddy’s menacing presence.</p> <p>The character’s creation also emerged from the filmmaker’s interest in <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/nightmare-on-elm-street-was-inspired-by-a-real-life-medical-mystery-60527">numerous reports of Southeast Asian refugees dying in their sleep</a> after experiencing vivid nightmares.</p> <p>In the film, Krueger’s origin story reveals him as a child murderer who was apprehended but released due to a technicality in his arrest. Seeking justice, the parents of his victims take matters into their own hands, and form a vigilante mob. They corner him in his boiler room and burn him alive. But Freddy’s spirit survives to haunt and kill the children of his executioners.</p> <h2>Cultural repression, expressed on film</h2> <p>Film critic and essayist <a href="https://www.cineaste.com/summer2019/robin-wood-on-horror-film-collected-essays-and-reviews#:%7E:text=Freudian%20theory%2C%20a%20crucial%20theoretical,the%20horror%20film%20perpetually%20enacts.">Robin Wood argued</a> horror films often bring to the surface elements society has repressed. These fears, desires, or cultural taboos are not openly acknowledged.</p> <p>But movie monsters act as manifestations of what society suppresses, such as sexuality, violence or deviant behaviour. American academic <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01956051.1995.9943696">Gary Heba</a> argues Freddy is:</p> <blockquote> <p>an example of America’s political unconscious violently unleashed upon itself, manifesting everything that is unspeakable and repressed in the master narrative (perversion, child abuse and murder, vigilantism, the breakdown of rationality, order, and the family, among others), but still always present in the collective unconscious of the dominant culture.</p> </blockquote> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UBrl4H0Uzng?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">Actor Robert Englund calls Freddy Krueger ‘the gift that keeps on giving’.</span></figcaption></figure> <h2>The monster decades</h2> <p>The 1970s and 1980s marked a golden era for the creation of horror film nasties like Krueger, Myers, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</a>’s Leatherface and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094862/?ref_=fn_al_tt_19">killer doll Chucky</a>.</p> <p>Since then, the landscape of horror has shifted, with fewer singular monsters emerging. The diversification of horror sub-genres (zombie virus horror, anyone?), the rise of psychological horror (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7784604/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_4_nm_2_in_0_q_heredi">Hereditary</a>), and an emphasis on human-driven terror (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416315/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_7_nm_0_in_0_q_wolf%2520creek">Wolf Creek</a>) or supernatural forces all contribute to this shift.</p> <p>While modern horror continues to thrive, few characters have achieved the same iconic status as Freddy – although some would argue Art the Clown from the recent <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4281724/">Terrifier</a> franchise and the reinvigorated Pennywise from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_6_nm_1_in_0_q_it">IT</a> could join this exclusive group.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZuYoEtEI_go?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption><span class="caption">‘Five, six, grab your crucifix.’ A 2010 Nightmare on Elm St reboot failed to fire.</span></figcaption></figure> <h2>Happy Halloween!</h2> <p>Despite a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179056/">failed reboot in 2010</a>, the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street is strong, having influenced numerous filmmakers with its skilful mix of surrealism and slasher horror.</p> <p>However, it’s the orchestrator of the titular nightmares whose legacy is perhaps the strongest.</p> <p>With each Halloween, new fans choose Freddy for their costume. All it takes is a tattered striped sweater, a brown fedora hat, and a glove with sharp, finger-lengthening blades. Don’t forget makeup to re-create Krueger’s grisly facial burns. Sweet dreams!<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/240905/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/adam-daniel-301018"><em>Adam Daniel</em></a><em>, Associate Lecturer in Communications, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/western-sydney-university-1092">Western Sydney University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: New Line Cinema - IMDB</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/freddy-krueger-at-40-the-ultimate-horror-movie-monster-and-halloween-costume-240905">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Movies

200-year-old message in a bottle unearthed

<p>In a discovery that has the archaeology world buzzing (and possibly rolling its ancient eyes), a team of student volunteers in northern France has unearthed something rather unexpected during their dig at a Gaulish village.</p> <p>While they were hoping for the usual – ancient pottery shards, perhaps a coin or two – they instead stumbled upon what can only be described as the 19th-century equivalent of a DM in a bottle.</p> <p>The scene played out like a low-budget historical drama: volunteers painstakingly sifting through centuries-old dirt on the cliff-tops near Dieppe when, voilà! They found an earthenware pot containing a small glass vial, like something you might see in a vintage pharmacy, but with fewer essential oils and more existential surprises.</p> <p>Guillaume Blondel, the team leader and head of the archaeological service for the nearby town of Eu, was immediately intrigued. “It was the kind of vial that women used to wear around their necks containing smelling salts,” he explained, before casually dropping the bombshell: inside the vial was a note.</p> <p>Cue dramatic music.</p> <p>After what we can only assume was a long, suspenseful pause, Blondel and his team opened the note, which turned out to be written by none other than P.J. Féret, a 19th-century intellectual who clearly had a flair for both excavation and theatrics.</p> <p>The note, written with all the panache of a man who had just unearthed Caesar’s salad fork, read:</p> <p>"P.J. Féret, a native of Dieppe, member of various intellectual societies, carried out excavations here in January 1825. He continues his investigations in this vast area known as the Cité de Limes or Caesar’s Camp."</p> <p>Naturally, Blondel was floored. “It was an absolutely magic moment,” he said, no doubt imagining Féret winking at him from the beyond. “We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago? It was a total surprise.”</p> <p>Local records confirm that P.J. Féret was indeed the real deal. He wasn’t just a dabbler in dirt – he was a notable dabbler in dirt who had conducted an earlier dig at the site in 1825.</p> <p>In a stroke of irony not lost on Blondel, he mused, “Most archaeologists prefer to think that there won’t be anyone coming after them because they’ve done all the work.” Féret, however, clearly believed in leaving a trail of breadcrumbs – or, in this case, a literal note in a bottle, just to remind future archaeologists that he got there first. Féret: 1, Modern Archaeology: 0.</p> <p>Of course, this whole affair raises some important questions: Did Féret expect someone to find this? Did he laugh to himself as he buried it, imagining Blondel’s reaction? Did Féret know how cliff erosion would eventually turn his humble Gaulish village into a treasure trove for future archaeologists? Or was he simply trolling them from the past?</p> <p>Whatever the case, Féret’s note may not have contained ancient secrets, but it certainly delivered some 19th-century sass. And if we’ve learned anything from this dig, it’s this: archaeology isn’t just about discovering the past – it’s also about being occasionally roasted by it.</p> <p>As Blondel and his team continue their emergency dig (which was ordered due to cliff erosion eating away at the site like a bad buffet), they’ve already uncovered a number of artefacts, mostly pottery, from around 2,000 years ago. But will any of <em>them</em> have the audacity to leave a note for the archaeologists of 2225?</p> <p>We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, Féret is probably laughing somewhere in the afterlife, shaking his head and muttering, “Amateurs”.</p> <p><em>Images: <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Guillaume Blondel / Facebook</span></em></p>

International Travel

Farmer Wants a Wife star breaks silence after split

<p><em>Farmer Wants a Wife</em> fan favourite Farmer Andrew has confirmed his split from Claire Saunders after the pair cancelled their upcoming wedding. </p> <p>The pair, who met each other on the 2023 season of the show, initially shared that their wedding had been postponed in July for “reasons out of our control”.</p> <p>On Monday, Andrew confirmed that the relationship ended in a lengthy Instagram post. </p> <p>“It feels the right time to share what’s been happening in my life on the farm and beyond,” he began.</p> <p>“For someone who’s more used to being surrounded by sheep and nature than the buzz of social media, this is a bit out of the box. But here goes.”</p> <p>He explained that a few years ago he wanted to share the farm life with "someone special" so he decided to sign up for the show. </p> <p>“I never imagined meeting such an amazing group of women, each with their own spirit and story. It was exciting and humbling, reminding me of how important love and connection are,” he said.</p> <p>“Amidst it all, one extraordinary woman captured my heart, and we decided to give it a shot.</p> <p>“We moved in together, dreaming of a future where our love would grown alongside the farm. It was fast-paced, passionate and fun.</p> <p>He continued saying that life had other plans for them and despite their love and effort, "sometimes things just don’t work out."</p> <p>“Living together brought its own challenges, and we realised our paths weren’t meant to stay intertwined.”</p> <p>He said that while it was "sad" the relationship had to end, they gave it their all. </p> <p>“Though it didn’t lead us where we hoped, it helped us grow. It’s been a huge outlay of heart and soul. And while it’s painful to walk away, we’ve both emerged stronger, wiser, and more attuned to what really matters.”</p> <p>He then went on to thank his family, friends and followers who helped him through tough times, and shared his plan going forward. </p> <p>“As I move forward, I’m choosing to celebrate the love we shared, the lessons learned, and the strength gained.</p> <p>“No regrets, just gratitude. Now, it’s time to dive back into farm life. here’s never a dull moment with the challenges, adventures and pleasures that come from living and working on the land, and I look forward to sharing this journey, hoping we can all find inspiration," he ended the post. </p> <p>The former couple announced their engagement in March 2021, after Claire moved to Andrew's farm in Narromine, regional NSW. </p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Relationships

The important cause that brought Ally Langdon to tears

<p>Ally Langdon teared up on Thursday's episode of <em>A Current Affair </em>during a heartfelt segment on organ donation. </p> <p>The host was discussing Jersey Day with Michael Gremmo, a father who had lost his 13-year-old son Nathan after he was critically injured when crossing the road in 2014. </p> <p>Nathan went on to become an organ donor - a decision that saved six lives, including a baby. </p> <p>Now his father is honouring his son's legacy by encouraging others to have the important conversation about organ and tissue donation with loved ones. </p> <p>"Nathan, as most organ donors are, are healthy, fit, young people and their lives are just taken from them," Michael said.</p> <p>"Dealing with Nathan not coming back, that's the hardest, but we wanted something positive to come out of a horrible situation."</p> <p>The <em>A Current Affair</em> host fought back tears as she recalled how her own sister's life was saved after receiving a pancreas-kidney transplant in 2014. </p> <p>"My sister is alive because of someone as special as Nathan and there’s not a day goes by that we don’t as a family think about them and think about their grief." </p> <p>“Thank you,” Langtold told Michael tearfully.</p> <p>Michael replied: “Nathan hasn’t died in vain. He’s given life. And you’ve got your sister here because of a generous donor. And it’s not just the donor, it’s their family too. When you’re in that situation it’s hard.”</p> <p>Langdon then encouraged viewers to "have the conversation" about organ donation with loved ones of all ages. </p> <p>"Tell your family your wishes, because the final decision is theirs," she said.</p> <p>Michael said despite his son's young age, Nathan had talked about organ donation and expressed his desire to be one before his passing. </p> <p>“It’s not a conversation you usually have or want to have with young children,” Michael said.</p> <p>"Nathan had actually had a conversation with us, he watched a program on TV and it was about organ recipients ... he sat us down and spoke to us about that.</p> <p>"And yeah, we just talked about what a wonderful gift that would be."</p> <p>Jersey Day falls on Friday August 30, during which students and employees at schools and workplaces across the country are encouraged to wear their favourite jersey and have the important conversation about organ donation with their loved ones.</p> <p>"It's not just the lives of the organ recipient [you save], it's the families behind that too that, you know, you don't realise how many people are affected," Michael said.</p> <p>"I suppose that's why Jersey Day is so special as it's about awareness and getting it out there and having that important conversation."</p> <p><em>To register as an organ and tissue donor, visit <a href="http://donatelife.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donatelife.gov.au.</a></em></p> <p><em>Images: A Current Affair/ Nine</em></p>

Caring

Q+A viewers stunned by "blatantly racist" question

<p>A controversial question about the value of multiculturalism in Australia sparked a wave of heated backlash during a recent episode of ABC’s <em>Q+A</em>, with many questioning how such a query was allowed to air in the first place.</p> <p>The incident occurred on Monday night when audience member Jenny Carrol voiced her skepticism about the benefits of multiculturalism. Carrol claimed that the culture of the "original British/Irish majority" in Australia had been "demonised" over the past three decades. She cited the frequent vandalism of Captain Cook memorials as an example, questioning how democracy could function in what she described as an environment of "beating up the white guy".</p> <p>“Case in point," said Carrol. "Frequent vandalism of memorials to Captain Cook. How does democracy fit into this atmosphere of beat up the white guy?” she asked, later adding Captain Cook was “just doing a job”.</p> <p>The question immediately drew strong reactions, including a firm rebuttal from Youth Minister Anne Aly. Aly, who responded that multiculturalism is "the character of our nation", stated that it is not a policy that was imposed but rather an intrinsic part of Australia's identity.</p> <p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">"Take a look around you. We are multicultural. It’s who we are," Aly responded during the live broadcast, noting that multiculturalism has brought "immense benefits" to the country. Aly, who migrated to Australia from Egypt as a child, highlighted the resilience and strength that diversity brings to democracy, rejecting the notion that the contributions of the British heritage are being undermined.</span></p> <p>The exchange also ignited a firestorm on social media, with many criticising the show's producers for allowing what they viewed as a "blatantly racist" question to be aired. One user remarked, "Slow clap to the producers for allowing a blatantly racist question be aired," while another questioned the vetting process, stating, "If that question was vetted then I’d like to know who’s doing the vetting."</p> <p>Dr Aly's response was widely praised online, with many applauding her for addressing the underlying racism still present in Australia.</p> <p>Adding to the discussion, Australian National University Professor George Brandis KC, a former Attorney-General and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, asserted that it is possible to celebrate Australia’s multiculturalism without disrespecting its British heritage. Brandis expressed his frustration over the vandalism of Captain Cook statues, suggesting that rather than being ashamed of their British roots, Australians should take pride in them.</p> <p>“We want to be the best multicultural society that we can be," he said. "On the other hand, that doesn’t – at least to my mind – involve disrespecting the British heritage, which was a very important framing set of values for modern Australia. When we think of our legal system, our parliamentary institutions, our system of government, our commercial practices.</p> <p>“So many of the fundamental features of Australian society we owe to our British heritage. And rather than be ashamed of that, we should be proud of that ... It infuriates me when people vandalise statues of Captain Cook, and it angers me as much as I’m sure it angers you.”</p> <p>On the other hand, US author and New York Times best-seller Roxane Gay provided a different perspective, stating that Australia’s history is not complicated. Gay argued that acknowledging the injustices faced by First Nations people and immigrants does not equate to oppression of the British majority. She also criticised Carrol’s defence of Captain Cook, arguing that "doing a job" does not justify immoral actions. “Just because something is your job doesn’t mean you should do it," she said, “You have the power to say ‘No, perhaps I won’t steal this land’." </p> <p>The episode also featured a discussion on youth voting rights, with Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge David Runciman advocating for lowering the voting age to as young as six years old. Runciman argued that if children are held to the same standards of responsibility as adults, they should also have the right to vote. This sparked a debate on the potential implications of such a move, with some panellists, including Minister Aly, noting the importance of engaging youth in politics through other means rather than solely focusing on lowering the voting age.</p> <p>The <em>Q+A</em> episode has since sparked a broader conversation on the state of multiculturalism in Australia, the legacy of British colonialism, and the role of youth in the country’s democratic processes.</p> <p><em>Image: ABC</em></p>

"They lied": Kerri-Anne Kennerley blasts I’m A Celeb

<p>Kerri-Anne Kennerley has opened up on her dramatic appearance on <em style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! </em><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> last year, claiming that she was "lied to" ahead of her decision to sign up. </span></p> <p>Speaking to Tammin Sursok on her podcast, <em>The Sh*t Show</em>, Kennerly alleged that Network Ten made promises they couldn't keep. </p> <p>“[Ten] came to me and promised me this, this and this … and I had nothing else to do at the time,” the TV veteran claimed.</p> <p>“I got promised a bunch of stuff and they lied. And so instead of being in there, the three weeks I committed to, I got out in three days. They lied.”</p> <p>Sursok asked her to elaborate on the promises they made, but Kennerley refused. </p> <p>“I don’t want to go into it now. History. And I’m even dumbfounded that I said to myself after I’ve gone, oh my God. I avoided exactly what happened for 10 years.</p> <p>“ … If I had thought about it for one more nanosecond and the things that were said to me were not said to me, I wouldn’t have done it in a heartbeat.”</p> <p>Kennerley tearfully quit <em style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">I'm A Celebrity</em><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> last year after clashing with </span>MAFS star Domenica Calarco, who she claimed called her "the most self-centred b***h” she’d ever met during an eating challenge.</p> <p>The TV veteran added that going on the show was the "dumbest" decision she has ever made. </p> <p>“Comes out as absolutely number one dumb and as backed by several of my friends – especially straight after [I left IAC], them going, ‘You didn’t tell us, we would’ve locked you in a room if you had said you were going’,” she admitted.</p> <p>“But I don’t know … I’ve always thought I was pretty bulletproof, and then you get wounded and move on. But no … dumb, dumb, dumb – and lies. That’s what I put it down to.”</p> <p><em>Images: Ten</em></p>

Still fab after 60 years: how The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night made pop cinema history

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alison-blair-223267">Alison Blair</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-otago-1304">University of Otago</a></em></p> <p>I first saw A Hard Day’s Night at a film festival over 20 years ago, at the insistence of my mum. By then, it was already decades old, but I remember being enthralled by its high-spirited energy.</p> <p>A Beatles fan, mum had introduced me to the band’s records in my childhood. At home, we listened to Please Please Me, the band’s 1963 single, and the Rubber Soul album from 1965, which I loved.</p> <p>Television regularly showed old black-and-white scenes of Beatlemania that, to a ten-year-old in the neon-lit 1980s, seemed like ancient history. But then, I’d never seen a full-length Beatles film. I had no idea what I was in for.</p> <p>When the lights went down at Dunedin’s Regent Theatre, the opening chord of the film’s title song announced its intentions: an explosion of youthful vitality, rhythmic visuals, comical high jinks and the electrifying thrill of Beatlemania in 1964.</p> <p>This time, it didn’t seem ancient at all.</p> <p>Since that first viewing, I’ve returned to A Hard Day’s Night again and again. I now show it to my students as a historically significant example of pop music film making – visually inventive cinema, emblematic of a fresh era in youth culture, popular music and fandom.</p> <h2>Beatlemania on celluloid</h2> <p>A musical comedy depicting a chaotic 36 hours in the life of the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night has now reached its 60th anniversary.</p> <p>Directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504513/">Richard Lester</a>, the film premiered in London on July 6 1964, with its first public screening a day later (incidentally, also Ringo Starr’s birthday), and the <a href="https://www.discogs.com/master/24003-The-Beatles-A-Hard-Days-Night">album of the same name</a> released on July 10.</p> <p>The band’s popularity was by then reaching dizzying heights of hysteria, all reflected in the film. The Beatles are chased by hordes of fans, take a train trip, appear on TV, run from the police in a Keystone Cops-style sequence, and play a televised concert in front of screaming real-life Beatles fans.</p> <p>Side one of the album provides the soundtrack, and the film inspired pop music film and video from then on, from the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060010/">Monkees TV series</a> (1966–68) to the Spice Girls’ <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120185/">Spice World</a> (1997) and music videos as we know them today.</p> <h2>The original music video</h2> <p>Postwar teen culture and consumerism had been on the rise since the 1950s. In 1960s Britain, youth music TV programmes, notably <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196287/">Ready Steady Go!</a> (1963–66), meant pop music now had a developing visual culture.</p> <p>The youthful zest and vitality of ‘60s London was reflected in the pop-cultural sensibility, modern satirical humour and crisp visual impact of A Hard Day’s Night.</p> <p>Influenced by <a href="https://nofilmschool.com/french-new-wave-cinema">French New Wave</a> film making, and particularly the early 1960s work of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000419/">Jean-Luc Godard</a>, A Hard Day’s Night employs <em><a href="https://indiefilmhustle.com/cinema-verite/">cinéma vérité</a></em>-style hand-held cinematography, brisk jump cuts, unusual framing and dynamic angles, high-spirited action, and a self-referential nonchalance.</p> <p>The film also breaks the “fourth wall”, with characters directly addressing the audience in closeup, and reveals the apparatus of the visual performance of music: cameras and TV monitors are all part of the frame.</p> <p>Cutting the shots to the beat of the music – as in the Can’t Buy Me Love sequence – lends a visual rhythm that would later become the norm in music video editing. Lester developed this technique further in the second Beatles film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059260/">Help!</a> (1965).</p> <p>The closing sequence of A Hard Day’s Night is possibly the film’s most dynamic: photographic images of the band edited to the beat in the style of stop-motion animation. Sixty years on, it still feels fresh, especially as so much contemporary film making remains hidebound by formulaic Hollywood rules.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/604790/original/file-20240704-17-ov77mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A Hard Day's Night movie poster" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new pop aesthetic: original film poster for A Hard Day’s Night.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure> <h2>Slapstick and class awareness</h2> <p>As with much popular culture from the past, the humour in A Hard Day’s Night doesn’t always doesn’t land the way it would have in 1964. And yet, there are moments that seem surprisingly modern in their razor-sharp irony.</p> <p>In particular, the band’s Liverpudlian working-class-lad jibes and chaotic energy contrast brilliantly with the film’s upper-class characters. Actor Victor Spinetti’s comically over-anxious TV director, constantly hand-wringing over the boys’ rebelliousness, underscores the era-defining change the Beatles represented.</p> <p>Corporate pop-culture consumerism is also satirised. John Lennon “snorts” from a Coca-Cola bottle, a moment so knowingly silly it registers as more contemporary than it really is. George Harrison deflects a journalist’s banal questions with scathingly witty answers, and cuts a fashion company down to size by describing their shirt designs as “grotesque”.</p> <p>And there is Paul McCartney’s running joke that his grandfather – played by Wilfred Brambell from groundbreaking sitcom <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057785/">Steptoe and Son</a> (1962–74) – is “very clean”.</p> <p>Even the film’s old-fashioned visual slapstick still holds up in 2024. Showing the film to this year’s students, I didn’t expect quite as much laughter when Ringo’s attempts to be chivalrous result in a fall-down-a-hole mishap.</p> <p>In 2022, the <a href="https://www.criterion.com/">Criterion Collection</a> released a high-resolution restoration of the film, so today A Hard Day’s Night can be seen in all its fresh, black-and-white, youthful vigour.</p> <p>Happy 60th, A Hard Day’s Night. And happy 84th, Ringo. Both still as lively and energetic as ever.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/228598/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alison-blair-223267"><em>Alison Blair</em></a><em>, Teaching Fellow in Music, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-otago-1304">University of Otago</a></em></p> <p><em>Image </em><em>credits: THA/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-fab-after-60-years-how-the-beatles-a-hard-days-night-made-pop-cinema-history-228598">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Movies

Incredible treasure trove of unseen royal images

<p>In a mesmerising blend of history and artistry, Buckingham Palace's newly christened King's Gallery has unveiled a captivating journey through time and royalty with the debut of "Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography".</p> <p>Opening its on May 17, this groundbreaking exhibition delves into the illustrious lineage of the Royal Family through more than 150 carefully curated portraits – some never before seen by the public eye.</p> <p>A highlight among these treasures is a poignant snapshot capturing a rare familial moment: Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra, and The Duchess of Kent cradling their newborns. Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret's husband, immortalised this touching scene as a token of gratitude to Sir John Peel, the esteemed royal obstetrician responsible for delivering all four babies within a mere two-month span.</p> <p>In this heartfelt image, Queen Elizabeth II tenderly holds Prince Edward, her youngest offspring, while Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and The Duchess of Kent embrace their own bundles of joy. Accompanying this snapshot is a handwritten letter penned by Princess Margaret to her sister, affectionately addressed as "Darling Lilibet", requesting a signature on a print destined as a cherished memento for the esteemed doctor.</p> <p>The exhibition transcends mere family portraits, delving deep into the evolution of royal portraiture over the past century. Visitors are treated to a visual feast of iconic images captured by renowned photographers, including Dorothy Wilding, Annie Leibovitz, David Bailey and Rankin. Notably, the legendary Cecil Beaton's immortalisation of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation remains a cornerstone of the collection, offering a timeless glimpse into history.</p> <p>The exhibition also pays homage to the enduring allure of Princess Anne through her striking appearances on <em>Vogue</em> covers and a celebrated coming-of-age portrait by Norman Parkinson, commemorating her 21st birthday. From the timeless elegance of Princess Anne to the radiant charm of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and the spirited grace of Zara Tindall, the exhibition showcases a diverse tapestry of royal personalities spanning generations.</p> <p>Yet, it is not merely the portraits themselves that captivate visitors, but the untold stories and intimate moments woven into each frame. Delving into the depths of royal history, the exhibition reveals unseen wartime images by Cecil Beaton, illustrating King George VI and Queen Elizabeth's unwavering resolve amidst the chaos of conflict.</p> <p>As visitors explore the gallery, they are guided by a free multimedia experience narrated by Dame Joanna Lumley, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the artistry and craftsmanship behind these timeless portraits. From Hugo Burnand's vivid recollections of photographing the royal coronation to the candid insights of royal photographers such as Rankin and John Swannell, the multimedia guide adds depth and dimension to the exhibition, inviting visitors to immerse themselves fully in the rich tapestry of royal history.</p> <p>"Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography" is not merely an exhibition; it is a testament to the enduring legacy of the British monarchy, captured through the lens of some of the most esteemed photographers of our time. From the grandeur of coronations to the tender embrace of a mother cradling her newborn, each portrait tells a story – a story of tradition, resilience and the timeless allure of royalty.</p> <p><em>Images: Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2024.</em></p>

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