PartyCasino News: Phil Tufnell Fronts New PartyCasino Campaign

Phil Tufnell Fronts New PartyCasino.com Campaign

Gibraltar – 29th January 2010 - PartyGaming has hired former cricketer, turned TV presenter and reality TV star, Phil Tufnell as its first celebrity ambassador to help boost its PartyCasino.com brand’s cross-gender appeal.

Tufnell, a former England cricketer and ‘King of the Jungle’ from ITV’s ‘I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’ will front a television, press and outdoor campaign for PartyCasino.com that will highlight the range of casino games available on the site.

The advertisements will be seen for the first time on Channel 4 in the UK during Celebrity Big Brother tonight. The campaign was created by Leeds based agency home.

Tufnell, known to many as ‘The Cat,’ said: “I had a lot of fun making the ads. I’m hoping this is the start of a long relationship with PartyGaming. I have advertised PartyCasino.com but I am also a keen poker player so have huge interest in sister site PartyPoker.com.”

“I understand Shane Warne is Down Under playing in a big poker tournament at the moment, wish I was there to take him on! He may have been able to turn a ball further than me but I can certainly turn a card better and if I don’t at least I’ve got my own hair! Warney’s the only player who can lose his chips and his hair at the poker table!”

PartyPoker.com signed professional poker player Tony G last week and he is currently Down Under seeking out Warne and looking to give him a present from Phil Tufnell. ON YOUR BIKE!

PartyCasino.com now offers over 140 games, including 100 slots, and pays out easily over $10 million EVERY DAY to players. The world’s largest online casino continues to expand rapidly. The previous Gold Mega Jackpot was hit with a fateful spin at 20.42ET on December 2nd 2009. The stake was $45 on popular PartyCasino.com Gold Mega Jackpot game, the Mega Fortune Wheel. The screen exploded with congratulations and colour as ‘gamago’ turned $45 into a record busting $4,978,336.62! PartyCasino.com recently introduced ‘The Big One’ - structured as a five tiered pool. The highest tier - Colossal Cash - seeds at $1.5m, the biggest online jackpot seed in the industry. ‘The Big One’ and ‘Melon Madness’ were both created by PartyGaming’s specialist unit ‘The Games Studio.’

PartyGaming Plc is the world’s leading listed online gaming company. The Group is a constituent of the FTSE 250 share index and the FTSE4Good Index Series, which measures the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards. PartyGaming’s shares are listed on The London Stock Exchange under the ticker: PRTY. PartyGaming’s principal brands are: PartyPoker.com, PartyCasino.com, EmpirePoker.com, PartyBingo.com, PartyGammon.com, PartyBets.com, Intertrader.com and Gamebookers.com. PartyGaming Plc recently acquired Cashcade Ltd, which includes Bingo brands such as FoxyBingo.com, ThinkBingo.com, BingoScotland.com and casino sites such as FoxyFlutter.com and GetMinted.com. PartyGaming Plc has also recently acquired the World Poker Tour.

® AUSSIE MILLIONS, AUSSIE MILLIONS POKER CHAMPIONSHIP and CROWN Device and associated trade marks are trade marks of Crown Melbourne Limited. No license, affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement, is claimed, or should be inferred from the use of these trademarks here. PartyGaming is not affiliated, licensed, by, or otherwise affiliated with Crown Melbourne Limited in any way.

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Virgin Games News: Celebrity Big Brother Slot and Big Brother Scratchcard

Virgin Games News: Celebrity Big Brother Slot and Big Brother Scratchcard

Richard Branson's Virgin Games Gets The Reality TV Bug!

Check out the Celebrity Big Brother online slot game and the Big Brother scratchcard.

Sorry, no U.S or Australian players. See World Casino Directory

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Partygaming signs up Phil Tufnell - 27th January 2010

PartyGaming has hired former cricketer and reality TV star Phil Tufnell as its first celebrity ambassador to help boost the PartyCasino poker site’s cross-gender appeal.

Online gambling is growing in the UK, in particular among women who feel safer playing online. According to a survey of 5,000 adults by the Gambling Commission, 9.9% of people gambled “remotely” in the first quarter of 2009, up from 7.2% in 2006. Of the women polled, 7.7% gambled online in the first three months of last year, up from 5% in 2006.

Tufnell, a former England bowler and winner of the Channel 4 show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, will front a television, press and outdoor campaign for PartyCasino that will highlight the range of casino games available on the site.

A spokesman for the gaming company says Tufnell was chosen because of his “broad appeal” to both female and male online casino players, because of his television profile and his cricketing achievements.

PartyCasino is operated by PartyGaming, which claims to be the world’s leading listed online gaming company.

The company, which also owns the PartyPoker and PartyBingo brands, is in discussions with several companies about potential consolidation. It is reportedly in talks with Austrian rival Bwin.

The PartyCasino campaign will break during the final of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4 today (28 January). It was created by Leeds-based agency home with media planning and buying by Mediacom.

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BRANSON TAKES SPACE TOUR TO U.S. TV - 16th January 2010

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has landed a new reality TV series, documenting his efforts to make space tourism a reality.

Branson unveiled his VSS Enterprise spacecraft last month (9th December) with plans to launch the first Virgin Galactic flights in 2011.

National Geographic Channel's four-episode Virgin Galactic series will follow the billionaire mogul and engineer Burt Rutan's efforts to send 50,000 people into space over a 10-year period.

The series is Branson's second foray into TV in recent months. Reality series Fly Girls, about flight attendants on his Virgin America Airline, is currently in production for U.S. network CW.

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PartyCasino: The Top Ten Online Slot Games, by Greg Tingle - December 2009

The top ten online slot games by PartyCasino.com for the month of December 2009 are:

Rambo

Tarzan

Cleopatra

Mission: Impossible

Monopoly

Sinatra

Call Of Duty 4

Top Gun

Thor

The Hulk

The runner up online slot games are:

Resident Evil

Spider-Man

Mega Fortune Wheel

Ramesses Riches

Bejeweled

PartyCasino.com offers unique promotions and player rewards which are widely regarded as the best in the industry. Players can enjoy rewards and bonuses with PartyPoints and the Palladium Lounge, both of which have generous rewards year round and are popular with both new and experienced players, so whether a casino virgin or VIP old hand at the games, there's something for you.

PartyGaming is the parent company of PartyCasino, established in 1997, and is the most successful online company in the world, listed on the London Stock Exchange and winner of numerous EGR Awards, in addition to Casino News Media and Media Man awards and commendations.

Players from most countries can access PartyCasino and PartyPoker. PartyCasino is ranked by many authorities as being the superior online casino for Australia, Europe and South America.

PartyCasino is hopeful of accepting paid American players in 2010, however PartyGaming made a successful purchase of the World Poker Tour late this year allowing players to become more familiar with PartyGaming products and services the world over.

Most games can be played for free or played for money and are available in a range of multi language and multi currency options. PartyGaming's call centre is open around the clock 24/7/365.

Jackpot offerings include Gold Mega Jackpot, Marvel Hero Jackpot and Super Hero Jackpot.

Major innovations at PartyCasino.com include Live Dealer and Single Wallet, and 2010 will see "Avatar" like technologies arrive.

Latest games include the Call Of Duty 4 slot and Melon Madness jackpot slot. 2010 will deliver more Hollywood themed classics, and rumors suggest to be on the lookout for games including pro wrestling also, be it Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair. Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan actually purchased the rights to use the name "Hulk" from Marvel Comics in the 80's, but that's another story. Certainly Party do have positive history in wrestling, Hollywood and Marvel Comics circles. This is evidenced in the public domain not only by The Hulk slot game, but also by Stallone's Rambo slot, Tom Cruise's Top Gun slot and Schwarzenegger's The Terminator. Terminator Salvation features Australia's Sam Worthington, and insiders predict more Terminator games may be on the way.

PartyGaming is licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar, with offices around the world, and have been at the leading edge of innovation, customer service and all round excellence for over a decade. Players and partners alike can be assured they are in safe hands at PartyGaming.

Don't just play the games, "Feel it"... experience the world's leading online casino games at PartyCasino.com

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Virgin Games: Virgin Bingo Gets Endemol Branded Games - 12th December 2009

Virgin Games bingo arm, Virgin Bingo, has just released the following branded games:

Deal or No Deal, Golden Balls, Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother.

Play or free or play for money at Virgin Games.

*Sorry, no U.S or Australian players.

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It's the characters behind the cards who draw a full house, by Joe Hachem - 21st November 2009

There is a quote I love which says, "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." Think about what makes a truly great sports star. Is it a perfect record of runs or world record-breaking times? Or, at the end of the day, as with so much else in life, does it come down to personality.

Great talent can make a champion, but great charisma is what truly makes a star. The greatest sporting heroes, those who have won a spot in the hearts and minds of the nation that lasts well beyond their time actively competing, are those who have a charm that extends past the finish line.

Muhammad Ali, Don Bradman, Tiger Woods and my good mate Shane Warne are all personalities that you cannot ignore. Whether it's a quiet calm, a fiery competitive spirit, the larrikin or the all-round good guy, we relate to their public persona, we see them as our friends, our representatives, or if they're playing for the other side, our villains.

These characters are the true stars because they make a sport great to watch as their personality helps to weave the rich tapestry of the sporting stories. Tournament poker is no different: there are great technical players and internet wunderkinds who have won millions and achieved huge success, but the players I love to watch, and play against, are the real characters.

There are the jokers who try to put their opponents off with a comic aside; the brooding, aggressive players who hide behind their hoods and try to get the whole table on tilt; and the old school gentlemen of the sport who can charm their way through any hand.

These characters and their richly varied style of play are what make watching tournament poker exciting and elevate it beyond just a game of cards. I truly believe that to be a success in poker, and to help grow the popularity of the sport, a competitor needs to be a personality, not just a player, which is why my last test for the contestants of The Poker Star was all about finding who had that charisma.

But charisma is a hard thing to test. How do you define character, or map out charm? In the modern sporting world, great personalities are revealed and delivered to every fan's lounge room by the ever growing media machine, so what better way to test how the contestants would perform than by throwing them right into the deep end with a full-on media conference.

I knew putting my final three contestants in front of a media pack with no warning would be overwhelming and intimidating but I also knew it was essential that whoever I chose as The Poker Star could keep their calm and handle themselves in that situation. My memories from the first few days of winning the World Series of Poker are filled with flash bulbs and cameras, as I ran the press and PR trail and had to do my best to represent my own sport.

The Poker Star winner will hopefully one day need to do the same, and I'm proud to say I now know they will handle it with charm and ease. Because the person I've chosen has revealed throughout the show that they are not just a great sportsperson, but a truly great character.

Until next week, pass the sugar! (Credit: Joe Hachem, Fairfax, Google News)

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Cash Machine Opens At PartyCasino - Industry Leading Gold Mega Jackpot Still Waiting To Be Won!

The Cash Machine Opens At PartyCasino.com - Points Mean Dollars!

Industry Leading Gold Mega Jackpot Still Waiting To Be Won!

Gibraltar – 6th November 2009 – The ATM will soon open at PartyCasino.com as the ‘Cash Machine’ promotion runs from 00.00ET on 9th November to 23.59ET on the 6th December. This promo is programmed to pay out unlimited cash to customers!

To get unlimited cash, a player has to earn 10 or more PartyPoints on at least 10 days during the promotional period. At the end of the promotion PartyCasino.com will look at the PartyPoints collected on a player’s 10 highest days and give them $1 for every point earned on the lowest of those days.

Example: If a player earns the following points on their 10 highest points days:

Three days at 100 points per day
Five days at 175 points per day
Two days at 150 points per day

The player’s lowest points total in this period is 100, which means $100 will be deposited into their PartyAccount at the end of the promotion. This is an OPT-IN promotion and a customer can opt-in at any point during the period, PartyCasino.com will use all the points earned since 9th November to calculate the prize at the end of the promotional period. There are 28 qualifying days, and the cash machine prize is only limited by the number of points a player earns. If a player’s lowest day’s points total is 1,000 points, PartyCasino.com will give you $1,000. What is won is up to the player – there are no limits at this ATM!

For more information see: PartyCasino.com

A PartyCasino.com spokesman said: "The ATM will open for business on the 9th November and ready to payout! What is great about this exciting promotion is that every new day gives players the chance to top their current lowest total and increase the cash prize.”

“The Gold Mega Jackpot at PartyCasino.com is currently approaching a staggering $4.6 million, the biggest jackpot in the industry by quite some way! Gold Mega Jackpot games are: The Godfather, Mega Fortune Wheel, Super Joker, Super Mystic, Super Fortune Wheel and Super Star!”

PartyCasino.com now offers over 130 games, including 93 slots, and pays out easily over $10 million EVERY DAY to players. The world’s largest online casino continues to expand rapidly.

Recent popular additions include Resident Evil, The Naked Gun, High Noon and Bejeweled. Other new additions such as Tarzan and Multi-Hand BlackJack Pro were developed in house by PartyGaming’s specialist unit ‘The Games Studio.’

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UFC 104: Machida vs. Rua Card Finalized

The UFC’s return to Southern California is complete as the UFC has officially confirmed the 9 remaining bouts on the card.

UFC 104 will feature a light heavyweight title bout between undefeated champion Lyoto Machida and former Pride middleweight Grand Prix champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Heavyweights Cain Valasquez will also be taking on former IFL standout Ben Rothwell in the co-main event.

The remaining bouts that have been made official by the UFC are:

Josh Neer vs. Gleison Tibau
Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher
Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Berry
Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen
Jorge Rivera vs. Rob Kimmons
Ryan Bader vs. Eric “Red” Schafer
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Razak Al-Hassan
Stefan Struve vs. Chase Gormley

UFC 104 will take place in the home of the 2008-2009 world champion Los Angeles Lakers, STAPLES Center, on October 24th.

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The Apprentice - Network Nine Australia

The Apprentice screens on Mondays at 9.30pm on Network Nine Australia.

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Tiffany Michelle Gives the Inside Scoop on Amazing Race, by Dan Cypra - Poker News Daily - 16th September 2009

On September 27th, the 15th installment of the CBS reality franchise “Amazing Race” will kick off at 8:00pm ET. Appearing will be professional poker players Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively. Michelle sat down with Poker News Daily to preview the season.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on appearing on “Amazing Race.” Tell us how the opportunity came up.

Michelle: Maria Ho and I have been friends for a while and bonded even more recently. There was lots of talk of us doing a reality television show. We agreed that if we did anything, it’d be “Amazing Race.” We thought we’d be an interesting team. With the competition and challenge of the show, it’d be right up our alley. We could take our poker playing background and use it on “Amazing Race.” We had a chance to go through the casting process and were in Las Vegas playing tournaments when we got the call. It was definitely hard to head back to the tables during the WSOP knowing we’d be traveling the world soon.

PND: Had you watched previous seasons of “Amazing Race”?

Michelle: I hadn’t seen a full season, but saw the show on different occasions. It looked challenging and was out of my league. I think it looked fun.

PND: The cast features Harlem Globetrotters and a former Miss America. Talk about the competition that you’ll face on “Amazing Race.”

Michelle: We were surprised to learn that we were the only all-female team this season. We felt pressure to represent women and knew that no all-female team had ever won “Amazing Race.” We thought that our competition consisted of young, big, athletic people. That was going to be our weakness, but we knew that the race tests your mental and physical skills.

PND: Past seasons of “Amazing Race” have included stops in the four corners of the globe. Talk about being able to travel the world.

Michelle: It was a very life-changing experience. I live a wonderful and blessed life. I get to travel and stay in nice hotels. We have a life of luxury and don’t have to sweat it out. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, mentally and emotionally. I came home and had a whole new appreciation for my life. I feel like I’m so full after the experience.

PND: Talk about your relationship with Maria Ho.

Michelle: I wouldn’t have done “Amazing Race” without her. You have to trust and feel comfortable with your partner. I was excited to share this experience with her. We travel together on the poker circuit already. We’re 10 times closer now.

PND: Is there anything you can take away from Annie Duke’s appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice” that could have helped you on “Amazing Race”?

Michelle: “Celebrity Apprentice” is a different format than “Amazing Race.” You’re competing against different people on your own. On the race, you have a team. There’s not that direct competition and you have the opportunity to work together in a group. We wanted to represent poker well after what happened between Annie and Joan Rivers. We wanted to come off the best that we could. We wanted to play a clean game and give poker players a good name. Also for us, we’re controversial and wanted to show people a different side.

PND: You’re hosting a Hollywood premier of “Amazing Race” that will likely include Tammy and Victor, who won last season’s installment of the reality show. Did they provide any advice before you set out?

Michelle: We got to go to a Labor Day barbeque at Victor’s house. A lot of people who were on “Amazing Race” were there and you felt like a big family. These people know exactly what you went through. Within a few minutes of being there, I felt like I had known them forever. It’s wonderful being a part of something special.

PND: What preparations did you make before the show began filming?

Michelle: I ran out and bought running shoes. I got my cardio up because I knew there was a lot of running involved. Also, we learned how to drive a stick shift. Maria was much better than I was at that, so she was responsible. We watched past episodes and talked about them. We prepped for the unknown as much as we could. I got my butt in the gym and got in touch with the outdoors.

PND: You mentioned in a blog entry before you left that poker will always be around, but doing “Amazing Race” was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Was it hard walking away from this year’s WSOP Main Event to film?

Michelle: There wasn’t even a doubt in my mind that I wanted to do the show. What I did last year in the Main Event was amazing. As hopeful as I could be to repeat that, I was happy with that punctuation. The Main Event comes around every year and poker is always there. Not only was this an amazing challenge, but it was also an opportunity to be a part of an Emmy Award winning show. To get to do it with someone else sounded like a fun time. (Credit: Poker News Daily)

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Reality TV star Jade Goody dies in her sleep - 23rd March 2009

Controversial British reality TV star Jade Goody has died after a battle with cervical cancer.

Her agent Max Clifford confirmed the 27-year-old mother of two had died in her sleep yesterday - Mother's Day in Britain - at her home in Upshire, Essex.

Mr Clifford said Goody's mother Jackiey Budden had telephoned him shortly after 3am (2pm AEDT) to tell him: "My beautiful girl has gone.''

"It's just very sad,'' Clifford told Sky News.

"We got very close and I've got a lot of respect and admiration for the girl. She was a 27-year-old girl facing up to cervical cancer.''

Goody's distraught mother appeared briefly outside Goody's home with family friend Kevin Adams to tell reporters her daughter had died.

"Jade died today and family and friends would like this privacy, at last, for this morning. Thank you,'' Ms Budden, who was still dressed in long, striped pyjama bottoms, said.

Ms Budden, Mr Adams and Goody's husband, 21-year-old model Jack Tweed, had been at the star's side when she died.

Her two sons Freddie, four, and Bobby, five, had been staying with their father, Jeff Brazier.

A funeral is expected to be held in about 10 days.

Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008 but the disease spread to her liver, groin and bowel and she was told it was terminal in February.

She had been treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital in west London but wanted to die at home with her family.

She wanted "to spend all the time she had got left" with her husband and sons.

Goody shot to fame in 2002 during the UK Big Brother 3 series.

She gained wider publicity in the preceding months through her public battle with cancer and televised wedding to Mr Tweed.

She was paid a reported £700,000 ($1.4 million) by OK! magazine to cover the event, all of which she stipulated was to be passed on to her sons.

"She died as she lived, in the public eye,'' Her agent Mr Clifford said.

"This was her way of doing things for her children.''

Goody has reportedly organised all the details for her funeral, requesting she be buried in her £3500 ivory silk wedding dress.

Read more on Jade Goody's death at The Sun.

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Poker, d'oh - Fairfax - 17th March 2009

Making money in commercial TV is always a bit of a gamble. Especially for a network whose parent company is playing Russian roulette with its bankers. So good luck to Ten's Nick Falloon. Talk is he's replacing Big Brother not with just a cooking show but a new reality concept: live poker. And we were looking forward to repeats of The Simpsons.

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Annie Duke Breaks Down Celebrity Apprentice, by Annie Duke - Poker News Daily - 15th February 2009

Well, the Celebrity Apprentice cat is out of the bag now. The cast has been announced and, yes, I am part of it. Okay, so what would make me do this show? I mean I have tried to avoid reality TV. Over the years, I have had a few offers to do a reality show about my poker life with four kids. My answer is always that I won’t put my kids on TV, so they quietly go away. I really value my private life and protecting the privacy of my kids. So then why on Earth would I agree to do this show?

Here is how it went: My manager called and told me that he had a meeting for me with the Celebrity Apprentice people. I was not happy about it because I wasn’t really interested in being on a reality show. We had had this argument before about “Dancing with the Stars.” He kept saying he wanted to pitch me for it. I kept saying a) I am not a big enough celebrity by any stretch of the imagination and b) I can’t dance.

My boyfriend teases me when I dance and imitates me (making sure I never ever dance in his presence, by the way). Joe is an amazingly good dancer, made more amazing by the fact that he is a 200+ pound burly dude with crazy long curly hair who doesn’t look like he could dance his way out of a paper bag. Yet, he used to break dance for money on the streets of Boston as a kid and got his first job in Hollywood as a dancer. I once even had the pleasure of witnessing a dance-off between Joe and Jeff Donovan (the star of the show “Burn Notice”). That was pretty awesome and really too close to call. It has to go down as one of the funniest dance-offs I have ever seen because both of them were doing some kick ass dancing while trying to be funnier at it than the other one. Imagine doing some popping and locking while essentially miming going down on each other in the middle of a club. It was pretty hilarious. Okay, I have really digressed.

The point is I was not interested in Dancing with the Stars. OMG that would be humiliating. And I was not interested in Celebrity Apprentice either, particularly since I can be, shall we say, snarky and I didn’t really want that to be seen in all its glory on national television. But, then I went in for the meeting and, not having watched the previous season, was shocked to find out that the cast had raised $1 million for charity during the run of the show. I thought to myself that I have to do this show because that is a lot of money for charity and would be really good for Ante Up for Africa. You see, I didn’t know the show was for charity and now I realized it would be hard for me to say no.

To be honest, it is a game. I mean a game. And we all know I love a good game. This was a pretty cool game that involved managing your opponents, raising money for charity, and doing some pretty cool marketing tasks. It seemed to me that maybe I was pretty well-suited for that particular type of game since I play one for a living, one that also involves managing your opponents. I also do marketing work for Ultimate Bet and have raised $2 million with Don Cheadle and Norman Epstein for Ante Up for Africa in the last two years.

Game. Charity. Cool.

So I decided I should do it. I got the last season on DVD and started studying the tapes madly… you know, because that is what I do. If I am going to agree to a competition, I am going to make sure I analyze how the game is played and come in super prepared knowing exactly what people did right the last season and what people did wrong. I am going to have a good handle on it and get all of my ducks in a row money raising-wise and all that. I analyzed the whole last season and starting working a formula for how much money I needed to raise and what the highest percentage part of the tasks was to do to make sure you didn’t get fired, but also got noticed and impressed Donald Trump. I was obsessed for the couple of weeks before doing the show.

So, of course, I cannot tell you anything about how it all turned out, right? That annoys me because I want to talk about the game because I LOVE talking about games. You are going to have to watch to see how I do and whether my preparation pays off. The thing is that, well, I am direct. That is a nice way to put it: direct. The thing I was most worried about going into the game was that my fellow players would not really get my interpersonal style. When people first meet me, they sometimes come away with the impression that I am a jerk. To be fair, I can be a jerk, particularly if I think someone is saying something stupid. I suffer fools very poorly and I have to remember to work on that more. I was really concerned because even though this is an individual game, you still have to have your teammates like you so they don’t throw you under the bus and I am just not good at making nice nice and pretending that I can deal with everyone. It probably comes from doing a job my whole adult life where you only have to answer to yourself. Oh, and I have stupidly high expectations of people.

With all of that going on in my head, knowing that I had analyzed the hell out of last season, but also knowing that I might have some issues with my teammates liking me, I headed off to New York to try my hand at the game. March 1st, everyone. That is when you can start seeing how I do! (Credit: Poker News Daily)

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Ramsay rumour a reality, by John Lethlean - The Age - 18th November 2008

SPURRED by Hilton's announcement of securing a Michelin-starred chef for its new hotel (Espresso, November 11), Crown last week finally let the Ramsay genie out of the bottle, confirming the worst-kept secret in Melbourne: that Gordon Ramsay Holdings would open at the complex in 2010.

Crown has confirmed what Ramsay told Espresso in April: that his Melbourne restaurant would be a Maze - his "bistro" brand - rather than a super-exclusive Gordon Ramsay signature restaurant.

The real news is that Maze will go into the forthcoming third Crown hotel - in Clarendon Street - rather than Crown central in Whiteman Street. Chef Jason Atherton, one of Ramsay's senior lieutenants along with Mark Askew, Angela Hartnett and Mark Sargeant, runs Maze, in London's Mayfair.

Maze does tasting portions rather than entrees and mains; the food embraces Asian flavours, but it's also worth noting that Atherton was the first British chef to complete a stage at El Bulli.

Ramsay told us this year he would be investing in a Melbourne restaurant rather than merely licensing his consultancy, as is the case in Tokyo and Dubai. He also suggested that he'd want to bring one of the many Australians working in his empire in to a Maze Melbourne kitchen as chef.

It has been suggested, but not confirmed, that the opening of Maze Melbourne might provide the platform for a reality television series. "I wouldn't just drop a chef in there that doesn't know me, that doesn't know the group, doesn't know the ethics, just on the back of a TV (program)," Ramsay told us in April.

"We have currently just over 45 Aussies working in the kitchens across London, New York and LA; talented, I mean really talented. So the idea would be to look at a potential search and put them through the mill ... I'm excited about Melbourne but I don't want just to do it for the sake of doing it."

(Credit: The Age)

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Fox TV, Burnett spin casino game, By Michael Schneider - Variety - 14th October 2008

'Rouletter' to be shot in South America

Mark Burnett and Fox Television Studios have teamed to launch a TV series based on an old casino game.

"Rouletter" takes a traditional Roulette wheel and replaces the numbers with letters. Contestants then place bets in order to form words, "Scrabble" style, within a specific time frame.

The initial pilot will be shot in South America, where Fox TV Studios is already producing several projects (including the Chris McQuarrie-produced "Persons Unknown" and the Annabella Sciorra starrer "Mental"), and then be sold to territories around the globe.

Producers in various territories will be able to ship in contestants to the South America shoot site in order to do their own pilots. Burnett, who owns a studio in Asia, plans to do the same thing on that continent as well.

"I like trying things that I think will translate globally," Burnett said. "It's a global village, and I've probably produced more foreign stuff than most other producers. I'm not intimidated by producers being in other countries. By producing ('Rouletter') in South America, it made sense to do this together with Fox TV Studios."

Fox TV Studios president Emiliano Calemzuk said he plans to first sell "Rouletter" to Latin American networks but has already received interest from channels all over the globe.

"I thought it was the perfect time to do this, a new take on successful shows like 'Wheel of Fortune,' " Calemzuk said. "And Mark thought it was a great idea to make a big pilot."

Burnett and David Russo are the show's creators and will exec produce; the Collective's Reza Izad and Al Hassas will also exec produce. In addition, FTVS and exec producer Matthew Gaven will produce the initial pilot episode.

Burnett said he sees a bigger business in "Rouletter" beyond just TV, including licensing the game to casinos. The show has applied for a patent on its unique letter-based Roulette wheel.

Beyond "Rouletter," Burnett's international expansion has included a new edition of "The Contender," now being shot in Singapore. Burnett's other upcoming skeins include CBS' "Jingles," MTV's "Star Maker" and TNT's "Wedding Day."

Fox TV Studios skeins include "Burn Notice" and "Saving Grace," as well as the alternative series "Talkshow With Spike Feresten" and "The Girls Next Door."

(Credit: Variety)

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