NEWS
HEARLD SUN NEWSPAPER 18th May
Ratings dire for Big Brother flop
THE new series of Big Brother will be its last, according to former contestants, as viewers turn off the once popular reality TV show.
Ratings for this year's series on Network Ten are so dire that last Tuesday night's program was beaten by Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan delivering the Rudd government's Budget on ABC TV.
These results follow Big Brother's disastrous launch two weeks ago, which drew a meagre national audience of 1.51 million.
It was the worst launch in the program's eight-year history.
The daily shows have fallen to as few as 852,000 viewers, with last Sunday's first eviction - which ousted UFO fanatic Saxon Pepper - just reaching the million mark.
In its heyday, Big Brother evictions would attract up to two million people. The 2004 winner, Trevor Butler, said the obvious public animosity towards the program could spell its end. "This is their last shot. If they don't get the ratings they need this year - and, so far, they're not showing up - I don't think you'll see Big Brother again,'' Butler told The Sunday Telegraph.
Reality television expert and Queensland University of Technology's Associate Professor of Film and Television Alan McKee said the departure of former host Gretel Killeen had damaged the show."What made it outstanding was that you always had Gretel Killeen there, who was the show's moral centre,'' he said. "If you were watching it and somebody was behaving obnoxiously when they came out, you knew that Gretel would tear strips off them.
"Kyle and Jackie O just don't serve the same purpose. Jackie is quite limp and Kyle prides himself on being wrong - he will always say the wrong, obnoxious thing and hurt people.''
Butler pointed to the program's extreme casting as the key toits problems. "They have got some far-out choices. It's clear they went for shock (value),'' he said.
This year's housemates include Travis, a self-declared young virgin with a high-pitched voice; David, a former cult member; Terri, a 52-year-old outmoded grandmother; party boy Corey Worthington, and Rima, a 1m-tall belly-dancer. Rima has since left the house, after Brother in ratingsbreaking her leg during a game.
Big Brother 2006 contestant Claire Madden agreed producers had gone too far with this year's casting.
"A quarter of the people in there you are unlikely to meet in a normal situation,'' she said.
"The consensus from the public - who still feel they need to tell me their opinion on everything to do with Big Brother - is that they want to see it stripped back to its natural form and the way it was in series one and two, when it was brilliant.''
Last week, selected housemates were taken to a secluded area, dubbed ``Bali''.
A Big Brother source said this allowed producers to serve alcohol - which they can't, in the presence of 17-year-old Worthington - in the hope that it would lead to sexual activity between housemates and boost ratings.
Stephen Tate, Network Ten executive producer for Big Brother, laughed off suggestions that this would be the program's final season.
"In a fragmenting (TV) market, I think it's been a stellar performance,'' he said.
"Every series tends to J-curve - they start high, fall away a little bit, then climb again towards the end.''
Mr Tate said he was pleased with the casting.
"We wanted a house of extremes. The philosophy this year was about throwing a group of people together into the house who would not normally socialise with each other - so that they all faced challenges,'' he said.
"What we didn't want this year was a clique developing, which we've seen in previous years."
WWF AUSTRLAIA AMBASSADORS NEWSLETTER 19th May
Claire Madden's Visit to China
Earlier in the year Claire Madden took a trip to China to see the giant panda and to learn about the day to day caring of these animals in some of china's sanctuaries, below she tells us her story...
"I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to head to China earlier this year, so I packed my bags, told my dad to get his passport and off we went.
I was unsure of what to expect of such a highly populated, over urbanised country, but it didn't take long for me to realise it was an incredible travel destination with many magnificent sites.
Within my three week trip I was able to experience Beijing, Xian and Shanghai taking in the incredible history and culture that is associated with each of these regions.
Being the home of an incredible animal 'the giant panda' I could not travel all that way around the globe without visiting a sanctuary. Whilst in Beijing I was fortunate enough to get a good glimpse of the giant panda and gain an insight into the day to day husbandry of this amazing animal and the very successful breeding program set up to conserve this species from extinction.
Although being one of the worlds most populated countries, I strongly recommended china as a great travel destination, just as long as you don't restrict yourself to the cities you will discover some amazing natural wonders."
ART EXHIBITION TO RAISE FUNDS FOR GREAT APE CONSERVATION
WHEN: 30TH Nov - 10th Jan
WHERE: 'Wish on Gouger'
61a Gouger Street Adelaide
100% of profits benefiting great ape conservation efforts in Africa.
Above are some of the examples of work on display
Contact Claire on claire@zoogirlclaire.com if you have any questions regarding this exhibition
WWF AUSTRLAIA AMBASSADORS NEWSLETTER 7th August
BACK FROM BORNEO
Ever since I was a young teen I have always dreamt of living a life like Steve Irwin or Dr Harry Copper, and utilising media to ensure as an individual I could make a huge impact on wildlife conservation. And when your life-long dream becomes a reality, it is a massive accomplishment!
I have just spent the last two weeks producing my first wildlife documentary which focuses on the conservation concerns surrounding wild orangutans in Borneo Malaysia. I spent the majority of my time traveling up and down the Kinabatangan River, one of the world's wildlife hotspots, in search for wild orang-utans. Along the way I discovered eight of these magnificent creatures - five of which had juveniles and one sub-adult male. I was also lucky enough to see a herd of pygmy elephants, crocodiles, otters, reticulated pythons, proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, a huge array of birds including the rhinoceros hornbill and endangered storm stork, and a family group of cervet monkeys; including a one day old juvenile. I also came across plenty of leeches and mosquitoes.
Along my journey I took time out to investigate the conservation issues threatening these species. The main threat is deforestation due to the increasing developments of palm oil plantations. Palm oil is everywhere and the plantations are completely taking over the jungles. The land needs to be stripped bare for the palm oil plants and this is causing pockets of jungle to develop, resulting in animals becoming isolated within the pockets.
Palm oil is a booming commodity that is being used right throughout the world as vegetable cooking oil, and just recently being named as a new age bio-fuel. Although the oil palm industry has great economic benefits to Malaysia, it is not leaving much room for native wildlife. In the last 10 years there has been a HUGE decline in wild numbers of many of the species that call Borneo home.
It is my goal now since shooting this documentary to deliver the message right across Australia. It is important that we understand the situation that is occurring in one of our neighbouring countries.
I'm now heavily involved in post-production of the documentary and am looking forward to my next adventure.
AUSTRALIAN ORANGUTAN PROJECT 9th August
Claire Madden a guest speaker talking about her Borneo documentary
BRISBANE TIMES 13th June 07 FAIRFAX DIGITAL
Star puts reality back into conservation
A reality television star is trading in red carpet appearancesand photo shoots for the wild forests of Borneo in the name of
animal conservation.
Claire Madden was a contestant last year on Big Brother, and shortly after being evicted from the house she began planning her next adventure.
On Sunday she will fly out of Brisbane to spend two weeks in the wild of Borneo to film a documentary to highlight the plight of the critically endangered orang-utan and proboscis monkey.
As a send off and fundraiser Ms Madden will host the Big Borneo Bash on Saturday night - a party with a swag of Big Brother and Biggest Loser personalities.
Some of the Big Brother stars attending include Bree, Logan David, Farmer Dave, Mike Goldman.
Ms Madden has also organised for Biggest Loser stars Marty, Courtney, Michael and Ajay to come along to the celebration at Melbas Restaurant on the Gold Coast.
Fans will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with ten former housemates and eight big losers.
"It's turned into a much bigger night than I first anticipated that's for sure," Ms Madden said.
She said the motivation for leaving her job at Australia Zoo to enter the Big Brother house last year was simple - she wanted to build a media profile so she could ramp up her conservation work.
"I didn't want to become a model or land a role on Neighbours, but to be able to have a profile in conservation was something I would've loved to get out of it," she said.
Borneo is a country rich in biodiversity, but natural rainforests are under threat from widespread deforestation.
"It wipes out their land and leaves them with no where else to go," she said.
The country's booming logging industry has seen devastation to animal populations, and the remaining rainforest is the only natural habitat for the endangered orang-utan.
Also a focus of Ms Madden's documentary will be the proboscis monkey, which is native to the region.
"Borneo, like any developing country, is trying to improve itself, so any opportunity to benefit their economy they're going to jump on and they've got every reason to.
"But unfortunately they're going to lose one of the world's natural wonders in the process.
"They need to sit down and find a happy medium to satisfy everyone."
Orang-utan numbers in Borneo have declined by 30 to 50 per cent in the past ten years, and they could disappear all-together within a few decades.
"I'll be spending some time at a sanctuary, and a lot of time in the," Ms Madden said.
"It's going to be getting out there and exploring Borneo. I'm not going to be showing hotels - it'll be trees and wildlife."
She worked at Australia Zoo before she launched into the spotlight, but said she was not trying to be the next Steve Irwin.
"My passion might sound cliche or soppy, but I want to make a difference in animal conservation and I've been driving off that for as long as I can remember.
"It's not a case of thinking the animals are cute and cuddly and this is a way of getting my face back on TV."
She said her determination to be a voice for animals outweighed any fears about putting a lot of time and money on the line for her venture.
"I don't have a house, and don't have plans to have children, so I can afford to fail if this does fail.
"While I'm young, why not? My dream is becoming a reality."
For more information visit http://www.zoogirlclaire.com
GOLD COAST BULLETIN 29th May 07
SYDNEY CONFIDENTIAL 1st May 07
Claire plans to head to Borneo, home of mans closest relative the Orangutan, with her partner Jon Brooksby. While there Jon and Claire will volunteer their time to one of the many Orangutan sanctuaries designed to give orphaned and injured Orangutans a second chance of life. Also in Borneo Claire will be producing her first wildlife documentary, which will investigate the issues of harvesting palm oil, the new age biofuel, and its devastating effects on the natural habitats in Borneo.
Claire4Wildlife is Claire’s charity which will be up and running by 07. Claire has made the discussion to establish her own charity due to the uncertainty of where her own fundraising and money was going. Many charities are funding fantastic conservation projects, however, have so many conservation projects going at any one time, which means that most large scale charities are unable to specify exactly where your money is going. Claire is very passionate about Orangutans and Big Cats and plans to dedicate her time to these two species and make a large impact rather then spreading her passion through many species and only touching the surface of their conservation. Therefore, through Claire4Wildlife and the relationships that Claire has established with many international and national wildlife charities she can direct her charities money directly to Orangutans and Big Cat conservation projects and she can be assured that each cent of every dollar donated to her charity will in fact reach these species in the wild. So keep posted as shortly you will be updated as the charity grows and have the capability to donate directly to Claire4Wildlife via this website.
Big Brothers Claire becomes ambassador for Queensland Orangutan Project Adoption Program…
Big Brother’s Claire Madden has joined forces with the Australian Orangutan Project (AOP) to save the endangered red ape from extinction. Claire has been named AOP QLD’s Adoption Ambassador to raise awareness about orangutans in crisis and encourage the Australian public to sponsor an orphaned orangutan.
The charismatic and distinctive orangutan occurs only within the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, and like all great apes, is listed on the IUCN Red List of endangered species. The Sumatran orangutan with an estimated remaining population of 7500 is now critically endangered, and Bornean with approximately 55,000, spread over three subspecies, is listed as Endangered. Australian primate expert and AOP president, Leif Cocks says “If we don’t take immediate and direct action now, we may lose these beautiful sentient beings that we share the planet with, forever!”.
Big Brother 2006 contestant Claire Madden was chosen by AOP as an Adoptions Ambassador because of her commitment to encouraging awareness about orangutan conservation. “I am so passionate about this issue because orangutans are one of our closest living relatives and are the keystone species for their entire habitat. There are more than 1000 orangutans currently living in rehabilitation centres due to wide-spread habitat loss, palm oil production, and poaching. I am asking everyone to get involved by sponsoring an adorable orphaned orangutan, or making a donation to the Australian Orangutan Project”
To sponsor a baby orangutan costs as little as $55 a year or $5 a month, and is tax deductible. Sponsors receive a certificate and biography of their infant, as well as AOP merchandise. All profits from orangutan adoptions go to helping rehabilitation centres with food and medical costs, local staff wages, and release programs.
BB Claire plans to travel to Borneo and is considering commencing her PhD on orangutan reproduction next year. She also plans to produce documentaries about wildlife conservation in the hope that it will bring widespread change. Adoptions can be purchased online at www.orangutan.org.au
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