I can put your mind at rest bystander..I have it on good authority that Alex recieves absolutely NO payment, in the form of fees or expenses for the charity work he undertakes.

It may be common practice in the industry, but it is something which is unthinkable to Alex.

Also the vast majority or charity work he undertakes is away from the public eye and therefore cannot possible be of any "advantage" to him other than gaining satisfaction from helping others...

I beleive Alex has proved himself time and time again to be an honest and caring person... I think it's about time some people just excepted the fact

Obviously it would be a bit cheesey for Kate to say it all herself.
It works better if she gets the others to say it.
She can then interrupt if they read the script wrong.
Sort of "flip reverse"!

Ok Rosemary, even though I know nothing about you and as this is the internet I will trust you and take your word for it.

Thank you

Have a little more faith Bystander, she knows you know

We have all been through this before bystander, you should have a little more faith

I don't disagree with this, but I want to take it further. I could also say that it seems he has taken every tv job offered (possibly apart from the clearly ridiculous early on). I would be happy to revise that comment in the light of something to the contrary.

Others have posted many times about Alex' (and/or his agent's) infinite wisdom in selecting and rejecting tv work. I feel that The Pilot Show 'Out of the Closet' was not wise, although, as ever, he behaved well and it probably did him no harm.
On the other hand, I feel that Boys and Girls showed appalling judgement and, despite behaving impeccably again, it may have done irrepairable damage to his reputation in the eyes of people who matter when trying to get tv work.

I appreciate that this post was part of a debate with bystander and, because of that, I haven't commented so far. Now that debate is over, I feel I can. You are the one who introduced Kate into an Alex thread, for no apparent reason.
I agree with your conclusions to the extent that Kate is more ambitious than Alex. I also agree with the spirit of many of your positive comments about Alex but completely disagree with your illogical comments about Kate and BB winners. Disliking her is one thing but your comments just smack of sour grapes.

She got the RI:SE job after an audition. Without BB (winning may or may not have mattered), she probably wouldn't have got the audition (or even applied) but to say 'she only got the job because she won BB' is plain wrong. Then you say Alex would have got it if he had won. Did winning matter 8 or 9 months later? Wasn't Alex equally experienced in BB? He wouldn't have got it for two reasons. I think he would have failed the audition, because his personality (which I like) is completely wrong for RI:SE. Secondly they wanted a female.
You tend to confirm my points yourself with 'he would have turned it down anyway' which at face value is another incorrect statement. If he had applied and got the job, would he have turned it down? I think not. Your criticism is all a bit ritualistic, particularly for someone who (apparently) can't bring themselves to watch RI:SE. Have you been reading the Mesos song sheet?

You are implicitly extolling Alex' virtues by slagging off Kate. Kate is rubbish, ergo Alex is brilliant doesn't quite work for me. To say he is better on tv (as opposed to you prefer him) is surely flawed because they are completely different, and there is not a sound basis for comparison. For me, neither is an ideal (standard) tv presenter, and never will be, but as specialists they both have the possibility of ongoing tv careers.
Kate's profile is clearly higher at the moment. Even with only 15 programmes to go after today, if I were to say she has more tv ahead of her this year than all the other BB contestants (from all 4 series) put together have done this year outside the house, I think that would be true, if it were not for Brian. In a fickle world, it remains to be seen who is found good enough in the future (if any), who is in the right place at the right time, and who wants it enough.

Kate (and/or her agent) has been criticised for taking every job going (unlike the allegedly highly selective Alex camp). It would now seem that The Pilot Show was turned down. The intended set-up was to be Kate, Rattle and Roly, theoretically involving Simon Rattle and Roly from Grange Hill discussing rock music with Kate. Who has the best agent is not the issue here. Some things are easier to see through than others. The point is that with one piece of potential work rejected, who's to say there haven't been others and that Kate hasn't been very selective.
I have already said the most important thing is their happiness, and being comfortable with what they are doing. They are not specifically in competition with each other. Along with the majority of all former hms, I hope to see them both on tv in the future.

I'd like to take issue with you if I may on this part of your post, as like you, I no longer judge Alex and Kate to be in competion with each other, and although I wish her well, as I would anybody, I haven't really kept myself up to date with the quality (or lack of? ) of her skills as a presenter, and so don't feel able to comment.

Alex took the Out of the closet job because he was led to believe that he was surpirisng someone who had just been through a very difficult time..it was a cruel trick to play on him..but in the long run I think it may have actually done his image some good..

As to Girls and Boys..I disagree that it was a bad move. I also disliked this show, but I think it enabled Alex to show a different, more fun side to his personality..and again, I don't think it has done his image any harm at all, If anything, I believe it may have widened his appeal somewhat.

I brought Kate and Jon may I add into this thread to verify a point nothing more nothing less as otherwise how would I have made the point I was stressing. I do dislike Kate and have never given reason for anyone to believe otherwise, but I have at times made some positive or rather less negative comments ( not many ) about her if you have read any of my past posts.

I can't help that you feel my post is sour grapes RG, I thought you one of the more discerning fm's, and not taken to twisting comments made. If you think sour grapes is someone being truthful in their assesment of Kate, Alex or Jon's tv appearances wheather they are liked or not that is your prerogative. Even if I didn't like an ex bber although I might feel loathe to admit it , if I thought they came over well on tv I would say so, but imho Kate does not and to me the sooner she is off our screens the better.

Some Kate fans on this forum have even said in the past that although they liked Kate she is rubbish on tv and they are fans and will admit to it.

Also did I say Alex would have got the job if he had won? I thought I said he would probably have been offered the same opportunities (reminder to self must reread my own post now to clarify this).

Thank you for the extra info on 'Out of the Closet'. Given that, it was perfectly reasonable and maybe also compassionate to do the job. As I said, he behaved perfectly and came out of it fine.

On Boys and Girls, I posted around the time about the possible reasons for doing it. He was 'helping a friend' or 'trying to widen his appeal'. I accept your point about the public but I also stick to mine about tv execs, emphasising the word 'may'. You may know better.

My reaction at the time was that this is Jonny territory. I felt Alex was at times a little uncomfortable, but carried it off, behaving well. On the other hand Jonny could have behaved badly perfectly naturally.

You haven't come up with anything about Alex' rejected work.

<edit spelling only>
Last edited by RG : 28-11-2003 at 14:38

Susann,

I'm sorry that I seem to have upset you. Your post greatly surprised me and I felt I needed to reply.

While I may have looked at your comments in detail, I don't believe I have taken anything out of context, nor have I intentionally twisted anything.

I hope that when you reread your post, you will understand why I have posted what I did, even if you don't agree with me. Your words did include 'if Alex had won BB3 he would be getting the jobs Miss Lawler has taken'. I didn't see any probablies or possiblies. As I said, 8 or 9 months on, does it matter who won in terms of getting jobs?

For the record I repeat my previously stated position. I believe it was more important for Kate to win than either Alex or Jade (It would have been even more important for Jonny than Kate imo). I am saying this in the sense that winning BB certainly opens some doors. However, I doubt that it confers any jobs automatically.

Also for the record, I repeat my oft-stated position that Kate is not an ideal tv presenter (in the BBC clone sense), and probably never will be.

No I haven't .....if you notice in my original post I did say the "Alex seems to only accept jobs that appeal to him"..

As I see it. Alex has never attempted anything that he hasn't been able to pull off..and with each appearance he seems more confident..this has lead me to believe that he is selecting jobs with care...but it is just my opinion

Unfortunatly, I'm not Alex's confidant in these matters

Don't be silly RG you haven't upset me one little bit. I haven't had time to reread my post yet but will take your word for it what I wrote, maybe I should have put probably, rather than would, but you know as well as I do that some posts are a bit hurried and usually I am more careful in choosing my words for a post. Of course it doesn't matter in terms of jobs for bber's, they have their lives we have ours, what they choose to do with them is their affair, I was just debating and getting a point across to Bystander, wheather or how seriously fm's take my posts is up to them. They are just my opinion after all.

(Friends again RG )

Susann, for my part, definitely yes.

P.S I sneaked an extra (hopefully) non-contentious point in at the end of my post inside the 15 min edit time and before I read your reply.

It might seem as though I deliberately put down everything that Alex does that's because even though he is a very likable and good looking guy, I really do think he is quite ordinary when it comes to television work.
Alex can't win really. When he has to follow a script his performance comes across as stilted and you don't get the advantage of the humour of his natural personality. When he works without a script his performance suffers because he comes across as too laid back or unable to think on his feet.

Even though it was scripted I thought Alex's best opportunity was on "Wish You Were Here". I was surprised he only did one spot. I know the series has finished now but there was plenty of time for him to appear again before its demise.

What utter billhooks!

You won't be surprised to hear that I completely disagree with you bystander. Working to a script, as Alex presumably was in Driven and WYWH and on a number of other shows, he came across extremely well. And to suggest that he's laid back and slow witted is the complete opposite to the personality we saw in the BB house.

Alex is beautiful, but he was popular with intelligent hetrosexual blokes because he is extremely quick witted, and naturally funny and entertaining. And he's the absolute opposite of laid back! What have you been watching!? You're getting him mixed up with somebody with a completely different personality surely. Spencer perhaps. I can't think of anyone in England less likely to come across as laid back and slow witted!

Kate, on the other hand, is genuinely slow witted. For the record, I have to say that I think Kate is dire on television. And I don't agree that her performance does not affect Alex - and others from BB. Established presenters can use her duff performance to categorise every reality star as equally useless. I find it enraging, personally, that someone who was completely unentertaining in the house, not particularly good looking and had no originality whatsoever about her has had any ongoing work on TV. Thank God that the useless gits on Channel 4 who hired her have been fired en-masse and the chap who has come back from Channel 5 had the good sense to axe RI:SE promptly. It augers well for the future of C4 in my opinion.
Last edited by darling : 29-11-2003 at 17:06

I don't know why Darling is angry at this that you've written.

It sounds very fair, reasonable and realistic.

Because Alex may find it difficult to think on his feet, does not mean that he is not intelligent.
Alex may simply find it difficult to multitask.

It could simply be to do with a lack of experience in broadcasting.
If we can accuse Kate of having problems doing two things at the same time, then surely we should be able to accept that Alex may have similar difficulties.
You can't expect BB contestants to just happen to be brilliant at everything they do.

All I can say is anyone who thinks Alex can't think on his feet obviously didn't hear him put Anne Widecombe in her place on LBC a few months back

It irritates me that anyone of even moderate intelligence can equate slow witted with a drawling - and extremely cool it must be said - speech pattern. Alex connects with what is said and always responds in a way that is thoughtful, often funny and surprising, and always interesting.

We have more than enough fast speaking, scant thinking nonentities on the box. Kate tries to emulate them. It's sad honestly that she can't even manage that.

I never said that Alex was slow witted, I said that I didn't think he could think on his feet. I should have added "in front of a camera", which is a totally different scenario than being in the BB house, entertaining us with all his mates after drinking a lot of alcohol.
Don't forget that in the house without a drink Alex was quite miserable a lot of the time.

Bystander, with the greatest respect, you're talking pants again. Alex was pretty down at the end, but he was never miserable 'a lot of the time'. Did you really watch BB3 properly or was Katie's posterior obscuring your view?

Possibly all the BB HM's need a skin as thick as an elderly rhinos backside.
There is a lot of flak out there-and not all of it from the expected direction.

I couldn't agree more moomin, well said.

Just heard Terry talking to Sarah, in The Salon, about some function he'd been to. He said that Mel from BB was there and that Alex was with her.

Ok, let's put it another way Moomin.
Most of his best moments were when he was drunk.