Tango-gate, Paul McDermott Vs. Gympie!

[Playm8]

I love that Christine's defence of the cultural/dancing life in Gympie included Line-Dancing! I just hope Paul didn't break her Achy-Breaky Heart

[Munchkin]

Originally Posted by Sam

Aaaah Gympie home of backpacker murders. Why do it Ivan style (remember kiddies he did his killin' just down the road from there), all that bloody work, fetching and carrying - lure them to one spot and torch the joint.

Childers and Belanglo State Forest are only about 1000km apart.

[Spawn of Satan]

Originally Posted by Sam

Aaaah Gympie home of backpacker murders. Why do it Ivan style (remember kiddies he did his killin' just down the road from there.

Hey mate, don't knock Ivan, He lived just around the corner from me... Makes ya wonder doesn't it. I also know a pedophile who kiddnaps people.

[Munchkin]

More from The Gympie Times
and more


I wanna write a letter!

[Alisso]

*cracks up* Methinks they dost protest too much *g*

What's wrong with these people? Can't they take a joke?

Originally Posted by that Gympie loser

He also claimed that the sending up of Gympie began back in the ’70s with shows like Good News Week where not just Australians, but people from all over the world, enjoyed a bit of Gympie bashing.

GNW was running back in the 70s???

[Bear]

Originally Posted by Alisso

GNW was running back in the 70s???

Hehe, I noticed that too.

[Mythor]

Originally Posted by Hayley Nissen

According to the television host, numerous “Strictly Dancing” staff members also have issues with the Golden City.

Is it just me, or does that make Gympie sound like a Chinese Restaurant?

Originally Posted by Munchkinator

I wanna write a letter!

GO ON!!!
Don't know how we'd get to see it though. Unless a MOSHer lives in the Gympie area?

[Laurenandë]

And onward it rolls.... Today's front page in QLD:

Bean-pickers hopping mad at dance slurs
(Glenis Green, 21/12/04)

GYMPIE folk have quick-stepped to their city's defence after a broadside from ABC TV's Strictly Dancing host Paul McDermott, who said its residents wouldn't know a tango from a salsa, and were "damn slow bean-pickers".

The comments have infuriated state and council leaders and the district's dancing teachers, who say McDermott does not know what he's talking about.

"This fellow McDermott has got it all wrong," said Cooloola Shire Mayor Mick Venardos yesterday.

"His views are misguided and he is certainly misinformed. It is sad that he is attempting to make a name for himself by maligning the good reputation of the community and all the honest and respectable citizens of Gympie."

McDermott made his first dig at Gympie during the last episode of his reality dancing show in November.

He has repeated the slight twice since then, including a segment on ABC Radio late last week.

State Member for Gympie, Independent Elisa Roberts, said she was originally from Sydney "and I don't know the difference between a tango and a salsa".

"We (Gympie) have got bean-pickers, doctors, lawyers and politicians – a bit of everything," she said.

"And if we were all bean-pickers, so what?"

Cr Venardos said as the town that saved Queensland from bankruptcy with the discovery of gold in 1867, Gympie was proud of its achievements and friendly reputation.

Bronwyn Molloy, who said Molloy's School of Dance had been teaching the people of Gympie to dance for 32 years, accused McDermott of "shooting his mouth off" when he should know better.

"People who carry on like that eventually end up burying themselves," she said.

Ms Molloy said her school had produced dancers who had been very successful in the competitive arena and Gympie had "a lot of culture".

She said that just last week two Gympie teenagers, Michael McCormack and Ksenia Petrushko, had joined Dancing with the Stars actor John Wood for an exhibition dance to open a retirement village.

In an interview with ABC Radio, McDermott was unrepentant.

"There's a whole team of writers that work on Strictly Dancing – five of them had personal issues with Gympie. Two of them were from Gympie," he said.

"One of the set designers had an issue with Gympie as well and a number of dancers had Gympie issues.

"We're talking about a town that is essentially filled with bean-pickers – damn them, damn them all."




Oh, my, god. Let it go... hehe. Love P.McDiddy's quotes.

[Mythor]

Originally Posted by teh article

It is sad that he is attempting to make a name for himself

I'm beginning to think Gympie residents know less about McDermott than McDermott knows about Gympie.

[Playm8]

Originally Posted by Laurenandë

"This fellow McDermott has got it all wrong"
he is attempting to make a name for himself

Hehe. I don't think this guy has any idea who Paul is. Attempting to make a name for himself on the back of Gympie!?

Originally Posted by Laurenandë

"State Member for Gympie, Independent Elisa Roberts, said she was originally from Sydney "and I don't know the difference between a tango and a salsa".

What kind of an argument is that? Doesn't that back his point?
And I'm sure the 2 who just opened a retirement village have great dancing careers ahead of them...

[smuffy]

Oh my God that is the funniest thing I have heard in ages!

*waits VERY impatiently for RealPlayer to download so she can listen to the radio bits*

Made my day.

[Munchkin]

the whole thing just cracks me up

[Alisso]

I just can't believe they don't get that he's joking! And the saddest thing is, the fact that they don't get the joke, proves the point that he wasn't even serious about in the first place!

[Loz]

"Gympie is far from being the “bean picking hicksville” he claims"

umm... didn't that Christine chick originally refer to her townspeople as hicks?? sure, he called them bean-pickers, but that's just a fact...

[unfrufru]

i just have an image of gud rocking up to the gympie saloon (cause in my mind they have a saloon) and being run out of town.