Kiwi viewers tune into the best on the box

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 AM ON THURSDAY 17 MARCH

Kiwi viewers tune into the best on the box

The votes are in. Television’s funniest bad boy presenter remains a fixture in Kiwi hearts with TV Guide readers awarding him two titles in the country’s biggest People’s Choice Awards.

Paul Henry, former presenter of the Breakfast programme, has been voted Best Presenter as well as Funniest Person on TV in the TV Guide Best on the Box Awards. His former co-host Pippa Wetzell has also been awarded New Zealand’s Sexiest Woman on television, knocking Robyn Malcolm from her perch.

Only a month after giving birth to her third child, Wetzell proves that mums are hot commodities with audiences.

Wetzell believes that her image as a wholesome mother-of-three may have worked in her favour.

“Perhaps because Robyn’s character ended up in prison, it may have influenced viewers this time round,” says Pippa. “I have no doubt that there’s plenty of people out there who believe she is still very sexy.”

Editor of TV Guide Julie Eley says that while Paul Henry may have disappeared from our screens, to pick up two awards proves that viewers want him back, and sooner rather than later.

“He’s too big a talent not to be on air,” says Eley. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the critics think about a person or a show, the only opinion that counts is the audience’s and that is what’s so special about the TV Guide Awards – they give the viewing public a voice.”

The 27 winners of the TV Guide Best on the Box Awards were decided by more than 10,000 TV Guide readers over three weeks in February and March in a public vote.

TVNZ’s Breakfast show has come up trumps in this year’s awards scooping four top gongs. The young Auckland reporter Alison Pugh took out the Rising Star title while both Tamati Coffey and Peter Williams held on to their titles for Best Weather Presenter and Best News Presenter for the second year running. The programme also picked up an award for Best Lifestyle Show.

The public can’t seem to get enough of their favourite Westies. Even in its sixth and final season Outrageous Fortune has managed another clean sweep of the TV Guide Best on the Box Awards for the fifth year running. Robyn Malcolm has held on to her Best Actress title and her co-star in the hit TV series, Antony Starr, has continued to dominate both the Sexiest Man and Best Actor categories for the third and fourth year in a row. The gong for Best Drama has also been awarded to the series.

In the current affairs arena, TV3 dominated with John Campbell taking the Best Current Affairs Presenter title and Campbell Live taking the Best Current Affairs Show beating out 60 Minutes and Close-Up for the first time

The full list of results is in this week’s TV Guide, on sale March 17.

Follow TV Guide on Twitter http://twitter.com/nztvguide and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/thetvguide.

ENDS

TV GUIDE BEST ON THE BOX 2011 – WINNERS

NEW ZEALAND PEOPLE

SEXIEST WOMAN
Pippa Wetzell (Breakfast – TV1)

SEXIEST MAN
Antony Starr (Jethro/Van West, Outrageous Fortune – TV3)

BEST ACTOR
Antony Starr (Jethro/Van West, Outrageous Fortune – TV3)

BEST ACTRESS
Robyn Malcolm (Cheryl West, Outrageous Fortune - TV3)

BEST PRESENTER, NEWS
Peter Williams (TV1)

BEST PRESENTER, CURRENT AFFAIRS
John Campbell (Campbell Live – TV3)

BEST PRESENTER, GENERAL
Paul Henry (Breakfast – TV1)

BEST PRESENTER, LIFESTYLE/ADVICE
Kevin Milne (Fair Go – TV1)

BEST PRESENTER, WEATHER
Tamati Coffey (TV1)

BEST PRESENTER, SPORT
Hamish McKay (TV3)

RISING STAR
Alison Pugh (TV1)

FUNNIEST PERSON ON TV
Paul Henry (Breakfast – TV1)

NEW ZEALAND SHOWS

BEST NEWS
One News

BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS
Campbell Live (TV3)

BEST SPECIAL EVENT
Band Together For Canterbury (TV3)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Intrepid Journeys (TV1)

BEST KIDS SHOW
What Now (TV2)

BEST DRAMA
Outrageous Fortune (TV3)

BEST COMEDY
7 Days (TV3)

BEST REALITY SERIES
Police Ten 7 (TV2)

BEST LIFESTYLE SHOW
Breakfast (TV1)

BEST ADVICE SHOW
Fair Go (TV1)

BEST SPORTS SHOW
The Crowd Goes Wild (Prime)

BEST TELEVISION CHANNEL
TV One

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