PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 AM ON THURSDAY 15 MARCH
TV Guide Best on the Box Winners Announced!
The winners in the country’s biggest People’s Choice Awards have been announced and the Breakfast programme has caught
the eye of the New Zealand viewing public in more ways than one.
Kiwi television viewers have been noticeably charmed by Breakfast weather presenter Tamati Coffey and the Saturday
morning host Toni Street, voting the two as Sexiest Man and Woman in this year’s TV Guide Best on the Box Awards.
Tamati was thrilled by his award win, but admits it was a challenge to decide who to vote for between the other category
nominees.
“I was surprised to win, but I’ll take it. Thanks New Zealand! In our house we’re big Go Girls fans, so it was a hard decision,” said Tamati, who also thinks that Shortland Street actors and brothers Robbie and Pua
Magasiva were strong contenders.
“If it hadn’t been for Jay Ryan, I would have been voting for them,” said Tamati. ”They’re fine looking brothers.”
Toni was surprised by her award, and when asked why she thought she had won, she said she wasn’t entirely sure
“I was still getting over the shock of being nominated to tell you the truth!” said Toni. “If I had to hazard a guess, I
would say maybe my smile? I’m a naturally friendly person, and I think Kiwis can relate to that.
“Although, anyone who saw me singing The Cranberries last weekend on Saturday Breakfast might want to reconsider their
vote!” added Toni.
On top of winning the Sexiest Man category and beating out some tough competition, Tamati has also managed to hold onto
his reigning title as the nation’s favourite weather presenter for the third year running.
“I’m very humbled to be accepting my third Best Weather Presenter award,” he said.
TVNZ’s Breakfast show has retained its gong for Best Morning Show and Breakfast’s business segment presenter Nadine
Chalmers-Ross’ stocks must definitely be on the rise as she walks away with the Rising Star award. Scooping five titles
in total, Breakfast has come up trumps again in this year’s Best on the Box Awards.
“TV3 on the other hand has got it covered when it comes to current affairs,” said TV Guide Editor Julie Eley.
Campbell Live and its affable host John Campbell were voted favourite current affairs programme and presenter of a
current affairs programme for the third and second years respectively.
The New Zealand TV viewing public, however, seem to be split in their loyalties when it comes to the news networks.
While One News continues to dominate the Best News category for the fifth year running, TV3 news presenters were voted
winners in their fields. As well as John Campbell (Best Presenter, Current Affairs) and Hilary Barry’s (Best Presenter,
News) wins, Hamish McKay was also voted Best Sports Presenter.
Other Best on the Box favourites include comedian and host of 7 Days, Jeremy Corbett, while 7 Days beat runner-up, The
Jono Project, by 4,700 votes to be crowned Best Comedy Show.
Long running advice show Fair Go enjoys continued popularity with voters and the much loved children’s programme What
Now? won the Best Kids/Youth category for the fifth year in a row.
“We have now been running TV Guide Best on the Box for more than 10 years and these Awards go from strength to strength each year. It just goes to show
the passion that we have for local content and home grown programming,” said Julie.
The 25 winners of the TV Guide Best on the Box Award winners were voted for by over 14,000 television viewers over three weeks in February and March
via a public vote.
The full list of results is in this week’s TV Guide, on sale 15 March.
Follow TV Guide on Twitter http://twitter.com/nztvguide and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/thetvguide.
ENDS
TV GUIDE BEST ON THE BOX PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS 2012 - Winners
NEW ZEALAND PEOPLE
SEXIEST WOMAN
Toni Street (Saturday Breakfast/One News – TV1)
SEXIEST MAN
Tamati Coffey (Breakfast – TV1)
BEST ACTOR
Jay Ryan (Kevin, Go Girls – TV2)
BEST ACTRESS
Amanda Billing (Sarah Potts, Shortland Street – TV2)
BEST PRESENTER, NEWS
Hilary Barry (TV3)
BEST PRESENTER, CURRENT AFFAIRS
John Campbell (Campbell Live – TV3)
BEST PRESENTER, GENERAL
Marcus Lush (North – TV1)
BEST PRESENTER, WEATHER
Tamati Coffey (TV1)
BEST PRESENTER, SPORT
Hamish McKay (TV3)
FUNNIEST PERSON ON TV
Jeremy Corbett (7 Days – TV3)
RISING STAR
Nadine Chalmers-Ross (AMP Business – TV1)
NEW ZEALAND SHOWS
BEST NEWS
One News (TV ONE)
BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS
Campbell Live (TV3)
BEST MORNING SHOW
Breakfast (TV1)
BEST SPECIAL EVENT
Rugby World Cup 2011 (Sky Sports/Maori TV/TV1/TV3)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Intrepid Journeys (TV1)
BEST ONE OFF DOCUMENTARY
Inside NZ: Inside Child Poverty – A Special Report (TV3)
BEST KIDS/YOUTH SHOW
What Now (TV2)
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Shortland Street (TV2)
BEST ONE OFF DRAMA
Tangiwai (TV1)
BEST COMEDY
7 Days (TV3)
BEST REALITY SERIES
Missing Pieces (TV3)
BEST CULINARY SERIES
MasterChef New Zealand (TV1)
BEST ADVICE SHOW
Fair Go (TV1)
BEST SPORTS SHOW
The Crowd Goes Wild (Prime)