Dan and Honor turned the tables on photographers over breakfast.
All Black Dan Carter and his wife Honor have taken exception to having their picture taken by "paparazzi" at breakfast, sharing their thoughts on Twitter.
"Off to breakfast and paparazzi following us ... time to play some games!" Honor tweeted this week, revealing the number plate of the follower.
Dan echoed his wife's thoughts, and posted on the social networking site: "How can I enjoy my last day with my wife when we are being followed by paparazzi to breakfast #annoying".
Paparazzi photographers in Auckland, of which there are only a handful, freelance their snaps to the highest bidder - invariably the glossy women's magazines with seemingly bottomless buckets of cash.
Dan and Honor, no strangers to chequebook journalism, were rumoured to have received between $50,000 and $100,000 for their wedding story. The couple sold the exclusive rights to the photographs from their nuptials to ACP Media, the publishers of Woman's Day and the Australian Women's Weekly, which arranged for a plane to fly overhead during the service to prevent the press getting a sneak peak.
So, is this a case of live by the sword, die by the sword?
Carter is all too familiar with the world of privacy-invading paparazzi and publicity. The All Black star has a gaggle of minders, managers and PR flacks protecting and advising him and controlling his image.
Some members of the tabloid press think the couple are fair game. One paparazzo, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "It's a bit rich of Dan and Honor to complain about being watched or photographed when they are out in public places and they sell their wedding story. Fact is, they are public figures, but they lead pretty dull lives."
When a Twitter follower said they were surprised there were paparazzi in New Zealand, Honor said they're "getting worse". Asked if they got followed often, she said: "Haven't for a while, they are really obvious when they do though!"
Surely the Carters are allowed some peace and quiet. Honor said the "paparazzi" didn't ruin their meal and said it was a "great brekky".
The Carters are prolific tweeters and Dan regularly holds Twitter press conferences when he answers fans' questions about everything from his favourite food to what weapon he would use in a zombie war. It is with some irony that the couple bemoaned the lack of privacy on the most public of media sites.
Current affairs three-way
Is the state of investigative television journalism turning into a spirited menage a trois? Are our delicate taste buds expected to choose from an orgy of tempting and alluring offers? Who will we love more: Prime, TV3 or TVNZ?
The state broadcaster told The Diary this week it was committed to current affairs show Sunday, and, despite being temporarily truncated for New Zealand's Got Talent, the show will return to its long form. Phew.
TV3 is committed, too, to long-form current affairs - despite the fact it loses its flagship show, 60 Minutes, at the end of the year to Prime TV. TV3's owner, MediaWorks, made the penny-pinching decision not to renew its CBS licensing deal.
TV3 is making quiet preparations for its new-look current affairs show and applications for positions closed on Friday, which, an insider said, "attracted a lot of TVNZ staff".
Also looking to attract is Prime TV, which is (re)launching its version of 60 Minutes next year. Channel manager Kathy Wright told The Diary it was too early to say whether it will screen local current-affairs stories. She also could not say whether the show will go up against TVNZ and TV3's offerings on Sunday nights.
"It's all being worked through," she said.
But do we need three hard-hitting local current affairs programmes on Sunday? Will it be investigation overkill? And more to the point - are there so many things worth investigating in this tiny country?
Twitter's Got Talent
New Zealand's Got Talent is proving a ratings winner for TVNZ - and Twitter. Fans avidly share their thoughts on the micro blogging site. In fact, the Twitter feed is often more entertaining than the Sunday night show.
Local celebrities have been getting in on the act tweeting their "talented" musings. TV3's Guy Williams is a prolific #NZGT tweeter - campaigning for Bethany Waugh and her tin whistle, while Olympic golden girl Valerie Adams is backing Big Dane, whom she mistakenly keeps calling Dan.
Some have accused the tweeters of being mean-spirited but, as TVNZ reporter and avid NZGT follower Joanna Hunkin says, "There's always the chance some people will misinterpret the spirit in which you say things. I acknowledge I may have crossed the line once or twice, but it's certainly not intended as anything nasty and I apologise if anyone's taken it that way."
Hunkin says she loves watching the show and reading everyone's tweets. "It's great fun and really the highlight of my week."
Iti's spider not so itsy
Tuhoe activist Tame Iti , who is serving 2-years at Waikeria Prison for his part in the Urewera Raids, was whisked to Waikato Hospital this week after a run-in with a spider.
"I was bitten by a spider, it got infected and I had to see a doctor. I'm okay, but the bite did not give me the power to climb walls," Iti tweeted - or at least someone from his whanau did. They run his Twitter account and he relays his tweets by phone from the slammer.
Iti, who is waiting for the outcome of an appeal against firearms charges, told followers of his new "job".
"Now working with the tractor gang out on the farm. Walking around outside the compound my feet in the free dirt," he tweeted last month.
Better be wary of creepy-crawlies.
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