Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 7,700 episodes and 31 years, and is one of the most watched television programmes in New Zealand.
Destiny Church is a New Zealand fundamentalist, Christian pentecostalist movement that has its headquarters in Auckland, and is politically placed on the far-right. The church advocates strict adherence to biblical morality, and has a reputation for its position against homosexuality, for its patriarchal views and for its calls for a return to biblical conservative family values and morals. It also teaches prosperity theology and, more recently, COVID-19 conspiracy theories, the latter of which includes the denial of the virus' existence altogether.
Brian Raymond Tamaki, is a New Zealand Māori fundamentalist Christian religious leader, conspiracy theorist and far-right political activist. He is the leader of Destiny Church, a pentecostal Christian organisation which advocates strict adherence to fundamentalist biblical morality. Tamaki has been involved with various fringe political parties and movements, and since 2022 he has led the Freedoms New Zealand party.
New Zealand's Got Talent was a New Zealand reality television show which premiered in 2008. The show was based on the Got Talent series. The show featured singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other variety performers of all ages competing for a top prize of $100,000 cash and a Toyota RAV4 car. Three judges appear on the show each week to provide feedback for the contestants.
The X Factor is a New Zealand television reality music competition, originating from the original UK series and based on the Australian The X Factor production format. The show began in 2013 and was open to anyone aged 14 and over. The winner was signed to Sony Music Entertainment New Zealand.
The Block NZ is a New Zealand reality television series based on the popular Australian series The Block. The first season premiered on Three on 4 July 2012.
The second series of New Zealand's Got Talent aired on TV One on 9 September 2012 and ended on 2 December 2012. The series was won by 15-year-old singer-songwriter Clara van Wel from Blenheim who performed her own song "Where Do You Find Love?". 11-year-old singer Jessie Hillel from Wellington was the runner-up, with 17-year-old singer-songwriter Evan Sinton from Auckland in third place.
The first series of New Zealand's Got Talent began airing on Prime on 8 September 2008 and ran to 28 October 2008. It consisted of 13 episodes.
New Zealand's Got Talent was a New Zealand reality television show, based on the original UK series, to find new talent. The third and final series began airing on TV One from 15 September 2013. Host Tāmati Coffey returned to the show, along with judges Jason Kerrison and Rachel Hunter and key sponsor Toyota New Zealand. Cris Judd also joined the judging panel, replacing Ali Campbell. The series screened at 7.30pm on Sunday evenings.
The second and final series of the New Zealand television reality music competition The X Factor premiered on TV3 in February 2015. Pre-auditions began in October 2014. As well as again being open to singers aged 14 and over, the series was also open to bands, which had to contain no more than five members and have at least two singers. The contestants were split into the show's four traditional categories: Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups.
Vision NZ is a nationalist political party in New Zealand led by Hannah Tamaki, the co-leader of the fundamentalist Christian movement Destiny Church. Its policies have included opposition to abortion, homosexuality, immigration, and the construction of new mosques. It has supported creating a Māori-owned bank and Tūhoe ownership of Te Urewera, and has called for government funding for Destiny Church programmes.
Rachel White is a professional dancer. A two-time New Zealand Professional Latin Champion, White was the co-owner of JustDance studio in Los Angeles, and a judge on the television series Dancing With the Stars New Zealand.
There have been several COVID-19 protests in New Zealand held since 2020, where people protested the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, in particular the lockdown measures in place in March–May 2020, August 2020, and August–November 2021 and the later vaccine mandates. Most politicians both within and outside of Government and the vast majority of people have condemned these protests and view them as grandstanding by the organisers, and fear they may have spread the virus.
RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under is a reality competition streaming television series based on the American television series of the same name produced by World of Wonder and Warner Bros. International Television Production New Zealand. The show documents RuPaul and a panel of judges' search for "Down Under's next drag superstar". Contestants of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under are either from Australia or New Zealand. RuPaul plays several roles on the show including host, mentor, and head judge for the series, as the contestants are given different challenges to participate in each week. The show also employs a panel of judges: RuPaul, Michelle Visage, and Rhys Nicholson. The series premiered on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand, Stan in Australia, and on WOW Presents Plus internationally on 1 May 2021. The series is also streaming on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, and broadcast by both Crave and its associated streaming service in Canada.
Carolyn Keep is a New Zealand television personality and presenter. Taylor is known as one of the prominent faces for New Zealand Children's television in the late 1990s, as one of the hosts for What Now. Taylor began her broadcast career the young age of 18 years old, before television, Taylor had studied in Wellington at the Victoria University of Wellington.
The second season of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under premiered on 30 July 2022 and concluded on 17 September 2022. The cast was announced via TVNZ's Instagram account and a live interview with Kween Kong on TVNZ's Breakfast show on 7 July 2022.
Hannah Tamaki JP is the wife of Brian Tamaki, the leader of the Pentecostal fundamentalist movement Destiny Church. She is also the leader of the Christian fundamentalist political party Vision NZ.
The ninth series of Dancing with the Stars premiered on 24 April 2022 on Three.
The Freedoms & Rights Coalition (TFRC) is a self-described "people's movement" founded by Destiny Church founder and leader Bishop Brian Tamaki in 2021 to oppose the New Zealand Government's COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and vaccine mandates. The group organised protests in Auckland and across New Zealand. In mid-July 2022, the Coalition launched a second wave of protests against the Labour Government, whom they accused of incompetence and contributing to the country's socio-economic problems and shortages.
Freedoms New Zealand, also known as Freedoms NZ: Uniting Political Parties and Freedom Movements, is a registered political alliance in New Zealand, founded on 22 August 2022 by Brian Tamaki following a series of protests. Today it is co-led by Tamaki and Sue Grey. It is an "umbrella party", consisting of an alliance between Tamaki's Freedom and Rights Coalition organisation, the registered Vision NZ and Outdoors & Freedom parties, and the unregistered Yes Aotearoa and Rock The Vote NZ parties.
