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After taking out the prestigious Television Personality of the Year trophy, Below Deck Down Under babe Aesha Scott bawled her eyes out backstage at the New Zealand Television Awards, telling Woman’s Day, “I had this cool speech planned, but I just can’t stop crying!”
Having moved back to Tauranga with her boyfriend Scott Dobson last month after years living in the States, the reality star – who has been widely praised for her handling of sexual misconduct on her Bravo/Hayu show – added, “Being a Kiwi is one of my favourite things about myself and I’m so grateful to represent Aotearoa on the world stage, but it means so much to me to win this on home soil. I’m more proud of this than anything I’ve ever done.”
Determined to push the boat out on the fashion front, Aesha, 31, wore a custom, hand-painted dress from local label BW 36.174.
Also a big winner on the night was Antonia Prebble, who wore a beautiful black Hera Couture gown to pick up her prize for Best Actress, her third-ever NZ TV Award, for which she beat out her Double Parked co-star Madeleine Sami.
“I’m so delighted, but I’m sharing this award with Mads because our performances are so intrinsically linked that it’s difficult to separate them,” the star, 39, told us. “I’m so excited to tell my boys. They’ll be really proud of their mum.”
Newshub’s Patrick Gower won Best News Presenter, while his Paddy Gower Has Issues co-star Karen O’Leary took out Best Entertainment Presenter. Afterwards, Paddy, 46, said, “I’ve never been happier in my whole f**king life,” and Karen, 45, dedicated the trophy to her partner Eilish Wilson, saying, “I couldn’t have done this without her. She’s always so supportive and so great with my son.”
Meanwhile, Teuila Blakely, 48, presented the Television Legend prize to her Sione’s Wedding co-star Oscar Kightley, 54, who later told us, “I’m quite emotional about having my whole body of work recognised. I don’t take much seriously, but I take this seriously.”
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Melissa Chan-Green, Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts were on hand to support their Newshub co-star Ryan Bridge, who was nominated for TV Personality of the Year. When we complimented her stunning silver frock, Sam confessed, “I love dressing up, but as a newly solo mum, I didn’t have time to buy a dress, so I discovered this in the back of a wardrobe at work. It’s a vintage piece from Dancing With The Stars. I tried it on and it fit, so here I am!”
Ink-redible!
Kimberley Crossman’s cameraman fiancé Tom Walsh showed off a tattoo of Kim as a mermaid, which he’d had done that day. Kim says, “He started bleeding and I thought he’d given me red hair, so I turned into a psycho for about 30 seconds!” Having just started wedding planning following a tragic miscarriage, Kim says, “After a not-great couple of weeks, it’s been fun to have something to look forward to.”
