Now, I'm not the greatest fan of Ms. Kaplinsky, but surely some of us can stop the CONSTANT bashing that goes on about her "not being able to read" and being a "gobby southern cow". They're just insults... each to their own opinion but when that person (like Matrix, and winifred) express their opinions in every thread, it's really tiresome. It must just be a phase we're going through at the moment: Fiona Bruce was hit by the forum bashing crew recently, as well.
Now, don't say I'm trying to be a mod, because I know I'm not. But once you've made your opinions clear on how you view a newsreader, PLEASE just leave it at that, don't go on to insult them for the hell of it.
And, if you have anything to say about any presenter, say it in here... I'm sure a certain member of this forum has something to say about a certain Ms. K.
I've noticed that over the past few weeks, things have been a bit out of hand with one thing or another, whether it be arguments or people expressing opinions with others disagreeing.
Hopefully, it'll stop soon ...
I think the bashing is a little pointless... It just creates arguments. 'If you haven't anything nice to say...' and 'each to their own' spring to mind on this one....
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but there's no need to go over the top once you've made that point. Besides not only the intended recipient of the harsh comment reads it here and therefore others may be offended.
WILL NATASHA'S LATEST LOVE LAST?; SHE'S BECOME ENGAGED AFTER A WHIRLWIND, THREE-MONTH ROMANCE BUT HATE MAIL FROM BBC COLLEAGUES AND CLAIMS THAT SHE HAS IDEAS ABOVE HER STATION MEAN IT'S NOT ALL GOOD NEWS FOR TV'S BREAKFAST QUEEN
WHAT do the Prince of Wales, John Major and Natasha Kaplinsky have in common?
They have all been victims of the Curse of the Open Mike.
The former Prime Minister, you will remember, was caught calling Right-wing Cabinet colleagues "*******", unaware that the camera microphone was still on. Prince Charles was probably entirely aware that the microphones were on when he ranted on against the "bloody people" of the media during a photo-call last week.
And then there's Natasha, red-carpet correspondent at the Baftas earlier this year, whose hissy fits and foot-stamping tantrums were relayed over the open mike straight into the packed press room.
It is a sure bet that Ms Kaplinsky had no idea her whingeing demands for a makeup artist were providing an alternative floorshow at the glitzy award ceremony until she saw it all repeated in print.
Yet someone would have known she was still transmitting when she thought she wasn't. All of which begs the question: why didn't anybody tell her? More importantly, why didn't anybody want to tell her?
To examine those questions is to enter a world of petulance, pretentiousness and petty jealousies known as the BBC where, it must be said, Natasha is about as popular as a steak pie at a vegan supper. And this week, she has given the green-eyed monster plenty to set his teeth gnashing. First, it emerged that she had been awarded a new BBC contract worth 500,000 - which is more than twice the salary paid to other top-line presenters and comes at a time when the Corporation is preparing to axe 4,000 jobs.
Then, yesterday, her colleagues - and hundreds of thousands of breakfast news viewers - were treated to a simpering announcement of her engagement to banker Justin Bower after a three-month courtship.
"It's been a whirlwind. . . it's been lovely, " she said. "He doesn't really know me properly. He won't know what he's in for."
To those who do know Natasha, those were telling comments. One former associate remarked: "As soon as she said that, I thought, 'I hope the poor bloke finds out before it's too late and he's trapped'."
Natasha, 32, has been a regular on our screens for five years, moving smoothly from regional to national TV, presenting the news on Sky and, since 2002, on BBC Breakfast.
She has branched out into reality TV in the hugely successful Strictly Come Dancing; into light entertainment with the search for Britain's Eurovision Song Contest entry, and into big-event presenting, hosting the BBC's New Year's Eve show and yesterday presiding over the launch of a Beeb party to mark the 60th anniversary of VE Day.
Natasha is TV's reigning queen, admired by millions as she bestrides serious news and frothier entertainment shows with equal ease.
Her swift ascent up the corporate ladder has won her few friends. If Justin Bower had taken to heart his new fiancee's comments about not knowing her very well, he had only to log on to the BBC Breakfast news website yesterday for a clear idea of what others think.
THE website was so overwhelmed with hate mail following the revelations about her new contract that it had to be closed down for several hours so that it could be purged of what were euphemistically described as "negative comments" - many of which appeared to have been posted by fellow BBC employees. This sort of bile is par for the course in the bitchy broadcasting world. But Natasha seems to have an extraordinary knack of polarising opinion.
While fans post dozens of complimentary comments on the internet, others call her "false, patronising and condescending".
One internet commentator wrote:
"Every time I see her I want to throw the TV out of the window." Another said: "I cannot warm to her; she is abrasive and off-hand; she behaves like a headmistress and comes across as very, very dull."
Why does Natasha inspire such venom? After all, she is only a TV presenter, reading aloud words written by someone else.
"Natasha has committed the cardinal sin of believing her own hype, " says one who has known her almost throughout her career.
"She thinks everything is beneath her and uses people to get on."
Nor does her aloofness appear to be a by-product of her success.
After studying English at Hertford College, Oxford, Natasha joined the BBC's secretarial pool in 1995.
She landed her first presenting job with cable channel Talk TV and, a year later, joined Meridian TV in Kent as a junior reporter.
Those who worked with her in those early days claim she was just as much of a diva back then.
"She got herself a really good agent, Jon Roseman, who also represented Jill Dando, while she was a presenter at Meridian, " says one.
"But whatever he advised her to do, she thought it was beneath her.
She expected nothing less than to be handed the job of reading the Six O'Clock News.
"It was Roseman's idea for her to move to London News Network and then to Sky.
"He talked her into doing Strictly Come Dancing; he had a feeling the show would be a hit and knew if she was good in it, it would open new vistas for her - and he was right. He created Natasha Kaplinsky the household name. But he also created a kind of TV monster."
Roseman terminated his contract with Natasha on January 6 this year, telling friends he'd had enough of her moods; she was simply the most difficult client he had ever had to deal with.
The breaking point is said to have come when the presenter allegedly tried to pull out of a long-confirmed corporate booking on the day of the actual engagement.
FOR HER part, Natasha is claiming she is owed unpaid fees and the dispute may yet end up in court. Last night, Roseman said: "I don't really want to comment but I am rather fed up with friends in the business calling me Dr Frankenstein." Former colleagues also recall Natasha's aptitude for charming her (invariably male) bosses, most notably Meridian's head of news, Lloyd Bracey. Within six months of her arrival at Meridian, he had promoted her to news anchor.
Tongues were soon wagging over the relationship between the station's married news chief and his attractive protegee, who was then living with management consultant Michael Barnard, whom she had met at Oxford.
When a newspaper exposed her affair with Bracey, Natasha responded with a "spoiler" - an interview with another paper designed to defuse the original story - in which she declared herself "mortified" at what she insisted was a brief fling with her boss.
In fact, claims an associate from the time, the affair had been going on for years.
LATER, she would also deny an affair with her Strictly Come Dancing partner Brendan Cole, who broke off his engagement with a fellow dancer.
In 1999, Natasha moved to London News Network, where she presented the flagship news programmes London Today and London Tonight. Within a year, she had been poached by Sky but was reluctant to leave.
"She didn't want to come to Sky because it was satellite and she thought that was inferior, " says one former colleague.
To most journalists, a live, rolling news programme is the pinnacle of news-presenting.
But another colleague from this time added: "It has never really been about journalism for her. It has always been about getting famous."
In that, she had the unlikely assistance of Labour elder statesman Tony Benn who, when approached to appear on Sky, agreed, "if the lovely Natasha Kaplinsky is the one doing the interview".
Their subsequent friendship was so flirtatious that it prompted rumours of an affair around Westminster.
Fame came in earnest when the BBC hired her as a team-mate for Dermot Murnaghan on the breakfast-time sofa.
That, in turn, brought her to Strictly Come Dancing, which propelled her into household name territory and the rest, as they say, is history.
She is now the most ubiquitous presenter on television. How long she remains there is up to her bosses and, more importantly, the British viewing public.
Once upon a time, Anthea Turner and Ulrika Jonsson could do no wrong on television but the public fell out of love with them.
There is no doubt that Natasha is both beautiful and talented.
She is incredibly popular with the viewing public. But she needs to learn a little humility, otherwise her career and her love life could waltz into oblivion.
