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Help! I’m out of my Comfort Zone!

This is really starting to get out of hand, people!

The phrase COMFORT ZONE is being bandied about on television shows so often it is driving me crazy.

A dancer is out of their comfort zone. A celebrity is out of theirs. Now for goodness’ sake we even have a host who is out of their bloody comfort zone too (more below)!

What about the viewers? I’m thrown out of my comfort zone everytime a current affairs programme tries to compare margarines or diets. I’m out of my comfort zone everytime I hear a celebrity singing flat and being told they were ‘phenomenal.’ And I’m really uncomfortable when a reality show drags out something that should take 20 minutes into 70.

Both So You Think You Can Dance Australia and It Takes Two are guilty of overusing the phrase this year. If I have to hear one more time that some jazz dancer is out of their comfort zone doing hip hop or contemporary then I will barf. Seriously. You’re a dancer deal with it. Or don’t sign up for a show in which the premise requires you to execute different dance genres.

And since when has singing karaoke been out of a celebrity’s comfort zone? They are being pampered by crews, feted by fans, and performing under the spotlight to rapturous applause. Isn’t that what being a celebrity is all about? Send them off to work in a soup kitchen and I might start believing you.

The actors who are singing are particularly stretching the notion. Any half decent actor in this country knows that being able to hold a tune is a basic, requisite tool of trade along with reading a script cold, doing accents or horseriding. Julia Morris (who I actually enjoy seeing back on telly) has already appeared in the stage musical “I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change” -isn’t that akin to Nikki Webster having dance lessons as a kid when she was criticised on Dancing with the Stars? Morris also co-hosted Foxtel’s karaoke show, The Singing Office. If that isn’t a crash course, what is?

And now we have Natalie Bassingthwaighte today telling a newspaper that hosting the bloody show sees her out of her “Comfort Zone” too. What the?

‘Bassingthwaighte says the fact she hadn’t previously hosted a TV show was part of the job’s appeal. “I’ve had to get used to reading an autocue, which has been a change for me, and I’ve been working with a voice coach,” she says. “I get a little bit nervous because it’s out of my comfort zone.”‘

Granted, hosting a reality show with screaming hordes isn’t the same as soap acting, but I would have thought fronting a rock band was some training ground. Did she read the autocue when she narrated Girl Band?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying SYTYCDA, but if another judge draws out that Comfort Zone phrase we may need to get them an autocue. At least that way they can count the cliches first.

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