Bridget Saunders: Eye candy and an eye for shorties

Suzanne and Candy are making a move into fashion.

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CANDY LANE and Suzanne Paul have more in common than just Dancing With The Stars. They are both about to release their own fashion ranges. Candy's is for dancers and Suzanne's is for shorties!

In November Candy's launching Candy Lane Dancesport. She's been working on it for a long time and now it's happening she's really excited, especially as it will be selling through Farmers - which is a big coup.

In the same way that brands like Billabong are designed for surfers but worn by everyone, Candy Lane Dancesport is for the gym, pilates, dance training or just looking cool on the street. She's also planning to take the label into Australia; she is well known there, having been five times Australian ballroom champion. A learn-to-dance DVD is on the way too.

Meanwhile, Suzanne is over clips and into slips. She and her man Duncan have been working away on a design. They started with the idea of control pants but didn't like the unavoidable bulges so the idea morphed into a slip which has to be made on special looms because it's seamless. As well as the control garment, Suzanne is doing a fashion range for short women. She's all of 1.57m and says it's hard to find clothes that look good because the proportions that work for someone who is tall are weird on her. And she doesn't think it's right that a size 18 dress costs the same as a size 8 dress when there's twice the fabric in it, so her prices will reflect that. She's doing a couple of tops plus a skirt and trousers and they'll be on the market next summer throughout the country. Once the clothes are sorted, she will then start doing shoes.

But wait! There's more! A book actually, with that as a title. She's doing it with Penguin and it's to be released in October. An autobiography, it will also be motivational because she has so many people coming up to her saying they admire what she's overcome and that they couldn't do it. Says Suzanne: "I am not strong and I am not brave. I wanted to give up but you just have to carry on. My motto is when you are going through hell, keep going!" The proceeds of the book will go to creditors and there's a possibility that it will clear all her debts. Meanwhile she's still struggling like the rest of us.

When we took the photo above we went to Suzanne's home where she'd been shooting eight ads for Natural Glow. One of them featured her getting out of a Maserati. Suzanne is all too aware how some will react. "People will say, 'How can SHE afford a Maserati?' Well I can't, it's not mine!" People also ask her if DWTS's Brian and his series two dance partner, discus champion Beatrice, are dating - which is even sillier than thinking a fancy car would be Suzanne's.

Blood shed on street

COULD SHORTLAND STREET blood be running in your veins? If you have an accident in the next few weeks the answer is yes, it possibly could. Friday, June 13 was World Blood Donor Day and Will Hall (Kip Denton), Kiel McNaughton (Scotty) and Nisha Madhan (Shanti) were all keen to support the cause so a nurse headed out to the studio and they gave blood on the set of the Shortland Street hospital ward. (NB blood banks need help so get giving!)

Still good sports

AFTER THREE years off screen, Sports Cafe will be back within a month. And with the same line-up: Lana, Marc, Ric Salizzo and Graeme Hill. Eva the Bulgarian will be there too but in a smaller role as she is busy with a university degree. (A double major in art history and film and media.) The deal to get it back on screen was done in a bar and what won Ric over was the fact that it's so much fun to make. He's just worried that viewers will tune in and think "Ohmigod, they've aged!" The only person from the old line-up who hasn't signed is That Guy. He says he's moved on. But Ric says he'll be in the mix, even if he doesn't know it!

George the third

TEMEPARA GEORGE wins everything! On Wheel of Fortune, Monty Betham got a little bit, Brendan Cole got nothing at all, and Temepara won. She won DWTS too, of course, and then on Celebrity Joker Poker, she won her round and went on to win the series four final. Candy Lane reckons it's got nothing to do with good fortune. "I don't believe in luck. Temepara is a winner!"

John's all keyed-up

"CAPTURING LOVE, beauty and happiness" says the card of the photographer who took a photo of John Key, Dr Richard Worth, Auckland mayor John Banks and National's Auckland Central candidate Nikki Kaye at a fundraising event on Sunday night. Well, I wouldn't go quite that far but National is certainly feeling mighty cheerful right now. John Key is betting on an election date of October 18. He says it won't be November as the US election is on November 5 and no matter which way that goes, it will be bad for Helen. And if she leaves it till November 15, she will look desperate.

Down the line though, things weren't going National's way. At an ACT Party function at the Working Men's Club in Petone on Tuesday night, Sir Bob Jones backtracked on his radio declaration that he has not voted National since 1981, but he will do so this time to punish the government for the Electoral Finance Bill. He said loudly that he was seriously drunk when he said it, so it didn't count. Said Rodney Hide: "I've been drunker than that and never said anything that stupid!"

Meanwhile, Alt TV is considering launching its own political party. With its Naked News rating through the roof, newsreader Lisa Lewis could be minister for arts, culture and heritage. Alt owners Oliver Driver and Thane Kirby are jostling for Helen's job and Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury is insisting he is the new Murray McCully. The dreaded Electoral Finance Bill could pose a problem again though. Every time Alt promoted the channel they'd be deemed to be promoting the party, which would be illegal.

Save on petrol

TITCHMO.COM, the luxury lifestyle website behind the big TiTchmo In The City party held at Opium in Auckland on Thursday, is giving away a really cute LX50 Vespa Scooter. It's pale blue and is worth $5000. All you have to do is text BIKE to 968. The prize gets drawn on July 4 on Peter Urlich's radio show on George FM. If you are out of town, someone will give you a call. (These prizes and parties are making TiTchmo mighty popular. Their last giveaway was an iMac.)

All Blacks frilled to bits

THE ALL Blacks are not usually associated with sexy lingerie. On Wednesday, KidsCan, the charity that helps underprivileged children, is putting on the ultimate lingerie extravaganza in Auckland. Called Fantasia, it will be in the style of the famously glamorous shows put on by American company Victoria's Secret.

Among the models will be Chantal Jones, who is out here from Los Angeles and currently appearing on TV3's America's Next Top Model. August Models is producing it and other big model names involved will be Penny Pickard and Tia Woods. Why the All Blacks are so veeeeery interested in being present (besides the obvious lure of gorgeous women wearing very little) will be revealed the following night!

English players suck at meet the sweet

THE ENGLISH rugby team didn't score so well on the field and didn't do much better in the bars. Saturday night after the game, and only hours before the Great Duvet Scandal which made front page news, girlfriends of mine were on the dance floor at the Viaduct Bar Pasha. Mid-boogie, around 2am, they were approached by the team's huge bouncer. "Would you ladies like to meet the English rugby team?" he asked. (I'd run into the boys the night before and can vouch that some of them are huge, even bigger than man mountain Ali Williams, and are seriously gorgeous - but I digress!) The women said yes, they would, and so they were ushered into a VIP area where the guys were sitting with some 18 and 19-year-old girls. Once they were in there though, none of the guys did anything. Didn't politely stand up, didn't say hello, didn't offer a drink, nothing. Quite odd. In the end, the women sat down and chatted to the blokes beside them half-heartedly and wondered why the guys had asked to meet them in the first place. Zara Phillips' fiance, Mike Tindall, was among them and apparently he was the most charming guy.

But the most fascinating was one of their associates. He was very amused by it all and said that the players check out the women as they walk in and send out for the ones they like the look of. Like picking sweets in a sweet shop. He also said that more serious, married members of the team were back at the Hilton and the ones out were the hard partiers.

Some of the players were at Pony Club earlier in the evening and as a result the British papers haven't stopped calling the hip Auckland nightspot. The Telegraph was one of the most persistent, but, like the rest, got nothing beyond a "no comment". They ended up running a story anyway saying that Pony had closed at 1am, which was plain silly. No way did it close early. One weird thing did happen though. A toilet bowl was completely and utterly smashed, and you know how tough they are. On Monday, police were at the club making inquiries.