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Front Row: Cody Simpson’s wild midnight outing at Sydney store and NRL tough guy’s red-faced stage moment
Front Row is your weekly backstage pass to the Australian entertainment industry’s biggest parties, premieres, and behind-the-scenes secrets. Got a tip? Email us at frontrow@nine.com.au.
This week, Front Row was out past our bedtime watching Australia’s golden boy get flat-out rejected while wearing prosthetic ears, witnessed NRL hardman Paul Gallen get humbled under the big top, and sipped neon cocktails alongside an undercover international TV star at a local Sydney pub. Let’s dive into the chaos!
Even Cody Simpson gets told ‘no’
When you’re an international pop star and a champion swimmer you rarely hear the word “no.” But on Monday night, Front Row watched Cody Simpson get shot down – in a pair of pointy elf ears, no less.
Cody Simpson at the midnight launch event for A Court of Splintered Harmony at Dymocks Sydney dressed in elf ears! A bit tall for an elf but we’ll take it! Supplied
We packed into Dymocks on George Street alongside hundreds of breathless fantasy fans for the hotly anticipated midnight release of Sarah J. Maas’ new A Court of Thorns and Roses juggernaut, A Court of Splintered Harmony.
The energy was high and everyone was counting down the minutes until the book could finally hit shelves at midnight, including Simpson – but not quite for the same reason as the rest of us.
As the guest of honour, he had been tasked with reading the first few paragraphs out loud to the room at the strike of 12.01am, but behind his cool facade Simpson was lowkey panicking.
Wanting to avoid butchering tongue-twisting fantasy words like “Prythian” in front of a room of diehards, Simpson tried to get his hands on a copy of the book a few minutes before midnight so he could give the first page a quick once-over.
The answer he got was a flat no.
Even Simpson’s star power couldn’t get him past the strict midnight embargo, which was firmly enforced after other bookstores in the US accidentally put A Court of Splintered Harmony on shelves early and essentially leaked the novel fans had waited years for.
Denied his sneak peek and flying totally blind, Cody did what any smart man would do and outsourced the job by roping in a fan from the crowd to read with him.
Simpson roped a fan into reading with him after he was denied an early read of the book to practice! Supplied
“I’ll read the first sentence and then [do] you want to read on from there? How’s that feel?” he asked the young woman in front of a sea of screaming Aussies, but she seemed all too happy to oblige.
It probably didn’t help that Simpson hadn’t actually read all five of the other books in the ACOTAR series, so he was going into the new one a bit blind.
He picked up the first book after partnering with Baileys to launch his new book club and deciding that A Court of Splintered Harmony would be the second novel on the book club list after Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
The midnight call time didn’t stop fans from getting out of bed to line up for Simpson’s reading and the release of Sarah J. Maas’ new A Court of Thorns and Roses juggernaut, A Court of Splintered Harmony. Supplied
How’s he liking it so far?
Simpson said he enjoyed the first book and couldn’t wait to dive into the second, adding with a huge grin that he’d heard it was the steamiest one.
Sounds like he’s already on the bandwagon!
Hamish Blake gets humbled by his toughest critics
Hamish Blake may be one of Australia’s most beloved entertainers, but Front Row recently discovered the comedian regularly gets snubbed by two very important people in his life: his own kids,
Speaking about his new series Unskilled Adult, the comedian confessed to Front Row that his kids, Sonny, 12, and Rudy, nine, remain spectacularly unimpressed by his celebrity status.
Case in point: during filming, Hamish spent days manually building a set of wooden planter boxes for a Sydney swim school and expected his children to treat it like the Eighth Wonder of the World.
“I’ll often tell the kids, ‘Do you guys want to go and see the planter boxes?’ And they’re like, ‘No, we don’t care,’” Blake confessed with a laugh.
“I’m like, ‘Guys, this is – I’ve never been so proud of something. Apart from you guys, I’ve never been so proud of something in my life,’ and they still don’t care.”
Why doesn’t Blake just take control and drive the kids past the planter boxes anyway?
“I haven’t forced it upon them yet because I was worried in my heart that I’d pull into the driveway of the swim school and just see blank concrete,” he confessed.
Hamish Blake’s new series Unskilled Adult sees the comedian try his hand at some jobs he has zero training in. This should be interesting! Stan
Blake feared the planter boxes might have been removed; possibly because the whole point of Unskilled Adult is that he and his mates try their hand at handyman jobs they’re woefully unskilled for, and the results can lack … ahem, polish.
Well, Hamish, Front Row drove past recently and can confirm the boxes are still standing! Though knowing your handyman skills, you might want to drag Sonny and Rudy down to see them before the week is out...
Cirque du Soleil clowns reduce tough guy Paul Gallen to a blushing mess
If you had “former NRL heavyweight and boxing bruiser gets pressured into a mime routine by clowns” on your 2026 bingo card, go collect your prize.
Front Row headed to the glittering premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s KAZOO under the big top, expecting breathtaking acrobatics and gravity-defying stunts. Instead, the real main event happened when the performers zeroed in on NRL legend Paul Gallen sitting in the crowd.
The famously tough footy icon was yanked out of his seat by two royal clowns and a clumsy king to become the star of the opening skit.
Paul Gallen clowning around on stage at Cirque du Soleil’s KAZOO! Nine
What followed was pure comedy. A visibly red-faced Gallen was forced to wiggle his hips, perform an impromptu mime routine, and dance in front of thousands of laughing spectators.
Just when the poor guy thought his ordeal was over and tried to scuttle back to his chair, the clowns dragged him straight back to centre stage for a second round in the grand finale.
Gal buried his face in his hands, but credit where it’s due: the big man took it like an absolute champion!
Love Island’s iconic voice goes undercover at a Sydney pub
After a long day at work even a Front Row reporter needs a beverage, and on Monday night we chose to quench our thirst at The Chippo Hotel where they were holding a Love Island Australia watch party.
The pub was brimming with dozens of giggling gal pals cheersing their ‘Love Island iced tea’ cocktails and passionately dissecting which Islander lads gave them the ick.
The Chippo Hotel crowd’s faces said everything you need to know about the new season of Love Island Australia. Shock, horror, love! Nine
The premiere episode was full of gasp-worthy moments, cringe-worthy pashes and shocking betrayals but the most surprising reveal happened right at The Chippo Hotel.
Unbeknownst to the entire room, the man, the myth, the voice himself – Love Island Australia narrator Eoghan McDermott – had been quietly sinking schooners right under our noses all evening.
You may not know his face but you’ve definitely heard Eoghan McDermott’s voice before! Nine
Because his dry, sarcastic Irish lilt is recognisable to millions worldwide, the narrator stayed completely incognito just by staying silent.
But when he finally grabbed the pub microphone to address the room, he dropped the one word everyone was dying to hear:
“Tooooooniiggghttt!”
In just two syllables, the entire Chippo erupted and we were all instantly transported poolside to the Fiji villa. A 10 out of 10 pub surprise.
If you missed out on the first watch party don’t fret! More ‘Sex On The Beach’ cocktails and belly laughs with the girls can be had at The Chippo Hotel’s next watch party on Thursday, October 29.
