The latest off-camera story to grab the headlines for DSM (as we call it) concerned a cheeky photo of a colleague of ours here at Flanders Today’s parent company Corelio.

Jelle Van Riet is a literary journalist and columnist for De Standaard, but most of those who know her at all know her as the newlywed wife of Flemish crooner Helmut Lotti. Helmut recently gave up wearing a hairpiece, while his wife was uncovered by DSM more comprehensively when they showed a tasteful nude photo of her taken for a book of poetry.

It later transpired that the producers of DSM had used the photo without the permission of the photographer, the publisher of the book or the subject. The incident allowed jury member Guy Mortier to make a perfectly judged joke about Lotti’s toupee. Van Riet declined to comment. The producers’ excuses were, frankly, lame, but it hardly mattered: they had achieved their aim of making headlines.

Meanwhile, in the competition proper, the leading player at this stage is political journalist and presenter of Villa Politica, Linda De Win, with a stunning record of 10 wins in a row. De Win and pop singer Bent Van Looy have successfully dispatched the last seven candidates. As Flanders Today went to press just before the first episode of 2010, undercover journalist Luc Alloo was getting ready to try his luck against the unbeatable duo.

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