Knockout advice
‘‘KEEP it real’’ – that’s the message The GC beauty Rosanna Arkle has for her fight-night rival Jaime Ridge.
The Whangarei-born part-time model has vowed to floor 18-yearold university student Ridge in their July 5 boxing match.
But Arkle, 23, was quick to give her opponent some advice on how to survive the ups and downs of being a reality TV star. The Auckland teen and her mum Sally Ridge are the subjects of a proposed reality series – which would include footage of next month’s bout.
‘‘The advice I would give to Sally and Jaime for the show would be to 100 per cent themselves,’’ Arkle said.
‘‘If you are 100 per cent honest in yourself and people don’t like you, at least you are being you.’’
Arkle wants her match-up with Ridge, in The Godfather of all Fight Nights, to be just as fair dinkum.
‘‘We are not here to just look pretty,’’ Arkle told Sunday News.
‘‘We are here to have a boxing match and it is either going to beme knocked out or her. I would prefer it would be her. I intend to try my best. It will be great . . . I will knock her out and then go and get some KFC.’’
Ridge, daughter of former Kiwis captain and All Black great Matthew Ridge, acknowledged there were ‘‘absolutely’’ some who would watch the bout to see her lose to the feisty Arkle.
But she was training hard with former professional boxer and legendary Warriors hardman Monty Betham.
‘‘I was offered the chance to do it [fight Arkle]. I am the sort of person that if I don’t grasp an opportunity I will really regret it,’’ Ridge said.
‘‘I thought, ‘Why not?’. I have nothing to lose. I have Monty as my trainer. It is a challenge and it is something that I amreally excited about . . . it is far out of my comfort zone as I am sure everyone will know I am not the sportiest person ever.’’
Arkle’s partner and fellow The GC star Zane Houia said she too was putting in the hard yards for the bout, at Auckland’s SkyCity.
‘‘From her [Arkle’s] first training to what she is like now, she has come a long way. There is another month left now . . . she will be up for it . . . she’s tough,’’ said Houia, 26. ‘‘You can tell by watching The GC that she wears the pants in our relationship. She is a confident girl and strong.’’
Houia echoed his partner’s advice to Ridge on how to ride the wave that is starring in reality TV.
‘‘If you hold back, when it has been done you will have a lot of regrets,’’ he said. ‘‘That is what it is all about, being yourself on TV. Don’t hold back.’’
The GC, a ratings hit for TV3, follows the fortunes of 12 Gold Coast-based young Maori as they work and play hard on Queensland’s coastal strip.
Houia – who played in Hastings Boys’ High School 1st XV with future All Blacks Hikawera Elliot and Alby Mathewson – said he and his fellow ‘‘Mozzies’’ hoped the show would screen in Australia.
Sunday News understands Australian broadcasters Channel Ten are interested in purchasing the rights to screen the show across the Tasman.
But Australian audiences have so far only been able to watch brief clips of the series on YouTube.
‘‘A lot of the Kiwis [in Australia] all know about it . . . especially when we go to the gym,’’ Houia said. ‘‘A lot of the Australians are [also] looking at us now. .
‘‘The feedback from the Kiwis over there is all good. They love it. They know what we are talking about.’’