Axed newsreader Tracey Spicer has written a scathing review of the anonymous novel Boned, which was expected to blow the lid off sexism in the television industry.
Boned, which takes its title from the infamous term spouted by then Nine Network CEO Eddy McGuire, follows the career of fictional newsreader Kate Cornish.
The novel's imminent release had TV executives shaking in their Armani loafers with the expectation of a tell-all expose about industry injustice.
However Tracey Spicer has set their minds at ease in an early review which says Boned is way off the mark and accuses the novel of pulling punches on the issue.
"We've all been waiting with baited breath for this book to blow the lid off claims of sexism in the television industry," Spicer wrote in her review in The Daily Telegraph.
"But it seems the Emperor has no clothes- at least under the desk anyway, to paraphrase an old newsreader gag"
Spicer, who was sacked by Network Ten just weeks after returning from maternity leave in 2006, blasted an early version of the novel as a completely unrealistic and dated portrayal of the struggles of women in the industry.
"In 20 years in television, I have never met anyone remotely like Kate Cornish."
"The characterisation of the heroine in the new novel Boned is about as flaky as the pasty of the same name."
Spicer admits there are a few "home truths" revealed in Boned, but says the novel is shaping up little more than a rehash of Bridget Jones' Diary.
And who does Spicer think is the anonymous author behind the up-coming release? She has two suspects and, according to her, they're both out of their depth.
"One is a man who worked in television newsrooms 20 years ago when female newsreaders were hard-drinking players who gave as good as they got, not the insipid, polite, Evian sipping creatures we've become.
"Which brings me to the other potential author: a doyenne of women's magazines who's decided to venture into that dreaded genre, chick lit.
"That would explain the references to horoscopes, pilates and the lonely, sterile home of the childless woman - all staples of Bridget Jones et al."
As a real-life victim of the industry injustice at the core of the novel, Tracey Spicer should have been the first to jump into bed with the lid-lifting novel.
Instead the apparently impotent Boned has left her less than impressed.
Boned is yet to hit the shelves but Spicer has already burst its bubble.