May 2009 News Archive (Page 5)

On the heels of this week's Dancing With the Stars finale, a trio of past winners have offered advice to the trio of remaining contestants.

What will it take for each to come out on top? That's what People asked three recent champions...

Kristi Yamaguchi, on Gilles Marini: “Gilles’s biggest weakness is getting too excited while dancing and forgetting to pay attention to the technical details of the dances. In order for him to win, Gilles will have to pull out a crowd-pleasing freestyle with the WOW factor.”

Apolo Anton Ohno, on Shawn Johnson: "[She] has the technical side of the dances down. Now she’s got to really turn on her personality. She’s got to be animated and bubbly and showcase her goofy side this last week.”

Helio Castroneves, on Melissa Rycroft: “She has habits, she was a ballerina for so long,” Castroneves observes. “She’s very graceful and we know she can dance. She already has the finesse, now she needs to perform to the audience even more.”

Click on each photo above to enlarge images of these Dancing with the Stars finalists.

On an upcoming episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Giudice can't hide her resentment for Danielle Staub.

According to reports, the former flips a table over in the direction of the latter.

"That's normally not me, but I guess when I'm pushed to a certain level…" Teresa told E! News. "I'm so sweet. I have a heart of gold and I'm really a great person."

In our experience, you need to be most careful around those that insist they are great people.

Aside from her personality, Giudice spoke on her most valuable asset.

"[My husband] loves my butt. I always did have a big butt. Do you remember that song back in the day? There was a song that had my name in it: ‘Teresa's got a big ol' butt.' Everybody in high school used to sing that to me. Everybody liked my ass."

For the third week in a row, a suitor ditched Daisy of Love before the show's star even had a chance to eliminate him.

Making matters worse for Daisy De La Hoya on this week's episode? The guy that gave himself the boot was the same guy she gave the following props to...

Ouch. Seems like London accomplished his make out goal and then left before things got far more interesting (and by "interesting," we mean "STD-laden.")

Read our full Daisy of Love recap now and see what led to this shocking exit!

The American Idol champion will be chosen this week.

And it won't be Danny Gokey.

But the third-place finisher still considers his season eight run a success, as he said over the weekend at a parade in his hometown of Milwaukee.

"It's unbelievable," Gokey said, adding that his story of auditioning for the show mere weeks after his wife passed away marked an example of "tragedy to triumph."

"My whole testimony is overcoming," Gokey said. "Overcoming the impossible in my life, and now I want to take that message and tell people, 'If I can do it, you can do it.'"

The singer plans to take this message on the road this summer. He'll be touring with the show's top 10 finalists, while also putting in in charity work for Sophia's Heart Foundation, which he started after his wife died.

Gokey added that he wants to put out a rhythm and blues CD, though he hasn't yet signed with record label yet.

Way to outwit, outlast and outplay the competition on the 18th edition of Survivor,  James "J.T." Thomas Jr.!

The Alabama cattle-rancher came out on top of Survivor: Tocantins last night, as he was selected the unanimous winner at the show's final tribal council.

Not only did Thomas win the one-million dollar prize, but host Jeff Probst named him the fan-favorite, which included an extra $100,000 bounty. During the finale, J.T. won the immunity idol twice and earned all seven votes in the final tribal council.

The coyboy welled up as he was announced the unanimous champion.

"I can't help it," he said during the live reunion show in New York. "I'm happy - it's probably the happiest I've ever been in my life, obviously."

Former star of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette Jen Schefft finally found love ... but not on either show. Just in Joe Waterman, who married her over the weekend!

A "traditional yet modern" ceremony joined the two Chicago natives.

"We clicked early on, and it happened so fast," said Jen, 32. "We just got along so well, it was so easy. I never worried when I'd see him again or when he'd call."

He proposed in September, and all was right with the world. But a month after she got engaged to Joe Waterman, Schefft was laid off from her sales job.

Hit hard by these economic times, Jen Schefft was thus determined to have a low-cost wedding. The small ceremony included fewer than 100 guests.

"You don't want to exclude anyone, but I just wanted close friends and family," she said. "It's about Joe and me, not entertaining 400 people."

Before she found her soulmate in Joe Waterman, Schefft was the winner of The Bachelor's third season and got engaged to Andrew Firestone.

She moved to San Francisco to be with him, but their relationship fizzled and they broke up, as has every single one in the show's history.

Jen also turned down a marriage proposal on The Bachelorette, which begins its new season tonight with Jillian Harris as the star!

Kris Allen is a very nice guy and a perfectly strong singer.

But, heading into Tuesday night's American Idol finale, the question isn't whether or not Adam Lambert will win the season eight title; but, rather, by how large of a margin.

This is the 1985 Super Bowl between the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots; the 1998 World Series between the New York Yankees and the San Diego Padres; the 1988 Heavyweight Title boxing match between Mike Tyson and Michael Spinks.

We're not saying Lambert will knock Allen out cold in 91 seconds, but, well, it may seem that way.

Credit American Idol voters for pitting two opposing artists against one another in the finals. It certainly makes for an interesting match-up of styles. But it's impossible to see Allen's subdued vocals standing a chance against Lambert's eccentric, theatrical approach.

Is this fair? Maybe not. After all, Kris' rendition of "Heartless" in the semifinals was as creative as anything Adam has done all season.

But this is also America. More often than not, style wins out over substance. Every Lambert performance has been nothing short of mesmerizing, round after round, if only to see what sort of unique spin the singer puts on each tune.

This isn't to say that Lambert lacks talent; far, far, far from it. Instead, it's a commentary on the hypnotic way in which he graces a stage.

I'm not the most ardent American Idol viewer in history. But I don't even flip channels during commercials each time Ryan Seacrest says Lambert is performing next. I'm that afraid I'll miss a second of his audition.

For that reason alone, Adam Lambert has my vote.

Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley are still going strong.

Almost two months after first appearing together as a couple, The Real Housewives of Orange County star and Smiley are clearly still smitten about one another.

They enjoyed another PDA-filled beach outing in Santa Monica this week:

Rossi and Smiley continue to flaunt their romance, just months after Rossi's fiance passed away. Is this wrong? Or really, really wrong?

Brace yourselves for some awesomely surprising reality TV news. Monday's season premiere of The Bachelorette not only features a dance-off ...

... it's actually a break-dance off!

Apparently, one of the 30 aspiring bachelors is a dance instructor. Wonder if he was cast on the ABC series with this specific purpose in mind.

The preview below, and the reaction of Jillian Harris, pretty much tell you everything you need to know. Someone get these guys some water ...

Congratulations are in order for Danny Veltrii.

The 23-year-old executive chef was crowned the fifth season winner of Hell's Kitchen last night. He was quite happy with the result.

"Yeah! I won! I won!" Danny shouted, as he jumped wildly after the victory was announced. "Unbelievable, this is the best I've ever felt. This is incredible, I can't believe it... I'm going to be at the Bogota in my own restaurant with a quarter of a million dollars, like holy f--k!"

Said show star Gordon Ramsay:

"Danny won Hell's Kitchen because in a very short period of time he grew more than any other chef I've ever seen.  He now has the talent and the maturity to become a great head chef. The Bogota resort should consider themselves lucky.  I would."