Scoop for the Week of July 20th

Tom, Nic, Russell and Penélope It's not the name game but it sure feels like it. Less than a week after reports of Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe steaming things up in Fiji, Nic's ex-hubby Tom is hitting the Fiji trail with his own gossip. Nope, there's no jealousy that one of his best pals is rumored to have been vacationing with his ex-wife. New reports say Tom's enjoying a little getaway with "an unidentified female companion" at the same island where Nicole was last week. The mystery woman is rumored to be his Vanilla Sky co-star Penélope Cruz. While she's previously denied any dates with Tom, his publicist says they've been out a few times. And if the two do hook up, Penélope could become Mrs. Cruz Cruise. Meanwhile, an Australian gossip column says Nicole and Russell were on the island at the same time but the two aren't romantically involved. According to their report, Nicole was on a family vacation with her kids, family and friends. Russell was on holiday with La Femme Nikita's Peta Wilson.

Big Brother Wasn't Watching Justin Sebik's knife-to-the-throat incident may not have looked all that threatening. But new evidence shows that he's been arrested five times in his hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey. Two of those arrests came from theft. The other three times are for simple assault. Since Justin put the knife to housemate Krista's throat and asked, "Would you mind if I killed you," Big Brother execs have come under heavy fire. One of the many accusations against the show is that the scene was actually staged, a charge CBS adamantly denies. Others want to know why Justin's prior record wasn't revealed before he went into the house. An inside source says CBS hired a private investigator to check out Justin's background with the Bayonne court before the show hit the air. According to the investigator's report, no prior record had been found. Once the show started, a second check pulled up one arrest for theft. A CBS spokesman says the company's background check is "professional" and that they "have full confidence in the process."

This isn't the first time a contestant's character was brought into question. Multimillionaire Rick Rockwell's background check showed a number of alleged assualts on his ex-girlfriend after he married Darva Conger on FOX's Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire. A check on one of Temptation Island's couples left out a child between the two. They were eventually kicked off the show. And let's not forget Survivor's Kelly Wiglesworth. She was wanted in North Carolina for credit card theft. But the background check didn't reveal the warrant. When original Big Brother housemate Will Mega was found to be a former New Black Panther Party official, the background investigation was swept under the rug. Or as CBS chief Les Moonves said, "We're dealing with a lot of people out there who do have skeletons. We're flying without a net here."

Go To Page: 1 2 3

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic