Top Story: Model Jenna Survives for $1 Million
Twenty-one-year-old swimsuit model Jenna Morasca was named CBS’ Survivor: The Amazon‘s newest millionaire after the final ballots were tallied and announced during the live finale Sunday. Morasca beat runner-up 33-year-old restaurant designer Matthew Von Ertfelda, who won $100,000. She told The Associated Press that in December she returned home to Pittsburgh from her adventure expecting that the sealed vote had gone Von Ertfelda’s way: “He embodies everything a survivor is. He’s an amazing guy.” “But I’m so proud of myself,” she added, “and happy that I won.” What does she plan to do with the money? Pay school loans and take her mom on a vacation, Morasca told AP. “Then we’ll see if there’s anything left.”
Cruise Bids Fond Farewell to New Zealand
After wrapping his latest film The Last Samurai in the Taranaki province of New Zealand, Tom Cruise, who spent four months there with his two children, admitted to a local New Zealand radio station he was going to miss the locale, AP reports. “I’m going to miss the fish and chips, we’re going to miss our Friday night McDonald’s you know, we are going to miss the beach at night,” the actor said.
Moore Released From Hospital
Roger Moore, best known for playing James Bond in seven movies during the ’70s and ’80s, was released from the hospital Friday after being fitted for a pacemaker to control normal heart rhythm, AP reports. Moore, 75, collapsed last Wednesday during a guest cameo in the Broadway comedy The Play What I Wrote but was able to finish the show.
Romano Stays On for $50 Million
Everybody Loves Raymond star Ray Romano will soon be known as the highest-paid actor in television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Romano has agreed to do an eighth season of his Emmy-winning sitcom, which will net him nearly $50 million. The comedian will be making about $1.7-$1.8 million per episode, surpassing the record of $1.6 million held by Frasier‘s Kelsey Grammer.
NBC Slates Six New Shows for Fall
After much gnashing of teeth, NBC has chosen six new shows–three comedies and three dramas–to fill out their fall schedule. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has made 13-episode orders for untitled Tracy Morgan and Whoopi Goldberg comedies and an adaptation of the BBC ensemble comedy Coupling, as well as an untitled Las Vegas drama starring James Caan, an ensemble legal drama with Rob Lowe, and the dramedy Miss/Match starring Alicia Silverstone.
Osbourne Says So Long to Sony
Rocker Ozzy Osbourne has decided to part ways with Sony Music after 23 years–and he is taking his daughter Kelly with him. Business Wire.com reports wife Sharon is negotiating the separation deals for Ozzy and Kelly, who signed with Sony in 2000, and said in a statement, “We’ve had 23 great years together. We’ve shared many great successes, but sometimes you have to search out fresh blood to get fresh ideas which is a philosophy that every record company, especially Sony, understands.”
Three Men Caught RentingIllegal Military Props
Two ex-soldiers and a third man who run a thriving Hollywood props shop have allegedly been caught falsifying Army documents to gather weapons and military gear to rent to the movie industry, the Los Angeles Times reports. One of the props, an Army mechanic’s toolbox, was used in the 1997 film McHale’s Navy, according to a 16-count federal indictment filed in March. Named in the complaint were former Army Sgt. Matthew Robert Anderson, former Army Reserve Capt. Steve Goyen and Jared Jeffrey Chandler, who allegedly falsely claimed to be an Army Reserve sergeant.
Carol Channing Weds Childhood Sweetheart
Eight-two-year-old Carol Channing, best known for originating the part of Dolly in the musical Hello, Dolly! on Broadway, married her childhood sweetheart, 83-year-old Harry Kullijian, in San Francisco, Calif. Sunday. Reuters reports the two were once an item when they were in junior high, but when Kullijian found out Channing wanted to see him after all these years, he admitted to the San Francisco Chronicle, “I thought she was dead.” He then added, “She still had the same spark. I just knew it was the right thing to do.”
