Chipshop At The Chip Shop

As expected, Katie Price’s day out at the races on Sunday was a fiasco from start to finish (well, technically, about 30km from the finish – which is where she pulled out to have an ice cream).

Katie did have the good sense to cancel the 2am nightclub appearance she had been booked to do in North Yorkshire mere hours before the marathon was due to begin in Blackheath – but, even so, she still managed to miss her pre-race press interviews.

Why? It seems she’d struggled to get on a train while wearing that huge set of lungs.

Ant McPartlin may have the support of some of his ITV co-stars (definitely all the ones who share the same management, James Grant) but he’s been putting some pretty high-powered noses out of joint at various London chapters of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous.

A lot of the celebs that attend are displeased at the way he’s chosen to portray his problems in the press in order to minimise the PR fallout, as they feel he is being cavalier about an issue that is extremely personal to a lot of them.

They’ll no doubt forgive him if/when he shows he’s serious about getting help but, until such a time, if he does manage to keep his job at ITV, then he may find that it’s harder and harder to book willing celeb guests on Saturday Night Takeaway or I’m A Celebrity.

Which celebrity TV foodie has been trying to lose a little bit of weight recently? Not because they’re particularly interested in healthy eating, but because they’ve become very self-conscious that they aren’t getting the action they once were at swinging parties?

(Hand on heart, we promise this isn’t another James Martin story…)

Sid Owen’s been drafted in to front a new ad campaign for Paddy Power. It’s an extremely canny hire from PP, as Sid is a natural salesman.

Former regulars in the VIP rooms at Chinawhite (the ones through the kitchen and out the back) remember Sid would often be in there in his heyday, offering coke to anyone who came in. One Popbitcher was impressed at how generous he was, giving all this stuff out to total strangers.

Until Sid told him it would be fifty quid.

NavyManRich writes:
“I appeared on The Other Half in 1999. Dale [Winton] knew I was gay and gave me his number. We did meet up a few times (lunch only!) but I went to his house when he lived near Camden and was given the tour.

“The same day, whilst sat in his open top car at traffic lights, a jeep pulled up to the right of us. Inside was Boy George. Dale said hi to George, introduced me and said to George, “I haven’t spoken to you in ages!” To which Boy George replied, “That’s because you never phone me, you cunt!” before roaring off.

“(It was all said in good humour, I hasten to add.)”

What with all the drink-driving, pill-popping and plant-pot masturbation, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the entire entertainment industry is a godless hellscape without a single pure soul left in it. But you’d be wrong.

Andi Peters is so clean-cut that he won’t even let anyone swear in front of him. If you curse in his presence, not only will he leave the room, he will add you to his ‘list’.

Avicii used to be the ambassador for Denim & Supply, a now-defunct Ralph Lauren clothing label.

The brand aimed for a rock’n’roll aesthetic (showrooms filled with guitars and amps; designs influenced by vintage hard rock T-shirts, etc) so staff were a little mystified that bosses chose a Swedish EDM DJ to be the company’s face.

Not that they had a problem with Avicii himself. In fact, he was extremely generous, dishing out dozens and dozens of free tickets for his gigs. The trouble was that – after being forced to listen to his music all day, every day, in store – no-one wanted to go.

Instead they tried to fob their tickets off on junior staff or the cleaners, whipping up ever-more creative excuses as to why they couldn’t attend. After a while the bosses pulled rank. Terrified they were at risk of upsetting the star, word came down from head office that, at no notice, the whole team would have to cancel their prior engagements and go along to his gig.

On Valentine’s Day.

Kerry Katona was out making the most of the lovely weather this week, taking her kids out onto Brighton Pier for some fish and chips.

Presumably thinking that her celebrity cachet would mean that she didn’t need to do such plebeian things as ‘queue’, Kerry and her brood cut their way straight through the crowds at the Palm Court restaurant, selected a table for herself and sat down at it.

She was quickly collared by a server, who explained that that isn’t how things work and made her go right to the back of the line.

Mickey Rourke posted an unexpected tribute to Amy Winehouse on his Instagram account last week, which read:

“I met her sister a year or so after her death,i told her sister how much i loved her (“her sister told me Amy loved me also”) That really touched me to hear that…(kindred’ spirits) Love ya girl..listen her music all the time,looking forward to meeting you on the other side.”

It’s a sweet little story and a very touching sentiment. The only slight problem? Amy doesn’t have a sister. So fuck knows who Mickey spoke to.

[See it on Instagram]

ITV have just announced they’re making a new 10-part wrestling show. We have our fingers crossed they’ll find space to involve our new favourite wrestler, Zack Sabre Jr.

Zack has a few specialist moves, and he’s taken some pretty interesting inspiration when naming them. One of his moves is called “Orienteering With Napalm Death” (named after a Stewart Lee routine). Another is called “HyperNormalisation” (named after an Adam Curtis film).

But catchiest of all? “Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than The Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness” (named after a Youthmovies EP).

[See the HyperNormalisation move in action]

How The Internet Is Killing Democracy [more info here]

and Jaron Lanier’s 10 Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now [more info here]

Someone has bought up Soulja Boy’s old web domain, and it now sells dildos for furries
[See on Twitter]

Paisley Park have released the original studio recording of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U
[Hear on Esquire]

The Spaced house is up for sale
[See on Zoopla]

An updated list of the 446 people/places/things Donald Trump has insulted on Twitter
[Read on NYT]

Conspiracy theorists stand down: Rupert Murdoch isn’t dead
[Joan Collins has proof]

House Of Eurovision seems to be struggling
[Read on SimplyWallSt]

Still Bored?
A weirdly fascinating long read about a billion dollar race in the colour pigment industry
[Read on Bloomberg]