Chef/HSN Vendor Todd English Eyes Blond Rump Roast At Party, As His Main Squeeze Looks On

It used to be that only the New York Post picked on celebrity chef and HSN pot peddler Todd English, but the New York Daily News jumped on that bandwagon Friday.

Horndog celebrity chef Todd English

English, who made tabloid headlines when he left his bride-to-be at the altar, was out breaking another woman’s heart this week. On its gossip page The News reported that “playboy chef” English got his current squeeze, 27-year-old Candice Sonneman, in a teary-eyed tizzy when he started making a play for a blond model right in front of her.

The scene played out at a party given by Ne-Yo and real estate developer Avi Oster at the Carlton Hotel in Manhattan.

“English sidled up to a tall blond model and — placing his hand on her lower back as if he was seasoning a succulent cut of veal — began whispering in her ear in full view of his gal pal,” the News wrote.

Sonneman left, followed by English. She must be a forgiving soul, because Sonneman returned to the party later that night with English.

If it was us, we would have hit him upside the head with a big watch, which is what his ex-fiancee did. Or better yet, we’d use one of his HSN GreenPans to whack him.

Not-So-Natty ‘Gossip Girl’ Kelly Rutherford Hawks Her New QVC Handbag Line On ‘Wendy Williams’

It was news to us, but “Gossip Girl” actress Kelly Rutherford is doing a handbag line for QVC, joining the army of celebrities selling products on home shopping networks.

At least that’s what we learned over our morning coffee Thursday when we opened up the Daily News and saw a photo of Rutherford on the gossip page, appropriately enough. The shot showed Rutherford, in jeans and winter coat, walking on a snowy Manhattan street.

The caption said that Rutherford was heading to “The Wendy Williams Show” to “hawk” her new QVC handbag line.

We did not see the show yesterday, but “The Wendy Williams Show” website had a blurb that said “‘Gossip Girl’ star Kelly Rutherford tells us about all the drama going down this season and shows off her new purse line on QVC. Be there.”

Sorry we weren’t there.

Anyway, Rutherford do not look very dolled up in the Daily News photo, and apparently she didn’t stop by into hair-and-makeup before going on-air to chat with Williams. Rutherford’s hair was in a messy bun, she didn’t appear to have makeup on and she was dressed in a raggy cardigan and jeans.

One viewer, Shanelle, complained about Rutherford’s apperance on the show’s website.

“u liked kelly’s look but i hated it. i found it a little rude. she looked like she just woke up and rolled out of bed and came to your show. she couldve fixed herself up a little bit. i thought her look was tired and cheap looking. and she had the nerve to push her handbag line?? she clearly does not know fashion and i wont be purchasing her bags. bottom line, as a woman, she should know better than to go on tv like that. period.”

We’d have to agree with Shanelle on that one.

Williams, a fellow Montclair, N.J., resident, also got Rutherford to dish about her nasty divorce and custody battle.

We have a call into QVC’s crack PR department to find out more about Rutherford’s line. But we’re holding our breath. We’re still waiting for the photo of the new chief of QVC’s domestic network, Claire Watts, that we requested yesterday.

HSN And Kelly Ripa’s ‘Homemade Millionaire’ Debuts Tonight On TLC

HSN’s collaboration with Jersey Girl Kelly Ripa and TLC, “Homemade Millionaire,” will premiere at 10 p.m. tonight.

The show pits female entrepreneurs against each to land a spot on HSN to sell a product they’ve invented.

Future episodes will feature veteran HSN vendors such as jean queen Diane Gilman, Jennifer Stallone, Badgley Mischka and Cajun kook (that’s no typo) Emeril Lagasse.

A panel on TLC's "Homemade Millionaire," with Kelly Ripa in the center and the designer team of Badgley Mischka on the right

On Thursday New York Daily News TV critic David Hinckley reviewed “Homemade Millionaire,” and he liked the program. He wrote that Ripa “whips up a lively and fun show by selling big dreams in a small, simple package.”

See what you think. We’ve had some inquiries from women who’d like to get on “Homemade Millionaire,” and we are looking into that.

So here’s the answer on getting on “Homemade Millionaire” this season: It’s too late, baby.

“We conducted try-outs last summer for this current season,” a TLC spokeswoman said Friday. “Unfortunately, this season is cast already.”

Did HSN Celebrity Chef Todd English Share His Oysters With Four Blonde Beauties?

Usually it’s the New York Post’s Page Six gossip column that taunts HSN vendor/celebrity chef Todd English, but on Tuesday the New York Daily News jumped on that train.

English, a ladies man who got a lot of bad press when he left his bride-to-be Erica Wang at the altar a year ago, has been spotted by Page Six with plenty of babes since then.

And the News’ gossip column, Gatecrasher, reported that English “isn’t one for subtlety when it comes to his playboy lifestyle.”

English was seen sharing a meal with “four young blonde beauties” at Flex Mussels, an eatery in the West Village, the News said.

And what he was dining on? Oysters. We guess when you’re 50 and you’ve got a flock of chicks to entertain, you need the oysters.

You’ll have to read the News to see the snarky remark it made about English’s oysters.

QVC Morning Host Pat James-DeMentri’s Bad Boy Ex-Husband (We Think) Is Fired From New York City TV Station

We don’t know if Pat James-DeMentri is still married to him or divorced from him, but the QVC’s host’s one-time better half got himself in trouble again. In fact, newscaster Vince DeMentri has been fired from WPIX-TV in New York City, according to the New York Daily News Saturday.

The tabloid’s story, headlined “DeMentri Gets Canned From Channel 11 News,” says he was let go just days after allegedly slapping a chauffeur during a fight over a parking space.

Read the story for all the juicy details.

DeMentri joined WPIX in March after getting in trouble, and scandals, at a station in Philadelphia “after bedding a co-anchor and engaging in an overly public beef with the station’s weatherman,” according to the News.

While working for WCBS in New York City in 2001, DeMentri was arrested for posing as a federal agent to get access to Ground Zero just two days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Those charges were dropped.

Badgley Mischka’s HSN Collection Gets Spotlight In New York Daily News

The New York Daily News Monday is featuring a host of low-priced fashion items, including five pieces from Badgley Mischka’s HSN collection.

The story, headlined “New York’s Best For Less: Designer Duds, And The Prices are Right On Target,” notes that red-carpet designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka are doing a line called “American Glamour” for the No. 2 home shopping channel.

The two-page spread, which must have HSN PR in ecstasy, has photos of three of the collection’s fashion jewelry pieces.

The pair’s $79 medallion necklace is shown.

The other Badgley Mischka jewelry items depicted are a $99 faux turquoise stretch bracelet, and big $79 drop earrrings, which have faux turquoise and citrine-like stones.

Also featured are a pair of $120 sequined flats from the collection, as well as a $150 patent leather tote.

Designer Isaac Mizrahi Criticized By Talmudic Law ‘Experts’ Rush & Molloy, Tabloid Gossip Columnists, For Appearing On QVC On Passover

We recently dinged designer Isaac Mizrahi for the uninspired apparel and accessory line that he’s created for QVC. Sunday curly-topped Mizrahi took another shot, in the Rush & Molloy gossip column in the New York Daily News.

The column took Mizrahi to task for violating a Jewish holiday.

“So why was designer Isaac Mizrahi, who spent eight years at Yeshiva Flatbush, hawking his wares on QVC on the first night of Passover?” the gossip column asks.

How about this, gossip mongers George Rush and Joanna Molloy: Since when did you become the arbiters of Judaic religious law? We could be wrong, but we doubt any of you ever attended yeshiva or studied the Talmud.

Here’s some Easter advice for you two, straight from the Bible: Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Fellow QVC Vendors Jessica Simpson And Ken Paves Have VH1 Reality Show That Premieres March 15

Will Simpson have another hit like MTV's Newlyweds?

MTV Networks PR team must be taking its cue from QVC’s sleepy group. We are supposed to be getting press releases from MTVN and its networks, including the announcements being made out in Pasadena at the Television Critics Association tour.

We’re not getting squat, so we missed Friday’s TCA news about Jessica Simpson getting a new show, “The Price of Beauty,” on VH1. It debuts March 15 at 10 p.m.

Simpson, whose first appearances selling her handbags and accessories on QVC was a disaster, did a TCA panel with her pervert dad Joe about the new show (maybe it’s OK in Texas to talk about your daughter’s big boobs, but we lock people up Jersey for stuff like that).

The New York Daily News wrote a story Saturday about Simpson’s TCA session.

The reality series depicts Simpson and her hair stylist and fellow QVC vendor, Ken Paves, traveling the world to interview women about beauty. He hawks Simpson hair extensions on QVC.

Simpson became a celebrity via an MTV reality show, “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,” which featured her and her now ex-husband Nick Lachey.

Here is the original full old press release (since we didn’t get any new ones) about Simpson’s new show.

No matter where you are in the world, chances are, you know that Jessica Simpson is no stranger to the spotlight. Her hit pop and country songs, movies, television and eponymous collection of shoes, clothes, bags etc. have helped to keep her in America’s eye, but we all know Jessica for more than just her career achievements. Jessica has been followed, studied and scrutinized since she released her first hit single at the age of 19. Now, Jessica turns the tables on our culture and cultures all over the world to find The Price of Beauty, her new original series on VH1.

The new VH1 docu-series, produced by RDF USA (Wife Swap, Secret Millionaire), takes Jessica all over the world to meet every day women. She may also discover some local pop culture icons on their own quests for beauty along the way. Jessica will study the local fashions, dietary fads and beauty regimes and even participate in some of the extreme practices she discovers.

“When Chris approached me with his idea for a show about true beauty, I was immediately intrigued,” Jessica stated. “I have always believed that beauty comes from within and confidence will always make a woman beautiful, but I know how much pressure some women put on themselves to look perfect. I am really looking forward to discovering how beauty is perceived in different cultures and participating in some of the crazy things people do to feel beautiful. I know we will all learn a lot on this journey and I am so excited that VH1 is coming along on what I’m sure will be a wild ride.”

Chris Coelen, CEO of RDF Media USA, said: “In this series, Jessica will tackle a serious issue with her unique and relatable blend of humor and heart. We’re thrilled to be in business with Jessica, Joe and VH1 on what we know will be an exciting and eye-opening show.”

“Perhaps more than any other pop culture figure on the radar today, Jessica Simpson has been the target of our obsession with beauty on both sides of the equation. She is a woman who can set trends and create firestorms with a single photo,” said Jeff Olde, EVP, VH1 Original Programming & Production. “We could not be more thrilled that Jessica now gets to take control of that conversation and take a look at the idea of beauty through her own unique, unfiltered lens. And we at VH1 are excited to be in the passenger seat next to her as she begins this fantastic journey.”

The Price of Beauty is set to begin shooting in mid July. Executive Producers include Jessica and Joe Simpson as well as Chris Coelen, Claire O’Donohoe and Greg Goldman for RDF USA (Wife Swap, Secret Millionaire). The show will be produced by Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, Alex Demyanenko and Sean Boyle for VH1 to air in 2010.
Tags: Celebreality, Television, Jessica Simpson

Sunday Wrap-Up And Home Shopping Dish: HSN’s Fran Drescher Turned Down Threesome With Warren Beatty, But Ex-HSN Vendor Janice Dickinson Was One Of The 12,775 Women He Bagged

Warren Beatty proposed having a threesome with HSN vendor/actress Fran Drescher, according to a new book on the legendary actor and skirt-chaser. And Beatty actually slept with model Janice Dickinson, a one-time HSN jewelry peddler.

That’s just some of the juicy gossip to be found in the Sunday papers today about the celebrities that sell their wares on HSN and QVC.

The dish about Beatty and Drescher and Dickinson is in a story that the New York Post did about a new tell-all biography on the actor called “Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America” by Peter Biskind.

Fran Drescher nixed threesome

Drescher, who will be on HSN today selling her line of skincare products, was up for a part in the 1987 bomb “Ishtar.” Beatty was having an affair with the movie’s leading lady, Isabelle Adjani, who complimented Drescher on her beauty.

And when Beatty suggested that the threesome have dinner that night, “just the three of us,” Drescher got the hint that he was not just talking about sharing a pizza. She declined the menage a tois offer.

Drescher shouldn’t have felt that special, however. The book claims that Beatty has bedded almost 13,000 women.

The Post’s Page Six also noted in its “Sightings” section that actress Charlize Theron was spotted buying a ring at the Me & Ro store in Los Angeles. Me & Ro do a jewelry line for HSN.

Sunday’s New York Daily News has a story headlined “16 Ways to Boot Winter” that includes a pair of boots from Stefani Greenfield’s Curations line for HSN. The boots are on clearance, at $99.

And finally, Sunday’s Parade Magazine, in its “Personality Parade,” talks about Ellen DeGeneres’ pets. The item mentions that DeGeneres owns a pet-care company named Halo. QVC sells the Halo pet food line.