'Joe Millionaire' Sums It Up
Evan and Zora may not have found love on Joe Millionaire, but they did find money.
As fans expected, Evan Marriott picked Zora over Sarah in Monday's extended finale of Fox's hit reality show, Joe Millionaire. After he told Zora he had lied to her about having $50 million and she told him she forgave him, and was actually happy that he didn't have the money, Joe revealed its final, long-promised twist. They were given a $1 million check in both their names, presented on a silver platter by the butler.
That makes them millionaires — if they stay together. Next week in a special detailing the show's aftermath, viewers find out if they did.
After more than an hour of recap Monday, Evan finally broke the news to Zora, telling her flatly, "I've chosen you." (Her response: "Are you serious?") He then owned up to the show's central ruse: "I don't have $50 million. I don't have $50,000. I'm sorry I lied to you." He asked an enigmatically calm Zora to give him her answer later that evening, then went to break the news to Sarah.
Though he said his time with her had been "really neat," he told Sarah she was not his pick, saying later that he feared she was more into Joe Millionaire than Evan Marriott. She was then reunited with the already rejected Melissa, and they had a laugh at Evan's expense, with Sarah calling him a "big loser without any money."
So, did Evan make the right choice? "Definitely," says Shannon Stewart, 34, of Norcross, Ga. "I have been a Zora fan since Day One." The pick didn't surprise her, but the twist with the money did.
Chris Johnson, 28, of Chillicothe, Ohio, had been a Melissa fan, but he switched to Zora. "This was kind of the ending I was hoping for. I wanted Zora, and I was kind of hoping the end would be them getting money themselves."
The two-hour special was the climax of a surprisingly successful run for Joe, which has averaged 20 million viewers since its Jan. 6 premiere. With much of the Northeast snowbound, Fox was hoping to top last week's 24 million peak, though the show did face stiffer-than-usual competition from NBC's two-hour Michael Jackson special and a repeat of ABC's interview with Jackson.
Czech, please: It's SI's swimsuit cover girl
Known affectionately as the "Czech Chick," Petra Nemcova was named the 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl Monday.
Putting a thaw on the East Coast blizzard, Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova was named the 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl Monday.
Magazine editors were planning on surprising Nemcova at New York's JFK airport with flowers and a camera crew.
Instead, "I'm stuck at the Atlanta airport because of the snow," Nemcova, 23, said Monday after receiving the news in an uneventful phone call. "I'm supposed to do morning shows and a big party (Tuesday). How I'm going to get to New York, I just don't know."
Nemcova is the third Czech mate to make the SI cover, after Paulina Porizkova and Daniela Pestova. "Maybe it's something in the water," says Nemcova.
The first person she called was longtime boyfriend, Dutch model Donaes Platteel. "He was super happy for me," says Nemcova, who speaks three languages.
Known affectionately as the "Czech Chick," Nemcova hails from Karvina, a small mountain town northeast of Prague. "Some people love the ocean, but for me, it's the forest." The former fashion design student was discovered at a talent audition in her hometown. Now she travels the globe posing for Victoria's Secret, Cartier and others.
"I am in the air more than I am on earth," she says. Terrorism and war talk don't scare her. "I'm not afraid to fly. I think when the heart is filled with love, there is no room for fear. So I try to fill my heart with love."
The issue hits newsstands Wednesday.
Springsteen & Little Steven Set For Joe Strummer Tribute At Grammys
A tribute to Joe Strummer and the Clash will be one of the highlights of the upcoming Grammy Awards show. The late Clash singer-guitarist, who died in December at age 50, will be saluted by Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band guitarist Little Steven, along with Clash contemporary Elvis Costello and No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal.
Springsteen and company will also perform a song of their own on the broadcast, as will James Taylor with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Eminem, Sheryl Crow with Lenny Kravitz, John Mayer, Ashanti, Avril Lavigne, the Dixie Chicks, members of the New York Philharmonic, Vanessa Carlton, Coldplay, Faith Hill, Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland, and Norah Jones.
The Grammys will air live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 23 on CBS, starting at 8 p.m. ET.
Spice Girls Meeting Sparks Comeback Speculation
LONDON (Reuters) - Posh, Baby, Scary, Sporty and Ginger are really, really going to meet up -- but are five going to become one again?
All the members of the nineties pop phenomenon the Spice Girls -- Victoria "Posh" Beckham, Mel "Sporty" Chisholm, Geri "Ginger" Halliwell, Mel "Scary" Brown, and Emma "Baby" Bunton -- were set to meet up on Monday for the first time since their acrimonious split five years ago.
British newspapers were rife with speculation that the reunion could be the start of a Spice revival, with some of the band's members said to be keen on a "greatest hits" album and several one-off concerts after seeing their solo careers slump.
Beckham, who has had only limited success as a solo artist, is reported to have organized Monday's get-together but her spokeswoman played down rumors that the former queens of British pop "wannabe" number one in the charts again.
"The girls are meeting up for a social dinner. But it's not a 'Spice' meeting," the spokeswoman told Reuters.
"The Spice Girls aren't getting back together and they're not planning any concerts."
Despite official rebuttals, newspapers quoted band insiders as saying a lucrative farewell tour could be on the cards in a few years' time.
The darlings of the British pop industry sold about 40 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide, notching up nine number one singles in the UK charts alone, with hits such as "Wannabe," "Spice Up Your Life" and "Two Become One."
Their "Girl Power!" catchphrase struck a chord with young fans all over the globe, but the success story started to turn sour in 1998 when Halliwell quit the band in 1998 amid reports of bitter squabbling.
"Monday will be the first time that all five have been in a room together since," Beckham's spokeswoman said.
After disappointing sales of their last album, "Forever," in 2000, the four remaining band members decided to concentrate on their own careers.
Although Halliwell and Chisholm, who has pledged never to work with the group again, enjoyed solo successes, the careers of the other three stalled, provoking rumors that the band could reform for a lucrative reunion.
Industry experts said a greatest hits album and tour could be a money-spinner but the girls could also find their army of screaming young fans have grown up to be teenagers who might now cringe at their sight of their old favorites.
"Their fan base was very young. To them it would be excruciatingly uncool being reminded of what they listened to as kids," a record label insider told the Daily Express newspaper.
TODAY'S NEW RELEASES ON DVD AND VIDEO
By MICHAEL GLITZ
"M*A*S*H: Season Three"
This is the one - the best season from one of the best sitcoms of all time ($39.98; Fox). It's almost unthinkable that the show could continue without Trapper (Wayne Rogers) and Henry (McLean Stevenson), but that's exactly what they would have to do in Season Four. It was still funny for a while, but nothing can match this moment when the show was brutal and funny and sometimes brutally funny - from the first episode where a general decides the 4077th should be closer to the front (a lot closer) to the devastating, unprecedented finale when Henry was killed off by having the chopper taking him home crash into the sea."The Killers"
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"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
This two-disc set ($39.95; Criterion) collecting adaptations of Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Killers" is almost comically complete: You get the classic '46 movie starring Burt Lancaster, the pretty good '64 remake with Lee Marvin, a radio play adaptation with Lancaster and Shelley Winters, numerous stills and essays by Paul Schrader and others, and even Andrei Tarkovsky's '56 student film version! Film buff heaven. Though "Fear and Loathing" hasn't gelled into a classic yet (at least, not without taking more drugs than the characters), it too gets the deluxe treatment ($39.95; Criterion). Is there any question that director Terry Gilliam is having the craziest, loopiest, path-breaking career in memory? This venture apparently broke new ground in screenplay credits, an escapade well-documented, naturally, by Criterion.
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"The Four Feathers"
"The Rules of Attraction"
"City by the Sea"You can learn a lot from a bad movie. In the deadly dull anti-colonial adventure "The Four Feathers," you finally realize Wes Bentley has only one trick, Kate Hudson has no tricks, and Heath Ledger can maintain his dignity in the worst of circumstances ($19.95; Paramount). In the banally cynical "Rules" ($24.99; Lions Gate), you realize actors can advance their careers even in bad movies, as James Van der Beek does nicely by playing mean. (But what we really wanted were extras showing more home movies with Kip Pardue.) And "City by the Sea" shows that a bad movie with talented actors like Robert De Niro is a lot more painful to watch than a bad movie with a bunch of nobodies ($27.95; Warner Bros.)."The Color Purple"
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"Cinema Paradiso"
A fresh coat of paint brightens up "The Color Purple" but can't hide the fact that this earnestly serious drama hasn't stood the test of time as well as Steven Spielberg's other early stab at drama, the brilliant "Empire of the Sun." The difference? "Empire" avoids sentimentality while "Purple" is dripping in it, from the wrenching scene where Celie is separated from her sister to that "Wizard of Oz" finale ($27.95; Warner Bros.). And if Miramax's truckload of Oscar nominations wasn't proof enough, this director's cut of "Cinema Paradiso" (with 50 extra minutes) shows yet again that Harvey Weinstein is usually right ($29.99; Miramax). Sometimes, less is more. Happily, this DVD contains both versions, and you can jump right to the stirring finale.
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"Biggie & Tupac"
"Benjamin Smoke"Nick Broomfield is a good, old-fashioned muckraker as demonstrated in his follow-up to "Kurt & Courtney" that investigates the murders of Biggie and Tupac ($19.99; Razor & Tie). If Martin Bashir unmasks his subjects by disarming them with smiles, Broomfield unmasks them by confrontation and abrasiveness. Far more gentle and sad is "Benjamin Smoke" ($24.95; Plexifilm), a look at Benjamin, a Georgia native who takes speed, plays in a band (of sorts) called Smoke and occasionally wears women's clothing. Shot over 10 years, it is - simply - indescribable. How often can you say that about a movie?
