Fame

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Ryan Seacrest is now the richest reality TV host ever.

The American Idol host, 34, has inked a three-year deal with CKX, parent of Idol producer 19 Entertainment, worth $15 million per year, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Under the deal, Seacrest will be exclusive to CKX in broadcast TV primetime to host Idol or any CKX-produced show that might succeed it. The deal had been in the works for the past several weeks.

With his new pact, Seacrest now more than triples his previous salary of slightly less than $5 million per season.

Seacrest will still maintain a cable agreement with Comcast and his gig as E! Entertainment’s main anchor. He’ll also continue producing Keeping Up with the Kardashians for E! and an upcoming Jamie Oliver ABC reality show.

Reps for the star had no comment.

Now that Seacrest is secured on the show, the Reporter says that Idol wants to ink deals with judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi for next season.

Simon Cowell’s future remains up in the air, however.

He has said he may leave the show when his contract is up at the end of next season. British reports claim he has asked to be paid in excess of $100 million a season.

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She said goodbye to The Hills but Lauren Conrad is still a fan favorite: Her debut novel, L.A. Candy, has topped the New York Times Best Seller list two weeks in a row.

“If someone said to me five years ago when this all started that I would one day make the New York Times Best Seller list I wouldn’t have believed it,” Conrad tells People exclusively. “I am so honored that it is now a reality.”

The novel, loosely based on Conrad’s own life, follows of Jane Roberts, a 19-year-old girl who moves to Hollywood and ends up as the star of her own reality show.

Although Conrad is used to the spotlight, she’s still in awe over her literary accomplishment, “It was such a compliment to be included in something with such established names.”

L.A. Candy, which hit shelves June 16, is the first in a three-book deal for the reality TV star.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Rachael Ray, who has been battling trouble with her vocal cords since last year, had surgery to correct the problem last week, her rep tells People exclusively.

“After several months of vocal therapy and on the advice of her doctors, Rachael decided to have a benign cyst removed from her vocal cord,” says Charlie Dougiello. “According to Rachael’s doctors the minor, non-invasive procedure was a success and she is already resting at home.”

The TV chef and talk show host, who is known for being upbeat and outspoken, had previously scheduled surgery to remove the cyst and then cancelled the procedure and instead began intensive vocal therapy.

Now, “the hardest part for Rachael is going to be giving her voice a rest for the next week or so,” says her rep.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe says ladies are better off lusting after Twilight’s Robert Pattinson.

“Rob Pattinson is a sex symbol. Rob Pattinson is a genuine sexy guy. He’s got the height,” Radcliffe, 19, told Usmagazine.com Thursday at the NYC premiere of Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. “If girls like short and nerdy, then I’m a sex symbol!”

He said he hasn’t spoken much to Pattinson, whose Twilight films are just as popular with teens as the Potter ones.

“I’ve said probably three words to him in the last three years and that was before Twilight all kicked off,” Radcliffe told Us. “But I wish him well. Hopefully, I’ll see him at some point. He’s bound to turn up at one of these [premieres] at some point.”

Though he is mum on his dating life — “As a romantic leading man, I try to keep my personal life as far removed from the film as possible,” he said — he said he can still get gushy.

“I suppose I am fairly romantic in my own life!” he told Us. “You know, I like to think I am. Maybe ex-girlfriends might disagree with me!

When it comes to being romantic, “It’s always really long and involved. It involves a trail of notes!”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

The stars of Entourage are usually just as tight off-screen as they are on the show, but an alleged sock-stuffing incident during a People photoshoot has sparked a playful war of words between Adrian Grenier and Kevin Connolly.

Grenier’s gone on the mock-defensive after Connolly appeared on Tuesday’s Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and, after the late night host showed a People photo of Grenier, Connolly and costar Jerry Ferrara costumed as the Bee Gees for People’s Hottest Bachelors issue, Connolly told the audience that Grenier’s ample disco-pants bulge came courtesy of a strategically placed sock.

“My question is: how would HE know?” Grenier told People at the sixth season premiere party for the HBO hit. “What was he doing looking? And why was Conan looking too? It’s weird! I’ve never scrutinized another man’s groin area in my entire life – or his socks, for that matter.”

Connolly told O’Brien, “Adrian put a sock [in his pants] … When he was doing it, I said ‘What are you doing?’ and he said ‘It’s what they did in the ’70s.” I didn’t know that. And the photographer’s like ‘Adrian, we’ve got to lose one of the socks.’ And all of sudden when the photo came out I’m getting calls from girlfriends of mine, like ‘So, Adrian…’ And I didn’t want to throw him under the bus with the individual girls. I figured I’d wait until I got here on The Tonight Show.”

“How many socks are in there?” O’Brien wondered.

“I don’t know what kind of show they’re doing – It’s not a medical show,” suggested Grenier (who kept coy on the matter of did he or didn’t he) about the on-air appraisal of his anatomy. “The Tonight Show is not a medical show, and Conan should learn that.”

But even Entourage costar Kevin Dillon – who says he was “SO jealous” he wasn’t part of the shoot – admits he was surprised to see what Grenier was packing in his Barry Gibb gear when he first saw the photo. “I was like ‘What, do you have a sock in there?’” Dillon told People. “And he actually DID – I had no idea! I said it jokingly.”

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