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Just when you thought Gossip Girl couldn’t get anymore glamorous, the third season is set to return with a bang. “We have our big Polo match in the first episode, we go to Sotheby’s for an auction in the third episode and in the fourth episode, we have a big movie premiere at Ziegfeld [Theater],” says the show’s executive producer Stephanie Savage.

And amidst all this glitz and glam, Gossip’s graduates are getting ready to go back-to-school and things are never too easy, are they? Spoiler alerts to come …

For Blair Waldorf, college might just be down the street from her posh Upper East Side pad, but it might as be well be across the country. “Blair is the fish out of water,” says Savage of Leighton Meester’s character. “Now that she is going to school downtown, Vanessa and Dan are really among their people. So it’s bizarre-o world for her.”

However, Blair won’t be totally alone downtown. As promised, Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) will return as her new college roommate. “She is not going to be in our first episode, but she will be in the second episode when our kid’s start college,” says Savage. And Chuck Bass (Ed
Westwick) will be a staple by Blair’s side throughout the season. While Chuck won’t be clocking in any school time, Savage tells PEOPLE, “This year, [Chuck] is really going to be focused on getting out from underneath his
father’s shadow and starting his own entrepreneurial direction.”

Adding to Blair’s “shadows” downtown is off-again BFF Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), who will also be stirring up trouble south of Central Park. As well as locking lips with Carter Baizen (Sebastian Stan) in the first episode, Serena’ll be hooking up with designers Tory Burch and Georgina Chapman of Marchesa. Savage tells us the fashion cameos have to do with Serena’s “decision [in terms of college] and what happens to her in the first couple of episodes.”

But, a reconciliation with Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) won’t be in her future [DASH] at least not this year — Dan is busy romancing Hilary Duff’s character Olivia Burke in the Village.

Then there’s Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), learning the ropes of Queen Bee. “We really do see Jenny struggling with what she is going to do with this power that has been given to her,” says
Savage. “She is back at Constance and now she is a junior — the same age as our other girls when the show started — so we have lots of story areas for Jenny that are opening up.” And one in particular that will make a
comeback: Jenny’s fashion career! “As we get more into the season, that is going to be a bigger and bigger story,” says Savage.

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Are you excited!?

Here’s a scoop for Gossip Girl: Tyra Banks is coming to the Upper East Side.

A Gossip Girl source confirms that the Top Model host will be showing off her acting skills on the CW show.

Banks will appear in an episode during Gossip Girl’s third season, which returns Sept. 14.

Go behind the scenes of the new season and get dish from Gossip Girl stars Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley and Jessica Szohr in our exclusive video.

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Leighton Meester and her boyfriend Sebastian Stan may not be friendly on Gossip Girl, but in real life he feels fortunate to be in a relationship with the star.

“I’m a really lucky guy,” Stan, 25, told reporters at the premiere of Taking Woodstock in New York City on Thursday. “She’s the most interesting, sophisticated, talented and an extremely funny person that I know. She’s really hilarious.”

Though Stan gives his costar Ed Westwick the evil eye when his character Chuck Bass gets to make out with Meester’s Blair Waldorf, it’s all in jest — and he says everyone on set is professional when it comes to romantic scenes.

“It’s work and everyone shares the same mentality when it comes to that. But we all laugh about it,” he says. “The good part is I get to go home with her.”

Besides, Stan gets his own kissing scenes with Blake Lively in the upcoming third season, which returns Sept. 14 (and will feature Tyra Banks in an episode). In preparation, the actor skips the breath mints and goes for an unconventional route of eating fruit before he puckers up.

“I try to stick to apples and pears that get stuck in my teeth to get it more interesting,” he said.

Stan says that when his character Carter Baizen’s background is revealed, it will stir up some trouble among the Upper East Siders — and especially Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen.

“They are revealing his history and where he comes from,” says Stan. “His whole background involves Serena’s character and it’s different from the other relationships on the show.”

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Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick shared a steamy kiss while filming a scene for the television series.

Yum!

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Although Blake Lively is known for wearing skimpy outfits on the set of Gossip Girl, the 21-year-old star confesses that she doesn’t do anything to make her body look good.

“I do panic before I have to wear a really skimpy outfit, but I don’t have enough willpower,” she tells the August issue of UK Glamour Magazine. “I had to do a scene in a bra and shorts for the first time in two years,” she continues. “On the day of the shoot, I ate a pork burrito, chips and coke. Afterwards, I thought, ‘I probably shouldn’t have done that.’ But whatever.”

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So maybe she doesn’t eat right, but at least she exercises, right? Wrong! “I have never worked out, but I know you feel better when you do,” she says, “so I am planning on getting a trainer.”

Lively, who has previously refuted reports of discord on the Gossip set, tells the magazine that she gets along well with her costars. “We hang out after filming,” she insists. “We actually look forward to spending time together outside of work.”

That includes her real-life leading man Penn Badgley, although she admits she was unhappy when he was cast on the series. “At first I was so upset that they hired him,” she says. “I actually poisoned the whole cast against him. But then they noticed that he wasn’t a jerk and was actually a really nice, charming person. Almost immediately I realized that too, but it took me about a week to admit it.”

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