The daily gossip: December 18, 2019

1. Jimmy Kimmel is launching a technology-based prank show

Do you like Punk'd but wish it had, I don't know, some drones or something? Great news: Your weirdly specific prayers have been answered. Jimmy Kimmel will produce and appear in a new, somewhat Orwellian-sounding reality show called Revenge of the Nerd, which will use homemade technology to "right the wrongs of the world" via elaborate pranks on unsuspecting targets — as if you needed another reason to be paranoid about your Amazon Alexa.

The Hollywood Reporter

2. Sorry, Baby Yoda won't be showing up in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The people have spoken, and what they want is all Baby Yoda, all the time. But while Baby Yoda is more likely to pop up in a Star War than, say, your local DMV, you shouldn't buy a ticket to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker expecting the little gremlin to make a cameo. While acknowledging that Baby Yoda is "the cutest thing in the history of time," director J.J. Abrams confirmed that he will not appear in the new Star Wars movie — but you can always just stay home and Google "Baby Yoda memes" instead.

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People

3. Now the Peloton wife is in a soap opera

In these rancorous times, you have to appreciate anything that unites us as a culture — which is why it was so great when the entire internet banded together to gawk at an unintentionally unsettling commercial for a Peloton exercise bike. And while Monica Ruiz, the actress who starred in the commercial, has taken some undeserved heat, the publicity has also landed her a guest spot on the long-running soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. Ruiz is slated to play a doctor, so get ready for at least one scene where she advises a patient to "get more exercise" before turning to the camera and winking.

Entertainment Weekly

4. Prince William and Kate Middleton rode in two different cars

We live in an era when celebrities are expected to share basically every aspect of their lives on social media, but the Royal Family remains a stubbornly private exception. As such, gossip columnists have no choice but to try and read the tea leaves, and they think they've stumbled upon a devastating scoop: Prince William and Kate Middleton rode in two separate cars to a Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace. Clearly it's a sign that their marriage might be on the rocks, say the tabloids — or, just spit-balling here, maybe it's one of the literally dozens of other reasons a couple might not always drive in the same car.

TMZ

5. Don't give Shaq any Christmas gifts

Attention, friends and family of Shaquille O'Neal: You can go ahead cross him off your Christmas list this year. The NBA legend hands out gifts to needy children every year at his Shaq-A-Claus event, but doesn't want anything under his own tree. "I do not accept gifts," said Shaq. "You show me a movie where Santa receives gifts and I'll take one." (And while he's clearly just speaking hypothetically: Please, please somebody greenlight a movie where Shaq plays a Santa Claus obsessed with hoarding presents.)

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