TV contestant dies after suicide attempt
Gia Allemand, a former contestant on the ABC show The Bachelor, has died after a suicide attempt, according to her publicist.
Allemand, 29, was found unconscious in her New Orleans home Monday night by her boyfriend, NBA Pelicans player Ryan Anderson.
She had been in critical condition on life support in a New Orleans hospital but was taken off life support on Wednesday. She died with her “mother, boyfriend and other lifelong friends by her side,” said publicist Penelope Jean Hayes.
Anderson thanked family and friends for their support in a statement, calling Allemand “the most beautiful person I knew inside and out and she always smiled and made everyone else around her smile.”
Allemand competed on the 14th season of The Bachelor as one of the women vying for the heart of pilot Jake Pavelka, making it to the final three. She went on to compete on two seasons of the spinoff series Bachelor Pad.
“We have lost an angel and a very dear friend,” said Pavelka, according to a statement from his publicist.
Condolences poured in on Twitter on Wednesday from other Bachelor and Bachelorette stars.
“It’s with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our good friend Gia Allemand. She will be loved and missed by all who knew her,” said show host Chris Harrison.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Star staff, wire services
Sandra Oh leaving Grey’s Anatomy
Canadian actress Sandra Oh is leaving Grey’s Anatomy after the upcoming 10th season.
“Creatively, I really feel like I gave it my all, and I feel ready to let her go,” the Ottawa-born actress told the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s such an interesting thing to play a character for so long and to actually get the sense that she wants to be let go as well. (Cristina) wants to be let go and I am ready to let her go. We have to start the process, story-wise, for the Grey’s writers to think of why she’s going to go.”
Shonda Rhimes, the show’s creator and executive producer, said she’s grateful for Oh’s “brilliant” work and that she would give Oh’s character, Dr. Cristina Yang, the exit she deserves.
Oh’s love interest on the series, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd, is expected to stay on the show along with main stars Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey, although The Hollywood Reporter says negotiations will begin shortly with the remaining original cast members to continue beyond season 10.
ABC said it intends to keep Grey’s Anatomy on its schedule for years to come and with as many of the original cast as possible. Star staff, wire services
Amazing Racer admits F-bomb
BodyBreak fitness guru Joanne McLeod has issued a statement admitting she used a swear word during Monday’s episode of The Amazing Race Canada.
McLeod and partner Hal Johnson, known to Canadians for their sunny TV family fitness vignettes, were eliminated from the CTV series after an arduous test in Regina on the Aug. 12 episode. During the episode, McLeod seemed to drop an F-bomb after being chided by fellow competitors Brett Burstein and Holly Agostino.
Even though the word was bleeped during the broadcast, McLeod told a reporter from the Canadian Press on Tuesday that she in fact said “get off.” However, on Wednesday she changed her tune, suggesting in a post on the BodyBreak website that she had been joking when she claimed not to have cursed.
She said it was obvious she said the word under her breath and that she wanted to make light of the situation in media interviews.
“It came after a very long, frustrating day as well as dealing with a painful hamstring injury, not having slept for 30 hours, being dehydrated and there had been a history of verbal attacks from Brett,” she wrote in the statement. “The producers opted to single out this under-the-breath comment in the show and I apologize to the news outlets and to anyone I have offended.”
The Canadian Press
Takei pushes for Olympics switch
Former Star Trek actor George Takei has reasserted his stance that next year’s Winter Olympics should be moved from Sochi to Vancouver due to Russia’s “horrific” and “homophobic” anti-gay laws. The 76-year-old, who is gay, says he was “outraged” by the law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, which outlaws “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to children, threatening so-called offenders with prison sentences, hefty fines or, in the case of foreigners, deportation. Takei warns that giving Putin an Olympic platform will only increase his support and lead to “other horrific, oppressive things.” “We’ve gotta learn from history,” Takei said in a phone interview from his California home. “In 1936, the Olympics committee granted the rights to stage the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Three years before that, Hitler came to power and he got a law passed which seemed innocuous at that time: Jewish professors could not get tenure. “But then the international stage was offered to him and he gloried in it, and it raised his status and gave him more power amongst the German people. And his campaign of horror began and you know where that led.” Takei has thrown his support behind an online petition urging the International Olympic Committee to relocate the Feb. 7-23 Games to Vancouver, which successfully held the last Winter Games in 2010. The petition has attracted roughly 160,000 signatures. “You’re a leading state in terms of equality and justice,” Takei said of Canada, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2005. The actor will appear at FanExpo Canada Aug. 22 to 25 in Toronto and at Montreal ComicCon Sept. 13 to 15.
The Canadian Press
Briefly
Paul O’Neill, a Newfound landborn actor, writer and historian, has died at the age of 84. O’Neill was born in St. John’s and studied theatre in New York before launching a radio career with the CBC in the1950s, where he produced a number of radio and television shows. O’Neill also authored plays, poems and books, including The Oldest City, an extensive history of St. John’s.
Paul McCartney will perform at the iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas next month. Clear Channel said Wednesday that the former Beatle will perform on the second night of the two-day festival, which kicks off Sept. 20. He joins a list of top performers, including Justin Timberlake, Elton John, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Drake. Ryan Seacrest will host the event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Chris Brown, Maroon 5, Keith Urban, Miguel, J. Cole and fun. will also perform.
Star wire services