show biz

This year’s lineup of Oscar-nominated live-action shorts is as diverse as any in recent memory. From gritty political reality to absurdly cutting political commentary, tongue-in-cheek parody to touching, intimate drama (plus a moody adaptation of a Russian short story), voters have a wide selection from which to choose.

‘Butcher’s Stain’

Following the horrific attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, a Palestinian butcher in an Israeli shop finds himself accused of defiling a tribute to the hostages.

“I worked at the supermarket, and I experienced the collective trauma everyone was going through,” says writer-director Meyer Levinson, but he also felt how much animus “was pointed to the Palestinians that were working at the supermarket … individuals who have nothing to do with anything that happened, especially like my [movie’s] character, who is an everyday, working-class guy, trying to get money for his family, and has nothing to do with politics.”

Levinson calls making the film, his first, “one of the greatest experiences of my life. The set of a student film is a magical place; people come there for free, for passion. You just have to get them a decent sandwich.

“There were Palestinians, Jewish Israelis, Palestinians within Israel on set. It was this sort of paradise where we could come together. I’ve learned so much from my Palestinian actors, who’ve taught me about their community.”

‘A Friend of Dorothy’

(Filthy Gorgeous Productions)

In Lee Knight’s film, a chance meeting between a young Black Englishman in the process of finding himself and an elderly, white Englishwoman blossoms into an unexpected kinship — one based on Knight’s experience.

“I had a unique friendship with an elderly neighbor,” says Knight. “Me and my husband looked after her. She had this huge passion for the arts that she didn’t get to explore; when she realized we were actors, it was a huge thing for her. We became very, very close.

“She told me she would hide gay men in the garden during the war” and help them during the time of England’s infamous Section 28 (“banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality,” Knight says). He says it was meaningful for her “to see an interracial, gay couple happy and safe in her lifetime. As a gay man, I loved being around women because they didn’t judge me.”

‘Jane Austen’s Period Drama’

A charming country hillside. A fetching lass in Regency garb and her paramour, confessing his ardor. And the equivalent of a needle scratch as he’s halted by the appearance of blood on her skirt. Yes, that’s what’s meant by “Period Drama.” How will Miss Estrogenia Talbot elucidate this conundrum to Mr. Dickley? And once comprehending, shall he go with the flow?

Co-writer and co-director Julia Aks (who plays Estrogenia) admits it was the titular pun that got her and co-writer and co-director Steve Pinder going, but, “As we followed the thread, it made me reflect on shame I maybe hadn’t thought about. And the more I talked to women about funny period stories, I found they had heartbreaking ones.”

The film addresses stigma surrounding menstruation and includes biologically accurate descriptions; educational groups have screened it. But foremost, this “Period Drama” is a comedy.

Pinder says, “When you hear people laugh and come to life watching it, and then come up to you afterward and look like they’re floating … that is just incredible.”

‘The Singers’

Sam A. Davis didn’t exactly love Ivan Turgenev’s short story “The Singers,” at first — “honestly, I nodded off a couple times,” he says. “But it sneaks up on you. These guys have this fleeting moment of connection.”

The film updates Turgenev’s 1850s Russia to contemporary America, but maintains the “Lower Depths” social stratum. The low-down dive bar is draped in painterly shadows inspired by Renaissance masters, the stale cigarette stench palpable. Then the notion of a singing contest arises, and life stirs.

Davis says, after reading the story, “This sort of kismet moment happened where I opened Instagram and the first video that popped up was Mike Yung singing in the subway station in New York City. I flashed on a modern adaptation, but starring viral singing sensations.”

He recruited them to play themselves without a formal script. “It was almost like casting and writing were one process … I wanted it to be a love letter to the underdog. You never know who you’re sitting next to at the bar.”

‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’

(Misia Films & Preromanbritain)

In bold black and white, we find ourselves in a luxurious French department store. In this world, items are paid for by receiving slaps to the face. And the crime of kissing is punishable by death, raising the stakes as a young sales assistant bonds with a regular customer.

“We were writing in late 2022 and there was the reintroduction of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida,” says co-writer and co-director Natalie Musteata. “In a sense, it presaged the moment that we’re living through; we’re all living in the fever dream of Florida. But other things were influencing us — the policing of queer love through history; you open your phone and see these women [in Iran] being shot at for taking off their hijabs.”

Co-writer and co-director Alexandre Singh says Oscar winner Barry Jenkins told them, on selecting the film for a program he curated at the Telluride Film Festival, “ ‘When I first watched this in 2024, it was surrealist, satirical, almost farcical. I couldn’t imagine how much more relevant it could become, in a scary way.’ ”

BLUSHING bride Katie Price has got pal Kerry Katona’s seal of approval for her husband, Lee Andrews – and shown off her new ‘bubble butt’.

The newly-married star has introduced her spouse Lee to former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry – just weeks after they shocked fans with their whirlwind marriage.

Lee posted the holiday photos on his Instagram Stories – marking Katie’s recent return to the Middle East.

She displayed the results of her £2k bum lift as she posed in snaps with Lee, Kerry and her Celebs Go Dating boyfriend Paolo Margaglione.

The foursome posed for pictures together while enjoying their Dubai getaway.

Bikini-clad Kerry and Katie looked relaxed and happy as they styled out some pictures in the sunshine showing off their toned figures and tattoos.

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New wife Katie looked red-hot in a coral red string bikini with her long dark hair down.

Kerry appeared to be a cream dream in a two-piece bikini with her long blonde hair down, while she accessorised with sunglasses and a big smile.

She posed with her arms around her friend’s new husband – which he shared on his social media.

Katie and Kerry were all smiles as they embraced each other in a sweet snap with their heads together.

They also pulled out all the stops for a picture with Katie’s new man in the middle with their hands on their hips.

Lee has shared numerous snaps of the couple since Katie arrived in Dubai on Sunday to celebrate their nuptials.

The couple, who got engaged and married in the UAE, have spent the last two weeks apart because Katie returned home to the UK and Lee stayed in Dubai.

The mum-of-five has gone against the judgement of her nearest and dearest by flying out to see Lee, after her family were left “deeply concerned” by the romance.

Alarm bells rang for Katie’s family when Lee got down on one knee after just weeks of knowing Katie, and married her a day later.

However, the TV star and model spoke out on the romance for the first time over the weekend, assuring worried fans she knows exactly what she’s doing.

Katie told fans while packing for her Dubai trip: “I bet everyone’s thinking, What’s going on in the Katie Price world? Well, you guys tell me because I’m reading it as it unfolds, just like you guys.

“I’m fully aware like everyone else. I see stuff, I get sent stuff. What I want everyone to know is, I’m a grown a**e woman. 

“I’m 48 this year, I’m not a young kid. I’ve learned a lot in the past few years, through therapy and learning to love myself. 

“So I’m not stupid, I know what I’m doing and if I’m happy that’s all that matters.”

Defending the marriage, she added: “I’m not worried, so you don’t need to worry about anything.

“Like I say, I will do what I want to do.”

Questionable information about self-proclaimed millionaire Lee has come to light.

Last month, The Sun exposed him as a real life ‘Walter Mitty’, with the ‘businessman’ also having numerous AI-generated pictures with celebrities on his social media.

The late afternoon sun was setting over Coldwater Canyon when the bus arrived. Students from Boyle Heights’ Bravo High spilled out into TreePeople, a nature reserve and nonprofit in Coldwater Canyon Park, and took off hiking.

As they looked around the sage and monkeyflower-lined path, their chatter quieted, and soon, they were writing poetry.

Alina Sadibekova, a junior at the magnet medical school, sat under native oak trees, breathing in the soil-rich air with a pen in hand.

“Our city is very busy, especially living in L.A. where everything just goes on and on and it feels like there’s never a point where we can take a breath,” Alina said. “Going to the parks helped me ground myself.”

During a field trip to Gabrielino Springs and the L.A. River Gardens, Bravo High School students from Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks work on poems inspired by the landscape.

(Genesis Sierra)

TreePeople, is one of many green spaces she has visited with Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks, a program dreamed up by the West Hollywood poet laureate, Jen Cheng, in partnership with Bravo High English teacher Steve “Mr. V” Valenzuela. Cheng’s aim is for poetry, nature and Chinese principles to inspire a love for nature in students otherwise surrounded by concrete.

“I think as humans, we’re part of nature, so being better connected to nature actually brings you more home to yourself,” Cheng said. She explains that feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging a space to encourage harmony, is based on five natural elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal.

“Feng shui, in poetry, is a lens that you can use to process big ideas using your surroundings,” Cheng said. “You can say, ‘Let’s write about water running down a river,’ not literally, but maybe as a metaphor for migration.”

Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks has grant funding through 2026’s spring semester, but next school year is still up in the air. Cheng says she’s looking for other grants, but as the Trump administration cuts humanities funding, including National Endowment for the Arts grants, the options are scarce.

As the oldest of five growing up in Oakland, Cheng felt seen for the first time when she discovered poetry in elementary school. It was inspired by her most cherished memories: field trips. At the time, her immigrant family worked to the point where they were often “too busy for nature.” During field trips, it was exciting, she said, to be out of Oakland’s urban landscape and in parks that felt rare in her working-class experience.

Decades after her elementary school field trips, as a newly appointed poet laureate for West Hollywood, she envisioned a way to mirror this childhood experience.

Poets laureate, whose role is to champion and encourage poetry in their community, are eligible for a $50,000 nationwide grant through the Academy of American Poets to support “meaningful, impactful and innovative projects,” according to the AAP.

As a recipient of this grant, Cheng brought Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks to life with one final addition — a teacher with a passion for poetry, who could connect her to a classroom of students.

Everyone she spoke to, she said, pointed her to the same person — “Mr. V.”

Jen Cheng, left, and Steve Valenzuela, right, close the Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks reading with words of encouragement for the students who shared their poetry at Bravo High School on Dec. 4, 2025. Both instructors have said that they were surprised by the emotion and creativity the students demonstrated in their poems.

(Kayte Deioma)

A sanctuary for ‘lifesaving’ creativity

When you enter Valenzuela’s classroom, the walls are covered with dozens of CD sleeves, from Deftones to Rage Against the Machine. In the gaps, student artwork, notes and photos with current and former students hang.

Valenzuela leads Bravo High’s poetry club, KEEPERS, and for the last few years, he’s guided the students to win awards at international poetry slam Get Lit.

“Poetry is expression, poetry is life-changing, lifesaving, which sounds very dramatic, but it’s not. Some of the things the students have written about are very traumatic,” Valenzuela said. “I’ve seen them work through difficult experiences and come out of it using poetry.”

One such student is 17-year-old Paige Thibodeaux. “I used to think it was better to be closed off, but throughout this, I was able to show my friends and peers who I am,” Paige said. “I didn’t think that’s something I could do and I’m here now.”

Paige, who lives with her family in Compton, recalled having her guard up as she walked through her neighborhood, where she said expression through poetry felt inaccessible.

“I don’t see a lot of kids doing things like this,” she said.

Student poets, friends and family members gather before the start of the Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks poetry reading and zine release at Bravo High School on Dec. 4, 2025.

(Kayte Deioma)

Working on a book, she said, opened up a whole new side of her. She started to confide in friends about stress, or things that bothered her, which otherwise would have stayed inside.

‘I still don’t believe it’

Since August 2025, Paige and her classmates have developed their poems, received feedback from Cheng and submitted their final pieces to be published as a poetry collection.

The cover, designed by Bravo student Adrian Lopez, depicts a tree wrapping around the spine. The poems are rooted in their observations of current affairs and native plants; the publication was completed in December, when Valenzuela and Cheng planned for a reading and celebration of their work at Bravo High.

“Did you guys know your work is going to be read across the country?” Cheng said to students in class one day. “I’m sending it all the way to New York!”

“Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks Vol. 1” is being printed as a zine and will be sent to bookstores and libraries from San Francisco to Chicago as well as the Library of Congress.

Students giggled and gasped in disbelief. “No pressure, I guess,” one student joked.

“It’s really crazy, I still don’t believe it. It’s been a dream of mine,” Alina said. “I never realized I could be a published author as a junior in high school.”

The night of the poetry reading, students, parents and friends gathered in excitement in Bravo High School’s library, settling in rows before a single microphone. Out in the hallway, the raucous chatter of teenagers echoed in the halls, and cars honked on the busy street outside to pick them up. But inside the haven of the library, there was a quiet settling among the crowd for the long-awaited show.

Alina Sadibekova reads her poems “I Want to Fly” and “Messy” for the Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks reading at Bravo High School on Dec. 4, 2025. She says writing poetry over the course of the program “grounded” her and alleviated the stress of school.

(Kayte Deioma)

Aolani “Lani” Alarcon approached the mic to hushed voices. As the lights lowered, she thanked the crowd, the white flower tucked in her hair catching the light as she recited her first poem, “White Sage.”

She says poetry didn’t always come easily to her. “One of the biggest things I struggle with is judgment, so opening up or writing about touchy subjects or things that mean something to me was hard,” Lani said. “Knowing that I wouldn’t be judged, or that people would actually like what I write, means a lot.”

The 16-year-old smiled as she read, describing sage as an ancestor’s prayer. Her next poem, “Hummingbird,” delved into grief.

“You teach me that healing isn’t forgetting,” she read, tears welling. “It’s learning to carry love without breaking under it.”

Manuel Alarcon, her father, was seated in the crowd, clasping his hands in rapt attention. When the readings had finished, he pulled Lani into a long embrace.

“These field trips, it exposed them outside of city life,” Alarcon said. “There’s more than opening a book, listening to a teacher. You need that outside exposure to really understand life. And inner city kids don’t have that. I want [my daughter] to be part of breaking a cycle.”

Valenzuela clapped loudly and cheered as each student stepped off the podium.

“When young voices, and voices from marginalized communities tend to be silenced, sometimes we internalize that and silence ourselves,” Valenzuela said. “I want them to feel like they can speak up.”

As Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks carries on for another semester— maybe its last — students continue to explore writing poetry in the greens of L.A. parks. Some, like 17-year-old Saneli Soto, express themselves along the way.

Saneli’s poem reads:

I’m used to concrete floors
And concrete walls.
I’m used to five story buildings.
I needed a quiet place.
Where I could just lie in the grass.

Bad Bunny’s Superbowl halftime show may have been dubbed the sexiest in sporting history, but many fans were busy watching another A-list star during the performance.

Hollywood actor Jon Hamm sent fans wild with his hilarious “dad dancing” as he watched the performance pitchside.

Seemingly in his element, Jon swung his legs and arms back and forth before jumping up and down with a massive smile on his face as Bad Bunny performed Daddy Yankee’s hit song Gasolina.

While Jon’s wife, Anna Osceola, was clearly just as excited, as she had an NFL jersey with “Bad Bunny” written on the back.

Snapping a video of the Mad Men actor, the official NFL TikTok account wrote: “Jon Hamm vibing to Bad Bunny on the field”.

Amassing 3.5 million views and almost 300,000 likes, fans thought his moves were hilarious – with some jesting it gave them the “ick”.

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Others weren’t surprised to see Jon so happy with the performance, as they noted that he’s actually a huge fan.

“Jon Hamm goes to damn near every concert that Bad Bunny performs at. He’s a huge fan,” wrote one user.

Another said: “Jon Hamm is living his best life on that field”.

“THATS WHAT THE FANS WANNA SEE,” wrote a third.

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, rose to fame a decade ago and has been dubbed the “King of Latin Trap” since.

It’s not the first time Jon has been seen enjoying Bad Bunny’s music, with the actor admitting in August last year that he’s a “huge fan”.

He admitted at the time: “You can’t listen to his music and not smile. He’s a really nice guy. He’s funny, and he’s fun and his music is awesome.”

Bad Bunny rocked the iconic halftime show slot during last night’s superbowl, which saw the Seattle Seahawks reign victorious.

The Puerto Rican’s spicy performance included raunchy dancing and close-up making out which the thousands in attendance and the millions watching at home lapped up.

The performance also featured special guest appearances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.

Meanwhile global stars like Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba and Cardi B – girlfriend of New England Patriots star Stefon Diggs – danced on stage as part of the spectacle.

SHAKIRA suffered a nasty fall during a live stage performance over the weekend, with the singer twisting her ankle in the middle of her concert.

The Columbian star, 49, was performing in San Salvador on Saturday when she left fans worried during a mid-song tumble.

Singing her hit song Si Te Vas during the night, Shakira was walking across the stage when her right ankle suddenly twisted.

She then completely toppled to her side, falling onto her elbow as she brought her microphone stand down with her.

During the moment, Shakira stopped singing as gasps could be heard amongst the audience.

But ever the professional, she quickly got herself back up and managed to continue the song – with the star’s band continuing as her guitarist cheered her on.

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Seeing the funny side of the accident, Shakira later took to her Instagram Stories to share the clip as she wrote in Spanish: “Don’t worry, I’m made of rubber hahah”.

The performance was part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour – translated as Women No Longer Cry  – with the show marking her first performance in San Salvador.

She will wrap up in the city this Sunday, before heading to Mexico and finally finishing the tour in Abu Dhabi on 4 April.

The tour kicked off last year and was confirmed as the biggest female tour of 2025, by both box office takings and ticket sales.

It came a year after her album of the same name was released, with a “diss track” to her ex Gerard Pique on its setlist.

Shakira split with the former Barcelona star, whom she shares two children with, in 2022 after 11 years together.

It followed allegations he had cheated.

But appearing to mark positivity for Shakira fans, she said the split inspired her to get stuck back into work again – hence the mighty world tour.

She said on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2024: “I’ve been putting out music here and there but it was really hard for me to put together a body of work.

“I didn’t have time because of the husband factor.

“Now I’m husbandless. Yeah, the husband was dragging me down. Now I’m free. Now I can actually work.”

Referencing the name of her album, she giggled: “It’s men’s turn now.

“For too long we have been sent to cry with a script in our hands and without an end just because we are women.

The photograph is so intimate, so vulnerable, it’s painful to look at.

It depicts a woman in her early 20s lying on a hospital bed twisted to the side, her wrists and ankles restrained. The black-and-white image — nearly five feet wide — is so crisp that bits of the woman’s toenail polish glimmer and the hair on her thigh appears to spark. Most pronounced: the loneliness and resignation on her face.

“I was 20 or 21 then. I’d had a psychotic episode and was taken to a public hospital in Massachusetts,” says Palm Springs-based artist Lisa McCord of the self-portrait she later staged. “I’m very transparent and I wanted to share my experience afterward. It was the ‘70s. I’d tell people, in school, I’d been in a psychiatric hospital and no one wanted to hang out with me — it was a very lonely time.”

McCord’s work is part of an exhibition at the Los Angeles Center of Photography addressing the idea of loneliness, now considered an epidemic in America. The exhibition, “Reservoir: Photography, Loneliness and Well Being,” was curated by LACP‘s executive director, Rotem Rozental, and includes participation from more than 40 artists representing “a wide array of geographies, approaches, ages, nationalities and lived experiences,” she says.

Rozental had been thinking about loneliness in our society — how increasingly pervasive it is — since the start of the pandemic. In late 2024 she began having conversations about it with LACP board chair and artist Jennifer Pritchard. Art reflects the world that we live in and Rozental felt that, as a photography center, LACP had an obligation to amplify “some of the larger issues” our society is grappling with.

“There’s something about photography that really brings people together around their vulnerabilities,” Rozental says. “Even if it just means you’re seeing, through an image, that someone else is experiencing what you’re experiencing.”

In this case: loneliness — “something that is looming heavy on everybody,” Rozental adds.

Asiya Al. Sharabi’s “Inward” (2025) addresses the uncertainty, and sometimes loneliness, of being a woman and an immigrant.

(Asiya Al. Sharabi)

Chronic loneliness is a serious, growing public health concern, says Dr. Jeremy Nobel, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and author of the 2023 book “Project UnLonely: Healing Our Crisis of Disconnection.”

“Most recent studies indicate that 50% of Americans are often lonely,” Nobel says, adding that a December 2025 study found that “loneliness is increasing, even after the pandemic. And it’s driving a change in behavior, the big one being that people are disengaging from each other and community activities, so that also isolates them.”

What’s more, chronic loneliness has tangible, dangerous effects on our health, he says.

“Loneliness increases the risk of heart attack and stroke and general early mortality by up to 30%. Dementia risk goes up by 40%, diabetes risk goes up 35% from being chronically lonely. That’s increased the urgency to address it as a public health crisis.”

It’s important to note, Nobel says, that there’s a difference between being alone and being lonely, with the former potentially good for your health.

“Being alone means you don’t have social connection. Loneliness is the subjective feeling that you don’t have the social connections you want,” Nobel says. “You can be lonely in a crowd, you can be lonely in a racist workplace, you can be lonely in a failed relationship or marriage. But being alone can actually be quite positive — solitude. You can be in touch with thoughts and feelings and can have emotional growth.”

Nobel consulted with many of the artists during the development of “Reservoir.” It was a natural pairing as his more than 20-year-old nonprofit, the Foundation for Art & Healing, explores how creative expression helps individuals and communities heal. The experience “definitely validated ‘how do creative people use their creative orientation to further explore and reveal what’s going on with loneliness,’” he says. “That’s the power of this exhibit.”

A detail shot from Diane Meyer’s “The Empty Space of Nothing #43” (2025)

(Diane Meyer)

To create the exhibition, Rozental selected six photographic mentors, all established artists, each of whom chose a theme around loneliness — “aging,” “immigration,” “technology and hyper-consumerism” or “the solo creative process,” for example. The mentors then invited artists to create new work responding to their themes. Over nine months last year, the groups of artists met monthly on Zoom — “six countries and seven time zones,” says Rozental — along with therapists, scholars and others to plumb the topic.

The resulting exhibition features mostly two-dimensional photography but also includes multimedia works and 3D installations.

L.A.-based artist Diane Meyer sourced about 100 old black-and-white photographs from private collections. Then she hand-painted each of them, blocking out most everything in the image except select figures with white paint. The individuals in the photos appear to float in a sea of clouds or snow, disconnected.

In one image, two young boys teeter on a seesaw, as if suspended in midair; in another, a middle-aged man lies on a blanket in the fetal position, white paint spilling over onto his blanket and body, as if he is sinking into a void. The creative process — which the work speaks to — is evident here, the artist’s hand noticeable. The paint is splotchy in places and the photographs are pinned delicately to a dark surface, their edges curling, giving the overall installation a textured materiality.

Meyer’s work is in stark contrast to Jacque Rupp’s installation on the opposite wall. Rupp’s slick multimedia work speaks to both technology and societal perceptions of aging women. After recently becoming a grandmother, the Bay Area-based artist asked AI to “imagine a grandmother in 2025.” The result is a black-and-white photo grid of several hundred female faces staring blankly into the camera, mouths closed and eyes vacant. Beside it is a TV monitor on which their faces morph into one another, without audio. The overall effect is polished and high-tech, touching on the perceived invisibility of women as they age.

“I felt that these two works needed to be in conversation,” Rozental says.

Julia Buteux’s “Have We Said Hello” (2025)

(Rotem Rozental)

Nearby, Julia Buteux’s three-dimensional installation of transparent fabric panels hang from the ceiling, shimmying in the air and inviting guests to walk around it. The Rhode Island-based artist downloaded images from social media and deleted the people from them. The backgrounds are colorful but all that’s left of the subject is a transparent imprint of their face and upper body. “So you’re getting the absence of the user,” Rozental says. It speaks to how isolating online social milieus can be.

Asiya Al. Sharabi — who is Yemeni American and lives between Egypt and Virginia — created large-scale, conceptual self-portraits that she manipulated in the printing process. One is a double exposure depicting the front and side of her face. It addresses issues of duality and the uncertainty of her standing in society as both a woman and an immigrant. In another, the artist sits in a rocking chair in a home beside a vase of dead flowers — but her body is transparent. “She almost disappears within the domestic space,” Rozental says.

McCord’s photograph is part of a larger interactive installation that includes a “visual diary” guests can flip through featuring photographs of her life over the decades paired with handwritten diary entries from 1977 to 2021. McCord narrates snippets from the diary, which visitors may listen to on headphones.

“Reservoir” aims, of course, to shine a light on the condition of loneliness. But it also hopes to serve as a public health intervention by hosting creative workshops — incorporating the photography in the exhibition — to address loneliness and spark connection.

“Creative expression changes our brains,” Nobel says. “It reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, it increases the levels of the feel-good hormones, so you’re less anxious about the world and in a better mood. It’s then easier to engage with others. It invites us to be less lonely and more connected, not just to other people, but ourselves.”

The exhibition, which closes March 14, is planned to travel internationally, including to the Museo Arte Al Límite in Chile, the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in South Africa and to the Karuizawa Foto Fest in Japan. The goal is to use the workshop element as a model that can be replicated in community arts organizations around the world.

Rozental says photography is the perfect conduit for that, calling the medium “a language, a space for connection and communication.”

“We hope that people will walk into this space and see themselves on the walls,” she says. “Maybe their burden will ease a little bit by knowing that they might feel lonely, but they’re not alone.”

This season’s Oscar nominees for film editing have one thing in common: coping with trauma. The Envelope invited editors from each film to break down a pivotal scene that showcased their craft.

‘F1’

“F1” builds momentum for its underdog tale with an intricately constructed racing montage.

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Editor: Stephen Mirrione
Scene: The montage in which Brad Pitt’s washed-up racer Sonny Hayes begins his winning streak through a momentum-building Grand Prix swing.

“There were more than a dozen structural versions of how we were getting through this story,” said Oscar winner Mirrione (“Traffic”). The three-minute, high-octane montage benefited from 5,000 hours of footage, captured with 20 cameras around the tracks. It was treated like a massive puzzle, with the racing order moved around for maximum impact. The key was seamlessly integrating in-camera footage with broadcast footage from actual races that offered happy accidents such as rain and a crash. “At one point, it was more focused on rookie driver Joshua [Damson Idris],” added Mirrione. “But then we realized that Sonny was more interesting, visually, in terms of his arc about dealing with the trauma of his near-fatal crash. And then once we saw it in context, it was not just about the two of them and their rivalry but also the team coalescing around Sonny.”

‘Marty Supreme’

A dinner in “Marty Supreme,” starring Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, leads to a startling flashback.

(A24)

Editors: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
Scene: The jarring dinner scene/Holocaust flashback introducing nasty businessman Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary)

In this scene from the 1950s-set psychological drama, we get a glimpse of Marty’s (Timothée Chalamet) motivation for his obsessive pursuit of table tennis: Jewish pride and survival instinct. “The adversarial impulse of the Rockwell dinner scene involves several characters, each with a distinct subjective agenda,” said Bronstein. “The act of cutting the scene [with close-ups and extreme close-ups] became inseparable from its sensations and emotions.” Yet Bronstein pushed it to extremes with the bizarre Auschwitz flashback involving Marty’s dinner guest, Béla (Géza Röhrig). Thanks to his table tennis prowess, Béla disarms bombs for the Nazis in the woods. But when he discovers a beehive, he shares the honey with his fellow prisoners by smearing it over his body. “That’s like a carrot on a rope that’s hanging in front of me at all times, and when I get to the end of that exchange, I’m allowed to break free and go into an entirely new set of tools, which are much more expressive,” added Bronstein.

‘One Battle After Another’

Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, nearing the conclusion of “One Battle After Another’s” climactic car chase.

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Editor: Andy Jurgensen
Scene: The climactic roller-coaster car chase

Jurgensen assembled the best VistaVision car chase in history for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s turbulent father-daughter actioner. That’s where teenage Willa (Chase Infiniti) becomes the hero by outsmarting and killing the hired muscle (John Hoogenakker), who chases her up and down the rolling hills followed closely by Willa’s flummoxed ex-revolutionary dad, Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio). Shot at shaky high speeds, the scene actually took shape as a result of the unique San Diego location called the Texas Dip, which looks epic in the 8 perf/35mm horizontal format. The Hitchcockian cross-cutting among the three cars, favoring Willa’s POV, was achieved with close-ups from rearview and side mirrors. The layering of the propulsive soundscape and Jonny Greenwood’s percussive score completed the adrenaline rush. But the tender father-daughter reunion at the end required reshooting. “The moment Bob pulled up to the crash site, when we first did the scene, he ran over to her right away, and they embraced,” Jurgensen recalled. “When we watched the dailies, it just didn’t feel authentic. So we reshot it with more meat: Willa second-guessing everybody and Bob having to earn her trust by proving his identity with the secret code.”

‘Sentimental Value’

Renate Reinsve’s Nora plays a part in her father’s new film in “Sentimental Value.”

(Kaspar Tuxen Andersen)

Editor: Olivier Bugge Coutté
Scene: Actor Nora Borg’s (Renate Reinsve) early stage fright breakdown

Joachim Trier’s family drama finds Nora confronting the Borgs’ generational trauma when she reunites with her estranged director father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård). After an opening montage on the layered history of their Oslo home, which Nora once wrote about in a school essay, our introduction to the adult Nora is conveyed by the chaos and humor of her panic attack before a performance. But finding this arresting sequence first required trimming a very long setup of patrons entering the theater and sitting down, and the camera discovering Nora, frozen in fear, in the back of the dark stage. “It was so boring,” Coutté insisted. “But here we’re starting right on Nora’s face. Where are we? Has she become an actress? And then you slowly understand. There are no rules; just rhythm.”

‘Sinners’

Jayme Lawson performs “Pale, Pale Moon” in a pivotal scene from “Sinners.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Editor: Michael P. Shawver
Scene: Pearline’s (Jayme Lawson) violence-inducing “Pale, Pale Moon” performance

In Ryan Coogler’s Imax spectacle, where the blues collides with vampires, the monstrous transformation commences with Pearline’s siren call: “Pale, Pale Moon.” This was Shawver’s boldest sequence, cross-cutting her mesmerizing performance with the rhythmic crowd stomping, the brutal beating of a card cheater and newbie vampire Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) seducing and murdering Stack (Michael B. Jordan). “When this was first cut together, it was about three or four times as long as the actual song that had been recorded and performed,” explained Shawver. “And so Ryan watched it and he liked what he saw, but he wanted to cut it to the length of the song. That first moment I wondered if I was the right editor, but that fear and anxiety gives you a bit of freedom to find those spiritual connections that built to this climax at the end. It was really just about Ryan’s ability to engage audiences on a personal level and unlock those things and find the ways that they can go together.”

The Nordic noir thriller has been praised for its ‘excellent’ action and gorgeous visuals

The fourth series of a very popular thriller has just dropped on Channel 4.

Arctic Circle is the latest box set to dop on the broadcaster’s streaming platform and has been described as a “gripping Finnish crime drama” that follows detective Nina Kautsalo as she investigates a string of dangerous cases that straddle the border between Russia and Finland.

The series first aired back in Finland in 2018 for four seasons, and now all of them are available to binge on Channel 4. Arctic Circle stars Iina Kuustonen in the lead role, alongside fellow cast members Pihla Viitala, Mikko Leppilampi, Venla Ronkainen, and Taneli Mäkelä.

The fourth season sees Nina, now chief of police in Ivalo, investigate a possible threat to an astrophysicists’ conference occurring during the rare Eiscat comet.

As her former boss Jaakko Stenius joins the inquiry, a carbon‑monoxide incident killing 24 care‑home residents, initially ruled accidental, reveals evidence of mass murder.

The synopsis reads: “When the rare Eiscat comet blazes across the endless night sky in its first appearance in two thousand years, it draws scientists from around the world to Ivalo for an international conference.

“After the FBI warns of a potential threat, Nina’s former boss, Jaakko Stenius (Kari Ketonen), arrives to lead a covert investigation with her. As they dig deeper, chilling links emerge between the comet and a fanatical sect determined to fulfill an ancient prophecy before the comet disappears again.”

Set in Lapland, the show has been praised by viewers for its “sublime” casting and gorgeous visuals.

One viewer wrote: “This series has it all: interesting story with multiple plot lines, nice balance between drama and thriller, good acting by everyone involved (Finnish actress Iina Kuustonen is a marvel to watch), and beautiful shots of vast snowy landscapes in Lapland.”

While another said: “Outstanding. This is a top quality show with fine performances and a terrific plot. Good production values with characters that are fully explored.”

Adding: “All good shows there must be an array of engaging characters. Artic Circle has that in spades. The countryside is both haunting beautiful and bleak. It’s an unforgiving environment and has been captured to perfection.”

And a third commented: “The show itself has a brilliant storyline and the location for filming sets the scene nicely. The acting is superb, especially the young girl who plays Venla.”

It come after Channel 4 announced its “most watched show” of 2026, Patience, would be returning to screens for a third season. You can read more on this here.

Series 1 to 4 of Arctic Circle are available to stream on Channel 4 now.

KATIE Price has reunited with her husband Lee Andrews for a sun-soaked honeymoon, just weeks after they shocked fans with their whirlwind marriage.

The mum-of-five has gone against the judgement of her nearest and dearest by flying out to Lee, after her family were left “deeply concerned” by the romance.

Alarm bells rang for Katie’s family when Lee got down on one knee after just weeks of knowing Katie, and married her a day later.

And since then, a wave of facts about who self-proclaimed millionaire Lee really is have come to light.

Last month, The Sun exposed as him as a real life ‘Walter Mitty’.

He was found to have faked photos of himself with celebs like Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk as well as lying about being on the Labour Party’s Board of Advisors and the Director of Philanthropy at The King’s Trust.

PRICEY’S WAY

Katie Price insists ‘I’m a grown woman & not stupid’ as she defends marriage

Making waves

Katie Price’s ex JJ shares post on ‘recovery’ – as she jets to Dubai to Lee

But seemingly ignoring any red flags, Katie appeared loved-up with Lee as she finally arrived to the middle east this weekend.

The couple, who got engaged and married in the UAE, have spent the last two weeks apart as Katie returned home to the UK and Lee stayed in Dubai.

But reunited, they enjoyed a day of sunshine by the beach, with Lee sharing a selfie with his bikini-clad wife.

In another snap, where they wrapped up warmer in jumpers, Lee wrote to his Instagram Stories: “Hubby and wife date”.

This morning, they enjoyed an al fresco breakfast date as Lee snapped a picture of their spread, which included a fruit bowl for him, chia pudding for Katie and a basket of bread and pastries.

While Lee has already shared numerous pictures from their one day together so far, Katie is yet to post anything to her social media.

The trip comes after the star spoke out on the romance for the first time over the weekend, assuring worried fans she knows exactly what she’s doing.

Posting a new vlog of herself packing for the trip to Dubai, Katie said: “I bet everyone’s thinking what’s going on in the Katie Price world. Well you guys tell me because I’m reading it as it unfolds, just like you guys.

“I’m fully aware like everyone else, I see stuff, I get sent stuff. What I want everyone to know is, I’m a grown a**e woman. 

“I’m 48 this year, I’m not a young kid. I’ve learned a lot in the past few years, through therapy and learning to love myself. So I’m not stupid, I know what I’m doing and if I’m happy that’s all that matters.”

Defending the marriage, she added: “I’m not worried, so you don’t need to worry about anything. Like I say, I will do what I want to do.”

However, The Sun reported earlier this month that her family, on the other hand, are extremely worried over the union.

A source exclusively told us: “Katie’s family and friends are so concerned about her relationship with Lee but she isn’t listening.

Adding that they didn’t want her to return to Dubai, the source also said: “Her family have read reports about Lee and are so concerned about Katie’s welfare.

“She has insisted he is a good man though and is sticking by him.”

SIR Idris Elba is due to give evidence in the trial of a woman who allegedly stalked him and his wife.

The defendant is to face court next year after being arrested and charged.

The Sun told last year how actor Idris, 53, and his wife Sabrina, 36, had allegedly received unwanted emails and other communications.

The woman was also said to have turned up at private events in London, which the couple attended separately on different days.

A source said: “These events were seriously distressing for Idris and his family.

“He had no choice but to report it to the authorities.”

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The woman, in her 30s, was arrested in October and in November denied five harassment-related charges at Kingston crown court, South West London.

She has been released on bail.

Luther star Idris is expected to take the stand in the trial pencilled in for May 2027.

The Met Police said: “A woman has been charged following an investigation.

“The charges follow an arrest on Sunday, 26 October, 2025.”

A real couple said “I do” at the Super Bowl halftime show — and Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga were there to bless the union.

For those analyzing the details in Bad Bunny’s 15-minute halftime performance, there was a real wedding that took place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in front of 75,000 fans.

The couple signed their nuptials as Lady Gaga performed a salsa rendition of her ballad “Die With a Smile” — notably without collaborator Bruno Mars.

According to a statement released by Bad Bunny’s publicist, the couple had first invited Bad Bunny to attend their wedding but were instead invited to be part of the Apple Music halftime show performance.

Amid his busy performance — which included dancing on utility poles, a bodega, a field filled with laborers and the pink casita stage created during his 2025 residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico — the Puerto Rican star still made time to sign off on their marriage certificate before the newlyweds relished their first slice of cake.

It will be hard to top the halftime show from the last Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. That hip-hop extravaganza was headlined by Dr. Dre and featured performances Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and 50 Cent.

Maybe this time Guns N’ Roses can headline a tribute to the Sunset Strip hard rock scene?

Or if the NFL wants someone more current, how about Highland Park’s Billie Eilish or San Bernardino’s Fuerza Regida, both of whom were among Spotify’s most-streamed artists globally in 2025 (a list topped by this year’s halftime performer Bad Bunny)?

Were you ready for some non-football consumerism? Ready or not, the Super Bowl’s annual blitz of commercials landed before and during the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots defense-first matchup, with some ads served up in advance while others were unveiled for the first time during the game. As in previous years, there were serious clunkers (looking at you Bud Light rolling keg ad), but also a few that transcended their buy-more mission (may you live forever, Melissa McCarthy). Other trends we noticed: celebrities double dipping to appear in more than one Super Bowl commercial (three if you’re Sofía Vergara), lots of borderline-gross humor (exploding heads, singing clumps of shaved body hair, singing toilets and plenty of ads trying to convince America that artificial intelligence tools aren’t a waste of time and energy).

While many of this year’s ads promoted AI and the usual rah-rah-America nods to patriotism, one trend we noticed was that the longer versions for some of the best Super Bowl ads, found online, were even better than the condensed cuts that made it to broadcast. What if next year, we make the Super Bowl three quarters and the commercial breaks 15 minutes long? Any takers?

While we wait for that brilliant idea to make it to the NFL’s offices, here are the big game ads we loved the most and a few that fumbled the ball — big time.

Fans of Strictly Come Dancing and classic episodes of the Great British Bake Off may have reason to celebrate as a former star of the cooking sow is tipped to take over as a host on the BBC show

A new name has risen like a proverbial soufflé in the ongoing search for a replacement host of Strictly Come Dancing. Last year, fans of the BBC show were shocked when long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman abruptly quit the show after years of service.

And now a former Bake Off star has been thrown into the mix of names tipped to replace the stars. Comedian Mel Giedroyc, who co-hosted the Channel 4 show back when it aired on the BBC from 2010 until 2016, is being touted as a new star of the dance show.

The 57-year-old TV star was herself a contestant on the 2021 Christmas Special of Strictly, where she was paired with professional dancer Neil Jones. And now it is being suggested she could take over from Claudia, 54, when Strictly returns to screens later this year.

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A source told The Sun: “The Clauditorium is the section where the dancers go to receive their scores from the judges and decompress after their routines. So it needs to be hosted by someone with a gentle touch, who can use humour to relieve the tension.

“Mel is seen as a great swap for Claudia as they’re both smart, funny, and have a reputation within the TV world for being easy to work with. They’re both highly professional, well-liked by the public, and boast just the right balance of confidence and self-deprecation.” The Mirror has contacted representatives of Mel and the BBC for comment.

While Mel is a new name to emerge in the race to become a new Strictly host, many fans are expecting Zoe Ball to take over hosting from the ballroom floor. The 55-year-old presenter was a contestant on Strictly in 2005 and hosted spin-off show It Takes Two from 2011 until 2020.

Late last year, her father, Johnny Ball, 87, shared insight on the likelihood his radio host daughter will take the reins. Opening up to the Express, Johnny said last December: “Nothing’s going to be decided until after Easter, but she’s in the mix, and people are coming to her, but it’s too early to say… I think she would love it, I think she would love the job because she took over from Claudia on It Takes Two, and if anything, she did a better job than Claudia.”

And just last month, Zoe herself teased that she may indeed be the new presenter. Opening up to The Sunday Times Style Magazine, she gushed: “Obviously there’s part of me that would love to do it. I love that show. I loved performing on it with Ian Waite, who is one of my best buddies. It’s so joyful.”

However, she did add: “It’s live telly, which is another thing that people don’t give the girls enough credit for. That show is a beast. Whoever gets to do it has a tough act to follow.”

Fans were blindsided when Tess and Claudia made the unusual decision to quit the series – announcing the news in the midst of the 2025 season. They issued a statement at the time, declaring that they simply felt that the time had come for them to waltz away from the scandal-hit show.

In a joint statement at the time, the pair wrote: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.

“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day. We will cry when we say the last “keep dancing” but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”

While Claudia added in a follow up statement: “It’s very difficult to put into words exactly what Strictly has meant to me. It’s been the greatest relationship of my career. From working on It Takes Two in 2004 until now it has been my everything, the show I will be eternally grateful for.”

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KERRY Katona has issued a health update after revealing that she was rushed to A&E at the end of last month with a painful medical condition.

The former Atomic Kitten singer, 45, said she was left “screaming in pain” before paramedics arrived.

Following nearly three days in hospital the star was given a diagnosis of colitis, defined by the NHS as a chronic illness that causes inflammation of the rectum and colon.

Now Kerry has given her fans an update on how her treatment is going, spilling the details in her most recent New! magazine column.

She said: “As I revealed in last week’s column, I went into hospital in an ambulance because I was getting severe pains – I thought I was going to give birth!”

Medics gave her a CT scan that led to a colitis diagnosis.

KERRY CALLS IT

Kerry Katona says Katie Price is ‘bonkers’ after shock marriage

A&E DASH

Kerry Katona rushed to hospital with painful medical condition

“I was sent home with morphine and told only to eat bland food, which I’m gutted about because I love spicy food,” said Kerry.

“As lovely as the doctors and nurses were, I’m going to have to go private and find out what the hell’s going on. It’s nothing against the NHS though.”

She added that she feels fatigued and could sleep at any moment.

Last Friday at 2:10 in the morning, Kerry shared a video to her Instagram page where she was in bed with a cannula in her arm.

Speaking candidly about the discomfort she was feeling, Kerry opened up about first receiving the colitis diagnosis.

She said: “Hi guys it’s 2.10 in the morning and I have been in hospital since yesterday – yesterday morning,” she began.

She panned her camera around to show the nearby nurses station.

“It’s very full so unfortunately, I’m on a bed in the hall. I have something called colitis – something to do with my bowel.

“So it’s been s*** – excuse the pun. I haven’t slept since yesterday, the day before. I’m in the right place.”

Kerry’s painful hospital dash came after she appeared on Olivia Attwood‘s Getting Filthy Rich to talk about her decision to join OnlyFans.

She has always been open about earning staggering amounts from flogging sexy content on the subscription site – and has claimed she made £175,000 in her first month.

Lord of the Flies fans were left less than impressed with the BBC’s adaptation of the classic novel with some viewers even “switching off” just minutes into the thriller.

Lord of the Flies fans are united in their reaction as William Golding’s 1954 masterpiece receives its first television adaptation on BBC One.

Fans of the classic novel have been anticipating the BBC’s interpretation of this survival story, particularly given the screenplay comes from Jack Thorne, co-creator of Adolescence.

Following a plane crash on an uninhabited island, a band of schoolboys must fend for themselves and maintain civilisation, but when Jack (portrayed by Lox Pratt) develops a bloodlust for hunting, order descends into brutality and disorder.

Whilst anticipation ran high for Lord of the Flies’ debut on BBC One, numerous viewers were swift to criticise the programme’s distinctive cinematography.

One person wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I love the Lord of the Flies book but this filmmaking style is horrific. This is too ‘cinematic’. It’s only bleedin’ TV!”

Another remarked: “Nope. Can’t watch this fish eye lens car crash”, whilst a second viewer agreed: “Something not quite right about this – but gonna give it a chance.”

They added: “Feels off – is it the weird colours, fisheye lenses shots, kid actors or general vibe. Not sure.”

Someone else complained: “Really *not* a fan of the fisheye lens they’re using on Lord Of The Flies and blurred distorted periphery.”

They continued: “Look at me screams the cinematographer – takes you out of the film and gives a surreal disorienting feel we don’t need.”

Another viewer queried: “What’s going on with the camera work, why is the cameraman in the sea? Did someone get a fish eye lens for Christmas?

“Sorry, the BBC’s Lord Of The Flies is proving to be a hot mess”, another viewer remarked.

“Everything from unmotivated shots and cinematography to performances, casting, delivery, music score and tone.

“Could never do justice to the book but was hoping for something more than this.”

One more chimed in: “This is unwatchable, terrible cinematography, someone’s dialled up the ‘Vivid’ filter to 100.”

Additional critics complained the adaptation was “boring” and “awful”, with someone else declaring: “While everyone is raving about Lord of the Flies on BBC, I’m not, I’m switching off…it’s c***.”

However, not all reactions have been negative, with one supporter noting: “Very impressed by the new adaptation of Lord of the Flies so far”, whilst another stated: “Enjoying it so far, what fantastic actors.”

Lord of the Flies comprises four episodes, with each instalment presented through a different character’s viewpoint.

The opening episode unfolded through Piggy’s (David McKenna) perspective as the youngsters adjusted to their island existence, though the episode concluded dramatically with them accidentally starting a devastating blaze that engulfed the surrounding trees.

The question remains: how will the group cope following this traumatising event?

Lord of the Flies airs every Sunday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

The Apprentice has reportedly had to make a change to the format as producers wanted viewers to see more explosive scenes set in the boardroom on the hit BBC series

The Apprentice has reportedly had to make a major change amid BBC budget cuts. Lord Alan Sugar’s hit reality show, which has been on air for more than 20 years, sees its contestants all vying to the next big thing in business trying to get their hands on the grand prize of a £250,000 prize.

In the early years of the show, the winning contestant landed a six-figure job with the magnate himself, and throughout the series, they are treated to luxuries such as spa breaks and helicopter rides if they perform well in various tasks within the competition. However, it’s now thought that these sorts of prizes have been ditched from the format entirely.

Currently on air for its landmark 20th series, it’s thought that producers got rid of the prizes in order to fit more “fiery debates” into the running time. A source said: “The Apprentice is known for laying on lavish gifts for the winning team.”

READ MORE: BBC licence fee set to rise in just a matter of weeks as new cost revealedREAD MORE: The Apprentice’s Lord Sugar fires third candidate who ‘loved being on camera’

Speaking to The Sun, the source added: “Fans love to see them get to celebrate their victory by enjoying themselves. However the producers want the viewers to see more of the fiery boardroom debates this year.”

It comes amid news that the BBC licence fee is set to rise. . From April 1, it will go up to £180 as required by the 2022 Licence Fee Settlement, in line with inflation. The cost of an annual colour TV licence will rise by £5.50, which is the equivalent of 46p per month.

The Mirror has contacted the BBC for comment

Last week, Marcus Donkoh became the third contestant to be axed from the programme this year after failing to impress. The group he was heading up were tasked with creating a book aimed at four top six year olds, and pitched it, along with an audio version, to retailers. Lord Sugar didn’t pull any punches when the team were unable to provide enough product sales. The book, which had missing illustrations, was said to have had “no point” to the story.

Following his elimination, he said: “I feel as though, in the real business world, you have a lot of information – you do have to make quick decisions, but you have a time to think.

“It was really intense in the boardroom, I had to make a decision very quickly on who to bring back. So, changing my mind didn’t help, but I feel as though there were other candidates that performed a lot worse than I did, didn’t do what they were supposed to do, and I feel as though they deserved to get kicked off rather than myself.”

Despite Lord Sugar’s decision, the failed contestant says he wouldn’t change anything. “I think what I did was fine,” he confessed. “I am human. Humans can change their minds, and I feel as though I did get penalised for it, but no, I would not change what I did.”

The first episode saw a double elimination as event manager Georgina Newton was first to go and quickly followed by Nikki Jetha.

Just before the launch of the show’s latest series, Lord Alan explained that the longevity of the programme likely relied on the fact that a new audience are discovering it year on year.

He said: “I think the programme itself brings in a new audience every year, because 20 years ago, I had nine-year-olds watching it who are now 29. And the new generation of 16-year-olds are coming in and loving it. So the audience is growing. The audience is holding up, and that’s why the BBC keeps doing it.”

* The Apprentice continues on Thursday nights on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.

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MONTANA Brown is facing the wrath of the internet after her comments that food pouches for kids are ‘c**p’ left viewers feeling patronised.

The series three Love Islander, 30, posted a TikTok discussing what supermarkets brand as “healthy snack pouches” for children and how she feels sickened that people would ever actually purchase them.

Speaking candidly to the camera from her car, Montana said: “All the soon-to-be mothers… don’t get into the trap of buying ‘kids’ food.

“Like going to the kids aisle in a shop and seeing all these like ‘kiddylicious wafers’ and ooh a chicken casserole in a little squirty thing.

“I hate them. I really hate them. I think they [shops and brands] want it to be so easy for us.

“They want it to be so convenient for us that we buy them every day and feed them to our kids because it’s healthy and it’s an easy…

PHONE MOAN

Montana Brown reveals furious M&S row but people say SHE’S to blame

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Montana Brown sparks debate after she got moaned at for talking on loudspeaker

“[You think to yourself] you don’t have to MAKE them a chicken casserole.

” But it’s full of c**p.”

The star continued to say that it can be hard to not fall into the trap of feeding ultra-processed food to your family, but parents could instead give their children “a piece of carrot or cucumber”.

She said: “I used to give Jude [her son] pouches back in the day, he used to have pouches very rarely, and when I looked at the ingredients I was like ”oh my gosh I do not want to give him this stuff ever’.

“Miley [her daughter] I would never give her a pouch, and it just annoys me because I think we need to give kids real food. 

“And actually there doesn’t need to be a kids section necessarily, we can just give them a carrot or we can give them cucumber, we can give them an apple, we can give them a pear.

“It just takes a couple more minutes to prepare. It’s just really frustrating.”

Viewers rushed to let Montana know they thought she crossed the line between being informative and rude, leaving parents feeling guilt-tripped for doing their best as well as patronised.

One user said: “Try being a busy mum with a full time job, being out the house 8am-6pm every day (bills to pay).

“We need a bit of convenience at times. Don’t guilt trip those of us who don’t have time to scratch cook nutritiously balance meals 21 times a week.”

A second responded sarcastically with: “Don’t give up breastfeeding until they go to high school, give them avocados and salmon everyday for breakfast otherwise they’ll never survive the real world x”

A third added: “This isn’t it babe. Mum shaming as a Mum herself is crazy.”

Montana and her fiancé professional rugby player Mark O’Connor met in 2021.

They share two children, who were born in 2023 and 2025.

Montana has been open about her difficult journey to motherhood, having experienced a breech as well as a home birth.

Chris Evans has made a major comeback with the relaunch of TFI Friday and brought the iconic programme to his radio station almost 30 years after it first aired

Chris Evans has relaunched his hit 90s series TFI Friday. The presenter, 59, fronted the hit series during its initial run on Channel 4 from 1996 until 2000 and it became staple viewing at the start of the weekend.

The format featured a mix of live performances and celebrity interviews. Chris left the programme after the fifth series, and big names like the Spice Girls, Davina McCall and Elton John stepped in to take the reins for the last run of episodes in the build up to Christmas 2000. Now best known for fronting his radio show on Virgin, the TV star, who also presented the short-lived revival in 2015, has brought the programme back once more.

The revamped version of the iconic series is currently being released on Virgin Radio’s YouTube channel, and welcoming the audience to the first episode, Chris said: “Hello friends. Thank you for tuning in! Welcome to TFI Unplugged.

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“On the way today, Delroy Lindo, currently nominated for Academy Award, Hollywood Sim Car of course. Also on the way, the hilarious Ross Noble going to be here!”

Some of the more regular segments during the original run of the show included Freak or Unique, which encouraged participants to show off a strange talent. Other items included Fishbowl Challenge, Show Us Your Face Then and Sink Or Swim.

The show also ran a segment called Someone’s Going to Be a Millionaire!, based on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and on Christmas Eve 1999, TFI Friday became the first British programme to issue a £1 million prize, almost a year before one player won the jackpot on the ITV game show.

Chris became a major television star in the early 1990s, as the Channel 4 show The Big Breakfast which he presented alongside Gaby Roslin, before other showbiz favourites like Denise Van Outen, Zoe Ball and Kelly Brook took on the hosting role.

He wrote and presented TFI Friday whilst working on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show, which he eventually resigned from whilst he was live on air in 1997 after Radio 1 refused to allow him to work a four-day week.

He also presented The One Show on Fridays between 2010 and 2015, and later became the lead host of Top Gear in 2015 after the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson.

In 2022, Chris explained on his radio show that a reboot of TFI Friday didn’t need to be on television anymore thanks to the advent of streaming. He said: “Can I tell you a bit more about it?

“Oh, sure. The thing is, you don’t need a TV channel now. You don’t don’t need one. It’s amazing what you can do. TFI Friday doesn’t have to be an hour long, it could be longer, we could livestream it!”

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AS the ugly aftermath of his Instagram tirade against his family rumbles on, Brooklyn Beckham’s one-time pals appear to have become unwitting contestants in a real-life game of The Traitors.

Having already severed ties with his parents, David and Victoria, the A-list nepobaby is now ruthlessly banishing his inner circle, with insiders revealing how “incredibly close” friends have been blindsided by his “bizarre” and brutal behaviour.

Former best mates, including Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie and Gordon Ramsay’s twins Jack and Holly, have all fallen by the wayside since the 26-year-old tied the knot with Nicola Peltz, while even newer friends such as pop star Selena Gomez have found themselves ruthlessly cut off.

His brother Romeo this weekend unveiled a new tattoo that reads “Family” — leaving no doubt where his loyalties lie.

And as divisions grow between the wannabe chef and his famous family, he and Nicola, 31, appear to be weeding out any “traitorous” friends who have slighted them — or picked the wrong side in the feud.

The Sun can reveal that the latest famous face to be cut adrift is Brooklyn’s former classmate Anais Gallagher, the daughter of Oasis star Noel and Meg Mathews.

Just days after David’s oldest son released a bombshell Instagram statement — in which he vowed never to reconcile with his “controlling” family who only care about “Brand Beckham” — 26-year-old influencer Anais was stunned to discover she had been blocked online.

Having attended sixth form with Brooklyn — at the exclusive, £12,000-per-term Fine Arts College in Belsize Park, North West London — the pair were part of the same close-knit group of friends which also included Rocco.

‘I find this book offensive’

As the children of two of Britain’s most famous couples, they quickly hit it off and became thick as thieves with a flirty on/off relationship.

Our insider said: “They grew incredibly close while they were at school and there was always a lot of flirting between them.

“It was never anything with a label but they were certainly more than friends.

“Victoria, it’s fair to say, wasn’t 100 per cent enthralled with their closeness — in her eyes the Gallaghers don’t have quite the same reputation as the Beckhams.

“Anais and Brooklyn stayed close for quite a while after — she even went to his wedding to Nicola — and Anais assumed they were still on good terms even though their lives have taken different paths.

“She was really blindsided when she realised that he had blocked her.

“Anais is pretty sure it’s because he’s worried she’s going to spill the beans about what went on. But that’s not her style.”

Brooklyn’s feelings towards Anais might have started to change in 2022, shortly after his lavish $3million oceanfront wedding to billionaire’s daughter Nicola.

Anais attended the bash, but that same year she slammed Brooklyn’s photography book, What I See, despite attending its launch event.

His photography attempts were widely mocked — and his pal said: “I genuinely find this book offensive.”

It first became clear that Brooklyn was having a social clear-out when none of his former friends or family came to see him renew vows with Nicola last August at her family’s 130-acre estate in New York state.

Instead they partied with Georgina Chapman, her partner Adrien Brody and Nicola’s glam squad.

Brooklyn was close to a string of nepo-babies in London, including Jack and Holly Ramsay.

During his schooldays, he was often snapped skating or hanging out with pals alongside Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s son Rocco — who at the time was dating Kim Turnbull, now the girlfriend of Brooklyn’s sibling Romeo.

Madonna was said to be very pleased about Brooklyn’s influence on her son, but it’s not known if Victoria felt the same way.

Rocco was at Brooklyn and Nicola’s lavish wedding in 2022 — but he was absent when they renewed their vows, raising questions about whether the friends who the Beckhams’ eldest child grew up with supported his relationship.

An insider explained: “There has clearly been a real shutdown. Brooklyn has no contact with mates from his former life in the UK. It’s like the marriage to Nicola meant he started a whole new life with new people around him.

“It’s sad but people have sensed a shift in his life and priorities.

“And being aligned with someone who is feuding with his parents so publicly is a bad look.”

Brooklyn once spoke highly of Rocco and Jack, saying in 2017: “I’ve changed schools quite a few times but I have some close friends that have known me since I was very young. I have a handful of really close friends, but in particular I’d say Jack Ramsay and Rocco Ritchie.”

And as his time with Rocco came to an end, so did his friendship with DJ Kim Turnbull, who he was once romantically linked to.

Her relationship with his brother Romeo hasn’t helped the situation — and insiders say their dating made it clear to him whose side she was on.

And Brooklyn’s friendship with Jack is now said to be non-existent. He no longer speaks to Gordon and Tana’s eldest son, who is in the Marines.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn is believed to have declined an invitation to attend Holly’s wedding to Adam Peaty at the end of last year.

Tellingly, his parents and siblings were all in attendance, including brothers Cruz and Romeo.

It’s been more than five years since Brooklyn has been seen with anyone from his old London life.

His Instagram is now full of pictures with just Nicola or her family who appear to have become their closest confidants.

But it is not only his pals who have been cast aside. Up until last year, American actress and pop star Selena Gomez was a permanent fixture in the Peltz-Beckhams’ lives, joking they were all so close it was like a throuple.

Now the trio are no longer speaking — with sources telling The Sun that Selena was left feeling betrayed after best pal Nicola unceremoniously dumped her.

‘Victoria didn’t like me’

Despite numerous photos together over the past few years — including girls’ night sleepovers, and gushing birthday tributes — Brooklyn and Nicola were not in attendance at Selena’s fairytale wedding to Benny Blanco in September.

While it was claimed Nicola and Brooklyn were unable to attend due to a busy work schedule, questions have been raised about why they refused to move things around for someone who was once so close in their lives.

Nicola is certainly no stranger to shutting people out. Before she started dating Brooklyn in 2019, she had a year-long relationship with Anwar Hadid — brother of models Bella and Gigi — but the romance is now tinged with ill-feeling.

Nicola was 22 and Anwar was 17 at the time, and there were rumours that he grew distant from his family during the relationship. Nicola unfollowed the whole family on social media after they split.

Now, as tensions with Brooklyn’s parents reach an all-time high, their social circle certainly seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

He suffered from anxiety. Brooklyn felt as though the world was constantly waiting for him to muck up

Afton McKeith

So who is still on their side? Despite spilling the beans on their time with Brooklyn recently, former flames Tallia Storm and Afton McKeith appear to have proved their loyalty.

Afton, who dated Brooklyn when they were 17, and Tallia, who was linked to him in 2016, were quick to speak out about their experiences — in particular with Victoria — in support of Brooklyn.

Singer Tallia recalled the time the pair were meant to attend a charity gala, which was hosted by Victoria’s close pal, the actress Eva Longoria.

She explained: “I was meant to sit next to Brooklyn.

“We were all super excited — and then he messaged me on the night itself, when I was already inside, saying, ‘My mum won’t let me come, I’m sorry.’ And that was that. Obviously, Victoria didn’t like me or whatever.”

Afton, the daughter of I’m a Celeb star Gillian McKeith, grew up alongside Brooklyn in West London — and gave a scathing review of David and Victoria’s parenting.

If you’ve ever crossed him, he won’t forget — and as the war with his parents drags on, he’s taking note on who has his back and who clearly doesn’t

Our insider

She said: “He suffered from anxiety. Brooklyn felt as though the world was constantly waiting for him to muck up.

“I now feel his parents could have protected him more and considered the impact of the public Brand Beckham.”

At least Brooklyn and Nicola also appear to have two high-profile champions in their camp, with The Sun last year revealing how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were secretly supporting the couple and even had them round for dinner.

Closer to home, Brooklyn seems to have reserved an olive branch for little sister Harper — the only sibling he has reached out to since the estrangement — after wishing her a happy birthday in July.

Unfortunately for Anais, building bridges may be harder.

Our insider added: “Brooklyn has the memory of an elephant, just like the infamous, blurry image of one he snapped in Kenya for his photography book.

“If you’ve ever crossed him, he won’t forget — and as the war with his parents drags on, he’s taking note on who has his back and who clearly doesn’t.”

Anyone planning a Traitorous move on Brooklyn or Nicola better watch out — they won’t be returning breakfast in the morning.

In a widely anticipated outcome that felt like a long-overdue coronation, Paul Thomas Anderson won the top honor at Saturday’s Directors Guild of America Awards for his Thomas Pynchon-inspired political thriller “One Battle After Another.” The ceremony was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

It was the director’s first DGA win after two prior nominations, in 2008 for “There Will Be Blood” and in 2022 for his San Fernando Valley reminiscence “Licorice Pizza.”

Speaking at the podium after receiving the award from last year’s winner, “Anora” director Sean Baker, a humbled Anderson thanked the guild, mentioning recent EGOT winner Steven Spielberg, sitting in the audience right in front of him. “It reminds me, being in this room, of ‘Close Encounters,’ ” Anderson said. “We’re all brought here for a reason — some cosmic thing brought us to this room. It was that call to the mountain. It’s that feeling that we all love making s— and we need to do it.”

Anderson also devoted much of his speech to remembering his first-assistant director Adam Somner, who died from thyroid cancer in November 2024. “May you be blessed with the relationship I had with him,” the director said, “and if you have one already, hold them close and remind them that you love them.”

True to tradition, the evening was both a celebration of achievements in directing and an occasion for much pro-guild testifying — from nominees, winners and Christopher Nolan, presiding over his first ceremony as DGA president. “We are the best at what we do,” Nolan said, touching on last year’s 40% dip in DGA member employment with a note of solidarity and urgency. “We are the storytellers. We are the people who have to innovate.”

All five nominees for theatrical feature film are invited to give a speech during these annual awards, with the eventual winner speaking twice. Guillermo del Toro, up for his personal take on “Frankenstein,” saluted Nolan: “I love saying ‘President Nolan’ because it’s so good to say ‘President’ with a good word after it,” he cracked to hearty applause. (The joke was echoed by several podium speakers.)

Ryan Coogler, a DGA nominee for “Sinners,” thanked the guild for his health insurance and mentioned his longtime dream — not of filmmaking but of joining a union, like some of the adults in his life growing up.

“Lately I’ve been learning about alchemy, “ said Chloé Zhao, representing “Hamnet,” her domestic drama about the grief-stricken family life of William Shakespeare. “You need fire and you need a chalice. To me, that fire is my creativity. It’s my birthright to create. And that chalice is the community that holds me.”

Indicating the respect the DGA commands among actors, several A-listers attended the ceremony to introduce their directors: Leonardo DiCaprio for Anderson, Jacob Elordi for Del Toro and Timothée Chalamet, the latter celebrating his “Marty Supreme” director Josh Safdie with sincerity and gentle deprecation. “I don’t think Josh will ever be ‘institutional,’ ” Chalamet said. “I think Josh will forever be an insurgent filmmaker and I don’t think the world would be right otherwise.”

An Oscar victory path is now clear for Anderson, previously nominated for the academy’s directing honor three times, for “There Will Be Blood,” “Phantom Thread” and “Licorice Pizza,” but never a winner. Twenty of the last 23 recipients of the DGA’s top prize have gone on to take the Oscar for directing.

Here is a complete list of the night’s nominees, with winners in bold:

Outstanding directorial achievement in theatrical feature film

Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein” (Netflix)
Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme” (A24)
Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet” (Focus Features)

Michael Apted Award for outstanding directorial achievement in first-time theatrical feature film

Charlie Polinger, “The Plague” (Independent Film Co.)
Hasan Hadi, “The President’s Cake” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Harry Lighton, “Pillion” (A24)
Alex Russell, “Lurker” (Mubi)
Eva Victor, “Sorry, Baby” (A24)

Outstanding directorial achievement in documentary

Mstyslav Chernov, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” (PBS)
Geeta Gandbhir, “The Perfect Neighbor” (Netflix)
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, “Cutting Through Rocks” (Assembly Releasing)
Elizabeth Lo, “Mistress Dispeller” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, “Cover-Up” (Netflix)

Outstanding directorial achievement in dramatic series

Amanda Marsalis, “The Pitt,” “6:00 P.M.” (HBO Max)
Liza Johnson, “The Diplomat,” “Amagansett” (Netflix)
Janus Metz, “Andor,” “Who Are You?” (Disney+)
Ben Stiller, “Severance,” “Cold Harbor” (Apple TV+)
John Wells, “The Pitt,” “7:00 A.M.” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in comedy series

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “The Studio,” “The Oner” (Apple TV+)
Lucia Aniello, “Hacks,” “A Slippery Slope” (HBO Max)
Janicza Bravo, “The Bear,” “Worms” (FX on Hulu)
Christopher Storer, “The Bear,” “Bears” (FX on Hulu)
Mike White, “The White Lotus,” “Denials” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in limited and anthology series

Shannon Murphy, “Dying for Sex,” “It’s Not That Serious” (FX on Hulu)
Jason Bateman, “Black Rabbit,” “The Black Rabbits” (Netflix)
Antonio Campos, “The Beast in Me,” “Sick Puppy” (Netflix)
Lesli Linka Glatter, “Zero Day,” “Episode 6” (Netflix)
Ally Pankiw, “Black Mirror,” “Common People” (Netflix)

Outstanding directorial achievement in movies for television

Stephen Chbosky, “Nonnas” (Netflix)
Jesse Armstrong, “Mountainhead” (HBO Max)
Scott Derrickson, “The Gorge” (Apple TV+)
Michael Morris, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (Peacock)
Kyle Newacheck, “Happy Gilmore 2” (Netflix)

Outstanding directorial achievement in variety

Liz Patrick, “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” (NBC)
Yvonne De Mare, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Julia Roberts; Sam Smith” (CBS)
Andy Fisher, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Stephen Colbert; Kumail Nanjiani; Reneé Rapp” (ABC)
Beth McCarthy-Miller, “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” (Peacock)
Paul Pennolino, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” “Public Media” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in sports

Matthew Gangl, 2025 World Series – Game 7 – Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays (Fox Sports)
Steve Milton, 2025 Masters Tournament – Augusta National Golf Club (CBS Sports)
Rich Russo, Super Bowl LIX – Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Fox Sports)

Outstanding directorial achievement in reality / quiz & game

Mike Sweeney, “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” “Austria” (HBO Max)
Lucinda M. Margolis, “Jeopardy!,” “Ep. 9341” (Syndicated)
Adam Sandler, “The Price Is Right,” “10,000th Episode” (CBS)

Outstanding directorial achievement in documentary series / news

Rebecca Miller, “Mr. Scorsese,” “All This Filming Isn’t Healthy” (Apple TV+)
Marshall Curry, “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” “Written By: A Week Inside the SNL Writers Room” (Peacock)
Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” “Part Two” (HBO Max)
Alexandra Stapleton, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” “Official Girl” (Netflix)
Matt Wolf, “Pee-Wee as Himself,” “Part 1” (HBO Max)

Outstanding directorial achievement in commercials

Kim Gehrig (Somesuch), “You Can’t Win. So Win.” – Nike | Wieden+Kennedy
Miles Jay (Smuggler)
Spike Jonze (MJZ)
Andreas Nilsson (Biscuit Filmworks)
Steve Rogers (Biscuit Filmworks)

THE search for Savannah Guthrie’s mom has taken a dark turn as investigators are filmed searching a septic tank.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing for over a week after she was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona last weekend.

Now, as investigators admit they have no suspects or persons of interest, officers from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been seen back at her property opening up a manhole cover.

Drone footage taken on Sunday shows them searching the tank behind Nancy’s house.

Three detectives were seen putting a long pole down the manhole at the rear of the property, but it is not known what they are looking for.

It comes just 24 hours after officers were last seen at the property where they removed a car from the garage and took a camera off her roof that appeared to have been missed in previous searches.

read more on nancy guthrie

HELD RANSOM

Kidnappers ‘demand £4.4m’ for TV star’s mum – as FBI decode message in vid

Meanwhile, investigators also went back to her daughter Annie’s home on Friday night.

Officers arrived in an unmarked vehicle and stayed for around two hours, during which time camera flashes were seen in the garage and other parts of the house, per Fox News Digital.

It comes as…

Annie and her husband Tommaso Cioni were the last people to see Nancy before she went missing after going for dinner and dropping her home on January 31.

Officials have not commented on if any members of the Guthrie family have been ruled out as suspects in her disappearance.

Hours before officers arrived at Annie’s house, Savannah and her two siblings posted a video with a message to their mother’s alleged abductors.

Again, the heartbroken children were seen begging for the release of their mother, with The Today Show host saying, “we will pay”, in reference to a ransom sum that has been demanded in exchange for Nancy’s life.

Savannah said in the short video: “We received your message, and we understand.

“We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her.

“This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

A number of ransom notes have reportedly been received by the family and local news stations and it is not known which one they were responding to in the video.

Former FBI agents have decoded some of the hidden messages in their clip, revealing how they signal what is going on behind the scenes of the investigation.

“The fact they are now negotiating and willing to engage means they believe there is some validity behind [the notes],” one ex-agent told The Daily Mail.

“They aren’t asking for proof of life anymore, they’re only speaking to the ransomer.

“That shows there was something in the most recent ransom note [received Friday night] that changed the way they’re responding, at least for now.”

In their latest update, the Sheriff’s Department said on Sunday that the investigation is “ongoing”.

“Follow-up continues at multiple locations. No suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles have been identified,”the post on X read.

“If any significant developments occur in the case, a press conference will be called.”