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When Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino was about to join the reality TV world on "Jersey Shore," he prepared in a very interesting way ... by smelling what The Rock was cooking.

Mike and his wife, Lauren, were guests on the Hollywood Pipeline Podcast with Dax Holt & Adam Glyn ... and he made a huge reveal. He tells them "The Situation" isn't his normal personality -- it's an amped-up version inspired by his love for wrestling ... specifically, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

The Sitch says he wanted to bring something new to the hit MTV series, and while he's obviously a character on his own ... he wanted to make himself "larger than life." Hence -- the nickname, the catchphrases, the abs ... and talking about himself in the third person.

Gotta say, it worked pretty well, and Mike sold it as the genuine article ... though ya gotta think he really had some GTL experience.

A Santa look-alike pulled a Robin Hood this week by robbing a bank and then making it rain for unsuspecting pedestrians.

David Wayne Oliver sauntered into an Academy Bank in Colorado Springs, allegedly threatened a teller with a weapon and left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The 65-year-old faux Santa then walked outside and hurled the loot in the air, screaming "Merry Christmas" all the while, to the amazement of people who happened to walk by. Most of the people who scooped up the money returned it to the bank.

Oliver then casually walked to a nearby Starbucks where he waited for cops to come and hook him up.

Oliver is being held on $10,000 bail.

There are new perils for Mickey, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck ... patrons at Disney World are grabbing them, and in Minnie's case ... the assaulter had allegedly done it to other characters at the park.

The 36-year-old woman who plays Minnie says she posed for a photo with a man and his wife earlier this month, and as they were taking the pic he groped her chest 3 times. She filed a police report against the 61-year-old man but ultimately decided against pressing charges.

Turns out the guy has a history at Disney World. He had an 'inappropriate interaction' with another cast member the day after his interaction with Minnie. The incident occurred at the Magic Kingdom, but Disney would not give specifics, except to say the man -- who was a member of the Disney Vacation Club -- is now banned from the theme parks.

There were other incidents as well. A woman who plays Mickey Mouse claims a woman patted her on the head 5 times, and apparently the shock caused her to endure neck strain.  The patron says she barely touched Mickey.

As for Donald Duck ... the 18-year-old in costume says a female patron repeatedly touched her on the arms, chest, belly and face.

Metta World Peace is enamored by the current Lakers squad -- telling TMZ Sports they're a "bigger" sensation than his 2010 Championship team ... at least right now.

"I think they're bigger than us to tell you the truth," Metta said ... "They're 24-6 at this point? They're bigger than what we were at this point in the season."

No shade ... but Metta's wrong.

The current Lakers are 24-7. During the 2009-10 run, Metta's Lakers were 24-6 at this point.

Let's do a squad vs. squad analysis.

2009-10 Lakers -- Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown, Andrew Bynum.

2019-20 Lakers -- LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Kyle Kuzma, JaVale McGee, Danny Green, Rajon Rondo.

So ... who ya got???

Of course, Metta's squad went on to beat the Boston Celtics in 7 games. Kobe was the series MVP.

For what it's worth, Metta thinks LeBron's Lakers will win it all this season -- "I think so. I know so!"

It's eerie for sure ... George Michael's sister died on Christmas Day ... exactly 3 years after the singer himself died.

Melanie Panayiotou was found dead in her London home by her sister, Yioda. The cause of death was not revealed, but cops say it's not being treated as suspicious. Police would not elaborate.

55-year-old Melanie was close to her famous brother, who died on Xmas Day 2016, at age 53. He was also found dead in his home. The cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy, myocarditis and a fatty liver.

Kris Jenner may have cleverly blown the lid off the latest version of Yeezys.

KJ was tooling around St. Barts Thursday ... looking super chic in all black. Now, check out the kicks ... sure looks like the latest Yeezy prototype.

Kanye West was seen earlier this year wearing a similar design to Kris' shoes. We're told the newest version will go for around $220 a pop.

It's unclear if the male and female versions will be the same. Kris' shoes seem to be a low-ankle version of what Ye was wearing.

There have been 2 recent Yeezy releases -- 2 versions of Yeezy Boost 350 ... Yeezreel and Yecheil. They go for $200 but they're hot items and are being resold for north of $300.

The Yeezy franchise is expected to rake in $1.5 billion in sales in 2019. It's closing in on the Jordan sneakers, which pull in around $3 bil.

Antonio Brown is in New Orleans working out for Saints officials … and the superstar wide receiver could be signed by the 1st place team.

ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the news … Brown flew into town to meet with coaches and front office staff on Friday, hoping to land a job with his 3rd NFL squad this season.

Brown's had a disastrous season … the Raiders signed him to a 3-year, $50 million contract, but released AB before he ever caught a ball after a ton of drama relating to his helmet and feet. He also had public spats with head coach Jon Gruden and GM Mike Mayock.

After he was released by Oakland, the New England signed the superstar WR … but cut him 11 days later after AB allegedly sent menacing text messages to a woman who previously accused him of sexual misconduct.

During Brown's short stint with the Pats, he was also hit with a lawsuit from a woman who claimed AB forcibly raped her in 2018.

The Pats cut bait with Brown in September … and he hasn't been part of an NFL squad since.

That could all change very soon … 'cause the Saints appears to have real interest in the superstar receiver.

Ring and Amazon allegedly ducked for cover when their surveillance devices got hacked, but some of their customers are now firing back ... you can run, but you can't hide.

Ring and Amazon, which owns the security system, are now at the wrong end of a class-action lawsuit, claiming the companies were negligent by not providing "robust" security to fend off hackers.

The named plaintiff -- John Baker Orange -- claims last July someone hacked into his outdoor security cameras and started commenting on his kids who were playing basketball ... encouraging them to get closer to the camera.

Of course, there's the now-infamous video of a hacker talking to a little girl in her bedroom ... telling her he was Santa Claus.

Before she was a model and renowned actress, this little one went to school to pursue a career in journalism. She had a semester left at Columbia College Chicago before ditching journalism to pursue a career in acting. She first landed modeling gigs for several magazines and catalogs before landing some acting gigs.

She went on to star in some of the biggest movies ... including "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "Gone Baby Gone," "Made of Honor," "Eagle Eye" and many, many more. Her work also earned critical acclaim in tons of 'Mission Impossible' movies. You may also remember her from the first season of the hit series "True Detective" ... earning a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress.

A UK couple joined in a frantic rescue effort that saved a family from drowning.

Duncan Bannatyne -- who was one of the sharks on the UK version of "Shark Tank" -- and his wife, Nigora, were enjoying their vacation at Sandy Lane beach in Barbados Thursday when they came upon what looked like a tragedy ... a mother and her 2 young sons near death after being pulled out of the water by an off-duty lifeguard.

Duncan and Nigora joined in the best they could. The lifeguard is the true hero here. Not sure which one he is, but it appears to be the man in the black bathing suit cradling one of the kids.

The family was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance where they're being treated.

Vic Mensa says rappers are doing serious harm when their lyrics promote lean, Percocet and Xanax abuse -- 'cause it's killing kids, in general, and specifically ... Juice WRLD.

We got Vic out at Delilah in WeHo and wanted his take on Lil Pump dropping "Drug Addicts" from his setlist at L.A.'s Rolling Loud Festival ... and instead opting for a tribute with Juice's hit single, "Lucid Dreams."

Vic gave a nod to Pump for the gesture, but he added hip-hop needs to take responsibility for Juice WRLD's death. He pulls no punches, saying rap lyrics glorifying drugs sends a dangerous message to fans ... especially young ones.

As we reported ... Juice WRLD died after allegedly swallowing a bunch of pills, and suffering a fatal seizure. Vic says Juice dying at 21 has impacted him to the point he's gonna rework his lyrics.

Forget Conor McGregor ... Canelo Alvarez says he's down to fight UFC star Jorge Masvidal next -- telling TMZ Sports, "Why not?!"

... Of course, in boxing only.

Masvidal famously called out Canelo shortly after beating Nate Diaz for the 'BMF' belt back in November ... and when we asked Alvarez out in L.A. this month if he'd be up for the fight, the boxing superstar told us he's down.

"For business, why not?!" Canelo says.

Neither guy has an opponent lined up for their next fight ... so could it actually happen??

Seems there's a chance ... the first big, MMA-boxing crossover was HUGE -- with Floyd Mayweather and McGregor making SERIOUS bank for getting in the ring back in 2017.

And, Canelo DEFINITELY appears pretty intrigued by that.

As for if the Masvidal fight falls through ... Canelo says he'd be up for a rematch with Mayweather next -- telling us, "I was very young and experienced at the time and now I'm a different fighter. It will be a totally different result."

Rich Homie Quan is off the hook in his seemingly endless drug case.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the drug case against the rapper has been tossed. RHQ's lawyer, Lucy Bell, tells TMZ it was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. Bell says the "tiny amount of marijuana" was in somebody else's pocket and RHQ was wrongfully accused. We've reached out to prosecutors to confirm that ... so far, no word back.

TMZ broke the story ... Rich Homie Quan and his crew were busted back in May 2017 in Wadley, GA on suspicion of a stolen gun and drugs. A few days later, the weapons charge was dropped but he was booked on felony possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

If convicted, he faced up to THIRTY YEARS in prison. But, Homie don't play that .. lucky for him, the case was officially dropped after the judge signed off.

Rockin' around the Christmas tree will give you a sentimental feeling, but these fine ladies posing by palm trees elicit jolly vibes too ... in a new old-fashioned way.

Make your holidays extra merry and bright this season by checking out these bikini-clad models and actresses from all over, as they set up shop next to a trunk and show theirs off ... along with other lovely features.

Let the sunny scenery and sexy swimsuits warm you up if you're stuck somewhere cold ... or just cozy up next to the fireplace and enjoy.

One of Kourtney Kardashian's Christmas presents barked this year ... so get ready for some serious cuteness overload.

Kourtney introduced her new puppy to the world Thursday ... and she's truly a beaut!!! Hard to tell if she's a golden retriever or a lab ... but cute is cute. There's only one problem ... Kourt doesn't know what to name her. Seriously, she captioned her pics of the pup with her kids, "But what should we name her?"

Here are some suggestions ... Dollar? Billion?! TRILLION?! Fine ... Goldilocks works too.

Kanye West's legal drama with EMI is NOT going away ... cause the once close-to-being-done case over a contract dispute is suddenly and officially back on.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ ... the judge in the case has signed off on EMI's request to officially reopen the case. EMI -- which has been battling Kanye in federal court over his publishing deal since earlier this year -- back in September told the court it and Kanye had struck "an agreement in principle" to settle the case.

The court then tossed the suit with prejudice but said the case could be reopened if either party showed good cause. The deadline to reopen the case was December 27 ... so just a few days ago, EMI's lawyers wrote a letter to the judge saying "unfortunately the parties have been unable to finalize the terms of the settlement agreement."

Translation: the deal fell apart ... so it's back to square one.