Reality TV

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro says he's cleaned himself up and he's getting ready to come back to reality TV.

We got Ronnie at Avra in Beverly Hills on Thursday and he told our photog he's 4 months sober and planning to return to 'Jersey Shore' by the end of the 5th season.

It's welcome news for 'Jersey Shore' fans who've been missing Ron, and for him ... because it sounds like he's in a better place in his life.

As we reported ... Ronnie announced back in May he was stepping away from the show that made him famous as a result of mental health issues.

Ronnie's departure came in the wake of his domestic violence arrest, with Ron and MTV honchos agreeing he needed some time away from the cameras to seek treatment for issues he felt he was ignoring.

Ron says he's learned from his mountain of legal issues over the years ... and he says he's become a better father and fiancé.

As you know ... Ronnie got engaged to Saffire Matos despite allegedly attacking her and getting arrested. He ended up dodging criminal charges in the case.

Ronnie also tells us who is getting wedding invites and who is getting snubbed ... and it sounds like his ex, Jenn Harley, doesn't need to sit by the mailbox.

Farrah Abraham has moved on from her feud with Chrissy Teigen ... she's now going off on Harvard -- yes, that Harvard -- claiming she was the victim of "educational abuse" and promising legal action against the University.

We got the former "Teen Mom" star out in Hollywood Thursday, and she rattled off her laundry list of issues with the famed Ivy League school ... which stems from her allegedly being booted from a Zoom course by her teacher, with no follow-up explanation.

Farrah, who may be mad but not angry enough to put her Harvard sweatshirt in mothballs, claims her professor, Patricia Bellanca, played mind games with her by telling her to turn in an assignment without checking it over ... then later used that against her in trying to convince her to drop the course.

She also alleges Harvard's entire online program is a "joke" and a "scam," while insinuating she may have been racially discriminated against as well ... saying she was the "most person of color" in the class.

Farrah adds that she's had no choice but to go public with her Harvard beef, because allegedly neither her professor nor Dean Robert Neugeboren has returned any of her calls or emails.

Finally, she says she's going to file a lawsuit against the school for what she calls "abusive" treatment.

Olympics star Suni Lee showed she can win with her moves on the beams, uneven bars and gym mat ... but can she do the same on the dance floor???

Well, we're about to find out ... 'cause the Team USA gold medalist announced Monday she's going to compete in the upcoming season of "Dancing With The Stars!"

"I'm so excited," the 18-year-old gymnast said. "See you all on the dance floor!"

Unclear who will be in the rest of the field dancing against the Olympian -- the full lineup is expected to be announced next month -- but ya gotta figure the gymnast will be a big favorite to win The Mirrorball Trophy.

After all, she KILLED IT in Tokyo ... winning the gold medal in the all-around competition, silver in the women’s team competition and bronze in the uneven bars.

Not sure how well that all translates to the salsa or the waltz -- but, hey, it can't hurt!!

FYI, this won't be the first time a gymnast competes on "DWTS" --- in 2016, Laurie Hernandez won the competition ... and, in 2017, Simone Biles finished fourth.

"True Life: Crime" is taking a deep dive into the fatal shooting of Darrien Hunt for its season 2 finale ... and one of show host Dometi Pongo's goals is to have the case re-opened.

The MTV host joined "TMZ Live" Thursday and said Darrien's family never got justice after he was gunned down in 2014 by police in Saratoga Springs, Utah. At the time, the case drew national attention following an outcry over inconsistencies in the police narrative.

Darrien was shot and killed September 10, 2014 after cops said the 22-year-old lunged at them with a sword.

An autopsy report later showed Darrien -- who was cosplaying as a samurai while carrying a decorative sword -- was shot 6 times in the back. Surveillance footage shows Darrien running from cops -- a glaring inconsistency from the police report.

The Utah County D.A.'s Office concluded the use of deadly force was justified. Fast forward to now ... there's a Change.org petition demanding officials reopen the case. The petition is now 744,000 signatures strong.

The “Big Brother” cast has more than just their own drama to sort through as they shoot -- there are would-be outsiders trying to butt in and ruin the show ... something producers are desperately trying to prevent.

Production sources tell TMZ ... there’s a group of ‘BB’ mega-fans who’ve made it tradition to head over to the CBS lot in Studio City where they film the series ... and shout over the wall to get the cast’s attention.

They’re known as “wall yellers” -- and we’re told after successfully getting near the wall last year for some screams, there are now rumblings of a potential return for the current season ... and the studio wants to nip it in the bud before they try again.

Our sources say security around the premises has been significantly ramped up, with at least 5 bodyguards roaming the grounds to keep people at bay.

If you’re wondering what’s got the ‘BB’ team bugging to begin with, we're told it all has to do with social media chatter. Our sources say folks on the crew actively monitor some socials of prior trouble makers -- including one from last year to whom they sent a cease and desist letter.

So, in order to get ahead of that nonsense ... we’re told ‘BB’ is adding this extra muscle to shoo 'em off, assuming they show up at all.

Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner are inching closer to the move-in date that will make them next-door neighbors, as construction crews work to finish their custom mansions.

We've obtained pics showing the progress that's been made in and around the modern farmhouses Khloe and Kris are building a stone's throw from each other in Los Angeles.

There's still a lot of work to be done, but the massive estates are taking shape. Both structures now have roofs that will include solar panels ... and both places will have massive pools.

The lot is essentially being subdivided in 2. It once had a single family home on the entire property, but when a developer bought it in 2012, he razed the house. It sat vacant for years ... that is until Khloe and Kris each plunked down north of $10 million for the properties and began construction.

When all is said and done ... Khloe's home -- the darker of the two -- will have 8 bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms and 18,000 square feet. Kris' palace is similar at 17,000 square feet.

You'll recall Kris was PISSED after claiming on 'KUWTK' a shady contractor stole the deeds to the houses and while the legal mess got sorted out, construction came to a screeching halt.

Dog the Bounty Hunter let his daughter's passion for racial equality and BLM sink their relationship ... at least that's what she's claiming -- but Dog's pushing back, calling her brainwashed.

Bonnie Chapman, biological daughter of Dog and the late Beth Chapman, tells TMZ ... she believes her continued work with UnleashedTV -- a network that canned her dad this year -- is the true impetus behind her and her half-sis, Cecily, not getting an invite to his wedding.

The whole thing boiled over this past weekend when Dog's new fiancee, Francie Frane, allegedly sent Bonnie a scathing text, which seems to allude to Bonnie's continued partnership with the network.

It reads, in part, "[L]et's not beat around the bush, You & Cecily both know You haven't been invited to the wedding because your (sic) living under the same roof with people who stabbed (him), robbed, lied, manipulated, smeared his name and tried to ruin his career."

Bonnie tells us Francie is referring to Dog's canceled reality series 'Unleashed' -- which mysteriously got cut short earlier this year. Bonnie claims her dad got the boot over racial/homophobic epithets he allegedly used, which she says led to the company terminating its contract with him.

Bonnie still works with UTV on a show, "The System" -- which focuses on racial justice and supporting BLM ... which she claims grinds Dog's gears. She also alleges Dog has called BLM protesters "thugs" and other derogatory terms.

Bonnie says her passionate support of equality for all is her way of keeping her mom's legacy alive -- she says Beth always spoke up when she saw someone being wronged.

Dog, for his part, says Bonnie's allegations about him are "false" -- and nothing but a misguided attempt to derail his and Francie's wedding.

He goes on to say she and Cecily are being "groomed" by unscrupulous former associates of his -- guys he tracked down when they'd allegedly jumped bail -- and he suggests they're up to no good now.

Dog the Bounty Hunter's set to get remarried next week, but when he does 2 of his daughters will not be sitting by his side ... 'cause they're not on the guest list.

Cecily and Bonnie Chapman tell TMZ ... their father did not invite either of them to his September 2 wedding ceremony -- where he'll be getting hitched to Francie Frane -- and they claim not to know exactly why he's snubbing them.

Both women say they have no ill will toward Francie and are perfectly fine with their father getting remarried ... so they speculate it might be a personal issue with Dog.

Cecily -- who's actually Dog's stepdaughter -- thinks she and Bonnie may remind him a little bit too much of their mom, Beth ... Dog's late wife, who died in 2019 of throat cancer.

Cecily says she and her sister certainly resemble Beth and their lives are similar to hers ... and she thinks this scares their dad, so much that it may be the reason for no invite.

What's interesting is Garry, like Bonnie, is the biological child of Beth and Dog ... but he DID get an invite to the wedding. The girls think it's because he doesn't resemble Beth, and Dog tends to favor his sons anyway.

Cecily adds she reached out to her dad about not getting invited via text, but never got a response. Bonnie has not confronted him, but makes it clear she thinks she should be at the wedding ... and Beth would have wanted it that way too.

Tarek El Moussa's so perturbed about word of his on-set eruption on his "Flip or Flop" costar getting out, he's gone to Herculean lengths to make sure it doesn't happen on his own show ... by eliminating any potential rats.

Production sources tell TMZ ... Tarek's team went to the production company after we posted our story about him flipping out on his ex-wife, Christina Haack, and demanded that any crew member who was working on "Flip or Flop" that day be removed from the staff of his spin-off series, 'Flipping 101.'

We're told Tarek was pissed because he believes someone on that crew leaked the story about him going off on Christina, and the production company -- which produces the show and "Christina on the Coast" -- shifted some workers around to accommodate his demand.

However, a source close to Tarek tells us the crew change request was more about wanting a group that is excited for him and his fiancee, Heather Rae Young ... and one the couple can trust to not leak any upcoming wedding spoilers.

As we told you ... Tarek was accused of yelling at Christina on set last month after she signaled it was time to begin filming, and allegedly it wasn't the first time he'd done this.

A source close to Tarek claimed his anger toward his ex-wife stemmed from her recent admission she smoked toad venom ... and he was concerned about what else she was doing around their kids.

"FBOY Island" villain Garrett Morosky is out to make even more enemies ... 'cause he's calling out Jake Paul for a boxing match -- dubbing it "The Battle of the F***boys."

Garrett had an infamous run on the hit reality dating show ... and if you haven't seen it yet, we won't spoil it for ya -- but just trust us on this one.

Now that he's off the island, Morosky has changed his focus from breaking hearts to breaking the YouTube superstar's face ... telling us he wants to be Paul's next opponent in the ring after his Tyron Woodley fight next week.

While Morosky started off complimentary of Jake's accomplishments in the sport ... he quickly changed his tune when he brought up the possibility of stepping in the ring with the 4-0 fighter.

"I'll still beat the f*** out of him," Morosky tells TMZ Sports. "I'll still beat his ass."

He unloads some even more brutal smack talk ... name-dropping Jake's on-and-off GF Julia Rose in the process.

As for his fighting experience, Morosky says he's been in about 3 college bar brawls in his life ... and claims he's never lost!!

But, the dude understands that things are totally different in the ring, and he's dead serious about getting the training he needs to be able to compete with Jake.

Christine Quinn says Chrishell Stause hasn't gotten any favoritism just because her boss/BF Jason Oppenheim ... at least not yet.

We got the "Selling Sunset" star Friday leaving Starbucks on Sunset Blvd. and our photog wondered what all the fans of the show are thinking ... is Chrishell being served hot listings by her boss/BF on a silver platter?

The question's fair ... considering "Selling Sunset" fans know once upon a time Jason dated/hooked up with Mary Fitzgerald ... one of the agents at The Oppenheim Group.

It was quickly revealed in season 2 the women had serious gripes with Jason and took him to task ... accusing him of giving Mary coveted listings.

Well, fast forward to now ... Jason's dating another one of his agents ... and while Christine says she hasn't seen Jason show Chrishell any favoritism ... it's easy to see why people are skeptical.

So far so good ... says Christine, who went on to make some jokes at Mary's expense.

Dana White says The Ultimate Fighter 29 finalist, Tresean Gore -- the man many expected to win the show AND a UFC contract -- is OUT of the finale fight after suffering a knee injury.

The UFC prez broke the news while talking to TMZ Sports ... announcing 27-year-old Gore was recently injured, forcing him out of the scrap.

"Bryan Battle versus Tresean Gore. Nobody knows this yet, TMZ is breaking it. Tresean Gore is injured. It looks like his meniscus," White says.

Gore, a 3-0 fighter out of Georgia, arrived at the show unbeaten ... and has been super impressive ever since.

In fact, many thought Tresean was going to win the finale fight vs. Battle on August 28 at UFC Vegas 35 ... and the UFC deal that comes along with winning the show.

"I think a lot of people figured that this kid could win it. You know, obviously a great fight with him and Bryan Battle. Gore is out, probably gonna be out for 6 months. Now, Bryan Battle will be facing Gilbert Urbina."

FYI, 25-year-old, 6-1 Urbina lost to Tresean in the semifinals ... via a 2nd-round knockout.

Bad news for Gore ... but there's a silver lining.

Dana says Tresean will "100%" get a shot on a future UFC card ... once his knee heals.

"Brutal for this poor kid, you know? But, what we’ll do is when Tresean Gore is healthy, does he fight Bryan Battle if Bryan wins the fighter? You know, I don’t know. We’ll see how this thing plays out. But, yeah, Gore is out."

Speaking of middleweights and TUF, we also talked to Dana about Kelvin Gastelum's fight with Jared Cannonier Saturday night at UFC Fight Night ... a matchup White predicts will be a "badass fight."

Christina Haack just dropped more than $10 million on a brand new mansion in Orange County ... and the place is palatial.

Ya gotta see Christina's new digs in Dana Point ... it's 6,084-square-feet of luxury, decked out with a movie theater, game room and backyard with panoramic views of the Pacific. If scenery's not your thing, there's also a pool, spa and fire pit back there.

The estate is tucked away in a gated community and it's got 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms with indoor and outdoor dining areas and a chef's kitchen.

The "Flip or Flop" star closed the deal on her new pad July 7, throwing down a cool $10.3 million.

Our sources tell us Christina is making updates to the house to personalize it to her aesthetic ... and we're told she's mostly focusing on the kitchen and bathrooms.

TMZ broke the story ... Christina recently unloaded the Newport Beach home she shared with her ex-husband, Ant Anstead, for $5.35 million, and at the time, our sources told us she wanted to move closer to the coast and find a place with an ocean view.

F-boys are coming out on top in a big way -- we got 'FBOY Island' star Sarah Emig hanging with Garrett Morosky in L.A. ... despite the fact he embarrassed her on TV, and she claimed to be done with him.

The bitter exes -- or so we thought -- from the HBO Max reality dating show were together at an Erewhon in L.A. Tuesday, and we caught them red-handed as they were going in with another co-star, Greg.

Sooo many questions to be asked, starting with ... is Sarah actually giving Garrett a second chance??? Watch the clip, they tried to keep it all on the DL, but Sarah did admit "I wanna hear him out. I wanna hear what he has to say."

We also asked if Garrett had done everything he needed to get Sarah to forgive him, and he copped to coming up short in that department. Based on what they're telling us here -- Garrett still needs to give Sarah some sort of formal apology.

Still, the fact they're looking chummy again is a full 180 from what Sarah told us just a couple days ago -- namely, that she's done with GM ... after he suggested a reconciliation could happen.

It would appear Garrett was right, and he's more of a smooth talker than we realized.

Erika Jayne's estranged husband's unloading a bunch of his stuff -- including some of her "collectibles" -- to pay off creditors, but 2 items on the auction block stand out because they're more scandalous ... and a mystery even to Erika!!!

Sources close to "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star tell TMZ ... among Tom Girardi's auction items are 2 separate pieces of lingerie that never belonged to her, and she has no idea what the deal is.

We're told the items in question -- a red "Agent Provocateur" set in size 3, and a medium black lace top -- are both smaller than what Erika wears.

Both items are brand new with the tags and the red lingerie comes with a receipt to Tom, but their inclusion among the auction items has the rumor mill spinning.

Basically, we're told people close to Erika are wondering if these items were intended for her, and if not ... exactly who WERE they meant for?

Tom's law firm -- which was sued for allegedly embezzling funds from families who lost loved ones in the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia -- isn't just auctioning off the mystery lingerie, of course. The auction also features office supplies, artwork, memorabilia and a ton of other stuff to pay legal costs.

"American Idol" finalist Syesha Mercado broke down in tears describing how she's been missing out on precious moments with her babies since child protective services took them from her.

Syesha held a news conference Tuesday to explain how she's been deprived of holding and feeding her newborn daughter, Ast ... while also missing her toddler son, Amen'Ra, who was put in foster care back in March. Syesha said she's also upset about her kids not getting to meet.

She was joined by the babies' father, Tyron Deener, who said they are law-abiding citizens who live a life of service and can't understand why someone with no criminal background is being hounded by the police.

As we reported ... Syesha sobbed as she reluctantly handed over Ast to Manatee County Sheriff's deputies last week in Florida. The department has since said they picked up the baby by order of a family court judge.

Amen'Ra was taken from her following a hospital visit where a doctor claimed the boy was malnourished. Last week, deputies told Syesha and Tyron they were taking Ast because they didn't tell authorities she'd given birth during their ongoing legal battle for their son.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has now gotten involved in Syesha's case ... calling out the deputies for making a spectacle out of a Black family and "publicly dehumanizing them." He vows to help Syesha and Tyron get their kids back.