Weird News

JOEY CHESTNUT IS BACK!!!

The greatest competitive eater on the face of the planet returned to form this weekend at the rib cook-off in Reno, NV and took FIRST PLACE ... edging out the guy who beat him in the Gyoza championships last month.

Like Magic vs. Bird or Ali vs. Frazier ... Chestnut bellied up to the table next to rival Matt Stonie and put down 13.76 pounds of ribs in 12 minutes at the 8th Annual Nugget World Rib Eating Championship at John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino Resort.

21-year-old Stonie -- who many consider the future of competitive eating -- came in a close 2nd with 11.2 pounds of rib meat.

Both men crushed the previous record of 9.8 pounds ... which was set in 2008 by, you guessed it, Joey Chestnut.

Thanks to our friends at Getaway Reno/Tahoe for the rib footage.

Enough is enough ... Russian President and alleged Super Bowl ring snatcher Vladimir Putin needs to get that ring back on U.S. soil ASAP ... so says Senator John McCain.

Our photog caught up with Sen. McCain in Georgetown Sunday and broke down President Obama's chances of resolving the greatest threat to US-Russian relations since that thing in Cuba.

McCain -- a true American war hero (just sayin') -- says he's outraged and makes it clear ... the SB bling Putin took from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft ... belongs back in the U.S. of A.

FYI --- Putin denies stealing the ring in 2005, his people say it was a gift. Riiiight.

So, can Prez O -- who's heading to Russia this week -- get it back? Check out JMC's take.

Kanye West raked in MILLIONS of dollars this weekend to play a gig in ... wait for it ... waaaaait for it ... KAZAKHSTAN!!! Very nice.

Our Central Asian sources tell us ... Kanye was invited by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to perform at his grandson's wedding Saturday night in Almaty at the Hotel Royal Tulip. Very nice.

We're told Kanye was paid a hefty sum -- in the neighborhood of $3 mil -- to perform his big hits, including "Can't Tell Me Nothing". One of the wedding guests posted this video of KW on stage.

FYI -- Kazakhstan's prez is reportedly worth billions, and is considered by some to be an ardent dictator who rigs elections. In 2011, Sting backed out of a paid gig for Nazarbayev due to alleged mistreatment of oil workers in the country. Not so nice.

Justin Bieber was bum rushed in a Canadian nightclub by an over eager partier who tried in vain to tackle him -- and TMZ has the pics.

It all went down at 3 am today at a Toronto nightclub. Sources on scene tell us JB left his safe VIP section to mingle with the regular folk -- and that's when a male clubgoer charged at him, got hold of his shirt (which he was wearing) and attempted to take him down, but failed.

Which makes sense ... have you seen Bieber's abs? Of course you have.

In the pics ... you can see security rushed in stat (below) and managed to pull the guy off Bieber -- successfully taking him to the ground. In the midst of the chaos we're told JB was seen trying to defend himself, unleashing a fury of kicks.

The attacker was escorted out of the club. Police were never called.

Here's 44-year-old "The Life Aquatic" star Cate Blanchett at her movie premiere in Paris earlier this week (left) -- and an old scrap of fishing net filled with sea debris (right).

What knot to wear.

Ted Nugent's wife says she carried a loaded handgun through airport security this week BY ACCIDENT ... a gun she owned because of death threats she had been receiving ... this according to the police report stemming from her arrest.

TMZ broke the story ... 51-year-old Shemane Deziel was busted Thursday morning at Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport for bringing a gun into the terminal.

But according to the police report, she didn't just bring the gun into the terminal ... she actually left it in her carry-on bag to bring it onto the plane ... and it was LOADED.

TSA screeners said they spotted the Smith & Wesson 38 special revolver on an x-ray monitor, and when police inspected Deziel's luggage, they noticed it was loaded with 5 rounds of ammunition with an additional 10 rounds packed in a side pocket of her bag.

Shemane said she had forgotten the gun was in her bag, but stated she had a concealed handgun license in Texas.

After Shemane was placed under arrest, she told police she began to carry the gun for protection after receiving death threats. She didn't specify where the threats were coming from or why she was receiving them. The gun and ammo were seized as evidence.

Dave Chappelle went off on an angry crowd in Connecticut last night -- refusing to perform his material and telling the the audience to BOO THEMSELVES after he was heckled during the show.

Chappelle had only been on stage for a few minutes when he started to become irritated with some loudmouthed people in the crowd. As an act of defiance, Chappelle reportedly sat on his stool and with his mouth shut for several minutes.

Eventually, Chappelle grabbed the mic and told the crowd: "I f**ked up when I left my show, you know why? 'Cause my show only has to be 22 minutes of television. I could've went on television, I could've read the phone book for 22 minutes and I would've got $50 million dollars."

"I shoulda done that sh*t but my ego wouldn't let me. Tonight is different. Tonight my contract says 25 minutes and I have 3 minutes left. and when my 3 minutes is up, my ass is gone."

When people started to boo the comic, Chappelle responded, "You're booing yourself."

After the show, dozens of pissed off fans demanded a refund.

People seem to be divided over Chappelle's reaction -- with comics like Patton Oswalt blaming the crowd: "Dear Dave Chappelle's fans: He's one of the best comedians working, & you're not letting him do what he loves. Stop being a**holes."

Someone call the coroner ... because "Fox & Friends" host Gretchen Carlson just murdered the twerk on live TV ... and we mean that in the worst way possible.

Barely a month after his Loch Ness monster mission failed, Charlie Sheen is back on the hunt for crazy mythological creatures ... this time in snowy, snowy Alaska ... Charlie's favorite.

Charlie tells TMZ, he flew up to Sitka, AK on his private jet last week in search of the mythic Kushtaka, which loosely translates to "Land otter man."

Stories about the elusive Kushtaka originated among natives in Southeastern Alaska ... and according to Charlie, it's "a shape-shifting trickster who is half man, half otter. It lures one away from the campsite with the mimicked sounds of a crying baby, then kills you, takes on YOUR form, and returns to the scene for more suckers or prey."

Charlie says he embarked into the wilderness with some friends in order to find the creature ... but just like on his Nessie mission, he returned empty-handed. Sheen has since flown back to civilization.

Charlie tells us, "It obviously knew our group was far too skilled to be snowed in this fashion so it stayed hidden like a sissy."

Yeah, that's what happened.

Now we know why things have been so quiet in Calabasas ... turns out, Justin Bieber's been on vacation with his pal Lil Za in the Bahamas... where they splashed around with an entire shiver of sharks and TMZ has the pics.

Fun Fact -- a group of sharks is called a "shiver" ... like a "murder" of crows or a "pod" of whales. Weird, right?

Anyway, Bieb and Za stripped down to their swim suits (Za appeared to be in his undies) and played in the turquoise water at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club ... where they hung out with some local Nurse sharks.

Don't worry ... there was no real danger -- while Nurse sharks can grow up to 14ft and weigh over 700 lbs, they generally don't attack humans ...

... unlike some other people we know.

NEWSFLASH: holding up a copy of the U.S. Constitution in a cop's face will NOT stop him from arresting you -- at least that's what one of 2 Chainz' entourage members learned last week, shortly before he and the rapper got busted.

As we reported, 2 Chainz and ten other people on his tour bus were all arrested last week following a concert in Oklahoma City ... after police accused them of smoking weed on board.

You'll recall, cops pulled over 2 Chainz' bus because of a busted taillight, but upon approaching the vehicle ... cops say they smelled pot and attempted to search the bus.

But the driver refused to let cops on board -- and according to the police affidavit which was just released, one of the bus' passengers actually held a physical copy of the U.S. Constitution against the bus window ... "as if challenging officers" with his civil rights.

Fact is: the police DID have probable cause to enter the bus because they smelled pot and saw smoke inside ... but the rapper and his entourage decided to assert their non-existent civil liberties anyway.

In the end, officers towed 2 Chainz' bus and its passengers to a police lot -- where it sat for hours while cops obtained a search warrant -- and everyone was eventually arrested, 2 Chainz included.

The United States Constitution ... it doesn't work that way.

Joey Fatone tells TMZ ... Kevin Hart was probably right -- there's a decent chance he DID let one rip during the *NSYNC reunion at the MTV VMAs.

Fatone arrived back to L.A. yesterday -- where we immediately grilled him for LYING TO OUR FACES in the days before the show ... when he told us he wasn't in NYC for a surprise performance.

Of course, Fatone insisted he wasn't lying -- that he really was in NYC for a birthday party and not for the VMAs ... but c'mon man!!!!! (Your pal Chris already admitted the plan was in motion a couple of weeks ago. Busted!!!).

But back to the mystery fart ... Joey says if he did blast one during the VMAs (as Kevin joked in the moments following the performance) Fatone says there's a reason the comic would know ... and it all has to do with Kevin's height (5'4").

Check out the clip.

Screw the VMAs ... Demi Lovato spent her Sunday diving face first into a jumbo Disneyland TURKEY LEG ... and looked damn good doin' it.

If you didn't know ... the smoked Dland turkey leg is a park ICON, weighing in at 1.5 pounds. In fact it's sooooo tasty some conspiracy theorists think it's made of dead emus.

Mmmmm Emu.

Screw Kickstarter ... celeb photog Tyler Shields was able to fund his first movie ever by selling one of his photos to a huge "Gilmore Girls" star ... for a cool $500,000.

Tyler -- famous for his bloody Lindsay Lohan art, among other things -- sold the piece to Scott Patterson ... known to people with TVs as Luke from "GG".

The sale did more than just line Tyler's pockets. We're told he specifically created the piece with the intention of using it to finance his first film "The Outlaw" (which he wrote, directs and stars in). In fact, the models in the pic are two of the flick's stars.

Liam Hemsworth ate 45 White Castle burgers and then vomited them up ... and now the fast food chain is offering him $20,000 to a charity of his choice ... because they were impressed. Yeah.

Liam told the story to "Jimmy Kimmel" earlier this month ... while filming "Hunger Games" he and Josh Hutcherson went to White Castle and split about 90 burgers -- only to puke them up later, due to burger overload.

A rep for White Castle tells TMZ ... it's impressed Liam could down that many burgers in one sitting and wants to induct Liam into the White Castle Hall of Fame (apparently that's a thing). Even better, WC wants to donate $20,000 to a charity of his choice.

Sorry Josh, you get nothing. Maybe some mouthwash.

Ja'Nel Witt -- the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" Season 11 -- has announced she will NOT accept the show's grand prize (the head chef position at one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants in Vegas) ... citing "personal matters."

It's been less than one month since Ja'Nel's reality show victory was broadcast on TV -- with Ja'Nel locking up the head chef gig at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Las Vegas ... a job that pays $250k.

Witt made the announcement on Twitter -- saying, "Due to personal matters, I will not be joining the team in Las Vegas, but I wish them continued success."

Witt did not go into detail about her personal situation.

"I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay, Caesars Palace & my supportive fans for this amazing experience," she added.

Story developing ...