You Might Want to Rethink

The woman who was kicked off the reality show "Utopia" got the boot because she found a way to sneak in a smartphone and research her fellow contestants before the game had begun ... TMZ has learned.

As TMZ first reported, Andrea Cox was shown the door "due to violation of production policies" ... which our sources say involved trying to contact the other contestants.

According to our sources, Cox somehow brought a cellphone in with her when the contestants were sequestered in a hotel before shooting began. We're told she used it to learn the identities of the other contestants on the show ... and then tried to snoop around the hotel to find them.

Once producers found out about her scheming, they gave her the boot.

The show has already begun airing in a livestream online and premieres for real on FOX next month.

LAPD got themselves a 2-for-1 deal Friday night ... when they went to arrest someone for allegedly violating their probation ... and ended up arresting rapper Nipsey Hussle too!

Hussle was picked up in downtown Los Angeles and booked for obstructing a police officer. According to police, they were raiding a clothing store looking for a possible probation violator and Hussle (real name Emmias Ashghedom) happened to be there as well.

It's unclear what Hussle did to get himself arrested, but his rep says Nipsey feels the arrest was "unjust and without cause." He was released Saturday morning after posting $13,000 bail.

Lakers star Nick Young thought he was gonna go into real-life survival mode after hearing that a real "purge" was going down in Chicago ... telling TMZ Sports, "I thought I was gonna have to shoot a couple people."

Of course, the "Purge" rumors were just a hoax -- with people trying to scare the public into thinking the "everything is legal for 24 hours including murder" plot from the "Purge" movies was going down in 2 major cities.

But Young didn't know it was a joke on Tuesday -- and tweeted as if it were real ... saying, "So they got a real life purge in Chi-town and Milwaukee that's crazy. We need to wake up for real if that's true."

Eventually, Nick realized he'd been had -- but you gotta hear what he says when we asked him about in L.A. last night ... pretty funny stuff.

Former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Russell Armstrong's dad thinks his son's death in 2011 wasn't a suicide -- he believes it was murder, and he claims Taylor Armstrong won't help him prove it.

According to court docs obtained by TMZ ... Louie Armstrong is asking the court to force the L.A. County Coroner's office to fork over Russell's autopsy pics, which he plans to have checked out by his own forensic specialist.

As we previously reported ... Russell's family hired a private detective after his suicide in 2011 -- because they were convinced he was killed.

Armstrong seems to think Taylor would have better luck obtaining the photos, since she was Russell's next of kin at the time of his death. In the docs, he says she refuses to assist his efforts.

A contestant on the new FOX reality show "Utopia" has already managed to get herself kicked off... BEFORE cameras start rolling.

FOX and Talpa (the production co.) producers say Andrea Cox did not enter the "Utopia" with the other 14 competitors today ... "due to violation of production policies. Replacement details will be announced." The show began Friday afternoon on a livestream.

Production sources tell us Cox recently figured out a way to contact other contestants -- known as "pioneers" on the show -- during a period when they were all supposed to be sequestered from each other.

The show features 15 "pioneers" who have to reboot their own society from scratch on a private piece of land, and they have a full year to do it. The TV debut is Sept. 7 on FOX.

Cox can watch from home.

5 Seconds of Summer's bass player now has a viral penis -- which is not as bad as it sounds -- but yes ... his junk's being passed around the Internet after he flashed it on Snapchat.

Calum Hood learned a hard lesson (pun intended, we've seen the video) when he sent the revealing video to someone who then reposted it as a Vine for the world to see. So, now ya know, Calum -- famous naked penises ALWAYS get leaked.

Even though you never see 18-year-old Hood's face in the video ... he took the brutally honest step of admitting it was him by tweeting ... "I'm still just a teenage kid learning from mistakes ;)"

Rapper Bobby Shmurda doesn't just rap about guns, he's got 'em in real life ... and got busted for one in NYC recently.

According to court documents, Shmurda was arrested in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn on June 3. The doc says cops spotted Shmurda showing off the weapon in an apartment and when they went to investigate, he tried to hide it in a couch.

Police eventually recovered a 9mm Glock pistol, and a magazine for it which contained 14 rounds.

He was charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon, says the paper, a charge that could land him 15 years in prison.

Mathew Knowles thinks the Beyonce/Jay Z divorce rumors ... and even the infamous Solange elevator fight video ... were both carefully orchestrated by the duo to drive up ticket sales.

Beyonce's dad was on KRBE in Houston where he theorized all the recent turmoil around the couple was simply a "Jedi mind trick" they orchestrated as a way to make their summer tour super popular.

He explained, "All I know is the Jedi mind trick. Everyone’s talking about it. Ticket sales went up. Solange’s album sales went up 200%!"

Playboy is trying to shut down a Canadian escort service for calling their chicks-for-hire "Playmates" -- a term Playboy says is legally reserved for its "girl next door" types ... not hookers.

Playboy blasts PleasurePlaymates.com in a new lawsuit, claiming the bunny brand is being tarnished because Hef's girls have a more wholesome appeal ... according to court docs obtained by TMZ.

Playboy wants the escort company to turn over the URL.

In the docs, Playboy says escort services are known for "illicit activity" -- a pretty strong insinuation Pleasure Playmates hires prostitutes -- while its centerfolds are "classy and sophisticated."

UFC fighter Luke Rockhold worked on his grip Tuesday in Thailand ... and by that, we mean he grabbed a tiger by the balls -- and now the UFC fighter is apologizing.

The 29-year old middleweight posted a pic of the impromptu animal physical online ... only to issue an apology a short time later.

Rockhold tweeted, "For those of u who think it was disrespectful I'm sorry. Was so minor just joking around. I was way too scared and would never do anything harmful to any animal."

Believe it or not ... there are several tiger parks all over Thailand ... and taking pics with the giant cats is a super popular thing to do.

Karrueche Tran is blaming BET for the fact she ripped Beyonce and Jay Z's little girl with a harsh joke about her hair while hosting "106 & Park."

The joke took a shot at Blue Ivy's hairdo and no one ever combing it -- but it quickly blew up in Karreuche's face when incensed Bey and Jay fans unleashed a vicious social media attack on her.

A source close to Chris Brown's GF tells TMZ ... she read the joke cold off a teleprompter -- it was in a script that had been changed by producers at the last-minute -- and she never saw it beforehand.

We're told ... it was a live show and KT had no choice but to read what was on the prompter. Afterward, she and her manager went nuclear because they also thought the joke -- about a 2-year-old -- was mean-spirited and in poor taste.

Karrueche tells TMZ she actually admires Blue's 'do, saying ... "I love that Blue is able to wear her natural hair." She added she would never disrespect Beyonce and Blue Ivy.

Justin Bieber is under investigation for several crimes -- including attempted robbery -- for lunging at a fan at an arcade and sports bar ... attempting to get the guy's cell phone.

Justin and Selena Gomez were at Dave & Buster's Monday night when a fan started taking cell phone pics and video of the two. Law enforcement sources say ... Justin lunged at the guy ... in an attempt to take his cell phone and presumably erase the pics and video.

Justin's security held him back and he never made contact with the fan.

Police were called but before they arrived Justin booked it out of there.

Our law enforcement sources say the fan wants to press charges and Justin is being investigated ... and the possible crimes are attempted battery, attempted theft (stealing the pics) and attempted robbery (grabbing the camera in an attempt to permanently deprive the fan of the pics and video).

Justin could be in big trouble, because he's on probation in the egging case and violating the law could trigger a probation violation which could land him in jail.

We called Bieber's rep. They have no comment.

No one believed Riff Raff when he told us he was hooking up with Katy Perry -- but when they showed up at the VMAs together … in matching outfits … we started to reconsider.

And then we came to our senses and realized there's NO WAY this could possibly be more than a publicity stunt!!! Right?

Nicki Minaj CLAIMS her dress was unzipped during her performance at the VMAs because she didn't have enough time to get ready ... but that's BS -- she pulled the same stunt during rehearsals.

Eyewitnesses who watched Nicki's rehearsal Sunday morning tell TMZ ... she walked on stage wearing the same dress -- unzipped. One eyewitness says it caught her eye because she initially thought Nicki had come out in a robe.

We're told Nicki was wrapping her arms around the dress in a "weird" sort of way ... trying to manipulate it to see how much would be exposed.

And we're told ... the VMAs created a make-shift dressing room right off stage -- draped with black sheets -- so she would have enough time to change.

Riff Raff tried telling us he was dating Katy Perry months ago and we didn't believe him ... but Sunday night, the two looked like quite the couple -- the key word being ... LOOKED.

Following the VMAs, our photog spotted the happy couple leaving Mastro's wearing matching denim outfits. They were both clearly tipsy and joked about picking baby names.

But when you see the car door close ... and Katy's hand press against the window -- this all starts to look like they're both trying way too hard. It's not that we don't want RR to land a chick like Katy ... it's just that their gushing stinks of a publicity stunt.

Back in March, Riff Raff told us he and Katy were a thing, but check out the other girl in the video ... we assumed he was just kidding. Based on last night's video, we were probably right.

The most coveted boobs on TV may stay covered ... and you can blame the church.

Everybody -- actually 90% of men based on Kinsey and probably 40% of women -- are drooling at the prospect of ogling Cersei Lannister's royal cans.

Here's the problem. The scene calls for Cersei -- played by Lena Headey -- to walk out of a church and onto the streets of King's Landing in the buff. The scene is supposed to be shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where the church has a lot of power and a rigid policy against public displays of sexuality.

We're told the local film commission will not give producers a permit to shoot the scene because they take their cue from the church -- in this case the Church of St. Nicholas.

Sources tell TMZ ... they can't cut the scene because it's crucial to the story line and it's an iconic moment from the book.

So far ... producers haven't figured out a workaround ... and Hail Marys probably won't do the trick.