FOOTBALL pin-up Cristiano Ronaldo attracts the most kisses at Madame Tussauds — alongside a bald serial killer.

The striker’s waxwork requires daily cleaning to wipe away lipstick marks left by his admirers.

Louis Wood

Cristiano Ronaldo attracts the most kisses at Madame Tussauds[/caption]

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Ronaldo’s waxwork requires daily cleaning to wipe away lipstick marks left by his admirers[/caption]

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Staff kick off at 5am every day to clean the ace’s likeness[/caption]

He is rated the most popular at the London attraction by staff who kick off at 5am every day to clean his likeness.

But the 39-year-old Portugal and ex-Man Utd star, now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia, shares top spot in the pecking order with killer John Christie.

He murdered eight people including his own wife, Ethel, in his London flat during the 1940s and 1950s and was hanged.

Madame Tussauds said it took pride in ensuring waxworks were spick and span for customers.

It added: “The aim, when anything untoward is discovered, is to rectify it before visitors come in — and one regular job is to remove lipstick marks off Ronaldo.

“It’s not so surprising that he has a lot of admirers as he is very good-looking and a fantastic athlete.

“But it is harder to understand the amount of kisses John Christie gets.

“We’re not sure why — perhaps it’s his bald head that attracts people looking for fun photos.”

Also popular for planting a peck on are the effigies of boxer Anthony Joshua, 35, and Wonka star Timothee Chalamet, 29.

Meanwhile, staff routinely have to replace eyelashes stolen from members of pop band Little Mix.

Rapper Drake once had his head knocked off and singer Harry Styles toppled over and lost an eye.

And one admirer left a banana stuffed down the trousers of singer and actor Olly Alexander.

JUST last year, Kyle Walker’s long-suffering wife Annie Kilner was preparing for war and telling pals she was considering divorce.

But after a cosy Christmas with the Man City star and their children — and amid growing speculation he is being courted for a multi-million-pound move to play in Saudi Arabia — that could all change once again.

BackGrid

Kyle Walker’s long-suffering wife Annie Kilner has put the brakes on talk of a split, and kept her ring finger covered on night out in December[/caption]

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The City and England defender has moved back into their marital home[/caption]

Darren Fletcher

Kyle is being courted for a multi-million-pound move to play in Saudi Arabia, above arriving for court date with Lauryn in July last year[/caption]

Instagram

Those close to Annie, 33, tell The Sun she has put the brakes on talk of a split and instead moved the City and England defender back into the marital home.

An insider said: “It was just a few months ago that Annie served Kyle with divorce papers, but she’s having second thoughts.

“He’s a top target for the Saudi Arabia clubs and if he decides to take a deal it’ll be life-changing — and not just because of the massive amount of money he’ll be making.”

Any move to the Arab state is still up in the air, but Kyle, 34, is a top target for big-hitting sides including Al Nassr, where Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo is captain.

Deals being mooted by clubs in the oil-rich nation are said to be worth upwards of £20million, with Kyle easily expected to bank £400,000 a week if he chooses to try his luck abroad.

And friends close to Annie say the money will do the talking.

They added: “Annie is no fool. She sought legal advice about the finances last year and knows that the deal in Saudi is worth a lot.

“Annie says it’s not about the cash but keeping their family together, yet his earning potential is something she will have thought about.

“She is savvy and has been mapping out a plan for a long time.

Posed in matching Christmas pyjamas

“Annie always puts the children first but she has to think about herself too — and financially she wants to know she would be secure whatever happens between them.

“Kyle has assured her that whatever happens, she would have the financial support.”

The couple put on a united front at Christmas as they posed in matching pyjamas with their four children, Roman, 13, Riaan, eight, six-year-old Reign and baby Rezon.

It was a picture-perfect scene compared to last December when their lives were turned upside down by the news that Kyle had fathered a secret daughter with reality TV star Lauryn Goodman.

Annie, who started dating Kyle when she was 16, was pregnant with their fourth child at the time.

He already shares four-year-old son Kairo with Lauryn following a relationship with her during a brief split from Annie.

Of the family’s cosy reunion at Christmas, a fellow Wag said: “It seems like Kyle is happy to be back home with his family and they are looking to the future.

She is savvy and has been mapping out a plan for a long time

Friends

“Not sure if anything is set in stone about their relationship, but they are more together than they’ve looked before — as if the time spent together over Christmas helped them both to appreciate what they have.

“Whatever their future holds, they will make it work for their lads who are everything to them.”

Kyle made a grovelling apology to devastated Annie in The Sun in January last year.

At the time he said he was desperate to save the marriage but admitted he would not blame Annie if she chose to divorce him.

Last month, in a sign their relationship was back on track, Kyle smiled like the cat who got the cream as he showed off his wedding ring on a night out at the darts.

Instagram @lauryngoodman91

Kairo and Kinara watch Kyle during Euro 2024[/caption]

Darren Fletcher

Lauryn Goodman takes Kyle to court to seek financial settlement for their children[/caption]

He was in high spirits at Alexandra Palace in London as he watched the World Championship, shortly after moving back home for the festive season.

Annie also put her ring back on — but has attempted to discreetly cover her hand in public in recent weeks to avoid speculation.

Our insider added: “Spending time with Kyle at Christmas has made Annie rethink everything.

“She let him move back into the family home and it was amazing for her to see Kyle and how great he is with their kids.

“Despite what has gone on between them, Kyle is a brilliant father.

“She knows now isn’t the right time to start going down the legal route of separation and has taken the advice that timing is key when it comes to a divorce.

Spending time with Kyle at Christmas has made Annie rethink everything

Insider

“They’ve got the children to think about — they’re still young — and that’s been a major factor in Annie’s thinking.

“She isn’t rushing into anything and is biding her time, especially with all the talk about Saudi and a possible move there.”

The couple have only been married since November 2021, but met in his hometown of Sheffield when they were teenagers.

Kyle was first accused of cheating in 2016 when he was caught messaging Playboy model Carla Howe while in France with the England squad for the Euro championships.

Then in 2019, Ex On The Beach star Laura Brown messaged Annie to confess she and Kyle had enjoyed a string of romps, including one time in his £200,000 Bentley 4×4.

Annie immediately dumped Kyle, who moved into a flat, where he ended up hosting a sex party with a friend and two call girls during the Covid lockdown.

While single, he started a relationship with Lauryn, who quickly fell pregnant and gave birth in 2020.

Annie took him back and they wed in an intimate ceremony at Mottram Hall in Cheshire 18 months later.

But The Sun recently revealed that Annie’s friends claimed she was looking at her options as far back as 2019, with her insisting: “Marrying Kyle would give me security if he ever does it again.”

‘Some said she should cut her losses and run’

She apparently asked at least four footballers’ wives for advice before marrying the love rat in case history repeated itself.

One said: “Some said she should leave him at the time — just cut her losses and run. But others warned marrying that him would be the only way she could really secure herself financially.”

In messages seen by The Sun from five years ago, before the couple tied the knot, Annie glumly conceded, “It’s the same old s**t — he’s been doing it for ten years”, before asking pals for their opinions on how to future-proof herself financially.

Appearing to predict that he would betray her again, Annie wrote to a friend at the time: “He’s going to have a lonely end.”

Annie turned out to be right about his repeat actions, as he briefly rekindled things with Lauryn weeks after Kairo was born and lived a lie for more than a year after discovering she was expecting his second child.

She isn’t rushing into anything and is biding her time, especially with all the talk about Saudi and a possible move there

Insider

Lauryn later took Kyle to court to seek a financial settlement for their kids.

After Lauryn’s bombshell confession to Annie about daughter Kinara, he told The Sun in an emotional interview that he had lied to both women

He added: “It was a double-edged sword between my conscience being clean and losing my family.

“I’ve hurt someone I truly believe is my soulmate. Annie knows I’m sorry. I’m sorry because as a family this isn’t meant to happen. They are all I’ve got.”

A Middle East move for the England ace would follow a tough current season at City.

He still has 19 months left on his Etihad contract, but admitted he would “never say never” when rumours were flying last year. Now, Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad from Saudi’s pro league are keen on securing his signature.

If Kyle does take the plunge, he would follow in the footsteps of England teammate Ivan Toney, who landed a £20million-a-year deal with Al-Ahli last summer after transferring from Brentford.

But whether he gets to enjoy that money with or without Annie is very much still in the balance.

Instagram

The ace and Annie posed in this throwback snap[/caption]

SICK rap lyrics have been posted online boasting of the murder of a boy of 14 — as his mum told of trying to free him from the clutches of gang life.

Kelyan Bossaka, who rapped under the name Grippa, was stabbed on a bus on Tuesday.

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Sick rap lyrics were posted online boasting about the murder of a 14-year-old boy Kelyan Bossaka on a London bus[/caption]

Supplied

He had been caught up in a grim postcode war in Woolwich, South East London.

Hundreds of tributes were posted on Instagram after his death.

But also written online were the lyrics: “Caught Grippa lackin’ on the 472 (bus). Blade in my coat, it’s do or die.

“He tried jumping off, but the door’s don’t slide, hah.

“Now he’s sittin’ there stiff with the fear in his eyes.”

Described by mum Mary Bossaka, 50, as polite and caring, Kelyan was groomed into a world of drugs by gangsters.

She told The Sun her son was groomed from six-years-old before he fell into the care system and descended into street life.

In the run up to his death, Mary and family members tracked him down to a bench in Stratford, East London, where he sold drugs.

They approached him at one in the morning and pleaded for him to come home.

But the pull of gang lifestyle and fear of repercussions meant the youth declined.

Mary said: “My son and others were taken advantage of by gangs. They were groomed.”

Kelyan was linked to the Wildbatch gang, which controls the crack cocaine trade from the notorious Barnfield estate in Woolwich. Foot soldiers face near-daily threats of death from WoolyO, a bitter rival gang barely two miles away.

Older gang members seduce ­vulnerable youngsters into their postcode war with promises of fast cash and protection.

Kelyan told his story using his drill rap moniker Grippa.

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Tearful Mary visited the scene and read some of the tributes left at the bus stop where the attack took place[/caption]

The name itself relates to holding a weapon, be that a knife or gun, and Kelyan appeared fully masked in his videos.

On the day of his death, Kelyan shared an Instagram story asking for a “mindy” — believed to be a reference to the Somali word mindi — meaning knife.

His mum revealed it was his first day back at school, with the teen trying to get his life back on track after attending a youth referral centre.

Kelyan, who was knifed multiple times, had 25 court appearances in less than 15 months in the run up to his murder.

His charges included possession of a knife and machete, theft and drug offences.

The killers are still on the loose, with cops hunting two suspects seen leaving the scene with a machete.

Floral tributes and messages have been left at the bus stop where the attack took place.

Tearful Mary visited the scene yesterday and read some of them.

Mary, seen looking towards the police cordon, said: “Our children are being killed on the streets.”

It comes just two weeks after Kelyan paid tribute online to pal Daejaun Campbell, 15, who was stabbed to death in Woolwich in September.

Patrick Green, of anti-knife crime charity The Ben Kinsella Trust, said early intervention is crucial to stamp out grooming by gangs.

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Tributes have flooded in following Kelyan’s death[/caption]

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A police car next to a bus stop in Woolwich, south London, after the stabbing[/caption]

TV’S most overblown game of blink murder began with 22 excitables all screeching the same three deathly words, as they arrived at The Traitors’ HQ in the Highlands.

“We’ve gone through the gate. Oh my God.”

BBC

I’m clearly going to have to suck it up anyway as there are five million happy viewers and another seven hours of this series to go[/caption]

“It’s the castle. Oh my God.”

“It’s Claudia. Oh my God.”

“It’s the library,” for crying out loud.

“Oh my God.”

And so it continued, at every significant and insignificant part of their tour, accompanied by all the usual hand-flapping histrionics we’ve come to expect from TV contestants, and even some weeping.

A sight and sound that should chill the bones of every senior BBC1 executive, but won’t.

For this is a process that happens to all successful ­reality shows.

Point of insanity

They start with a fairly ­ordinary and likeable bunch of competitors and no sooner have a couple of them risen to the dizzy heights of Celebrity MasterChef (Diane Carson) and Dancing On Ice (Mollie Pearce), than it’s suddenly over-run with fame-chasing exhibitionists who are performing entirely for their own benefit and eventually ruin the fun for everyone.

You see the early signs quite clearly, this series, with ­Claudia Winkleman’s original choice of Traitors: Opera- ­singing “wild child” pensioner Linda; foghorning Armani, the queen of the “oh-my-Godders”; and Minah the Scouser who, for name potential alone, should be forced into an arranged marriage with fellow contestant Dan Bird.

It’s even more obvious, though, on the side of the Faithfuls where, along with three actors — Jack, Elen and Francesca — we also have: ­Millionaire businessman Nathan; Charlotte, who’s ­pretending to be Welsh rather than admit the horrific truth she’s actually from ­London; crybaby student ­Freddie; and career diplomat Alexander, “an expert in ­conflict resolution”, whose last job must have been negotiating Keir Starmer’s Chagos islands deal, as he would’ve talked himself off the entire show within 15 minutes of the start but for a last-minute rule change.

As noisy, excited and full of their intuitive brilliance as they mostly appear to be, the conversations they produce are circular and repetitive to the point of insanity, from a ­neutral point of view.

“You’re a Traitor.”

“No I’m not.”

“I think you are.”

“But I’m not . . . ”

It’s a tougher job than non-converts might have been led to believe, then, to give a toss about anything that’s happening in that castle and one that I’m simply not up to as my relationship with The Traitors has changed from detached bafflement at its success to an active dislike of the show.

BBC

What really vexes me about it are the obsessive and slightly creepy updates about Claudia’s wardrobe[/caption]

It doesn’t help, of course, that The Traitors has joined that small band of shows that are so full of their own ­significance they refuse to give out preview tapes to journalists, presumably because the BBC thinks the secrets ­contained therein are just too cosmically important to risk blowing.

What really vexes me about it, though, are the emotionally incontinent contestants, the over-familiar and bought-in Dutch format, the preening self-regard for its diversity and inclusion, that doesn’t extend to including any white male over the age of 40, and the obsessive and slightly creepy updates about Claudia’s wardrobe which its most ardent fans seem to think all adds up to great television.

Suck it up

It doesn’t, obviously.

Truly great television, like Mr Bates Vs The Post Office or Clarkson’s Farm, has the ability to change the medium, minds and eventually the country.

All The Traitors is doing is carrying the torch for Big Brother until the next reality fad arrives.

But I’m clearly going to have to suck it up anyway as there are five million happy viewers, another seven hours of this series to go and the grindingly inevitable celebrity version to follow.

Oh my God.

ON HUNT TO FIND BRAINS

Colin Hutton / Channel 4

Denise Welch and Lincoln Townley on Celebrity Hunted[/caption]

ENCOURAGING news from one of the Celebrity Hunted surveillance team, who can confirm: “A positive identification of Denise Welch and Lincoln Townley.”

Those two, however, are among the slightly easier hits on this series of the Channel 4 reality show.

The hard stuff begins when he has to try to confirm a positive identification of podcasting obscurities Zeze Millz and David Whitely, or the two blonde soap stars, Danielle Harold and Kimberly Hart-Simpson, who hunter-in-chief Ray Howard has referred to as “the last of the Targaryens”, for want of having the slightest clue as to their real identity.

As luck would have it, though, Channel 4 also booked Strictly’s big-hitters Kai Widdrington and Giovanni Pernice who, when this show was filmed back in May 2023, must have thought being relentlessly pursued by a pack of shark-eyed obsessives would be a bit of a laugh rather than the way of life it’s become with Amanda Abbington on his case 24/7.

In terms of profile, obviously, it’s added hugely to the intrigue of the series, even though I take nothing that happens on Celebrity Hunted at face value given the near misses are just too frequent and convenient to be in any way credible.

But there’s no doubt the first show of the run was very entertainingly edited and benefited from the fact monotonal Lisa Theaker has been replaced by Ray Howard, who has a sense of humour and one other crucial gift that became apparent when the chief said he was looking for “Duncan James and Christine McGuinness intelligence.”

Optimism.

Unexpected morons in the bagging area

THE Weakest Link, Romesh Ranganathan: “What word for a female sheep sounds like the 21st letter of the alphabet?”

Mark Clattenburg: “T.”

Romesh: “In symbols, which purple flowering plant is the national emblem of Scotland and also the emblem of ­Scottish rugby union?”

Mark Clattenburg: “The rose.”

Romesh: “Which orange root vegetable has a name that sounds like the word used to measure the purity of gold?”

Tim Vine: “Swede.”

Celebrity Mastermind, Clive Myrie: “Which US state has the two-letter postal abbreviation AZ?”

Charley Marlowe: “Australia.”

Lookalike of the week

THIS week’s winner is Charlotte off The Traitors and Gareth Southgate.

Emailed in by Dave Worrall.

BRITAIN was having a grim 1970s flashback last night with a debt crisis, the threat of strikes and an under-siege Labour Chancellor.

Rachel Reeves is facing massive pressure to ditch a controversial trip to China this weekend as borrowing costs rocketed to levels beyond the worst of the doomed Liz Truss era.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under huge pressure to ditch a controversial trip to China as borrowing costs rocketed to levels beyond the worst of the doomed Liz Truss era[/caption]

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Labour are taking Britain back to the 70s, with strikes, spiralling debt and a struggling pound looming[/caption]

The Chancellor’s tax-hiking Budget, which hammered employers with a steep national insurance rise, was blamed for the market turmoil.

And Ms Reeves was last night warned that if she goes to the Far East she risks being the next Kwasi Kwarteng — Ms Truss’s Chancellor who infamously left the UK as the economy went into meltdown in 2022.

The warning came amid the threat of industrial action, like the strikes of 1978 and 1979’s winter of discontent, with teachers threatening to walk out.

Economists also raised the prospect of a 1976-style debt crisis “nightmare” of the kind that forced Jim Callaghan’s Labour government to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

They said the Chancellor’s wafer-thin £9.9billion headroom to keep the Government within its own borrowing rules was all but obliterated — opening the door to fresh tax rises or taking the axe to public spending.

It tees up a brutal slapdown for the Chancellor from watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility when it gives an official update on the state of the economy on March 26.

The Treasury insisted there was “no need for an emergency intervention” as it sought to soothe concerns over Britain’s shaky financial markets.

But the pound yesterday tumbled to its lowest level in 14 months, dropping to $1.23 against the dollar.

The Sterling sell-off was significantly worse than every other major global currency.

The Tories hammered Ms Reeves, suggesting that she be sacked over the fall-out of her October Budget.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told our Never Mind The Ballots show: “I think the Chancellor should stay in the UK fixing the mess her Budget has created.

“Bond yields are higher than when Kwasi Kwarteng got sacked.

“The whole government should be fired, frankly, including Rachel Reeves, because they jacked up taxes, they crushed pensioners, they’re crushing farmers.

“They’re crushing businesses with their high taxes.

“And this is the result, because the bond market can see that our economy is being squashed by this Labour government.”

Economists said that the pound has partly suffered from the dollar’s strength — but its weakness against other currencies suggested there was a “capital flight” away from the UK.

Typically, currencies rise when government bonds fall.

But Martin Weale, a former Bank of England rate-setter, said: “We haven’t really seen the toxic combination of a sharp fall in Sterling and long-term interest rates going up since 1976.

“That led to the IMF bailout.”

Mr Weale, now professor of economics at King’s College London, added: “So far we are not in that position but it must be one of the Chancellor’s nightmares.”

The interest charged on 30-year government bonds yesterday continued to edge up to 5.4 per cent, their highest level since 1998.

The government issues bonds, known as gilts, when it needs to raise money.

The interest on them is called yield.

When the price of the bond falls, the yield increases to reward an investor for the extra risk of holding a cheaper asset.

But the yield on benchmark ten-year gilts has hit 4.86 per cent, the highest since the global financial crisis of 2008.

High street banks use ten-year gilt prices to set mortgage rates, suggesting families face expensive home loans for even longer.

Investors worry this will squeeze income further and cause a slump in spending and economic growth.

While there is a global bond market sell-off, the pain is even greater in the UK where there is a wafer-thin spending buffer.

Analysts estimate that the recent surge in the bond yields has added almost £9billion in public borrowing costs.

This will virtually wipe out Ms Reeves’ £9.9billion buffer.

­But Treasury Minister Darren Jones claimed the markets were functioning in an “orderly way”.

Adding to the 1970’s-style woe, the National Education Union said it will hold an online ballot on industrial action over government proposals for a 2.8 per cent pay rise.

But a spokesman for PM Sir Keir Starmer urged the union to “put pupils’ interests first”.

EPA

Sixth-form school teachers striking in London this week[/caption]

Orlando Bloom once ruled Middle-earth with a bow, a quiver, and the silkiest blonde hair ever seen on screen. But after a $956M film, he decided to peace out from The Lord of the Rings universe faster than Frodo bolting from Mordor. No more Legolas, no more elf drama, he was done. Or so we […]

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As some of the tabloid-favorite men and women of the early Aughts, Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly fit into a more underrated definition of the “it couple.” The duo’s sudden escalation into television glamor was underlined by their on-screen pairing in Dark Angel and an “inevitable” off-screen romance. Despite the growing cultural obsession over the […]

This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire

As some of the tabloid-favorite men and women of the early Aughts, Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly fit into a more underrated definition of the “it couple.” The duo’s sudden escalation into television glamor was underlined by their on-screen pairing in Dark Angel and an “inevitable” off-screen romance. Despite the growing cultural obsession over the […]

This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire

30 Rock remains one of TV’s most beloved comedy series. It was awarded 16 Emmys in its 7-year stint at NBC. What really set the show apart was both the fast humor and the characters that fans still remember. Developed by Tina Fey and mostly inspired by her own work for Saturday Night Live as […]

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