Rachael Ray
Gossip

Just a week ago, Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray made appearances on each other's daytime talk shows, and everything was civil enough between them.

That was then and this is now, however.

In interview set to air tonight on ABC's Nightline, her highness of homemaking shot down any would-be comparisons with her long-rumored younger rival.

"Well, to me, she professed that she could - she cannot bake," Martha Stewart said in reference to Rachael Ray. "She just did a new cookbook, which is basically just a reedit of a lot of her old recipes. And that's not good enough for me."

"Rachael is different. She is more of an entertainer ... with her bubbly personality, than she is teacher, like me. That's not what she's professing to be."

That sound you hear is of it being on.

To be fair, Martha's thoughts on Ray didn't stream out unprovoked, but were provoked by interviewer Cynthia McFadden and some leading questions.

"I mean, she drops things on the floor and throws them in the batter and that just is not Martha Stewart," McFadden said of The Rachael Ray Show.

And when McFadden asked Stewart if Ray is misleading audiences about her skill set, the insider trader even stood up for her counterpart. Kind of.

"She can, but she does it very differently than I do. She's a totally different kind of cook than I am. I don't know if she has a garden, I don't think so."

"If she does, she doesn't show that on her show so much."

Rachael Ray, meanwhile, refrained from retaliation, saying "I really just think she's being honest. She has a better skill set when it comes to producing a beautiful, perfect, high-quality meal. I'd rather eat Martha's than mine, too."

Boo. Way to deprive us of a potentially good bitch-fest, Rache.

Oh well, there's always this eternal question: Who's hotter?!

With all due respect to Tyra Banks, Rachael Ray may be the most self-serving celebrity in Hollywood.

The Food Network star never passes on an opportunity to earn a paycheck off her (stupidly-spelled) name, even if it means shilling for a company that produces the most unhealthy type of sustenance known to mankind: donuts.

In an interview with ABC Nightline, Ray touches on a number of topics, including the aforementioned Dunkin Donuts deal and her racy photo shoot with FHM in 2003...

On posing seductively for FHM:  "I thought, 'If I'm gutsy enough to do this, this is a good thing for everybody. This is the everywoman, here she is. And I did it, and it was the most scared I've ever been, and I wouldn't change a thing. I'd do it again tomorrow."
Translation: Please, please. I really don't mind being a martyr for every female around the world. I'd do it again tomorrow, for more attention and money.

Click on the pics above for more alluring shots of Rachael Ray, as she makes a statement for all womankind!

On Dunkin Donuts campaign: "They gave their support and their money to [Ray's children's charity] Yum-o. They've been very supportive of me. I don't regret a thing. Not for a minute."
Translation: I'll make a buck off any company that shows support for... me!

On her reported earnings of $18 million/year: "It makes me a little sick... It makes my stomach flip. I'm not comfortable with it... People that make that kind of money - it's just too foreign of an idea."
Translation: I feel nauseous about it, really. What? Why don't I just donate a large chunk of it to charity in that case? Sorry, our connection is breaking up...

The following is a true story, not some Saturday Night Live skit drawn up to mock extreme conservatives:

Rachael Ray may be a sell out, but at least she isn't a fear-mongering nut job such as Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin.

Due to pressure from Malkin - who makes Karl Rove seem like a benevolent liberal - Dunkin Donuts has canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.

What, you didn't know that a keffiyeh was a symbol for terrorism? As Malkin succinctly puts it, you must be a clueless moron.

"The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad," Malkin wrote in her syndicated column. "Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."

Note to Malkin: these types of scarves are available at Target. Get over yourself.

Not wanting to drum up controversy, Dunkin Donuts has pulled the ad, which featured the photo above. Its response to Malkin?

"In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial."

Readers, if you care about the state of this nation, you'll send in your thoughts to Michelle Malkin and let her know America, similarly, has no use for her.

Rachael Ray isn't getting riled up about Cindy McCain stealing some of her recipes. Then again, we all know Rachael Ray is a shameless media whore and bona fide megalomaniac good sport, so this probably makes her excited!

The wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Cindy McCain cooked up some controversy when an intern shoplifted Rachael Ray's recipe for rosemary chicken, Ahi tuna and several other Food Network recipes.

The Arizona Senator's campaign site pawned them off as "Cindy's Recipes," only to have Recipe-Gate uncovered by a deft Huffington Post reporter (the next thing you know, they're gonna tell us The Hills re-shoots scenes for good angles).

Just the same, the wife of John Cusimano was unfazed, saying:

"All these recipes are supposed to be accessible to everyone. Interns, senators, students and families alike! I am flattered when anyone cooks my food."

Cindy McCain and Rachael Ray: Bonded by Ahi Tuna.

To further show she has no hard feelings, Ray wants to cash in big on this in every possible way John McCain and Cindy McCain to visit her show and "get in the kitchen to share with viewers some of their favorite recipes."

On Monday, after being outed, the campaign swiftly removed the recipes, and said the intern responsible was "dealt with," according to a campaign spokesperson. Joking, the rep told reporters, "We took away his zero pay."

Also exposed as a fraud this week? The McCain Girls! Sad.

Media whore Rachael Ray certainly has enough money to support children, having forfeited her soul in exchange for tens of millions, but that doesn't mean the Food Network magnate will be starting a family anytime soon.

"I'm too tired," Ray, 39, told Extra. "I feel like I'm a bad mom to my dog. I have five jobs, and I just don't think I could take on the biggest job of being a parent."

Ray also brushed off recent tabloid reports that she's gone Heidi Montag on us. No, not acting like she can sing - getting plastic surgery.

"I laughed at the one that said I had a brow lift," Ray says. "Do you really think if somebody gave me a week off I would spend it under a knife and if I was going to cut something off, don't you think it'd be my butt and not my forehead?"

Despite punting all credibility and dignity by selling out and endorsing Dunkin' Donuts, Rachael still seems quite happy with the way her life is headed.

At least for the next couple of hours, Ray is content with her looks, she says, as well as her marriage to entertainment lawyer, John Cusimano.

"The first couple of times I got angry and then I got upset and now I just laugh," Ray says of the divorce rumors surrounding the two.

"I mean, what else are you going to do?"

We hate Rachael Ray.

She spells her first name incorrectly. She's annoyingly upbeat, like an irritating version of Kelly Ripa. And, as a shill for Dunkin Donuts, she's a complete and utter sell out.

While a favorite of at least one staff writer at The Hollywood Gossip, Dunkin Donuts is not the realm of a supposed gourmet chef.

And guess who agrees with this assessment? Rachael Ray!

Sources say the talk show host recently took "one sip of her Dunkin' Donuts coffee, yelled "What is this s-it? Get me MY coffee," and would not continue until she was given "her" coffee, which is Starbucks.

At least when Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt decided to be media whores... there was no pretense of them being anything but media whores.

But Rachael Ray, once a respected face on the Food Network, has taken heat - and many people think she should get out of the kitchen - for selling out.

Celebrity food/travel guru Anthony Bourdain is the latest to turn up the heat on Ray over taking untold millions to star in a new Dunkin' Donuts ad campaign.

"She's hugely influential, particularly with children," Anthony Bourdain says in the November issue of Outside magazine. "And then she goes around endorsing Dunkin' Donuts. It's like endorsing crack for kids."

Anthony Bourdain, host of No Reservations on the Travel Channel, is never one to hold back his thoughts. The topic of Rachael Ray selling out is hardly off limits.

"I'm not a very ethical guy. I don't have a lot of principles," he adds. "But somehow this seems over the line. Juvenile diabetes has exploded. Half of Americans don't have necks. And she's up their saying, 'Eat some [...] Dunkin' Donuts. You look great in that swimsuit, eat another donut! Evil."

It's true. Ray shilling for DD is like Lauren Conrad being nominated for a Best Actress Emmy or Jenna Jameson getting a similar Oscar nod.

Rachael Ray's rep responded: "Anyone who knows Rachael and watches her on TV is aware she promotes balance and moderation, instead of living life in extremes."

In fact, when the company announced her ad deal, Dunkin' Donuts said it asked Ray for insight in creating what it calls its "better for you" food and beverage options ... lighter fare that includes smoothies and low carb bagels.

The Hollywood Gossip staff received complaints after our previous celebrity look-alike post. Many readers felt Jennifer Toof didn't resemble Mena Suvari at all.

Or maybe they were just angry there weren't any new nude Toastee pics included.

Either way, we aim to satisfy the celebrity gossip masses more with this comparison:

First, we have the country's number-one selling artist. Seriously. It's not Beyonce or Jordin Sparks or Justin Timberlake. Instead, the singer with the top album at the moment is none other than Miley Cyrus.

The star of Hannah Montana and daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus must be doing something right. She's competing with Zac Efron right now for most beloved young celeb.

She also looks a lot like Rachael Ray, doesn't she? While that famous chef is dealing with her own problems - such as talk of a divorce, an oddly spelled first name and criticism for selling out in those Dunkin Donuts commercials - at least she can take solace in this resemblance to a rising star.

Do you folks agree? Can you see the similarities? Or is this as random a pairing as Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson? Let us know.

Here's some marital advice for Rachael Ray: Maybe if you spent less time selling your supposedly gourmet soul to the donut devil, you could avoid celebrity gossip rumors regarding a divorce.

As it stands, however, Ray's time annoying America on billboards and in ads for Dunkin Donuts may be affecting her marriage. Perez Hilton sucks - and reports that Rachael's union with John Cusimano is in trouble.

However, Ray's rep tells Us Magazine: "There is no truth to it and it's a non-item... Rachael and John are happily enjoying the holiday week up at their cabin."

Rachael Ray might be getting a divorce. But she's definitely selling out in her current Dunkin Donuts ad campaign.

So there you have it, folks. While other famous pairs, such as Paul Sculfor and Jennifer Aniston, are calling it quits, these two are simply counting the money Ray made off her campaign for a fast food chain. But at least they're doing it together.

It's another sign that love can, indeed, work out. Also, take note of Nelly Furtado's engagement to Demo Castellon to further get that message.

Look out, Colby Donaldson!

Rachael Ray is assembling an army of herself to take over the kitchen.

We're just kidding. This is really a photo of the cooking queen finding a was figure of herself rather hilarious. Nevertheless, we'd be frightened if we were Oprah Winfrey or Brangelina - who knows what Ray has planned with these statues?

Ironically, both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been immortalized in wax themselves. Maybe they could face off with Rachael's likeness. Of course, Martha Stewart would probably wish to get in a few shots on Ray, as well.

And we've all seen what she can do to a turkey.