Archive March 12, 2025

Gene Simmons has been slammed after asking for an eye-watering amount of money – just for the honour of working for him.

The KISS legend is set to begin touring with his group Gene Simmons Band, and is offering one fan per show the opportunity to live the rockstar life with him, including helping him set up for his gig and hanging out with his crew backstage.

Despite the fun bits of the day being levelled out with heavy work, Gene, 75, has the experience up for grabs for $12, 495 (around £9, 650), with payment plans available.

Gene seemed to give a nod to the work involved, labelling the “ultimate Gene Simmons experience” as being his “Personal Assistant &amp, Band Roadie For The Day! “!

The musician also included a long description of what’s involved in the pricey package, including getting a “GSB Crew member Shirt &amp, Hat”, a “GSB Crew member VIP Laminate”, and being on the crew team for the whole day of the show.

Duties will include arriving and “loading in to the venue with the Band”, helping the band set up before the show, and sitting in on sound check.

Gene will definitely make an appearance for some memorable moments, with the description saying the lucky fan “will have a meal with Gene Simmons (at the hotel or Backstage at the show)”, and adding that “Gene will bring you on stage during the show and introduce you”!

The fan, plus their one guest, will also walk away with plenty of merch, including a set list signed by Gene and four other signed items of their choosing. The showstopper will be a bass guitar signed by Gene, said to have been used at a KISS rehearsal.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, fans were stunned by the price tag for the “ultimate” experience with Gene and his band. “Still have to buy a ticket to the show”, one eagle-eyed critic pointed out along with a string of laughing emojis, pointing out small print reading: “Tickets to the show are not included as they are sold through the individual venues”.

“Gene Simmons is as big (and bad) a joke as Donald Trump at this point. He’d have to pay me… and a hell of a lot more than £10k”, another person said, while a second agreed: “Wait… pay you… to work FOR you, Gene?? The maths aren’t mathing… like, at all”.

“Surely the person doing the job is the one who should be paid? What a plonker”, said a third, while another person raged: “Disgusting, he doesn’t need that money. Give it for free to a true fan and make their day”.

“Shouldn’t be be paying someone to be his roadie and PA for the day? Not like he’s short of a bob or two is it”? a fifth person asked, with a joker adding: “‘ Hello this is Gene Simmons from KISS and I need you to send me $12k for you to be my roadie ‘ is like Instagram scam DM material”.

People were especially infuriated by Gene’s money-making scheme considering his jaw-dropping net worth, which is estimated to be around $400 million as of this year, according to Finance Monthly.

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Maura Higgins and Danny Jones have been laying low after it was revealed the duo shared a kiss at a recent event.

Earlier this month, Love Island star Maura and her I’m A Celeb co-star Danny were seen sharing a boozy 3am kiss at a BRIT Awards afterparty. Maura, Danny and his wife Georgia have yet to publicly comment on the incident but the McFly singer and his wife were recently seen together enjoying a stroll.

Georgia most recently broke her silence by sharing a black-and-white photo of her and Danny’s seven-year-old son named Cooper. Meanwhile, Maura has been focused on her work and has only been posting about her projects on social media. An insider has claimed she’s ‘ keeping her head down because she isn’t enjoying this one bit’.

“Normally with Maura, everywhere she goes, it’s tagged on social media – be it a restaurant, event or city – she likes people knowing where she is”, the source said.

Speaking to The Sun, they claimed: “The negative comments have hurt her bad. No wonder she’s fled the country. But Maura is deliberately shying away because she just wants to ride out this furore”. They went on to say she’s ‘ badly hurt ‘ over the comments about her ‘ kissing a married man’.

The Mirror have reached out to Maura’s reps for comment. It comes after a pal told The Mirror that I’m A Celebrity Danny and his wife are still ‘ very much together ‘ and are working through their problems after they were pictured in public putting on a show of togetherness.

A source recently said: “They are clearly looking to put things behind them, and move on with their lives. It really hasn’t been a good time at all but they are very much together”.

Onlookers remarked how the two appeared “very serious” after being seen in Richmond, south-west London, nursing coffees as they walked on the green, but a source said: “They are positive people and can look to the future together. Things have been hard but they are moving forward as a couple”.

The pair have kept a low-profile ever since Danny was caught on film at 3am kissing Maura on March 2, at the London afterparty. The pair were seen smiling as they left the London bash shortly afterwards. A second video emerged showing Danny and Maura at another party at Nobu Hotel in Marylebone.

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DJ Fatboy Slim has shared just how close he still is to his “soulmate” ex-wife Zoe Ball, vulnerably opening up to her on a regular basis.

Norman Cook, who goes by the stage name Fatboy Slim, still holds his ex-wife on a pedestal, and said the pair can talk openly about their struggles with being in the limelight. The star shared intimate details about his life in the autobiography ‘ It Ain’t Over ‘ Til The Fatboy Sings’, which he describes as a coffee table extravaganza, with at least 1, 000 images.

The book shares details about Norman’s life growing up, from fame with The Housemartis to clubland legendary status, the Bromley-born star didn’t hold back, including when discussing his relationship with former Radio 2 presenter Zoe.

Despite their divorce in 2020, the pair remain close, thanks to their son Woody, 24, and daughter Nelly, 15, and Normal hails his ex-wife for being his rock while struggling with fame.

While his career was thriving, the success almost derailed him, and he credits his ex wife, who he married in 1999 – with keeping him on the straight and narrow. As someone who also understood what life was like under the microscope, he shared how he’d find safety in her.

Praising Zoe for her support, he said: “In the 90s, I was having too much fun to think about the next day or the next thing. It was like being on top of a big wave and you had to stay on. You concentrate on not falling off. It became a whirlwind, but to be honest Zoe helped me through it as she knew that level of fame before. Zoe is a very kind, thoughtful person and she just had this way of just checking my ego like ‘ We are still human beings. We are still nice to people.

Norman says of Zoe:” She brought me through the trickier bits. If you are out with your mates you can’t say to them ‘ I am having trouble coping with fame. ‘ You are not going to get a lot of sympathy.

“But to Zoe I could say ‘ I am a bit scared. Is this not scary? ‘ We could talk about it as we were thrust into the same spotlight. It was nice to have a soulmate in there with you. ‘

More recently, they have supported each other when they have each lost their mums. And they cherish their lasting closeness and their privacy – one of the reasons why they haven’t made a reality show together, despite many offers.

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Meghan Markle’s former celebrity supporter has turned her back on the actress turned royal.

Katherine Ryan was previously a supporter of the Duchess of Sussex, and had previously said of her part in the Royal Family: “I love Meghan Markle ‘ s voice and her confidence to challenge the norm and what’s expected of her in that role”.

However, following the release of Meghan’s new Netflix series With Love, Katherine has made her feelings about Meghan very clear, and accused her of “lying” about knowing who Prince Harry was. Katherine also claimed that Meghan was putting on an “act” that was very “manicured” and “forced”, as she slammed the Netflix star.

Speaking on her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything, she said: “I liked Meghan Markle. I was rooting for Meghan Markle… though she is very Hollywood – even for me – and I don’t like that in people. I see now, and maybe it’s just the projects she’s choosing, it does feel like she has lied about whether she knew who Prince Harry was, and these details about her childhood change and don’t add up.

” She said on her new Netflix show that they ate TV dinners growing up. But then in an old interview, she was like, “we would eat farm fresh”. Her whole act just seems very manicured and very forced. “

Meghan’s Netflix show was released earlier this month, but it was heavily criticised by fans, who fumed over the expensive recipes and her own father even accused her of being” unauthentic”.

Now, one of the crew working on Meghan’s show has lifted the lid on what she was really like. They told People:” She made sure everyone felt included, from Netflix executives to our director to every PA on set. No one was left out.

“Most of the time, we’re expected to fade into the background, to be invisible. But in this show, we were part of it. We were included. It was a very unique and refreshing experience”.

Meghan herself added of working on set: “It feels as though we’re just spending time together, which is what it ended up being. I’d make a recipe and say, ‘ Everyone try this, ‘ and there are certain dishes where you just watch everyone flock in. I’d say, ‘ We’ve run out of spoons! ‘ It ended up feeling so communal, and that’s the spirit of the show”.

The show will make a return as Netflix have commissioned a second series. In one scene from the first series, Meghan corrected her friend Mindy for using the wrong surname. She told her friend: “You keep saying, Meghan Markle, you know, I’m Sussex now. You have kids, and you go, ‘ now I share my name with my children’… I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go ‘ this is our family name, our little family name. ‘”

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