The 9 0'Clock News – Thu 8 Oct

Posted by heatworld on Thursday 08 Oct 2009

Filed under: Anton Du Beke, Ashley Banjo, Bruce Forsyth, Davina McCall, Diversity, Paris Hilton, Robbie Williams, Strictly Come Dancing

Robbie Williams: "I was hours from death"
Robbie Williams has admitted in a new interview that he was less than "24 hours from death" at the height of his addiction to prescription drugs, and that if his management team hadn't intervened when they did and taken him to rehab, then he wouldn't be alive today. "I was on my way out," admits Robbie. "I might have been 24 hours from dying." Robbie says he took a cocktail of prescription drugs, including up to 20 Vicodin pills a night, which is one of the drugs Michael Jackson was found to be taking. "At the time you don't give a shit if you pop your clogs," Robbie admits. "You get to the point that far into your addiction, you're not bothered whether you live or die, because that's where it takes you." Robbie has now recovered from his addiction, but says he still struggles from time to time – especially with his self-confidence. "Maybe I am a good example?" he says. "Who knows?"

Brucie defends Anton's "P***" comment
Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth has stepped in to the row over Anton Bu Berk – as we're now calling him – calling his partner Laila Rouass a "P***", saying we need to get a sense of humour about it. "For goddness sake," he complains. "I was watching Matthew Wright's show this morning and they had a Pakistani lady who said, 'We call each other Pakis all the time,'. We used to have a sense of humour about this." Talking to TalkSport radio, Brucie went on to say, "Anton is a lovely sensitive guy. OK, he can be a bit mouthy and say quick things off the cuff like I do. I'm sure there was nothing vindictive about what he said." The BBC have now received a total of 426 complaints about the incident, with many of them calling for the dancer to be sacked.

Paris Hilton to quit partying? Surely not!
Paris Hilton has declared that she's "too busy" to go partying anymore, and that the LA club scene is no longer any fun. "I went out the other night and it was brutal," she explained. "Cheesy people and annoying – I didn't have fun." Paris says she now works so much of the time that early mornings have ruled out late nights. However, she does plan on doing a bit of partying whenever she's in Vegas. Is that it? We give her two weeks before she's back out on the LA club scene...

Diversity's Ashley Banjo to be judge on dance show
Diversity's very-gorgeous frontman Ashley Banjo has been given a new job – but this time he'll be judging the dancing rather than taking part. The 20-year-old will join host Davina McCall and fellow judges Kimberly Wyatt (from the Pussycat Dolls) and actor Adam Garcia on Sky1's new talent show Just Dance. Ashley feels he is in the perfect position to take on the role, explaining, "No one knows better than me how a contest like this can discover raw talent. It's a thrill to be on the other side of the desk this time." We're more thrilled about the idea of being able to watch Ashley without him moving around all the time... The show will start in January – we can't wait.