Author: Jawdah Hannad Basara

Itzik Cohen has never been a covert performer. With a fearlessness uncommon in the entertainment industry, he has continuously placed his body at the center of his work, from drag performances in the 1990s to portraying a morbidly obese man on screen in 2009’s A Matter of Size. Therefore, the fifth season of Netflix’s Fauda got into trouble when viewers started questioning the actor who plays Gabi Ayub, the rumpled, sharp-tongued Shin Bet handler, about his apparent weight gain. These days, the discussion began on Reddit. Comments on a thread in the r/fauda community ranged from genuine concern to shock.…

Over time, the public grew accustomed to Brandi Glanville’s outspoken, sharp-tongued, and unvarnished persona, which is what made her stand out on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. For some time now, that version has been mainly absent. On September 6, she posted something different on Instagram. A kitchen. A portable pump connected to an IV bag. Her bicep was covered with a bandage. And a woman describing how her days now look like this, clearly exhausted. Although the complete picture has emerged gradually and in fragments, Glanville, 53, has been dealing with severe health problems for some time. Fans’…

The parking lots outside dozens of well-known pub-restaurant buildings throughout Britain were already emptying differently by Monday morning. Something more permanent than the typical post-lunch lull. On September 7, Brewers Fayre closed all 89 of its restaurants in the United Kingdom. The remaining 106 Beefeater locations will follow on Thursday, September 10, three days later. All told, 195 restaurants were closed in a single week, bringing an end to nearly 50 years of history. The closures were announced back in April by Whitbread, the parent company of both chains and the Premier Inn hotel group. Rather than being impulsive, the…

Since 2017, Mark, Cathy, Victoria, and Jono have appeared on Australian television screens. They are warm, boisterous, and uncensored, just like real families are when they don’t realize the cameras are on. Based on their travel schedules, Travel Guides have established themselves as a mainstay throughout several seasons and continents. However, in the middle of all those long-haul flights and hotel buffets, the conversation about the Frens subtly changed from where they were going to how they looked. When a family has been in the spotlight for almost ten years, it’s difficult to ignore a shift. As soon as the…

You don’t typically worry about this type of food. It’s a sandwich filler and side dish that you can easily grab on a Tuesday afternoon. However, Tesco customers who are allergic to mustard had every reason to reconsider—and act swiftly—this week. Tesco is recalling its Finest Caesar & Smoked Bacon Coleslaw after it was discovered that some 270g packs contained Tesco Finest Four Cheese Potato Salad, an entirely different product with mustard that was not disclosed on the coleslaw label. The use-by date on the impacted tubs is September 4, 2026. It’s a simple packaging error, the kind that occurs…

In a recent interview, Yotam Ottolenghi discusses soaking beans, or more accurately, why he no longer does it. He says, “I’m not going to soak the beans the nite before,” but then he realizes that his admission almost makes him laugh. After all, this is the same man who used to have home cooks searching for barberries and dried limes on a Tuesday night. For many years, a particular kind of food enthusiast wore Ottolenghi recipes as a badge of honor, demonstrating their patience, pantry discipline, and willingness to prepare dinner 48 hours ahead of time. It feels like more…

A tiny piece of aluminum stuck in a baking pan was discovered by someone at the Richmond, Virginia, food production facility. Almost 23,000 pounds of ready-to-eat food were removed from store shelves in several states as a result of that one discovery, which was unremarkable on its own. Two types of the company’s Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce, a comfort food mainstay offered in heat-and-serve packaging at Kroger, Publix, Food Lion, and Wegmans stores, are the dessert items at the center of the controversy. It’s possible that the majority of customers who picked up one of these containers on a…

Something changed when Randy Jackson returned to the American Idol stage in May 2026 as a guest mentor for Season 24. Not just the setting- a sentimental reunion commemorating 20 years since the fifth season of the show- but the man himself. He approached the table slowly. Longtime admirers stopped scrolling because of the way his suit jacket hung off his shoulders. Comment sections were overrun in a matter of hours. “That can’t be Randy,” an Instagram user commented. “He is completely unrecognizable.” Watching that footage makes it difficult to ignore how long and winding the road has been. A…

The way Australians treat the women they say they love is subtly unsettling. When she won the first season of MasterChef Australia in 2009, Julie Goodwin—warm, humorous, and the kind of home cook who feels like someone’s mother—won over four million viewers. Out of over 7,000 applicants, she was selected. Everyone was defeated by her. And now, sixteen years later, the only thing being discussed about her is her body size. After receiving comments about her apparent weight loss for weeks, if not months, Goodwin finally posted on Instagram in July 2025. Although the post was measured, it was clear…

They appear innocuous. They really do. Packed in a tan plastic container shaped like the kind of bamboo steamer you’d find at a dim sum restaurant, these translucent little balls have cartoon faces stamped on them and glitter swirling inside like a snow globe. The entire thing seems to have been created with the intention of making it impossible for kids under ten to resist. This is precisely what occurred, of course. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning that the toys’ water beads could expand if swallowed, increasing the risk of choking and intestinal blockage, leading to…