Iza Calzado, TV's reigning 'Beauty Queen'

Award-winning actress Iza Calzado once dreamed of becoming a beauty queen. "When I was in elementary school, I thought of wearing a crown one day. But after I gained weight, the thought never crossed my mind again."

Now, she is thrilled at the opportunity to play the role of a beauty queen in her new primetime soap of the same title. This marks her return to a lead role in a TV series after a long hiatus. Her last lead assignment was for a non-primetime soap, Kaya Kong Abuting ang Langit (The Heaven Is Within My Reach) in 2009,

In Beauty Queen, she will be pitted against a real title holder, former Binibining Pilipinas winner Maggie Wilson.

"No pressure at all. Everyone in the cast has been very helpful, especially Maggie. During breaks, she would tell us stories about her stint in Miss World, it was shocking."

During a press conference, Wilson confessed she was harassed at the Miss World 2007 pageant in China.

"In this series, we will show not just the glamour and prestige of beauty pageants, but also the ugly side of the business — the back-biting, the harassments, and all the intriguing things that happen behind the scenes," Calzado said.

In another first for the unusually traditional actress, Calzado will be showing some skin. "Yes, it will be the first time that I will be wearing a swimsuit. A lot of people say that since I was raised in Canada I will be less traditional. It was actually being raised there that I have come to embrace traditional Filipino values."

And no, Calzado emphasises, she didn't have go under the knife to prepare for her role. "It's actually a good thing I didn't have a major project for year," she laughs. "I used the downtime to really trim down not knowing I'd be having a project like Beauty Queen."

Scent of Kho, anyone?

With his showbiz and medical career seemingly over after figuring in a scandal last year, former celebrity doctor Hayden Kho has launched his own line of perfumes. Last year, Kho's medical licence was revoked after he secretly videotaped intimate trysts with actress Katrina Halili. His TV appearances have also stopped, save for some interviews pertaining a court case filed by Halili due to the scandalous videos.

"This is a line of fragrances created in Paris. We have 13 variants and we categorised it based on personality. For every personality, we have a certain perfume," Kho said.

He also admitted he wants to go back to medical practice, "but until I am able to do so [he is appealing the revocation of his licence], I'll focus on this business and hopefully reactivate my showbiz career, too."

When Cruz-ing Goes Horribly Wrong

John Lloyd Cruz has promised to stay away from Ruffa Gutierrez after reports circulated last week saying the actor still calls his former girlfriend.

Cruz said he only calls Gutierrez as a friend, but sources close to the beauty queen-turned-actress confirmed that there were also several messages in which he still professes his love for her.

This may only be a case of Cruz still missing Gutierrez, but the problem is he is now in a relationship with teen actress Shaina Magdayao, whose big sister, Vina Morales, is Gutierrez's gal pal. After the reports came out, Cruz released a statement saying he is staying away from Gutierrez for good.

Rivera's epic return

Marian Rivera is planning to take a short break from her showbiz commitments to prepare for an epic TV series that GMA will produce next year. She just finished a soap series and is currently busy filming Super Inday, a remake of an '80s box office comedy top-billed by Maricel Soriano.

The movie is vying for a slot in the Metro Manila Film Festival in December. Titled Amaya, the fictional epic series which will be shown on TV will span several centuries of Philippine history. Rivera is cast as a woman blessed with extraordinary powers, which she used to lead her people in a male-dominated society.

Heart-to-heart

Heart Evangelista announced she is not renewing her contract with Anabelle Rama, who is co-managing her career along with her parents. This enraged the feisty manager, who told the media at a press conference that Heart is an "ingrate and good-for-nothing star" until she revived her career by transferring her from ABS CBN to GMA 7 two years ago.

Heart responded by tweeting: "Contracts are made to end…I am thankful to those who have helped me. No need for bad words..Have a KitKat."