pattistanger

Back for season 3 of her Bravo reality show, 'Millionaire Matchmaker,' Patti Stanger promises 12 action-packed episodes featuring appearances by Jason "Gummi Bear" Davis, season 2 scourge Shauna Raisch and the increased inclusion of gay and lesbian clients.

Oh yeah, and Stanger just got engaged herself and recently published a book, 'Become Your Own Matchmaker.'

With the show set to start its new season tonight at 10PM ET, we caught up with outspoken matchmaker.

Lately, I feel like I need a shower after watching an episode of any of the Real Housewives on Bravo. The franchise is getting progressively trashier, which probably doesn't bother Bravo because the ratings have continued to boom.

This latest news might help The Real Housewives of Orange County when it returns. Reality star Lynne Curtin has been accused of stealing furniture from the house she'd been renting for the show. Not only that, but the homeowner is claiming Curtin also destroyed property before vacating.

That image is diametrically opposite of the one presented on the show. Curtin's home was never revealed to be a rental for starters. Her domestic situation was also seemingly secure and stable, with no problems with her husband and children.

It's not too surprising when similar shows or movies suddenly appear at the same time, seemingly without one party knowing that the other project was even in the works. In fact, in the pilot for NBC's Lipstick Jungle -- which looks like ABC's Cashmere Mafia's twin sister -- the Brooke Shields character is a movie executive who learns that her company, which has been developing a Galileo biography for Leonardo DiCaprio, is competing with a rival studio that's also making a movie about the famous astronomer. In other words, these things happen all the time in show business! That's the case on cable TV now with not one, but two shows about a professional matchmaker.

The shows A&E's Confessions of a Matchmaker and Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker couldn't be more dissimilar in style. They're like different sides of the same coin: heads you're schmoozing in a hot tub with a Malibu millionaire, tails you're riding a Zamboni with a guy who works at a suburban ice-skating rink. That's how diametrically different these matchmaking yentas are! Aside from their passionate desire to make matches that work, the only other factor linking the Confessions' matchmaker to Millionaire's is that they share the same name, Patti!

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