Confirming a rumor that started a few weeks ago, AJ Benza announced today on his blog that we won’t be seeing him return as co-host on GSN’s popular show (in the poker community at least) High Stakes Poker.
Instead, viewers will be met with the site of an as-yet-unnamed female co-host standing next to Gabe Kaplan, who reportedly will be returning for Season 6.
Early rumors have Vanessa Russo filling the slot, which would make sense on a number of levels: she’s easy on the eyes, has some name recognition with the general public, and can presumably hold her own when it comes to play-by-play. That said, there doesn’t seem to be much backing up those rumors besides wishful thinking at the moment. We’ll keep you posted.
Benza was, as you might expect, less than thrilled by the news and how GSN went about breaking it to him. From his blog (in an entry titled: A FLOP, A TURN and a RIVER of Shit):
“What really bugs me – and I’ll be sure to tell this to Barry Nugent (who wants to have a lunch with me for other opportunities at GSN for me) is that I spoke to both Schiff and Nugent and I asked them if they were fathers. They jubilantly said they were. So surely they would know the hardships of losing a top-rated gig while raising little children in the process. (Oh and did I mention that I have a son who is a Freshman in college, So armed with my track record on giving GSN 5 seasons of a No. 1 rated show,I decided to hit them in the spot where it’s supposed to make a father go mush.”
“I said….”Let’s talk man-to-man and father-to-father.” They said,”Absolutely.”
I unashamedly told those two guys that if I dont get my gig back…..”your basically putting a man and his family on the street. Is that what you want on your concience?”
Apparently it was.
High Stakes Poker Season 6 is set to film over the next few weeks at the Golden Nugget. The lineup for the next season isn’t set yet, but at least one player is confirmed: Barry Greenstein, who has promised to work in at least one utterance of the now infamous “Bing, Blang, Blaow” catchphrase during the show. Other cast members we wouldn’t be surprised to see: Tom Dwan, who had a real breakout performance in Season 5, Patrik Antonius, who has been a regular fixture at the HSP table, and some combination of Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari.
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