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Chet Hanks is explaining why he's finally doing reality TV after years of offers coming his way ... and Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are a big reason why he's popping his cherry.

Chet tells TMZ ... he turned down tons of reality TV opportunities over the years because the shows felt too negative, dramatic and messy ... until MTV came calling with a spot on "The Surreal Life."

After doing his homework and vibing with the producers, Chet says he felt good about joining the cast ... and a discussion with his parents pushed the deal across the finish line.

What a week ... Trump shot, Richard Simmons and Shannen Doherty died, and that was just on Saturday. So we gotta ask ...

Everyone from Muhammad Ali, to Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather, have fought in the United States ... so when Eddie Hearn says the upcoming "Riyadh Season" event in L.A., featuring a bunch of top-notch fights, as well as a performance by Eminem, will be the biggest in the history of boxing in 'Merica, that's saying a lot!

"I mean, it's the biggest night of boxing I think America's ever seen," Hearn told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

The August 3 event goes down at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles ... and features a main event bout between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov, in addition to scraps between Andy Ruiz and Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller, Jared Anderson and Martin Bakole, "Pitbull" Cruz and Jose Valenzuela, amongst other compelling matchups.

"But first, let me take a selfie" ... at least that's Penn Badgley's MO! Find your best lighting and see if you can pick up the sneaky switcharoos in these two photos. You may want to phone a friend!

While filming "You" in New York City earlier this week, the actor was snapped taking a #selfie with a hyped crowd. Penn was buttoned up and tightly buckled, but can you pull off the discreet changes?

Put one foot in front and walk towards Mr. Badgley ... You've got this!

Glen Powell welcoming little pup Brisket into his life while he was filming "Twisters" is having a paw-sitive impact, not just on Glen and Brisket, but on the rescue org that helped connect them.

Samantha Peraino, Head of Operations for The Labelle Foundation, tells TMZ the whole process kickstarted when someone from the actor's team slid into their IG DMs after they posted a gallery back in June 2023, revealing the 10 ½-week-old puppy up for adoption.

She says Glen's rep notified them of his interest and asked about the next steps. Glen then filled out an application and met the pup in person, and it was love at first bark. He then paid the $700 adoption fee (which includes chipping and spaying/neutering) to make it official ... and they hooked up shortly thereafter.

Donald Trump reunited with Melania, $2 billion Powerball winner Edwin Castro has a smoking hot girlfriend, and Mike Perry is making big moves ... all this on today's TMZ TV Hot Takes.

First up on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles break down Melania's interactions with Donald at the Republican National Convention ... including what may or may not have been a smooch.

It's hot up here in Hollywoodland, so the celebs are heading down deep and making quite the splash! Under the sea is where it's at, so say goodbye to the stars on dry land and come seas the day with these mighty STARfish!

Snorkeling celebs like Steve Aoki hit 45 feet below the surface into the Caribbean blue, while Iggy Azalea looked quite "Fancy" exploring coral down in Aussie ... And, other swimmin' stars like Rob Lowe and Rebel Wilson look right at home inside Davy Jones' locker!

Thomas Matthew Crooks took in the lay of the land at the Donald Trump rally ... reportedly by flying a drone over the event before climbing a roof and opening fire.

The would-be assassin filmed aerial footage with the drone shortly before Trump took the stage ... law enforcement sources told the Wall Street Journal.

Crooks flew the drone along a pre-planned route ... suggesting Trump's shooter did a good amount of research at the site of the Butler, PA rally.

Count Joel Kinnaman among the mass of air travelers grounded by a massive tech outage ... he got stuck in an airport overnight, and had to use the ground as a mattress.

We got the 'Suicide Squad' star Friday at LAX and our photog asked him how the outage impacted his travel plans ... and Joel told us about his nightmare situation, which a helluva lot of other people also went through to cap off the week.

The weary traveler says it took him almost 24 hours to get across the country ... because his flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles was delayed due to the tech snafu -- so he was right there with everyone else suffering through it.

Kyle Richards is playing cheerleader for Morgan Wade ... while estranged husband Mauricio Umansky vacations halfway across the world with a much younger actress.

The 'RHOBH' star was backstage for Morgan's concert Friday at the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival in St. Paul ... supporting her close friend and dressing to the nines. We're told Kyle had an appearance at the festival for 'Mamitas', a tequila drink that she is a part-owner of.

Kyle's very public show of support for Morgan comes only hours after we got photos of Mauricio lounging at a beach club in Greece with Nikita Kahn -- where they were getting handsy and looking very much like a new couple.

Glen Powell's crushing it in Hollywood -- but he's got other priorities these days that have nothing to do with movies ... like trading a bit of the spotlight to hit the books.

We got the A-list actor outside NYC's ABC Studio Thursday -- and we asked him about his recently-revealed plans to enroll at the University of Texas at Austin ... where he'll be gunning for a degree in Radio, Television and Film.

Glen tells us he's doing this to finish what he started -- sounds like he hit the pause button on school to pursue a career in front of the camera -- but he's got other people to please too.

President Biden ain't throwing in the towel just yet -- 'cause top-level Dems are throwing another big fundraiser for him in the near future ... and David Letterman's going.

The news just came down from AP -- which says Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is hosting the shindig for Joe on July 29 out in Martha's Vineyard ... where they'll be hanging out at a private home that apparently belongs to a friend of Green's.

In terms of DL's involvement ... word is, he's set to headline the get-together -- so, in other words, he'll be the talent ... and probably moderate things as the emcee.

Jordin Sparks isn't feeling great about her chances to replace Katy Perry as a judge on "American Idol" ... but she's still open to a call, and even has a sense of how she'd do it.

We caught up with the 'Idol' alum in L.A., where she confirmed she was totally serious when she pitched herself as the new judge for season 23 -- and while she believes that fell on deaf ears ... she also says she'd still love to return to her 'Idol' roots.

Jordin says hiring someone like her to fill in for Katy makes sense in her mind -- 'cause she's been on the show and has the experience ... but of course, it ain't really her call.

Amber Rose did a parody of Vanilla Ice's hit hip-hop classic at the Republican National Convention -- and if you're wondering if the man himself is bent outta shape about ... well, we have an answer.

Vanilla tells TMZ ... he does indeed have ownership rights to "Ice Ice Baby" -- the track that Amber and rapper Forgiato Blow spoofed to promo their support of Donald Trump at the convention this week -- and VI notes he didn't approve the track to be used for GOP purposes.

He goes on to tell us that the publishing company that also holds rights to the song didn't clear it either -- which is why it got yanked off of YouTube ... but in terms of whether Vanilla is actually upset about it ... it doesn't really sound like he is.

Thomas Matthew Crooks' honor society membership seems to have been all for show -- because we now know that the dude didn't go to events ... and was unknown to members.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, TMC certainly was part of the local Phi Theta Kappa chapter at the Community College of Allegheny County -- but just on paper, because in terms of anyone knowing or interacting with him ... we're told that simply never happened.

We're told Thomas never attended any events or functions within the honor society as far as PTK brass is aware -- and more importantly ... we're told no one even knew this guy's name/face until it was reported in the media that he was a member of the org.

Caitlin Clark is opening up on her decision to pass on the WNBA's three-point competition on Friday ... saying it all came down to getting some much-needed rest.

The Indiana Fever star is notably not among the sharpshooters taking part in the long-distance All-Star Weekend event ... and many wondered why the league's biggest star declined to be involved when it could have been an opportunity to get more eyeballs on the organization.

Clark provided some answers earlier in the day ... explaining she's been playing non-stop for a long time -- and she wants to put her energy into helping her Fever teammates, rather than prepare for the contest.