How to watch Greasing of the Poles 2025
👋 Chelsea here. My Mardi Gras miracle starts at 10am today, and you can be there.
What's happening: The Royal Sonesta asked me to be one of four contestants for Greasing of the Poles.
Between the lines: I'm nervous. Are you nervous? Because I'm definitely nervous.
Catch up quick: The Bourbon Street hotel started greasing its poles 55 years ago to keep overeager Mardi Gras revelers from climbing up onto its balconies.
But over time, they've turned the tradition into competition.
I'll be greasing alongside Fleurty Girl founder Lauren Haydel, food influencer Evelyn Bories and bounce king HaSizzle. One of us will walk away the 2025 Greasing champion.
No pressure!
What's next: See you there?
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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
‘There Is No Feud': Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood Tell All on Their ‘White Lotus' Connection, a Cut Love Scene and Yes, Why He Unfollowed Her on Instagram
'Rick and Chelsea, may your souls be tied forever.' That's how Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood were first introduced, via a text from producer David Bernad. There was no chemistry test, no read-through, so the soon-to-be co-stars hadn't met yet. More from Variety 'The Boys' Mocks 'The Last of Us,' 'House of The Dragon' and 'The Bear' in 'Superclass' FYC Clip (EXCLUSIVE) Could AI Help the Emmys? Why the TV Community Is 'Curious, but Not Yet Committed' Emmys Just Aren't Quite Sure What to Do With Eligibility for All of This Season's Guest Stars and Cameos 'He said, 'I'm Scorpio,' and I said, 'I'm Scorpio moon.' And then we both didn't know what to say after that. 'See you in Thailand!'' Wood is laughing and looking to Goggins to confirm, which he does with a nod. The pair has only seen each other once since the February premiere event. Now, it's the first weekend of May. And a lot has happened since then. Namely, the entirety of HBO's 'The White Lotus' Season 3 came and went. Audiences fell in love with the mysterious Rick Hackett and his free-spirit girlfriend, Chelsea. Their love story was an up-and-down, complicated journey that featured Chelsea consistently trying to pull her boyfriend from a dark spiral as he struggled with the fact that the man he believed had killed his father was close by. Ultimately, that spiral got the best of him, resulting in both his and Chelsea's deaths. 'I think we were there for a day or two without meeting because I was so fucking in my head alone,' Goggins says. Then he texted her to come over for lunch. She remembers, 'I didn't know what to order. I was like, 'Can you pick for me?' I was so nervous.' Goggins was nervous, too. But their journey started before she reached the table. 'The minute she walked around the corner, I felt, 'This is gonna work,'' he says. 'Two minutes into the conversation, it felt like I've known this person for 100 years.' So began their tradition of meals together. The cast stayed at the Four Seasons in Thailand and naturally, due to the filming schedule, spent most of their times in their own character bubbles: The women (Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan); the Ratliffs (Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola and Sarah Catherine Hook); and Chelsea and Rick. Schwarzenegger would hold group dinners or breakfasts to debrief, but it quickly became too much for the duo. 'I don't mean to sound like an asshole, it's not method or anything, I just felt like I needed to stay in the space,' says Goggins. Wood agreed, 'Both of us would get overwhelmed.' She refers to them as the 'foxes' who would run in, grab food and run out. 'But there were never any negative vibes,' Goggins says before I can even ask. Yes, he's aware of the rumors. Isaacs has referred to tension on set in a few interviews, once saying that during filming, there were 'fewer deaths but just as much drama' as on the show. 'We'd never lived on a set. This is the first time we were all experiencing basically a reality TV show,' Wood says. 'I think we both struggle with work-life balance anyway, so it's hard because there's not even separation in distance.' Since wrap, there's been distance between Goggins and most of the cast because he's been working 70-hour weeks on 'Fallout.' While most watched the finale together at an event, he was alone in New York for a late-night appearance. 'I probably wouldn't have gone anyways,' he says at first. But within 15 minutes of discussing the finale, both are tearing up and he admits to Wood, 'I wish I would have been able to watch this with you. It was so cathartic and so painful, and I regret that. I really do.' Mostly, they both realized something at the same moment while watching: A key Chelsea and Rick love scene had been cut. In the finale, the characters have an emotional reunion on the beach, then went to their bedroom and discuss their relationship. Wood says it had a 'similar feel' to the 'that's the plan' scene at breakfast, confirming their love for each other. It also involved an intimate sex scene. 'We designed the whole journey, even down to the fact that Chelsea gets on Rick in the first [love] scene. Then in the last episode, it was Rick picking Chelsea up. It was so, so delicate,' Wood recalls. Goggins echoes her. While the first love scene showed their connection, 'the last one was two people who were free. It was this very long, suspended moment of these two people looking at each other. It was so powerful.' With that, he picks up my recorder and yells a message for creator Mike White: 'Fuck you, Mike! We want a director's cut!' But back to other topics. Goggins is the 'most enthusiastic man ever,' Wood says — something I didn't need to hear. When he came in for the 10 a.m. photoshoot, his energy was contagious. 'Let's have some fuckin' fun,' he told our crew as he walked into the photo studio in West Hollywood, carrying his own speaker and asking to connect his own music. First, he played Soul Coughing's 'Screenwriter's Blues,' and followed up with Led Zeppelin. The pair didn't see each other until Wood finished taking her solo photos a bit later. While she didn't bring her own music, she suggested 'Miss You' by the Rolling Stones before he entered: 'Anything Stones I think, now that Walton's coming in.' Visibly emotional seeing each other, the two embraced for 30 seconds as the Variety team suddenly felt we were intruding on a private moment. The laughter then began almost immediately, and their photo shoot transitioned into a dance party. After, they asked to step outside for a quick break. 'We were saying outside, 'We can't start crying!' We're the two most emotional, sensitive people!' Wood says with a laugh. But there's a reason for the emotion. There's a reason that they've hugged multiple times, held each other's hands and continuously exchanged compliments during our conversation. Part of that is because of how much Wood helped Goggins through the darkness. 'I was alone purposely in this experience — not selfishly, not narcissistically,' he says. 'Everyone has their process. Mine is being alone. But Aimee as Chelsea wouldn't let me do that.' On set, she'd tell him, 'You're going into the sad, parallel world. Stay in the real one.' So, let's talk about the real one. First, I bring up 'Saturday Night Live,' since, at the time of our chat, Goggins is seven days out from hosting. A week before his gig was announced, Wood called out the show's 'mean and unfunny' parody of her. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't host, she says. 'I was so upset when people [said that],' she says. 'For fuck's sake, of course Walton should do 'SNL.' That's got nothing to do with me. He's fucking had a career for, like, how long?' Without missing a beat, Goggins responds, '70 years.' Wood continues, commenting on the sketch show: 'I said it, and then the next minute, [lowers her voice,] 'Aimee caught crying over 'SNL' skit.' I was not crying over the 'SNL' skit. I was over it the minute I said it.' As she continues, she sits up, chin up. 'This is an important moment for me, because what I would usually do is see it and turn the anger inward. I thought, I'm just gonna say it, so I don't spiral.' Goggins puts it perfectly: 'That's self-love.' It's hard not to share the transcript of the next part of the discussion: Wood: 'I know for a fact a man wrote that. It wasn't Sarah Sherman, don't hate on her. I didn't like the concept. Take the piss out of me. Do the teeth! I've got the teeth, but, like —' Goggins: 'You have the most beautiful smile in the world, you know that.' Wood: 'Thank you. The punch line should not be how I look. That's what bothered me. Do the caricature, because that's what 'SNL' is. It felt misogynistic. It felt like the punch line was a woman's appearance, which is just not funny. It's not cool.' Goggins, picking up my microphone: 'Here it is everybody. Dude in the U.K., we'll get to that too.' At the time, Goggins, half-asleep and heading into makeup to become the Ghoul, shared the parody clip and complimented Jon Hamm's impression of him. Hours later, he saw Wood's response, felt awful and deleted his post. 'Then the next day, I made a vicious swipe against my friend? I've been posting for 14 fucking years, and if I'm gonna say something, but I'm gonna say it to your face,' he says. 'I don't use social media in any way, and I'm not a mean guy.' He picks up my recorder again: 'That's the story.' But earlier, he mentioned the 'dude in the U.K.,' referencing the Times' story, which was published 48 hours before we sit down, with the headline, 'Walton Goggins: Aimee Lou Wood? I'm not gonna have that conversation.' First, he wants to make one thing clear about his relationship with Wood. 'There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me,' he says, getting choked up. Goggins turns to look at Wood. 'This is Goldie Hawn. This is Meg Ryan. She can do anything, and she will. You watch what the next 20 years of her experience will be. I'll be on an island, I think Greece. But she's special. There is no feud. She is love and I know that I am that to her. We care about each other very deeply.' The Times interview wasn't the time for the discussion, he says, first because Wood wasn't there. 'What am I gonna do, speak for both of us? Never.' Goggins says the reporter asked three different times about Wood and had a 'divisive nature.' The last question, he says, compared Goggins' teeth to Wood's, asking if they'd bonded over that. 'What he was insinuating, it was so disgusting. It was so appalling. I was flabbergasted. And I said, 'Fuck mate, wow. I think we're done here,'' Goggins says. When he mentions the story calling him 'sleazy,' Wood is shocked. 'What???' she gasps. 'How horrible!' I make sure that Wood has a chance to speak about the rumors and the fact that Goggins unfollowing her on social media has made headlines for months. 'I think it's such a comment on where we're at culturally. Why is everyone obsessing over Instagram? That is irrelevant. We don't give a shite about Instagram,' she says. 'Why not have conversations about the story and Rick and Chelsea and enjoy it?' At first, Wood wanted to correct people and bring it back to the show, but knew anything she said would get twisted: 'Eventually I just started to sit back and watch these people making something out of absolutely nothing.' She pauses and Goggins scooches to the edge of the couch, leaning into the recorder more. 'If I may add, just to put this to bed? The following or unfollowing. I'm a grown-ass man.' Long story short, Goggins isn't good with goodbyes. 'When I left 'Justified,' I went up to Tim [Olyphant], and I hugged him and I said, 'I love you, and I hope I see you in rooms for the rest of my life,'' he says. 'I didn't talk to him for almost two years. I've done that with every single thing that I've done.' 'The White Lotus' was no different; in fact, it was painful. In 2004, his wife died by suicide. He spent the next three years traveling and searching for peace. It led him to Thailand, then to Bangkok. When he arrived in Bangkok on set, he realized he was in the exact same place. 'My catharsis in this experience was different than other people's, because of my history in this place. I knew what we had gone through, and I knew how close that we had gotten, and I needed to begin to process saying goodbye to Rick and Chelsea,' Goggins says, beginning to cry. 'And I knew that that was going to take a while for me, so I let her know, this is what I've gotta do. And she was extremely supportive about that.' After filming ended, 'I needed to just back away from everyone,' he says. 'I haven't spoken to anyone. I couldn't handle it. Judge me or don't. I don't give a fuck what you think. This is my process. Rick means everything to me, and Chelsea means everything to me. And so that's what I needed to do for me to process all of this.' He jokes that if he had been following Olyphant or his 'The Shield' co-star Michael Chiklis, he would have unfollowed them after those shows wrapped, too. 'You know what?' Goggins laughs and gets up. 'I'll follow you right now!' He heads across the room to find his phone, coming back to sit with Wood. He opens Instagram and becomes one of her 3 million followers. 'It's all so ridiculous,' he says. 'It's just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for fucking ever.' They hug again, and Wood tells him, 'I completely understand.' He tells her, 'I love you.' With tears in his eyes, he continues, 'I'm emotional because we haven't been in the same city to ever talk about this. So for me, this is just so wonderful.' I begin wrapping up, aware that Wood has to catch a flight to New York. 'Hopefully that answers everybody's questions,' he says. He's wiped his tears. The contagious smile is back. 'What else? Do you guys want to talk about astrology?' Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Chilled Cole Palmer ready to play ‘wherever' and win spot in England XI
Things that Cole Palmer is not bothered about – part 89. Golf. Which is a pity as he is spending a warm-weather training week with England at the magnificent Camiral Golf & Wellness resort; the expected venue for the 2031 Ryder Cup. Formula One. Palmer attended the Barcelona grand prix on Sunday with Thomas Tuchel and the rest of the England squad, which he thought was good. 'I went to the one in Abu Dhabi not long ago,' he says, presumably meaning the race in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. Who knows, who cares? 'But I fell asleep at that one.' Advertisement Related: Eberechi Eze on his bike as England's World Cup 2026 preparations heat up The searing heat in the United States, which Palmer will experience with Chelsea in the coming weeks at the Club World Cup. And then again next summer if and when England qualify for the World Cup, which is also being hosted by Canada and Mexico. 'It will play a part because I'm not used to it, but I don't think it will be a big problem,' he says. Oh, and southerners. Manchester's finest made a comment last summer about how he was finding them hard work after his first season at Chelsea. Has he come to terms with them now? 'No, they're all still moody,' he says. 'I think because it's so busy, they're all stressed. It must be a southern thing. I don't live in central London. Sometimes I go in but I couldn't live there.' If Palmer is a unique talent on the pitch, he is unique to interview, as well. Short shrift is his default setting; plenty of his answers are monosyllabic, some just a sound – hmmm. A shrug. It is impossible to ignore the quintessentially Manc vibe. Advertisement Palmer has a deadpan expression which wonders: 'Why are you asking me that?' Example: how is he spending his downtime at the Camiral? 'Play PlayStation … Fifa,' he replies. Like, seriously? As on the pitch, Palmer is cool, cold. He is highly entertaining. When was the last time Palmer was angry? 'Errr,' he says, after a typically long pause. 'I don't really know. Maybe when I'm playing PlayStation. I'm not just a robot like you guys in the media think I am … and don't show no emotion. Obviously when there's no cameras and I'm on the phone to my mates and I'm doing stuff I enjoy doing …' Palmer is asked where his temperament comes from. 'Maybe my dad,' he says. 'He's laidback like me. My mum says: 'Try and be a bit more involved and a bit more smiley and energetic.' Maybe she's like that but me and my dad are just too laidback, I think.' And yet nobody in the room at the Camiral, which is dominated by a beautiful Jack Nicklaus watercolour, can fail to be assaulted by Palmer's single-mindedness; the steel and hunger. It is there when he talks about Chelsea, how they proved the doubters wrong in the closing weeks of the domestic season to secure a return to the Champions League, sewing up qualification with the final-day victory at Nottingham Forest. Advertisement 'Because we had that little spell where we weren't too great … everyone was saying: 'They're not going to get Champions League,'' Palmer says. 'So to get it was good. We finished well. When we got it at Forest, it was like a relief.' Palmer has a Champions League winners' medal from 2022-23 with Manchester City, although he was an unused substitute in the final against Inter; indeed, he did not get off the bench in any of the knockout rounds. He has only made one start in the competition – in City's dead-rubber final group tie that season against Sevilla. This time, with Palmer having turbocharged his profile and influence, it stands to be different. 'I always say that I don't feel like a Champions League winner,' Palmer says. 'It doesn't really mean anything to me. When people say it … yeah, but I didn't play, I wasn't involved. Obviously I played in the group and stuff like that but it's not the same, is it? I've still got the medal, I've not thrown it away. But it's not like I feel like I've won it.' Palmer's focus is on England. Having missed Tuchel's first camp in March because of injury, he is determined to impress in Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Andorra in Barcelona. There is then the friendly against Senegal in Nottingham next Tuesday. Advertisement The issue for Tuchel is how best to accommodate Palmer when he also has Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden. It is the same issue that his predecessor Gareth Southgate faced; ditto Lee Carsley, who was in interim charge before Tuchel took over. Southgate never started Palmer in a competitive game. He used him exclusively off the bench at Euro 2024 where the 23-year-old came on to score the equaliser in the final against Spain, a game that England would lose 2-1. Palmer has 11 caps to date; four as a starter. Foden has missed out on this camp because of injury. 'It's play well at my club … hopefully people can see it and I can turn into a starter for England,' Palmer says. 'Last season I played all wide [in midfield] and this season I've moved [more centrally]. Wherever he [Tuchel] puts me, I'll play.' Palmer's goal against Spain was the perfect illustration of his ability to live in the moment and seize it, oblivious to the pressure. It was a similar story in Chelsea's Conference League final win over Real Betis last week, albeit the stakes were not as high. One-nil down, Palmer said he was 'sick of going backwards and sideways'. So he trusted his skill, ran at Betis and made it happen with the assists for 2-1. Chelsea won 4-1. Advertisement Palmer is back on the up after an unfathomable dry spell from mid-January when he went 18 matches without a goal. The run ended with the penalty against Liverpool in the fourth-last game of the Premier Leagueseason. He finished with 15 goals and 12 assists in all competitions. 'Things weren't happening for me and it went on a bit longer than I thought it would,' Palmer says. 'But I spoke to people about it and they explained it's going to happen. They said that when I get out of it, I'll be an even better player. When you go to Chelsea and you jump up and then you go into a dip, you think: 'What's going on?' But I didn't mind …' Palmer catches himself, and there is a rare line from him before he remembers who he is. 'Well, obviously, I did mind,' he says. 'But I didn't think: 'Ah, this is the end of the world.''
New York Times
4 days ago
- New York Times
How should Chelsea's 2024–25 season be graded?
Chelsea's 2024–25 campaign undoubtedly ended on a high. They clinched their first major honour since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover after defeating Real Betis 4-1 in the Europa Conference League final, and secured Champions League qualification for the first time under their ownership with a 1-0 win away at Nottingham Forest on the final day to finish fourth in the Premier League. Advertisement However, the season also had its lows. They were uncharacteristically knocked out of both the FA and Carabao Cups in the fourth round by Brighton and Newcastle, and won just two of 10 Premier League games between December 22 and February 22 — a stretch that included their heaviest loss of the season, a 3-0 defeat away at Brighton. So, how should their season be viewed overall? On the latest episode of Straight Outta Cobham, with help from listeners, Matt Davies-Adams and Liam Twomey discussed how Chelsea's 2024–25 season should be graded. A partial transcript has been edited for this article. The full episode is available on the Straight Outta Cobham feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Matt: We asked listeners to grade Chelsea's 2024-25 campaign, and lots of them got in touch with us. We had a couple of A grades from Yahoo and Andrew. Yahoo said, 'We achieved the Champions League and won a trophy, what more could we want in season one with Enzo Maresca?' Andrew said, 'We hit all the objectives, and unlike the last two seasons, have shown some sign of improvement.' Alan graded it a B and said, 'It would be higher if the football hadn't been such a struggle to watch at times and if we hadn't dropped five points against Ipswich. I can't argue with the end result, though, and stability will hopefully bring progress.' There were also a couple of slightly lower grades which came in. Four Aces said, 'I'd give it a C+, it was decent but it came down to the last game in the league and the second half in the Conference League final. It could have gone very differently.' GCP graded it a C- and said, 'Bare minimum given the level of investment and the relative standard of the league. I think the squad was good enough to get another 15 points. I want to see evidence of Maresca getting the best out of players other than Cucurella.' Advertisement B or B+ feels about right to me, Liam. Obviously, it could have been very different had things not gone the way they did right at the end of the campaign, but you can't say that Chelsea haven't achieved what they set out to at the start of the season. Albeit I like that caveat from Alan that the football was difficult to watch at times, and we'd be lying if we said it wasn't, wouldn't we? Liam: Yeah, but I think you also have to view it in the context of, 'Remember what the football was like under Graham Potter in that wasteland of a season two years ago?' That's still the personal low point for me in a decade of covering Chelsea. And then last year, I know people remember some of the thrilling, more goal-happy games under Pochettino, but there were also some pretty sterile possession games against low blocks. Admittedly, that wasn't a completely new thing this season, and yes they scored 13 more goals under Poch in 2023-24, but they also conceded 20 more goals. So when I look at the step forward this season, it's primarily defensive and primarily in terms of structure. And yes, that isn't going to get Maresca any brownie points with fans for entertainment, but I think it's an essential step for Chelsea to actually become a better team. Overall, I'd grade it a B. To me, a B is a solid pass, like job done… at least it was for me at GCSE. But certainly a B in the Conference League because that was par for the course, they had to win that. Even Real Betis, the best team that they faced, were significantly less talented and that showed in the final, but they still took care of business. And it looked for a while like they might not in the Premier League, even though the first half of the season lined up brilliantly for them. Until the turn of the year, there was no one making a play for second, never mind fourth. And I know Aston Villa and Newcastle finished strongly, and Man City finally got their act together to some degree and made it competitive. But Chelsea had this big advantage that they then blew away essentially in the space of two or three miserable months. But they pulled themselves together when they needed to, they found that grit, and they finished really strongly. So they deserve credit for that. But when you're looking at the season in totality with the way the campaign panned out, and looking at the other teams, I didn't think there was much of an excuse for Chelsea not to make the top five. So to finish fourth meant job done. Chelsea can move on now and look to strengthen this summer, look to have a good showing in the Club World Cup, and we'll see where it goes from there. But it was a solid and encouraging first season for Enzo Maresca. You can listen to full episodes of 'Straight Outta Cobham' for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. (Top Photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
