Latest news with #SmartLess
Metro
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Gordon Ramsay reveals moment he 'collapsed' while holding his son for the first
Gordon Ramsay has opened up about the alarming moment he fainted during the birth of his fifth child, Oscar. The TV chef, 58, recalled the scary moment with a few chuckles in hindsight while appearing on a recent podcast. The Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares star was not present in the delivery room for the arrival of his first four children – Megan, 26, twins Jack and Holly, 25, and Tilly, 23 – at the request of his wife Tana, 50. 'Let's make one thing absolutely clear, my wife didn't want me in there,' Gordon explained on SmartLess podcast. 'First of all, [Tana] said, 'I want my mum and your mum in there, you're not going to see me in that state, that side of the curtain, get out of there.' That was her decision and I had to respect that decision. Talking about the arrival of Oscar in 2019, Gordon said: 'When I did finally arrive in the theatre for our fifth baby I collapsed like a wimp! I blacked out holding Oscar in the air.' Gordon explained how Oscar arrived via C-section – or 'through the sunroof,as he put it. The TV chef was then asked what song he wanted to listen to. 'There was a lot of commotion going on,' Gordon recalled, 'I said, 'Can you play Ed Sheeran?' so they started playing Ed. They turned up the volume. 'I saw two more doctors dive in, I looked on the floor and there was blood everywhere. All of a sudden they popped him out and they came straight over to me and I went, 'Wow, wow, wow!' I sat back and collapsed like an idiot.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Gordon and Tana married in 1996 and two years later Megan arrived followed by the rest of their brood, and most recently son Jesse James, who was born in 2023. The pair kept Tana's pregnancy with Jesse tightly under wraps until his arrival, with the mum-of-six taking to social media after he was born revealing they'd endured a 'nerve-wracking 9 months'. She also added: 'Ramsay family complete.' Talking on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast in 2024, Tana opened up about Gordon's lack of presence in the delivery room. 'He would've gotten all squeamish and probably fainted and all the attention would've been on him, and this is my moment,' she said, mirroring Gordon's story hilariously closely. Elsewhere in the podcast, Gordon discussed how in his downtime he likes to compete in Ironmans – a long distance triathlon consisting of a 2.4mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2mile run. 'Lots of people are scared of that level of exercise,' he said, explaining: 'I know it sounds crazy, but for me it's a way of relaxing.' This podcast appearance comes after Hell's Kitchen chef admitted his three Michelin starred eatery Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is 'too posh' even for him. More Trending Gordon – who has earned 17 Michelin stars over his career – said on The Savoy Originals podcast: 'There's a very fine line, running it or indulging in it. 'I've only had dinner at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay twice in 25 years. 'Once was for Megan's birthday, and the second time was with Bradley Cooper when we were together for the film Burnt. 'It's not my style. It's too posh for me. It sounds weird, right?' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Yes, more and more celebrities are entering the phone business. Here's why
More and more celebrities are looking to attach their names to your phone. Or rather, wireless services that could power it. From cosmetics to snacks and signature spirits, brands launched or co-owned by high-profile figures are just about everywhere you look today. But several big names are also venturing into the market for mobile virtual network operators - or MVNOs, an industry term for businesses that provide cell coverage by leasing infrastructure from bigger, more established carriers. U.S. President Donald Trump's family was the most recent to join the list with the launch of Trump Mobile this week. Here's what to know. Which big names have entered the phone business? On Monday, The Trump Organization (currently run by the president's sons Eric and Donald Jr.) unveiled Trump Mobile. The company says this new business will offer cell service, through an apparent licensing deal with "all three major cellular carriers" in the U.S., and sell gold phones by August. Trump Mobile marks the latest in a string of new Trump-branded offerings - which already span from golden sneakers to "God Bless the USA" bibles - despite mounting ethical concerns that the president is profiting off his position and could distort public policy for personal gain. "This raises a real question about a conflict of interest," said Ben Bentzin, an associate professor of instruction at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. As the sitting president, Trump appoints leadership for the Federal Communications Commission - and the family's new phone venture exists under this regulatory authority. All of this sets Trump Mobile apart from other big names that have recently ventured into the wireless business. Still, its launch arrives as a growing number of celebrities tap into this space. Just last week, actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett launched SmartLess Mobile, a name that mirrors the trio's "SmartLess" podcast. Now live across the contiguous U.S. and Puerto Rico, SmartLess Mobile runs on T-Mobile 's 5G Network. Another wireless provider with ties to fame is Mint Mobile . While not launched by celebrities, Ryan Reynolds purchased an ownership stake in Mint in 2019. Mint's parent, the Ka'ena Corporation, was later acquired by T-Mobile in a deal worth up to $1.35 billion. Beyond names of famous people, well-known brands that weren't traditionally in the phone business have also got in on the action over the years - particuarly outside of the U.S., Forrester Research senior analyst Octavio Garcia Granados notes. He points to Walmart's "Bait" mobile plan in Mexico, for example, as well as Italian soccer club AC Milan launching its own mobile SIM cards for fans. "The MVNO market is not new," said Granados. "What's new is the development on how it's consumed and the (ease) for brands to launch such plans." MVNOs have also emerged outside of high-profile brands or launch teams. Bentzin points to Straight Talk and Cricket - which are now owned by Verizon and AT&T , respectively. Still, traditional celebrity endorsements are common across the board. And in recent years, "influencer marketing" has been "the fastest growing area of advertising and promotion," he notes. What are these cell services offering? Why were they launched? For Trump Mobile, the pitch seems to be all about having an "all-American service" while also tapping into the fan base of the president. The company noted Monday that it chose to unveil Trump Mobile on the 10th anniversary of Trump launching "his historic presidential campaign." The name given to its flagship offer, The 47 Plan, and the $47.45 monthly fee make reference to the president's two terms. And a mock-up of the planned gold phone on the company's website shows Trump's "Make America Great" slogan on the front screen. According to the company, Trump Mobile's 47 Plan will include unlimited calls, texts and data through partner carriers, as well as free roadside assistance and telehealth services. It also says the new phone, called the "T1 Phone," will be available for $499 in August - but notes that this device won't be designed or made by Trump Mobile. Still, the company emphasized that these phones will be built in the U.S. Experts have since shared skepticism about that being possible in two months. And beyond the future T1 Phone, others stress that a monthly cell service fee of just under $50 is pricey compared to other MVNO options today. "It's not actual lower pricing. It's really trading on the fan base, if you will, of Trump," said Bentzin. SmartLess Mobile and Mint Mobile, of course, don't carry these same political ties. And the wireless plans offered by both boast less expensive offerings. T-Mobile-owned Mint advertises "flexible, buy-in-bulk" plans that range from $15 to $30 a month. Each option includes unlimited talk and text nationwide, but vary depending on plan length and data amount. Mint, founded in 2016, says it started "because we'd had enough of the wireless industry's games" - and promises to help consumers avoid hidden fees. SmartLess Mobile's plans also start at $15 a month. Depending on the data amount purchased, that base fee can rise to $30 - but all of its plans similarly offer unlimited talk and text using T-Mobile's network. When launching last week, SmartLess underlined that its goal is to help people stop paying for the data they don't use, noting that the majority of data used by consumers today happens over Wi-Fi. "Seriously, if your phone bill knew how often you're on Wi-Fi, it would be embarrassed," Hayes said in a statement for SmartLess Mobile's June 10 launch. What's the demand? MVNOs have proven to be attractive acquisitions to big wireless carriers over the years. But whether or not the star factor promises significant demand has yet to be seen for the market's most recent entrants. For the more established Mint Mobile, Reynolds' investment is a success story. The 25% stake that the actor reportedly owned in 2023, when the company announced that it would be acquired by T-Mobile, was estimated to give him a personal windfall of over $300 million in cash and stock. And since that deal closed, Reynolds has remained in his creative role for Mint and as the face of many campaigns - helping the brand continue to attract new customers. It's no surprise that the potential of such business returns might attract other celebrities to make similar investments, Bentzin notes. Still, newer ventures are untested. And "as the market becomes more crowded, it could be harder and harder to pick off individual consumers," he added. Beyond a high-profile name, quality of service and what consumers can afford is also critical. "The competition battleground here is brand and price," Bentzin said. Still, if the marketing is right and product meets consumer needs, experts like Garcia Granados note that MVNOs can be a profitable business, for both the brands that start them and the telecommunications giants - like T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T - offering this "wholesale" access to their infrastructure. As a result, he said, such high-profile ventures become "a catalyst for others to follow." (AP Business Writer Bernard Condon contributed to this report from New York.)
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Yes, more and more celebrities are entering the phone business. Here's why
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips NEW YORK: More and more celebrities are looking to attach their names to your phone. Or rather, wireless services that could power it. From cosmetics to snacks and signature spirits, brands launched or co-owned by high-profile figures are just about everywhere you look today. But several big names are also venturing into the market for mobile virtual network operators - or MVNOs, an industry term for businesses that provide cell coverage by leasing infrastructure from bigger, more established carriers. U.S. President Donald Trump's family was the most recent to join the list with the launch of Trump Mobile this week. Here's what to know. Which big names have entered the phone business? On Monday, The Trump Organization (currently run by the president's sons Eric and Donald Jr.) unveiled Trump Mobile. The company says this new business will offer cell service, through an apparent licensing deal with "all three major cellular carriers" in the U.S., and sell gold phones by August. Trump Mobile marks the latest in a string of new Trump-branded offerings - which already span from golden sneakers to "God Bless the USA" bibles - despite mounting ethical concerns that the president is profiting off his position and could distort public policy for personal gain. "This raises a real question about a conflict of interest," said Ben Bentzin, an associate professor of instruction at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. As the sitting president, Trump appoints leadership for the Federal Communications Commission - and the family's new phone venture exists under this regulatory authority. All of this sets Trump Mobile apart from other big names that have recently ventured into the wireless business. Still, its launch arrives as a growing number of celebrities tap into this space. Just last week, actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett launched SmartLess Mobile, a name that mirrors the trio's "SmartLess" podcast. Now live across the contiguous U.S. and Puerto Rico, SmartLess Mobile runs on T-Mobile 's 5G Network. Another wireless provider with ties to fame is Mint Mobile . While not launched by celebrities, Ryan Reynolds purchased an ownership stake in Mint in 2019. Mint's parent, the Ka'ena Corporation, was later acquired by T-Mobile in a deal worth up to $1.35 billion. Beyond names of famous people, well-known brands that weren't traditionally in the phone business have also got in on the action over the years - particuarly outside of the U.S., Forrester Research senior analyst Octavio Garcia Granados notes. He points to Walmart's "Bait" mobile plan in Mexico, for example, as well as Italian soccer club AC Milan launching its own mobile SIM cards for fans. "The MVNO market is not new," said Granados. "What's new is the development on how it's consumed and the (ease) for brands to launch such plans." MVNOs have also emerged outside of high-profile brands or launch teams. Bentzin points to Straight Talk and Cricket - which are now owned by Verizon and AT&T , respectively. Still, traditional celebrity endorsements are common across the board. And in recent years, "influencer marketing" has been "the fastest growing area of advertising and promotion," he notes. What are these cell services offering? Why were they launched? For Trump Mobile, the pitch seems to be all about having an "all-American service" while also tapping into the fan base of the president. The company noted Monday that it chose to unveil Trump Mobile on the 10th anniversary of Trump launching "his historic presidential campaign." The name given to its flagship offer, The 47 Plan, and the $47.45 monthly fee make reference to the president's two terms. And a mock-up of the planned gold phone on the company's website shows Trump's "Make America Great" slogan on the front screen. According to the company, Trump Mobile's 47 Plan will include unlimited calls, texts and data through partner carriers, as well as free roadside assistance and telehealth services. It also says the new phone, called the "T1 Phone," will be available for $499 in August - but notes that this device won't be designed or made by Trump Mobile. Still, the company emphasized that these phones will be built in the U.S. Experts have since shared skepticism about that being possible in two months. And beyond the future T1 Phone, others stress that a monthly cell service fee of just under $50 is pricey compared to other MVNO options today. "It's not actual lower pricing. It's really trading on the fan base, if you will, of Trump," said Bentzin. SmartLess Mobile and Mint Mobile, of course, don't carry these same political ties. And the wireless plans offered by both boast less expensive offerings. T-Mobile-owned Mint advertises "flexible, buy-in-bulk" plans that range from $15 to $30 a month. Each option includes unlimited talk and text nationwide, but vary depending on plan length and data amount. Mint, founded in 2016, says it started "because we'd had enough of the wireless industry's games" - and promises to help consumers avoid hidden fees. SmartLess Mobile's plans also start at $15 a month. Depending on the data amount purchased, that base fee can rise to $30 - but all of its plans similarly offer unlimited talk and text using T-Mobile's network. When launching last week, SmartLess underlined that its goal is to help people stop paying for the data they don't use, noting that the majority of data used by consumers today happens over Wi-Fi. "Seriously, if your phone bill knew how often you're on Wi-Fi, it would be embarrassed," Hayes said in a statement for SmartLess Mobile's June 10 launch. What's the demand? MVNOs have proven to be attractive acquisitions to big wireless carriers over the years. But whether or not the star factor promises significant demand has yet to be seen for the market's most recent entrants. For the more established Mint Mobile, Reynolds' investment is a success story. The 25% stake that the actor reportedly owned in 2023, when the company announced that it would be acquired by T-Mobile, was estimated to give him a personal windfall of over $300 million in cash and stock. And since that deal closed, Reynolds has remained in his creative role for Mint and as the face of many campaigns - helping the brand continue to attract new customers. It's no surprise that the potential of such business returns might attract other celebrities to make similar investments, Bentzin notes. Still, newer ventures are untested. And "as the market becomes more crowded, it could be harder and harder to pick off individual consumers," he added. Beyond a high-profile name, quality of service and what consumers can afford is also critical. "The competition battleground here is brand and price," Bentzin said. Still, if the marketing is right and product meets consumer needs, experts like Garcia Granados note that MVNOs can be a profitable business, for both the brands that start them and the telecommunications giants - like T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T - offering this "wholesale" access to their infrastructure. As a result, he said, such high-profile ventures become "a catalyst for others to follow." (AP Business Writer Bernard Condon contributed to this report from New York.)
The Verge
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Verge
How Donald Trump and Ryan Reynolds can easily sell you phone plans
Blame Ryan Reynolds. With a new wireless brand from the hosts of SmartLess emerging last week, and the debut of Trump Mobile this week, it sure seems like there's a hot new trend in Celebrities Selling Things: phone service. How did it come to this? Why can't they just stick to tequila? I talked to a couple of experts about the situation, and it's not entirely the Deadpool actor's fault. But also: it is kind of his fault. To be clear, none of these celebrities / political figures are building new cell networks from scratch. What they're launching are Mobile Virtual Network Operators, or MVNOs. These are companies that buy wireless service from the three big US carriers and re-sell it. It's a business model that has existed for decades, Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart tells me. 'They address market segments that carriers can't or don't want to address with their main brands,' he says. Older customers, people whose first language isn't English, people with bad credit — they're all prime targets for MVNOs. It's an attractive arrangement for the big carriers since they may have extra network capacity that would otherwise go unused. 'They get a guaranteed return on their network investment,' Greengart says. 'If you're T-Mobile for example, you might have spare capacity on the network that you've built. So it makes sense to basically rent some of it out.' 'Mint Mobile proved that you could build the business if you could generate your own audience.' MVNOs may be decades old, but I can't shake the feeling that I've been hearing about them a lot more recently. Gerrit Schneemann at Counterpoint Research says that 5G may be partially behind that. The additional capacity that 5G allows compared to LTE is helping more MVNOs get off the ground. 'Having 5G networks available, you have the capacity to actually run these [MVNOs] and to some extent, may not be as capacity constrained in some places,' Schneemann says. On top of that, MVNOs are more attractive to customers than ever. The rise of eSIM technology has also helped reduce the friction in signing up for an MVNO, Schneemann says. Also, since we're handling more and more of the services we use every day strictly online, people are also probably more willing to sign up for an MVNO than they were five or six years ago. And then there's the Ryan Reynolds of it all. In 2019 he bought an ownership stake in Mint Mobile, an MVNO using the T-Mobile network, and became the brand's spokesperson. The combination of clever ads and a unique pricing model won a lot of people over and turned it into a lucrative venture for Reynolds, who sold the business to T-Mobile — the company that was already running Mint's network — in a deal worth up to $1.35 billion. Greengart thinks that was a tipping point for the MVNO business, or at least, the celebrities-backing-MVNOs business. 'Mint Mobile proved that you could build the business if you could generate your own audience … And that has attracted other people who have or can create audiences.' That's how we wound up living in a world where the President's family's company sells wireless service, which I don't think is a scenario any of the Founding Fathers could have foreseen. And as weird as that concept is, Greengart thinks it's kind of a natural fit for Trump's whole business ethos. 'The Trump Organization is a branding operation, even in real estate.' He points to the company's licensing business model of charging developers to use the Trump name on their projects — without having to risk its own money on it. 'That's kind of what an MVNO is,' Greengart adds. Where there's a captive audience, there's a marketing opportunity; so the saying goes. Or something like that. Either way, I don't think this is the last time we'll hear from a public figure ready to sell us wireless service. Guess we have Ryan Reynolds to thank for that.
Atlantic
18-06-2025
- Business
- Atlantic
Why Would the Trump Family Want to Run a Phone Company?
The Trumps are doing phones now. This week, the Trump Organization announced its own cellphone service called Trump Mobile, as well as a gold-colored smartphone called the T1, which will purportedly be manufactured in the United States and retail for $499. It is available for preorder now and will supposedly ship in August or September, though one reporter who attempted to buy the device was left feeling unsure: His card was charged $64.70 instead of the full $100 down payment, and he was never asked to provide a shipping address. What other details do you need? 'Trump Mobile is going to revolutionize kind of, you know, cellphones,' Eric Trump, the president's son and an executive for the Trump Organization, said on Fox Business. According to Trump Mobile's Terms of Use page, its service will be 'powered by' Liberty Mobile, which itself runs on T-Mobile and uses the clever tagline 'Let Freedom Ring.' Other marketing materials confuse the issue by suggesting that Trump Mobile works with all three major carriers. The phone plan will cost $47.45 a month, which is somewhat expensive for this type of service but makes sense numerologically with Trump's brand (47th and 45th president). To be clear, Trump is not building out his own networking infrastructure. Trump Mobile will be a mobile virtual network operator (or MVNO). These essentially buy service from major providers such as T-Mobile and AT&T at a discounted, wholesale rate, and then sell that service to customers who are comfortable with making various compromises in exchange for a much lower bill than they'd have with the mainstream carriers. This is about the extent of the available details. The Trump Organization did not return my request for additional information about where the phone would be made and by whom, nor did it answer my question about whether the phone currently exists physically. (The images on the website appear to be not photographs, but questionable mock-ups—the camera is depicted without a flash, as noted by The Verge.) I also asked the Trump Organization whether the Trump family faces a conflict of interest in entering an industry that is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, an agency led by presidential appointees; no response. But I was most interested in my unanswered question about why the Trump Organization would want to be involved in the telecom industry at all. To some extent, the answer is obvious: The Trumps are involved in such a sprawling array of moneymaking endeavors, it would make more sense to ask whether there are any they would not consider trying. They've done quite a bit in the tech sector already, between NFTs, memecoins, a social-media platform, and other fascinating ventures. Still, the choice is curious, if only because operating a cellphone service seems so boring and unglamorous. It's also funny timing: Last week, the actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, who co-host the super-popular podcast SmartLess, announced SmartLess Mobile, a discount phone plan that also relies on T-Mobile. That move was not well explained by its participants, either. In an interview with People about the move, Bateman said twice that most people listen to podcasts on phones, and therefore the telecom industry is a logical one for podcasters to enter. 'It just kind of organically shaped into something that really made sense for us to try,' he added. Did it? The celeb phone companies remind me, a little, of the ISP that David Bowie launched in 1998, which for $19.95 a month offered 'full uncensored' internet access, Bowie-themed chat rooms, and a coveted '@ email address. That service lasted for eight years, which is pretty impressive, but it was more of a highly laborious artistic experiment and act of fan service than an effort to maintain and profit from digital infrastructure long term. Today's businesspeople appear to be more directly inspired by the actor Ryan Reynolds's fortuitous investment in Mint Mobile, another MVNO, which sold for more than $1 billion in 2023. What they're doing is a step further than what he did, because they're not just investing in an existing phone company: The Trump Organization and the SmartLess guys are putting their names on something new. The question, then, is: Why would phone companies suddenly appeal to the type of people who might otherwise put their names on bottles of tequila or pickleball paddles or what have you? I emailed Steffen Oefner, a vice president at Magenta Telekom, the Austrian iteration of T-Mobile (MVNOs are more common in Europe), to ask him. ' Interessent point,' he replied. 'One answer is … because they can.' The MVNO industry now has a number of middleman companies that will do the work of negotiating with a network and then allow brands or influencers to simply put their name on a ready-made product, he explained. Setting up an MVNO is significantly cheaper than it was 10 years ago. 'We do expect more celebrity brands or fan-base MNVOs to appear in the mobile market,' he said. To add to my list, he gave the example of LariCel, a phone company in Brazil affiliated with the actor Larissa Manoela (who has more than 53 million followers on Instagram), which refers to its customers as LariLovers. After reviewing the list of personalities who appeared at a recent MVNO conference held in Vienna, I found James Gray of Graystone Strategy, which consults with clients in the MVNO space. He agreed with Oefner about the ease of starting an MVNO and also pointed to the invention of digital SIM cards, or eSIMS, which enable people to switch to a new phone plan instantly, without having to wait for a little piece of plastic to be shipped to them. 'Now we're in a digital world,' he said. This general point had multiple implications. Previously, he said, companies such as T-Mobile would have preferred to partner with retail companies or banks, enticing new customers by offering them special deals on products or services they were already using. Today, a digital brand such as that of 'an influencer or someone running a podcast' can also sell a service, maybe by saying that it represents their values or that it comes with access to a community. 'Trump would be a relatively famous brand,' he noted. As another example, he pointed to FC Barcelona, which recently started offering an MVNO called Barça Mobile to its many, many super-enthusiastic fans as a way to be even more intensely involved with the club (while also receiving cheap phone service). The SmartLess guys are pitching their new venture by saying that a lot of people currently pay for more cellphone data than they actually use, given that they are actually connected to Wi-Fi most of the time (suggesting, I suppose, a customer base that is often either at home or in an office). The Trump plan will offer roadside assistance and access to a telehealth service (suggesting, I suppose, a customer base that is older or generally accident-prone). In the U.S., other politics-themed MVNOs also already exist—the California-based Credo Mobile puts some of its profits into left-wing causes, while the Texas-based Patriot Mobile puts some of its profits into right-wing causes. (The latter identified itself as a trailblazer of 'the Red Economy' in a press release congratulating Trump Mobile on its launch.) Gray concluded that the appeal of the phone business to the celebrities was obvious. 'The difference between this and, say, a celebrity vodka is this is recurring revenue,' he told me. 'People sign up and they pay a subscription to you every month.' (That was also the case with Rihanna's underwear membership, though people did eventually get upset about it.) And of course, he's right—that is the big difference. That is why a famous person would want to run a phone company. We're in a digital world now. How lucky.
