People

By Josh Tyrangiel

I'LL TAKE NAKED GUY TO BLOCK

There remains the possibility, however slight, that despite the column inches dedicated to Survivor winner RICHARD HATCH's nudist lipidian foibles, we don't know everything about him. For his part, Hatch is endeavoring to wipe out these pockets of ignorance. "I didn't have liposuction," says Rich about his new svelte-ish physique. "But if you saw that flopping around stuff on the last episode--I had that removed. It's called resection, and it's skin that could not retract from having lost more than 140 lbs. It had been stretched past the point of healthily ever being able to come back." While we await word on Rich's sebaceous cysts, the Survivor king and his island mates have committed to taping a special series of Hollywood Squares, to air Sept. 25-29. The smart money says Rich's answers will be false.

HE'S EVEN BETTER AT MONOPOLY

All appearances to the contrary, BILL GATES is sort of a geek. With billions of dollars in pocket cash, his hobbies might reasonably include small-country collecting or skyscraper demolition, but instead the founder of Microsoft prefers good ol' granny-playin' bridge. Naturally, he is not just a hobbyist but a competitive player, and last weekend he participated in the mixed team finals of the North American Bridge Championships in Anaheim, Calif. While the Gates squad finished 50th out of 52 teams, Mr. Bill seemed buoyed just to be in the heady air of all those bridge geniuses. "The game is so deep," noted Gates in a statement released during the tournament. "There's always something you can learn." Gates also reportedly told competitors he "will be back bigger and better next year." The Department of Justice has been advised.

THE WIZARD OF AWS

In the end, it was not Haley Joel Osment, Frankie Muniz or Emmanuel Lewis. Much to the pleasure of a mildewing island nation, Harry Potter will be played by Brit youngster DANIEL RADCLIFFE. (If you're keeping score in such casting matters, that's--give or take--Britain 1, America 100,000.) Radcliffe, 11, told a London press conference that upon hearing of his selection as Harry in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," I cried, and I was just really excited." He has not seen recent photos of Macaulay Culkin. Radcliffe, the son of a literary agent and a casting director, has acted before, in the BBC production of David Copperfield and an upcoming John Boorman film. He further impressed members of the fourth estate by acting very cute. "I think I'm a tiny bit like Harry, 'cos I'd like to have an owl," he piped in. "Yeah, that's the tiny bit, actually."

TIME TO STOP TWEEZING

Mexican painter FRIDA KAHLO befriended Leon Trotsky, married Diego Rivera and was the first woman to sell a painting to the Louvre. She endured polio, a horrific bus accident and a lifelong addiction to painkillers. In short, not since Daniel Day-Lewis tied his right foot back has a role been such a lock for an Oscar. So it's no shock that SALMA HAYEK and JENNIFER LOPEZ--Hollywood's biggest Latina stars--are warring over the role. Lopez revealed recently that she's set to star in a Kahlo biopic directed by Luis Valdez (La Bamba) for Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope studio, while Hayek has been developing her version for Miramax. The part would add depth to Lopez's resume and may provide a much needed hit for Hayek, who's been in more turkeys than Stove Top. But both should know Kahlo often portrayed herself with a unibrow and mustache.