‘Truth’ emerging in pool party tiff

The she-said, she-said spat between Hugh Hefner's ex, Holly Madison, and local TV reporter Alicia Jacobs continues to escalate.

KVBC-TV, Channel 3 began running promos Tuesday, saying Jacobs will be airing the "truth" on Thursday.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton ran blog responses from each on Monday and Tuesday.

The tiff started Saturday at the Palms Place pool, when Jacobs came away from an interview at Hefner's 83rd birthday party convinced that Madison had dissed her dress.

Madison opened the interview by saying the dress was "an interesting choice for a pool party."

When I reached Madison for comment on Sunday, she insisted that she intended the remark as a compliment.

Madison also said she was unaware that Jacobs had previously gone out with Madison's ex-boyfriend Luxor illusionist Criss Angel.

In her blog Monday, Madison said Jacobs was acting like "someone desperate for ratings trying to start a bunch of gossip to get her name in the papers."

Jacobs responded by saying Madison "has made a 'career' out of dissing other women to get to the top."

Jacobs said the Playmate's "inexperience" was apparent during the interview, adding parenthetically "her publicist later explained that she is not quite as media-savvy as most of his other clients."

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Former Las Vegas Academy student Julianne Hough is leaving "Dancing With the Stars" to concentrate on her music career.

"I will be taking next season off," she told Fox News online, adding that she'll be busy touring (as Toby Keith's opening act) and bringing out "the real Julianne Hough."

She won the Top New Artist award at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday at the MGM Grand. Her self-titled debut album opened at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart last year and No. 3 on the Billboard 200. ...

TV Land network's third season of "High School Reunion" will feature alumni of Las Vegas' Chaparral High School's class of 1989. Chapparal alum include "CSI" creator Anthony Zuiker and Brandon Flowers and Mark Stoermer, members of the alt-rock group The Killers. ...

Sad news: Bill Fry, the "mystery man" who allowed a homeless teenage blues singer and her father to inhabit a luxury condo he owned, has died. Fry, 72, died Sunday in Carmel, Ind., after suffering heart problems on Friday. Fry, who owned a group of radio stations in Shreveport, La., before moving here about five years ago, turned over his Turnberry condo to Louisiana singer Sarah Todora and her father, Phil, for six months in 2006 to help her start her career. He also made a $250,000 donation to the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth to build a housing facility. Last year, Fry donated $15 million to the Indiana University Kelley School of Business to fund an undergraduate scholarship program for financially challenged students.

SIGHTINGS

A frail Samantha Ronson, showing strain from a souring relationship with troubled actress Lindsay Lohan, performed Monday as a celebrity DJ at Privé (Planet Hollywood Resort).

Earlier, she was seen texting while having dinner solo at nearby Strip House.

THE PUNCH LINE

"There's a brouhaha over in England. Michelle Obama touched the queen. It's thrown Buckingham Palace into a tizzy. ... The queen's like a stripper -- you can look, but you can't touch." -- Craig Ferguson

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.