For 5 years AJ Benza has been the host and commentator for the TV show High Stakes Poker on GSN. The show has been a big success and also the show on GSN with the most viewers. Now the managers at GSN have decided that the show needs a new host and therefore AJ Benza has been fired. The new host is according to different rumors going to be the hottest female poker player right now, Vanessa Rousso. But this is still rumors and nothing has been confirmed by GSN.
When Benza got to know that they were going to replace him after 5 years, he had a big fight with his managers and also wrote about it in his blog...
"Last week, I had a conference call with a couple suits at GSN about the possibility of dropping me for a chick to work with Gabe Kaplan. (Sounds sexy already, but...).
I flat out told the guys who will remain unamed - oh screw it was Bary Nugent and David Shiff - that if you got the best pizza in town for 5 seasons, why try and add licorice to it? I also told them I am the guy who does my own publicity for the show because GSN has NEVER set up not even as much as a radio interview for me. So I scour internet poker sites and make myself available and - voila! - instant publicity."
"What really bugs me - and I'll be sure to tell this to Barry Nugent (who wants to have a lunch with me for other opportunities at GSN for me) is that I spoke to both Schiff and Nugent and I asked them if they were fathers. They jubilantly said they were. So surely they would know the hardships of losing a top-rated gig while raising little children in the process. (Oh and did I mention that I have a son who is a Freshman in college, So armed with my track record on giving GSN 5 seasons of a No. 1 rated show,I decided to hit them in the spot where it's supposed to make a father go mush.
I said...."Let's talk man-to-man and father-to-father." They said,"Absolutely."
I unashamedly told those two guys that if I dont get my gig back....."your basically putting a man and his family on the street. Is that what you want on your concience?"
