Ross Mathews

Ross Mathews (born September 24, 1979)[2] is an American television host and personality. He first rose to fame as an intern and a correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; he was known as "Ross the Intern" on air.

For the footballer, see Ross Matthews (footballer).

Ross Mathews
Mathews in 2010
Born (1979-09-24) September 24, 1979
NationalityAmerican
Other namesRoss the Intern, Bossy Rossy
Alma materUniversity of La Verne
OccupationTelevision personality
Years active2001–present
TelevisionTonight Show With Jay Leno, RuPaul's Drag Race
Spouse
Wellinthon García
​
(m. 2022)​
[1]
Websitehelloross.com

Mathews has appeared on Celebrity Fit Club, The Insider, Celebrity Big Brother, and as a weekly panelist on Chelsea Lately. He is a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race, hosts a weekly podcast with Westwood One Studios, and assists with hosting The Drew Barrymore Show. He has been a co-host on Live from E! and a correspondent on The Jay Leno Show.

Early life

Raised in Mount Vernon, Washington,[3] Mathews graduated from Mount Vernon High School[4] and graduated from the University of La Verne, in La Verne, California in 2002. He majored in communications[5] and competed in speech and debate competitions.[6]

Career

Mathews began as an intern on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in December 2001 he covered movie premieres, the Academy Awards, two Winter Olympic Games, and other events.[7]

Mathews has contributed commentary to the E! networks various 101... specials, and appeared as a weekly panelist on E's late night talk show Chelsea Lately.[8] He appeared on the fifth season of VH1's reality television show, Celebrity Fit Club. During the course of the show, which premiered in April 2007, Mathews lost more than 40 lbs. (18 kg) and helped his team win the grand prize. He was also a guest host on The View on July 17, 2007.

Mathews appeared as a celebrity mob member on seven episodes of NBC's prime time game show 1 vs. 100 in early 2008. In 2009, he was a contributing correspondent on The Insider, and hosted a web show on The Insider called Inside Dish With Ross Mathews; he took viewers behind the scenes as an "outsider" in Hollywood. Inside Dish became the official online web-shows for CBS's Big Brother and The Amazing Race. Also in 2009, he co-hosted GSN's Big Saturday Night, a weekly game show. His other 2009 appearances included The Howard Stern Show and the 2009 Game Show Awards with Diane.

Mathews joined the panel of judges for RuPaul’s drag race with occasional appearances in the earlier seasons and more frequent appearances beginning in Season 7. In 2010, Mathews joined the E! Network's red carpet team, filling in for Ryan Seacrest as co-host with Giuliana Rancic for E! Live From the Red Carpet coverage of the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards, the 2010 Emmy Awards, the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, and the 2011 Academy Awards.

In January 2011, Mathews starred in a pilot that he produced and co-wrote with fellow Chelsea Lately round table regular Heather McDonald. Titled Love or Hate, the pilot was made for the E! Network and was executive produced by Chelsea Handler and her company Borderline Amazing Productions.[9] He also appeared in the E! Network's After Lately, a show about the behind the scenes of Chelsea Lately.[10] By September 2011, Mathews had left The Tonight Show returning for guest appearances including the "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda" skit on December 14, 2011.[11]

Mathews appeared in the fourth episode of the Bravo series Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis in 2012, in which Lewis redesigned his and his boyfriend's garage.[12]

Ross Mathews at Palm Springs Pride Parade in 2013

On May 7, 2013, Mathews released his book Man Up! Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence.[8] He was the host of Hello Ross, an interactive talk show on E! from September 6, 2013, until May 16, 2014.[13] In 2015, he and Carson Kressley were named as new regular judges for the 7th season of RuPaul's Drag Race.[14] At the end of 2015, Mathews began filling in as a guest host on Hollywood Today Live, which is syndicated on Fox. He became a permanent host on January 4, 2016. He also had a lead role in the movie Pup Star. The sequel, Pup Star: Better 2Gether, premiered the following year. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of Mike Tyson Mysteries titled "Unsolved Situations" in 2016.

In 2017, he was the commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 together with Michelle Visage live for Logo TV.[15] He also commented alongside Shangela on the Logo TV broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 final.[16]

In 2018, Mathews was announced as one of the eleven houseguests competing on the first American edition of Celebrity Big Brother. He finished in 2nd place, winning $50,000, and was voted as America's Favorite Houseguest earning an additional prize of $25,000.[17] He appeared in the second season as part of a Head of Household competition.

On November 28, 2019, Mathews was a field reporter for Verizon 360 at the 93rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Since fall 2020, he has appeared on the "Drews News" segment of the Drew Barrymore show and has been hosting his own podcast, Straight Talk with Ross Mathews. In 2021, he appeared as a panelist on the comedy series, Adorableness on MTV.[18]

Personal life

Mathews is openly gay.[19][20] From 2008 to 2018, he had a relationship with stylist Salvador Camarena.[21][22][23] In 2013, the couple appeared in an episode of House Hunters while shopping for a home in Palm Springs.[24]

On February 23, 2021, Mathews announced his engagement to Dr. Wellinthon García, a Long Island educational administrator.[25][26] On May 7, 2022, Mathews and García married at a ceremony in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.[27]

Filmography

Film

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2006–2013 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Himself Correspondent (62 episodes)
2007 Celebrity Fit Club Contestant Season 5 (8 episodes)
2008-2011 Days of Our Lives Chris
2012 Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis Himself Guest (1 episode)
2012 RuPaul's Drag Race Himself Guest Judge (1 episode)
2015–present Main Judge Season 7–present
2012–2016 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Himself Guest Judge (4 episodes)
2018–present Main Judge Season 3–present
2018 Celebrity Big Brother Contestant Season 1, Runner-up (13 episodes)
2019 Guest Season 2 (1 episode)
2020–present The Drew Barrymore Show Co-Host
2021–present Adorableness Co-host Season 1–present

Bibliography
  • Mathews, Ross (2013). Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional Self. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1455512560.
  • Mathews, Ross (2020). Name Drop. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 97-81797101484.

References
  1. Helling, Steve (May 7, 2018). "Ross Mathews Marries Fiancé Wellinthon García in Mexico — with Flower Girl Drew Barrymore!". People. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  2. "About". Ross Mathews verified Facebook page. Archived from the original on February 11, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  3. Hill, Erin (June 27, 2013). "Ross Mathews: From Farm Town Boy to Hollywood Fixture". Parade. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2021. As a kid in Mount Vernon, WA...
  4. Mathews in Rodriguez, Albert (May 10, 2013). "The out intern - Ross Mathews is living the Hollywood dream". Seattle Gay News. Vol. 41, no. 19. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2021. I graduated high school in Mount Vernon, at Mount Vernon High School, and 30 seconds later I moved to the streets of L.A.
  5. Evans, Rusty (August 16, 2004). "Alumni Profile: Ross Mathews 2002" (Press release). University of La Verne. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2007.
  6. Birdsall, Terry (Spring 2002). "Ross, the Intern". La Verne Magazine. Archived from the original on June 26, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2007. Ross was president of the debate team his senior year. He performed individual events for the team, was state champion for two events and was sent to the nationals.
  7. Tracy E. Gilchrist (June 10, 2008). "This Gay Week in Television: Bea Arthur, Courteney Cox" Archived June 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Gay Wired. "Lest we forget that Jay helped launch the adorable gay intern Ross Mathews' career."
  8. Gilbert, Ted (May 2, 2013). "Why Ross Mathews decided to 'Man Up!'" Archived July 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. CNN.
  9. Andreeva, Nellie. "E! Orders Pop Culture Show Presentation Produced By Chelsea Handler" Archived February 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Deadline Hollywood. January 5, 2011
  10. Nededog, Jethro (August 23, 2011). "E! Signs Ross Mathews to New Talk Show Pilot Development and Talent Deal (Exclusive)" Archived December 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Hollywood Reporter.
  11. "Episode #20.56". The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Season 20. Episode 56. December 14, 2011. NBC.
  12. "Ross is the Boss". Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis. Season 1. Episode 4. April 4, 2012. Bravo.
  13. Peeples, Jase (April 24, 2013). "Ross Mathews to Host New 'Interactive' Talk Show" Archived October 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Advocate.
  14. ""The "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 7 Premiere Date—And Judges—Finally Revealed!" NewNowNext.com Accessed January 28th, 2015". newnownext.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  15. Jordan, Paul (April 27, 2017). "Eurovision returns to the United States". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  16. Logo to air Eurovision 2018 Grand Final live in the United States – Eurovision Song Contest
  17. Maher, Natalie (February 13, 2018). "Get to Know the 'Celebrity Big Brother' Cast: Mark McGrath, Omarosa & More". www.billboard.com. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  18. Ossad, Jordana (June 21, 2021). "MTV is About to Get a Dose of Adorableness". MTV.
  19. "Monkey Business: Short Takes". The Kansas City Star. The McClatchy Company. June 23, 2007. p. E6.
  20. Celizic, Mike. "Super media spectacle more staid than usual". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on January 12, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  21. Celebrity Slimdowns: Losing the Weight. E!. January 2, 2012
  22. Deeken, Aimee (August 17, 2010). They both announced their break up on Instagram on November 25, 2018."'Chelsea Lately': Ross Mathews Wants a 'Gayby' Like Neil Patrick Harris (VIDEO)" Archived November 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. The Huffington Post.
  23. Jung, Helin (November 29, 2011). "Ross Mathews's Soft Spot: His 'Mutty-Mutt' Dogs" Archived February 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. People.
  24. "TV Personality Looks for a Mid-Century Retreat in Palm Springs" Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. HGTV.
  25. Mathews, Ross [@helloross] (February 23, 2021). "Fiancé, you stay!" (Tweet) – via Twitter. "... the smartest, funniest and kindest man I've ever met said, 'Yes!' Dr. García, I love you."
  26. "'Drag Race' judge Ross Mathews engaged to LI educator". Newsday. New York City / Long Island. February 23, 2021. Wellinthon Garcia, the newly announced fiance of TV personality and 'RuPaul's Drag Race' judge Ross Mathews, is an educator with deep ties to Long Island.
  27. Helling, Steve (May 7, 2022). "Ross Mathews Marries Fiancé Wellinthon García in Mexico — with Flower Girl Drew Barrymore!". people.com. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
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