She may keep a close watch on her calories the rest of the year, but "The Biggest Loser" host Alison Sweeney tells us with a laugh that she fully expects to indulge today (11/27).

She reports that she and her family are "having Thanksgiving at my parents' house. My mom makes a classic killer Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm going to enjoy it. One of the things we talk about, when you're not competing on a weight loss show, is picking days you set aside to let loose — and when you're talking Thanksgiving, that means gorging on all the wonderful things your mom makes," she says.

Due to give birth to her second child, a daughter, in January (she and her husband David Sanov, a California Highway Patrolman, already have a 3-year-old son), Alison says, "I am feeling fantastic. I'm doing really well. I do get tired sometimes. For me it's the afternoons, about 3 or 4 o'clock, trying to keep my eyes open. It's definitely tough going, but you find ways to pull through. Being pregnant, it's not the standard things you might fall back on, like you can't have caffeine. I had a cold, and I couldn't take cold medicine. You have to figure out ways around it," she says.

Focusing on nutrition on "Biggest Loser" has been helpful. "I've learned tips like avoiding sugar because it gives you a quick rush, but then you're exhausted afterward. You're better off going with an apple and peanut butter."

Still and all, she says the pregnancy "is going really quickly," even with juggling her responsibilities as a mother and daytime TV star on "Days of Our Lives," in addition to "The Biggest Loser." She says she gets teased about managing it all, but, "I consider myself very lucky. I love what I do, love both shows I'm a part of."

FEELING THANKFUL: Steve Guttenberg's spending his Thanksgiving in London, where he's doing a Christmas pantomime production of "Cinderella" at the Churchill Theatre opening Dec. 5 — and he's feeling very grateful about that. "When you're playing to children, you're helping shape their interest in theater, and you're playing to the most loving audience in the world. There's nothing more rewarding than making a child happy," he says.

In fact, Guttenberg flew to England immediately after participating in the recent Day of the Child event at the Santa Monica Pier. Put on by Children Uniting Nations, the event gives some 1,500 foster children the run of the amusement park, hooks them up with mentors — and with stars who lavish attention upon them for a day. Guttenberg has attended all nine of the events. He was so inspired by the experience that he built Guttenhouse, the apartment building in Compton, Calif., where he provides housing for six female former foster children until they can find and build their own lives.

"You know they call it 'emancipation' when a child who has not known the love, care and direction of parents, is passed out of the foster care system," Steve says, "and what they are emancipated into is very often a life on the streets, where they have nothing to sell but themselves and drugs. We need 750,000 adult mentors, one for each kid, to give them hope, advice, help locate scholarships, and who can take them to a ballgame or a beach a couple times a month when they're little and just forming their sense of self-worth. It's really true, no man or woman stands so tall as when he or she stoops to help a child."

THINGS THAT GO SPLAT: "The producer thought my humor would be the perfect addition to such an odd event," says improv comedian Brad Sherwood, explaining his involvement in the Delaware-based World Championship Pumpkin Chunkin contest on Science Channel and Science Channel HD. That same whimsical thinking probably accounts for scheduling the coverage of the 22nd such event for a time when many are eating pumpkin pie tonight (11/27). But anyway, Sherwood tells us that he was duly impressed by the lengths to which some 115 different teams went in creating contraptions with which to hurl pumpkins.

"People built trebuchets, catapults — the ones that shoot the furthest are the air cannons," in case you need to know. He adds, "I'd go along and meet the teams, find out how they built their machines. 'Why?' seems to be the question no one can answer. Ticket proceeds go to charity. There is no money involved for the winners. Just bragging rights and a hideous trophy to drag around for a year."

Sherwood and fellow "Whose Line is it Anyway" alum Colin Mochrie continue to tour doing their improv show "most of the year round, although we're off through most of December," he says. Sherwood also notes that he stays in touch with "Whose Line" impresario Drew Carey. "We actually live fairly close. We text each other and get together now and then." As for whether they'll do more improv ala "Whose Line," he says, "You never know when a show like that will rise from the ashes."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Casting is underway for Lifetime's "The Natalee Holloway Story," including the title role of the Alabama teen who disappeared while on a senior trip to Aruba, and of her mother, who worked tirelessly to keep the case active. They're now planning a January production start in Cape Town, South Africa.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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