Jimmy Kimmel: ‘I’m fighting to lose weight before Oscars because I looked like a homemade sausage!’

1 March 2023

Jimmy Kimmel is fighting to lose weight by eating tiny tubs of food before he hosts this year’s Oscars as he thought he looked like a swollen sausage when he tried to squeeze into an old tuxedo.

Jimmy Kimmel is fighting to lose weight by eating tiny tubs of food before he hosts this year’s Oscars as he thought he looked like a swollen sausage when he tried to squeeze into an old tuxedo

The TV host, 55, is dieting and exercising ahead of the fronting this year’s Academy Awards on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, after he failed to fit into the tux that came with a white jacket he wore to present the 2018 awards.

He told People: “I did have a very unfortunate moment where I tried to fit into the tuxedo I wore in 2018 and I didn’t quite make it.

“I looked a little bit like a homemade sausage, so I have been trying to lose some weight before the Oscars.

“I’ve been getting these little meals in little Tupperware containers delivered to my house every morning.

“And I have to say, I never feel more sorry for myself than when everyone else is eating spaghetti and I’m eating some little tacos with no tortillas.”

And referring to the late Ray Liotta’s film about a huge grizzly on the rampage after it snorts a bag of coke, he added: “I don’t want to show up onstage looking like ‘Cocaine Bear’, you know what I’m saying?”

Jimmy added he is set to wear a custom Tom Ford suit for the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, which will be executive produced by his 44-year-old wife Molly McNearny.

He has said about joining Steve Martin, David Niven and Jerry Lewis as a three-time Oscar host: “Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honour or a trap.

“Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.”

Pressure will be on Jimmy this year to make light of Will Smith’s attack on Chris Rock at last year’s ceremony, but show bosses think the event is in safe hands with the chat show host.

Its executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner said in a joint statement: “We’re super thrilled to have Jimmy score his hat trick on this global stage.

“We know he will be funny and ready for anything!”

When Jimmy hosted the show in 2017 he had to manage the shocking final moments when the wrong best picture winner was called as ‘La La Land’ before it went to ‘Moonlight’.