Richard Heene and his clan of fame chasers appeared on Friday's episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? He thinks he and his family are known best for the two episodes of Wife Swap that they appeared on, but like much of what came out of his mouth during this bizarre interview, that's bullshit.

Richard Heene did not mean to utter the words. The 51-year-old manager of the Heene Boyz, an unsigned metal band comprising his three home-schooled sons, was recounting how one Christmas years ago, he was so broke that he'd had to design an ingenious sort of wooden building system, fabricated from $35 worth of…

Richard Heene, the man who plotted the Balloon Boy hoax last year, is doing his best Billy Mays impersonation to sell the Bear Scratch, a wall-mounted back scratcher, on the internet. His career trajectory is the same as his balloon.

Remember Richard Heene, father of the ill-fated (but not really) Balloon Boy? Well, he's back, and with an all new invention! Here's the ridiculous infomercial for Heene's back-scratching product, Bear Scratch, starring—who else?—the man himself. Sigh. Sigh. Siiiigh.

Balloon dad Richard Heene reports to jail today. He's still insisting the whole thing wasn't a hoax. Pitiful. Man up, Richard; you're the greatest sci-fi hoaxer since Orson Welles did War of the Worlds. You're just less popular. [CP]

Richard and Mayume Heene, better known as the parents of balloon boy, will be sentenced today. They are facing 90 and 60 days incarceration respectively. And the judge may prevent them profiting from the incident. Reality TV producers weep. [AP]

Cindy Crawford is in the midst of a horrifying extortion case, Chris Brown gets heckled, Daniel Radcliffe "laughs his head off" when he's high. Friday's gossip ranges from the depths of depravity to the pleasantly banal.

Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents of that cute vomiting boy who did not get lost in the air in a balloon, will plead guilty tomorrow to charges that they concocted the story in order to become famous, which happened.

Onetime TV star Bronson Pinchot has some not-so-nice things to say about Tom Cruise. Fate will bring Octomom and Jon Gosselin together. Salman Rushdie is still pining for Padma. Presenting your Tuesday morning Gossip Roundup!

Well look here, it's our friend Robert Thomas—ex-associate of Balloon Dad Richard Heene—all up on the Today Show this morning. Thomas on Heene: "The negatives outweigh the positives." It seems so! Click through for the entire interview.

[A mother smiles for the cameras outside the home of Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents, who said today they're willing to turn themselves in on charges of staging the Balloon Boy hoax as soon as they're filed; via Getty]

Yes, right now everyone is pissed off at Richard Heene, the man behind the Balloon Boy hoax, but there are some people whose need for fame has ended in with much worse collateral damage—including death.