Courtney Friel

Posts: 2053 · Posted: 02.06.2006, 12:27

"In West Philadelphia born and raised, on a playground is where I spent most of my days".. Yes, we're obviously quoting Will Smith's introduction to his TV show breakthrough. But as you can see on your right, we've got a hot, white female, not a black hunk. Meet Courtney Friel, the new World Poker Tour host.

Courtney Friel is a versatile television journalist. Previously you have seen Courtney working with "America's Most Wanted", "E! News", "Trackers" and various Nickelodeon shows. Today, she works with Travel Channel's World Poker Tour as a TV host. That's right, this is Shanna Hiatt, just a bit different.

When not working with the WPT events in Paris, Aruba or Las Vegas, she reports for the CBS affiliate in Palm Springs, where she hosts a video game show seen in EB Games stores in the United States and Canada.

In her youth, Courtney constantly annoyed her friends and foes by interviewing them. Whenever there was a video camera around, she would make sure to expose her pretty face. But as far as success goes, this was not apparent until her first breakthrough on television. Before that, she had almost given up on journalism because public school did not offer what she wanted.

When Freil finally got her first job, he was hired as an anchor and reporter. Her duties included everything from camera adjustments to editing as well as writing and story-telling. Unfortunately, her first day in the air became her last one, too. A deadly tornado struck the studio at 4 in the morning and leveled basically everything, including her car.