Tempted: My Story by Rick Campanelli with John Meyer — a bombshell memoir from one of Canada’s most familiar on-air faces.
Thirty years ago, a nationwide contest turned a kid from Hamilton into “Rick the Temp,” the warm, affable MuchMusic VJ who became a household name. From the peak years of the Nation’s Music Station to Entertainment Tonight Canada and Breakfast Television, Campanelli interviewed the biggest stars and lived a public life millions thought they already knew.
Behind the camera, it was not that simple. In Tempted, he tells the full story for the first time: the rise, the nostalgia of the 1990s and early 2000s music-video era, and the secret battles — including a gambling addiction — that nearly destroyed his life, his marriages, and his future.
This is a memoir of accomplishment and of losing control. It is also a cautionary tale about what happens when the highs keep calling and the person on screen is no longer the person off it. Campanelli writes about hitting bottom, getting help, and the people — especially his wife, Angie — who stood by him.
“This is my full story, flaws and all.”
For anyone who grew up with MuchMusic, and for anyone who wants the truth behind a familiar smile.
