Today The Wall Street Journal reports on the curious case of Kendra Wilkinson, Playboy model and one of the chicks Hugh Hefner pretends he can still do it to on The Girls Next Door, who really really really REALLY loves The Olive Garden:

Ms. Wilkinson hoists Olive Garden doggie bags in the air and extols its chicken parmigiana. She once scandalized European diners by declaring the Olive Garden preferable to any restaurants in Italy.

But the restaurant chain is all “Ugh, really?” about it:

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about this…because it is a complicated issue for the brand,” says Michele Kay, executive vice president of WPP Group’s Grey advertising firm, which handles the Olive Garden account.

The whole story is pretty hilarious, especially when they make it clear that Kendra isn’t on their payroll (wouldn’t it be great if she was on, say, Sbarro’s or Carrabba’s payroll?) After the jump, Kendra gushes about why she loves The Olive Garden.

From this clip, it seems more likely that the WSJ is on Kendra’s payroll for that absurdly flattering hedcut illustration:

The artichoke dip IS really good. Here’s the recipe.