'Gossip Girl' hires a new (hot) teacher

They’re rarely seen in class, but the teens of Gossip Girl are finally getting a teacher — a hot, very young-looking one. On Jan. 19, Laura Breckenridge (Related) joins the CW series for three episodes as Rachel Carr, an Iowa native who lands her first big job schooling Gossip’s kids in English. While she mentors both Blake Lively’s Serena and Penn Badgley’s Dan (whose relationship with the new teacher draws ­jealousy from his ex), Rachel is the one who learns a little lesson in Upper East Side bitchery after she gives Yale-obsessed Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) a — gasp! — B. “Blair thinks she can kind of use her typical powers of persuasion, but Ms. Carr has a lot of integrity and does not go down without a fight, which only escalates the stakes,” says executive producer Stephanie Savage. She adds that the storyline will lead into an important arc for TV’s most competitive private-schoolers. “We’re ramping into the part of the season where everyone is going to find out where they’re getting into college and we’re setting them up for next year.”

addCredit(“Giovanni Rufino/The CW”)