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“She’s a guys’ girl,” says a friend of the couple. “Jessica was always about going somewhere that was a scene with a big entourage. Vanessa can play darts and chill.” Minnillo also scores points for being a fellow sports nut. Whereas Simpson rolled her eyes at Lachey’s passion, Minnillo revels in it.

In fact, when she and Lachey were still in the platonic friendship stage, “Nick commented on his love for the [hometown NFL team], Cincinnati Bengals and Vanessa blew him away by running off the team’s poor stats,” says a Lachey source. “He tells friends, ‘It’s like talking to your best guy friend, but she’s a smoking-hot chick."

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