It’s Friday, which means it’s time to separate the chumps from the champs in Mediaite’s new “Winners and Losers” — our scorecard of who rocked and who flopped in the week’s headlines. This week’s contenders include: Michael Vick, giving reality-redemption a shot, Don Imus, back on TV and already taking cheap shots, and Tom Delay, who samba-ed away his own chances at Dancing With The Stars glory. But wait, there’s more!

Tonight Dave Letterman goes back on the air after one hell of a weekend. And I’m already confused.

Thursday night — as I’m sure you know by now — he went on the air and told an extraordinary story, first about being blackmailed and then about what he’d been blackmailed for. “Creepy” things, that vague descriptor, was put into a little sharper focus like so: “I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.”

In September 2005, Gossip Cop‘s Michael Lewittes had a random encounter with David Letterman and his assistant, Stephanie Birkitt. Four years later — in the midst of Letterman’s affair/extortion super story — the serendipitous encounter seems less like a charming coincidence and more like a priceless insider’s anecdote.

Over at The Huffington Post, they’ve been treating the news of David Letterman‘s shocking affairs with staffers — and the extortionist who tried to squeeze Letterman for $2 million dollars, suspected to be Robert “Joe” Halderman — with their trademark blanket coverage, leaving no stone unturned. The secret winner? Jay Leno. Ads for his show are popping up all around the news of his rival’s troubles.

On national television, before an audience of millions (and no doubt many millions more via YouTube in the days to come), CBS Late Show host David Letterman admitted that he had had affairs with female staffers on his show — and was being blackmailed by someone about it, to the tune of $2 million.