Red Carpet Report: Cirque + ‘DWTS,’ new UFC owners, AVN and Toughest Mudder
It’s one of the biggest-ever productions on ABC’s DANCING WITH THE STARS tonight. Thanks to our Cirque du Soleil performers from six of our Strip spectaculars and three Broadway and touring shows, the 11 remaining celebrity contestants and pro partners will perform a ballroom dance inspired by a Cirque show.
Contestants will be able to use Cirque acrobats and aerialists in routines. Ryan Lochte will dance with pro partner Cheryl Burke to an O at The Bellagio-inspired routine. That’s perfect casting! The couple were here over the weekend to watch O during a stay at The Venetian.
At Tao in The Venetian and sister nightclub Marquee in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, they dazzled diners and clubgoers with a practice of their dance thanks to DJ Carnage hunting down a soundtrack. Terra Joie and Sasha Farber also will dance an O number.
THE BEATLES LOVE at The Mirage also gets double exposure with Jane Kramer and Gleb Savchenko and Kenny “Babyface’ Edmonds and Allison Holker. Amber Rose and Maks Chmerkovskiy will be inspired by ZUMANITY at New York-New York.
Laurie Hernandez is teamed with Val Chmerkovskiy for a MICHAEL JACKSON ONE at Mandalay Bay dance; Marilu Henner and Derek Hough re-create a KA at MGM Grand number; and Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev will dance with the MYSTERE at T.I. cast.
The other three shows are PARAMOUR (James Hinchliffe and Sharna Burgess) on Broadway and the touring KURIOS CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold) and LA NOUBA (Vanilla Ice and Witney Carson) companies. Nobody is eliminated tonight, but one couple will be cut Tuesday.
NEW UFC OWNERS
Celebrities have signed on as part of the new UFC ownership group headquartered here. In July after denials, brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta of the newly named Station Casino group Red Rock Resorts announced a $4 billion sale of their UFC to IMG along with capital hedge-fund money managers.
The stars joining UFC ownership alongside founder Dana White include Tom Brady, Sylvester Stallone, Calvin Harris, Mark Wahlberg, Guy Fieri, Jimmy Kimmel, Venus and Serena Williams, LL Cool J, Conan O’Brien, Ben Affleck and Adam Levine.
Expect stars to be glittering ringside additions at the Las Vegas Octagon fights of the future and the pay-per-view-televised events.
TOUGHEST MUDDER
Las Vegas continues to be the home of the World’s Toughest Mudder 24-hour endurance race. The 10- to 12-mile challenge will be back at Lake Las Vegas for the third consecutive year with thousands of athletes here for the obstacle course designed to be the ultimate test of strength, stamina and grit.
New obstacles have been created for the 20+ challenges with combatants dealing with grueling terrain and erratic weather as they log as many miles possible in the 24-hour test from Oct. 29-30. The prize purse is more than $60,000, but the biggest win is the knowledge of not quitting and completing the course.
I’ll go out to watch, but no way will I join friends taking part and already sweating it out in gyms across the valley in preparation and training for hell on Earth.
‘SEXXY’S’ 400
It was a full house of entertainers, supporters and media helping Jennifer Romas celebrate 400 shows of her topless revue SEXXY at Westgate Las Vegas. Nobody had bet that she would succeed when The Westgate gave her just three weeks before Christmas and New Year’s to put her seductive show together with choreography and casting over the holidays.
But the brunette bombshell who slithers nightly in an amazing bathtub routine beat the odds with singer Gabriella Versace as her MC and the help of her mom and dad sewing costumes and making scenery. “It was unbelievable. I am truly blessed,” Jennifer told me.
For the celebration, she boosted her normal cast of eight dancers to 11 with additional acts to mark the occasion. Our interview with Jennifer was posted Sept. 27.
FOOT JUGGLING
It defies gravity when brothers Max and Emanuel Anton impress with their spinning and twisting antics high in the air at V — THE ULTIMATE VARIETY SHOW at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. One brother lays on his back with his feet in the air to thrust the other into a routine that amazes.
Although they’ve performed around the globe for 13 years, this is their first debut on the Las Vegas Strip. Also new to the show are husband-and-wife duo Deadly Games. They’re here from AMERICA’S GOT TALENT with their dangerous, knife-throwing experience.
AVN’S RETURN
The 2017 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo has set its dates for one of the world’s biggest and best adult industry and fan conventions. It will be from Jan. 18-21 at The Hard Rock Hotel, culminating with the provocative parade of porn princesses in their naughty, next-to-nothing nightwear on the half-mile red carpet entering The Joint for the AVN Awards.
FILMED IN VEGAS
Country newcomer Lucas Hoge decided that Las Vegas would be the perfect backdrop for his new video “Boom Boom,” and in a fan-voted countdown it came in at No. 1 on CMT. It’s a ride down memory lane in his Shelby Cobra from here to Tennessee. It winds up in a cliffhanger as he pulls out a diamond ring from his pocket for his girlfriend. Lucas will be here for four nights of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo from Dec. 7-10.
MOVIE STAR
The premiere for the boxing movie BLEED FOR THIS, which tells the incredible story of paralyzed boxer Vinny Paz, who fought again after a car crash, is Nov. 17. The Las Vegas resident will be presented with a Brenden Celebrity Star before the VIP screening at Brenden Theaters at The Palms, with co-producer Martin Scorsese attending. The film stars Miles Teller as Paz and Aaron Eckhart as his trainer, with co-stars Katey Sagal and Ted Levine.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Greetings to our friends on Jewish New Year, this being the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, which commemorates the creation of the world and marks 10 days of introspection and repentance that ends in Yom Kippur on Oct. 11.
