Red Carpet Report: Val + Laurie Hernandez vs. Maks + Amber Rose in ‘DWTS’ finale?
For nearly all 23 TV seasons of ABC’s DANCING WITH THE STARS, Johnny Avello, Steve Wynn’s director of race and sports book operations, has been right on the money with his winning odds for entertainment purposes only.
Now oddsmaker Johnny is predicting that the new season that starts Monday will end with our Las Vegas-linked male professional dancers battling it out in the finals for the mirror-ball disco trophy, one of them against his brother.
Johnny predicts that sexy siblings Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Valentin Chmerkovskiy will eke out a win over Derek Hough in third place with actress Marilu Henner. Maks, choreographer from LE REVE —THE DREAM at Wynn Las Vegas, is partnered with model and TV personality Amber Rose and Val with 2016 Olympic champion gymnast Laurie Hernandez.
Johnny predicts that Val will place first with Laurie, with brother Maks in the runner-up slot with Kanye West’s ex. I admire Johnny’s selections every season because nobody has even danced onscreen yet.
Johnny is betting that LAX at the Luxor regular rapper Vanilla Ice, who is partnered with Whitney Carson, will waltz out the week after Olympic champion swimmer Ryan Lochte, partnered with Cheryl Burke, who he thinks will disappear in Week 8.
Las Vegas recording mogul Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds also won’t fare well, according to the Wynn bookie, being the fifth to depart. Who will be the first to go? It’s purely political, but Johnny senses that former Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, one-time governor of Texas, will be voted out first.
WICKED WHISPERS + RACY RUMORS
The legal and management team that represent pop princess Britney Spears has threatened legal action against In Touch magazine if it goes ahead with a planned story about her reported “erratic behavior” at the recent MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The legal eagles fired angrily that accounts of her talking in a British accent and laughing to herself were ‘utterly false, completely offensive and highly defamatory.” Britney, who performed her new single “Make Me” with G-Eazy at the VMAs, says that she’s “sick of made-up stories.”
It’s not announced yet, but Imagine Dragons and baseball baron Tommy Lasorda have been added to Criss Angel’s pediatric cancer fundraiser Heal Every Life Possible at The Luxor on Monday. My interview with the MINDREAK LIVE! superstar is set to run in Sunday Life of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Before ABSINTHE promoter Ross Mollison announced the move from the Spiegelworld tent outside Caesars Palace to Rose. Rabbit. Lie. at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, another Strip hotel tried to woo him with a promise to build a new tent in its main showroom, but execs pulled the offer at the last minute after watching some of the show’s acts, fearing that some of the racy content would offend hotel owners and guests.
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT champion and magician Mat Franco will make a much-needed, sizable donation of supplies, blankets, leashes, harnesses, food and toys at The Animal Foundation’s shelter Friday morning. It’s his way of celebrating his first anniversary of MAT FRANCO: MAGIC REINVENTED NIGHTLY at The Linq Hotel.
The new rock-and-roll a go-go show CHERRY BOOM BOOM, with its sexy dancers, acrobats and specialty acts, has set its premiere for Thursday, Sept. 29, at Tropicana Showroom.
MAGIC MIKE LIVE, the new adult-male show by actor Channing Tatum of the two hit films, has set a March 30 opening for its Club Domina at The Hard Rock Hotel. Also, construction is about to begin on the 230-seat steakhouse there by Michael Morton, and I’m hearing that the former Baby’s nightclub space will become a lavish two-story restaurant.
For the first time, the Life Is Beautiful Music & Art Festival will add standup comedy to the lineup. Nearly 20 comics, including four local comedians, will perform all three days and nights of the festival from Sept. 23-25.
Congratulations to newlyweds Victor Drai, nightclub czar at The Cromwell, and his wife Yolanda on the news that she is expecting their first baby.
This year’s Elvis Festival was such a success that the promoters are returning to Las Vegas at Sam’s Town with another edition from July 13-16 next year.