The answer is 50. “Who doesn’t want 50 pretty girls at their club?!” exclaims Skinnie Magazine co-publisher Tony Verdugo. “That can make or break a party.” A veteran Las Vegas promoter, Verdugo is the creator of the Skinnie Vegas Tour, a 22-week effort to import 50 of the hottest women in Orange County for a weekend of party party party. In exchange for room and board, the ladies attend pool parties and nighttime affairs, leaving in their wake a loyal following of men, bound to return the next week for more. It all sounds so simple on paper …
Day 1. I meet up with Verdugo in the lobby of the Red Rock Resort, the host hotel—that is, if these chicks sleep. Thirty-eight women have already checked in and heard Verdugo’s speeches on behavior and punctuality; eight more are flying in, and four will arrive by car—late. Under Ed Hardy hats and from behind huge sunglasses they nod, snapping gum and checking the time on their cell phones. They straddle huge weekender bags. Five have jockeyed for position as “team leaders,” helping Verdugo’s staff of six to wrangle the rest.
The theme of this event—also a search for the first Skinnie Magazine centerfold girl—is Fresh & Clean. “I can’t stand hookers, and I can’t stand strippers, and I can’t stand pimps,” says Verdugo to the girls, who laugh. The Fresh & Clean centerfold must be none of those, must have an updated resume and, most shockingly, must have decent morals. (Few ladies really scream “morals.”) Ten ladies “who cause the least drama” will also receive spa packages and invitations to return, as the itinerary does change each week. While the original flier I received in April invited me to “Ride the Bus to Rehab!,” Rehab is now only a stop on the three-day agenda once every three weeks; the rest of the action centers around Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Wet Republic and Tao Beach.
“Get dolled up!” Verdugo says encouragingly after handing out $60 food vouchers. We’re to meet back at the Lucky Bar at 10 p.m. “Being on time is being late. Being 15 minutes early is on time,” he says, but only half the girls heed his message, and we enter Cherry as 23. It’s still a breathtaking effect to see 23 women in short dresses and towering stacked heels sashay through a casino and into a nightclub; it doesn’t take long for the men to fall in behind them, and by midnight the club is packed. “Please please please watch your alcohol consumption,” Verdugo entreats us before we head out that night. He has a six-month deal with Station Casinos and definitely doesn’t want to jeopardize it. And Miss Fresh & Clean doesn’t leave clubs in a wheelchair! Still, the film crew Verdugo booked to capture 10 weeks of footage is off this weekend, so really anything could happen.
Later that night, or rather, morning …
“It’s like herding cats!” I tell my new friends Bridgetta and Renee. Verdugo doesn’t indulge, but shepherding 50 (now somehow 52) women around three days a week, for 22 weeks, would certainly drive me to drink. In fact, it has. Unsurprisingly, the girls are somewhat clique-y, so we’ve formed our own little trio. Bridgetta is best known as “The Extenze Girl” of late-night informercial fame, but the duo are also executive producers, creators and stars of four reality series, including Project MyWorld. “I had no idea how big it was going to be,” Bridgetta says of Extenze’s “male-enhancement” notoriety, pun likely not intended. In case you’re wondering, guys: “It does work!”
Day 2. The breeze whipping though Wet Republic is sweet relief for my mounting hangover. When I find Bridgetta and Renee, they have already taken a few turns down MGM’s lazy river. Lolling about, we recap last night’s events, dishing especially about a little sexual indiscretion on the part of one girl (soooo not getting a spa package). “I love live music!” says Bridgetta as we leave, men craning their necks from the cabanas to catch a glimpse. Like me she’s determined to return to Cherry’s Sunday Night Live pool party. But I later nap through the event one snooze-button smack at a time. I quickly fall back asleep after a text from Verdugo that the girls have arrived back at Cherry. “The eagles have landed!” All except my girls, who are also playing hooky. No spa package for me either, I guess.
Day 3. I still have one lingering question: Why does Vegas, of all places, need to import hot women?! Gesturing around at the ladies, lounging presently on The Pond’s daybeds and chaises, enjoying fruit skewers and puffing on sweet hookahs, Verdugo feels that no club can guarantee 50 hot women, every week, on time. “It’s very beneficial for any pool or club to participate.” I can see that!
But, points out Renee, no contract and no cash means that we’re not the only ones who have skipped out on events; only about 35 girls made it out to today’s Skinnie Dip pool party, which is better than last week’s 23. Perhaps it has something to do with the hardcore party that was our entrée to the weekend. I consider that as I pop a few ibuprofen, chug a water and say a genuinely sad goodbye to Bridgetta and Renee, still working their magic on a cabana-full of champion bull riders.
I innocently text a girlfriend on my way out: “Am officially done with Skinnie women.” Not quite catching on, she replies, “Me too! Skinny bitches …”
Xania Woodman thinks globally and parties locally. And frequently. E-mail her at [email protected] and visit thecircuitlv.com to sign up for Xania’s free weekly newsletter.
Photograph by Iris Dumuk