I was having dinner last night with the marketing director of the "Fashionistas," Victoria Ribeiro (who I know from her time at "Splash" and before that working for promoter David Saxe), when she got a call  from a freelance publicist about the taping in a Las Vegas house for a spin-off of the "Surreal Life" shooting locally. The show, as I have reported earlier on the Buffet features Ron Jeremy, Vanilla Ice, Emmanuel Lewis, Brigitte Nielsen, Chyna Doll, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, C.C. DeVille and Traci Bingham. The narrator is Robin Leach. After Victoria was off the phone, however, I learned that two of the celebrities have already been eliminated. 

A regular theme on the Buffet is the great lengths this city will go to in order to get publicity, most obvious when it comes to catering to celebrities. Of course, the mix of television and celebrity is irresistible. But I usually see the results only and never the process. The freelance publicist had promised to deliver the celebrities along with the all important cameras trailing them to the Fashionistas that night for a show beginning in a few hours. So, before ordering Victoria worked the phone and thumbs - alerting box office people, cast members, support staff as well as coordinating with the publicist who brought her the project (and, who now was getting paid to promote it). It was a twenty minute flurry of activity that probably pulled almost a dozen people into the whirlwind. Then another call came. The television show had decided to give the cast the night off. And, it was over. All for nothing. 

Once before I saw something similar when LeAnn Rimes said she might want to go to Studio 54 at the MGM after a concert. She was not yet 21 back then, and to accommodate her the MGM turned its entire VIP section at Studio 54 into an all ages area (probably giving up a small fortune in alcohol sales). Rimes never showed. I ran into her later that night and the desire to go had just been a passing whim.

Apparently, this is common. Talking to people around town it seems the ratio is roughly four or five fire drills like this take place for each event that actually goes off with the celebrities showing up.