'Lifestyles' host offers gamblers golden opportunity
ROBIN LEACH, the former host with the golden voice of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" will be in Atlantic City this weekend as a "Millionaire Maker"; to crown the first of four guaranteed millionaires through Harrah's, Showboat, Bally's and Caesars.
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ROBIN LEACH, the former host with the golden voice of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," will be in Atlantic City this weekend as a "Millionaire Maker" to crown the first of four guaranteed millionaires through Harrah's, Showboat, Bally's and Caesars.
But Leach suggested that the winners' best move is not to take their winnings back to the slots. "Bank the money and don't spend it all at once . . . I've seen so many people crash and burn in my time, but this time I'll give some advice to stay newly rich and famous," Leach told me from his Las Vegas home. "I won't advise them to run back to the slot machine. Be wise with what you've won. The great thing is this an opportunity for your life to be changed."
The Millionaire Maker, taking place May 26, July 6, Aug. 3 and Sept. 1, will pick a potential contestant every 30 minutes from the participating casinos, who will then enter a vault full of gold bars with Leach. One contestant each month will win 1 million smackeroos.
Leach has kept busy since his "Lifestyle" days, working behind the scenes in television and purposefully avoiding the media spotlight.
"Being the father of reality shows, I don't want to go where that business has sunk. We were nice and upbeat when we launched 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,' but it's pretty disgusting right now," Leach said. "Just how much more can we take? Do we just find the worst people in the world and exploit them? I'm more up on people making money and seeing dreams come true."
OUT AND ABOUT
Welsh singer Tom Jones, who played WXPN's Non-COMM convention last week, stopped by Sassafras, where he chatted up artist/bartender Alison Dilworth, the painter behind the Old City eatery's beautiful murals. Their topic of conversation? Converting old cigarette machines into Viagra dispensers. Not that Jones needs it.
Actor Jesse Eisenberg, who famously played Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," dined at El Vez on Thursday, enjoying blood-orange margaritas and guacamole. Eisenberg, who grew up in New Brunswick, has a Philly connect: Not only did he star in M. Night Shyamalan's locally set "The Village," but his dad is a Temple alumnus. You can check out Eisenberg, who next hits the big screen alongside Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffaloin the magic-themed thriller "Now You See Me," in theaters May 31.
The members of '90s R&B sensation Dru Hill, including "Thong Song" singer Sisqo, hit up South Street's newly-reopened Lorenzo & Sons Pizza on Saturday after performing at the All White Affair at Statuz Nightclub.
Bill Cosby was in town for Temple's graduation Thursday. His daughter, Erinn Cosby, has an exhibit of her photography, called "Beauty," up at the Art Sanctuary through May 31.
Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice hosted "Dinner with Teresa" at the Coastline Bar & Grill in Cherry Hill on Friday to promote her new book, Fabulicious: On the Grill.
Bolaris fleecers jailed
The South Beach club operator who orchestrated the "bar girls" scheme that fleeced former Philly weatherman John Bolaris out of $43,000 and eventually cost him his job, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last week.
According to the Miami Herald, operator Albert Takhalov cried as he was sentenced.
Also sentenced were Isaac Feldman, an investor in two of the clubs implicated in the "bar girls" ring, who received eight years. Stanislav Pavlenko will be sentenced later this month.
Takhalov, Pavlenko and Feldman were convicted of conspiracy, wire-fraud and money-laundering charges following an 11-week federal trial in Miami last December.
"I feel great, I feel relieved that all that stuff is paid off and they're behind bars," Bolaris told me. "If I didn't[testify], that operation would still be operating. It was very embarrassing . . . but I feel good. I've had a hardship since then, not working, and really feel that I was blackballed from the TV news industry because of it."
As I reported last month, Bolaris plans to leave Philly for New York City come June with some new job opportunities he's keeping hush-hush.
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