Las Vegas Weekly

September 8, 2008 · 4:05 PM

Michael Phelps gets more gold on his wild weekend in Vegas: A key to the Playboy Club

By Robin Leach

Michael Phelps with George Maloof.

Photo: Joe Fury

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps added more gold to his collection of medal ingots on a wild Vegas vacation weekend. He was presented with a special key to the Playboy Club at the Palms!

It capped an extraordinary series of events for the all-time winner of eight gold medals at the recent Olympics in Beijing! Luxe Life just about kept pace with the breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly winner as bunnies and female fans mobbed him wherever he went!

His 72 hours of platinum pleasure began when he checked into a luxury sky villa in the Fantasy Tower of the Palms as a guest of resort owner George Maloof, who also turned over the Hardwood basketball suite to him to play and hangout in. Michael’s sky villa features an outdoor terrace complete with a cantilevered Jacuzzi tub with glass end wall looking out at the entire Strip skyline all the way from the Golden Nugget downtown to the South Point.

Michael turned up in boardshorts and flip-flops at the Palms Pool for the Ditch weekly party, where he was given the Playboy key. On hand with George for the presentation was Alison Waitt and Miss September, Valerie Mason. In a group of 12 friends, Michael took over Cabana 19 and ordered up Perrier Jouet rose champagne, Ketal vodka and orange juice, plus a shot of Le Tourment Absinthe -- the rather wicked Swiss liquid in the green bottle!

Brother Gavin Maloof also got a souvenir photo with the Olympic swimming star, who later visited the new Palms Place Drift spa for a spray-tanning session with the beautiful female staff of Sunset Tan. Then he was in a dinner party of 44 people (yes that’s forty-four and not a typo!) for two tables of 20-plus each at the N9NE Steakhouse, where chef Barry Dakake prepared an incredible feast. The group included poker stars Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harmon and sports star Gary Payton.

Just what does a champion swimmer burn through at a three-hour dinner? That 10,000-calorie fuel up is no myth or urban legend. Folks, it’s the real thing. He ordered up chicken, lobster tail, shrimp, lamb chops, sides of mushroom mashed potatoes, lobster mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and Brussels sprouts -- and completely polished off his main course plate! He’d already begun with a Fat Tire beer and a Coors Light beer to go with the shellfish appetizer platter before moving on to a house cabernet red wine to go with the well-stacked piled up entrées!

Michael explained that on his last visit to the Palms he was only 19, so he told the staff he was determined to enjoy himself this time. He knocked back chilled Tuaca shots with Gary ‘the Glove’ Payton at the bar. Nothing like a visit to the upstairs rooftop Moon nightclub to dance and work off that colossal calorie cram. He arrived shortly after midnight and enjoyed two hours of dancing -- including on the catwalk -- in between sips of Grey Goose and Red Bull.

Next night, Michael and his own entourage decided on Chef Geno Bernardo’s Italian taste treats at the Nove Italiano restaurant in the Fantasy Tower. It was another three-hour meal marathon. This time it began with family-style appetizers followed by Pennette Vodka, bone in filet, chicken parmigiana, Nove spaghetti and a whole host of family-style sides. Michael ordered up espresso shots and mixed drinks with Grey Goose for his liquid refreshment.

To work it off this time around, Michael took 15 of the party to the Rain nightclub in the Palms for more dancing and listening to the music of DJ Doc Martin and the world’s No. 1 DJ Paul Oakenfold, who posed with him for our cameras. For this near three-hour dance party Michael stuck to Fiji bottled water.

Meantime, the visit wasn’t just about eating, more eating and drinking! He invited basketball great and Phoenix Suns manager Steve Kerr to the Hardwood Suite, which has its own indoor regulation half basketball court. In addition to playing some one-on-one, Steve also gave him some three-point shooting lessons. In addition, poker-prince Todd Brunson dropped by to give the swim star some poker lessons and Texas Hold’em playing tips!

It was then time to take off for Los Angeles and a surprise appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards last night. Britney Spears, who won three Moonman awards for the first time at the show, handled the opening announcement for the 25th annual telecast in a stunning metallic Versace mini-gown.

The gold medal record-holder had such an incredible time he promised he’d be back for more. I don’t know exactly when, but I can tell you that he will definitely be on the Strip come New Year's Eve when he plays co-host with American Idol’s Randy Jackson on a network TV special for a retrospective look back at the year that was '08 with his eight gold medals! Michael also will be hosting the Saturday Night Live show on NBC-TV next weekend.

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