Caesars 24/7, Episode 12: Water and Ice

In the first of the two back-to-back half-hour episodes of Caesars 24/7 airing this week, we’ll be catching up with series regulars The Grape Goddess and butler Vanentino Crespo.

We start the episode out by the pool, where Katie Mayorga (who is The Grape Goddess) tells us that the biggest pickup spot at Caesars is the pool. Guest Patrick has boxing tickets but no companions except his buddies, and he is looking for a date. Pulling the hilarious “smoking a pickle” routine doesn’t work at one table. Trying to date a woman just as her husband returns doesn’t fare any better. By his grim response, she might not have to wait to see a fight! Patrick manages to extricate himself from the husband and his buddy says, “Are you sweating? We didn’t need tickets to that fight!” Ha!

Our second storyline involves long-term friends Anthony, AJ, and Biz. I’ll be calling them “The Amigos.” As is normal for them, they decide to turn their Vegas visit into a competition… and it’s going to be blackjack. All three guys think they’re the best blackjack player. The Amigos start with $500 each and intend to play until there’s a winner.

We meet a new (to us) Caesars employee, Cammy Warden, and her assistant, Amy. Cammy is the National Sales Manager, and in two hours she will be wooing a group of meeting planners. Besides a site tour, there will be a reception in the penthouse. The group is responsible for millions of dollars of business, so Cammy will be pulling out all the stops for these VIPs. Butler supreme Valentino Crespo is also on the job, so things are surely in good hands. This is a group that will notice the details. “If we don’t have it we’ll invent it,” says Valentino, adding, “We never say no.”

The Amigos begin play blackjack, and they are very competitive. This includes lots of good-natured kibitzing. After four hours, Anthony and Biz are ahead and AJ is even.

Cammy and Amy visit the bowels of Caesars Palace to meet with their on-site ice carver. What, your company doesn’t have one? How far into the sub-basement have you ventured? Well, no matter. It turns out he can produce a nice angelfish in 20-30 minutes. And with a flash of power tools, flying ice, and spraying water, it is so! It’s beautiful, too.

While that is happening, Valentino is up in the suite supervising the presentation of the room and preparing dessert. All is going well as the carving is delivered to the room… without a base. Since ice tends to melt (except on my steps and driveway) in a very sloppy manner, a base is pretty important!

Valentino moves it out of sight while the guys who brought it are sent back to get a proper base. It’s safe to say they don’t exactly race off, even though Valentino says they need it in ten minutes.

Cammy and Amy meet the florists and musicians on the main floor. They have less than an hour to get ready, and the security escort that was going to take them to the penthouse is nowhere to be found. And when Valentino calls to tell them of the missing base, they are starting to get a little worried.

Back to The Amigos. Chip-wise, AJ is starting to fall behind the others, but the level of testosterone remains mutually high. As AJ falls out of the competition, dealer Maxine says, “I don’t think they’ll make 24 hours. No, not at all.”

By the pool, Grape Goddess Katie Mayorga says, “Some of the men here are sharks, and it’s like a feeding frenzy when a beautiful woman shows up.” And to prove the point, here comes a group of women celebrating a 21st birthday. One guy buys drinks for everyone! Darn, I am NEVER there when that happens! Katie notes that even when it looks like a couple have paired off, another guy will try to break in on the action. She’s very good natured about it all, but I bet Katie thinks all men are morons. Well, based on tonight’s evidence, it may be hard to disagree.

Meanwhile, Valentino is getting as close to losing his cool as we’ve ever seen. Valentino and his aides wrap the bottom of the ice sculpture in sheets to simulate a base, but it’s insufficient and the ice is melting quickly and dripping on the floor.

Cammy and Amy still wait for security to take them to the penthouse. Their VIP guests are due in 30 minutes. Finally, the key arrives. The room is being quickly prepared, but the penthouse is clearly not ready.

After The Amigos have spent over twenty hours at the table, Anthony is starting to fade badly. Some girls in devil horns come by, and neither player can figure it out. But when a trio of hot girls sit down at the table, by gum, with a resurgence the likes of which have not been seen since Shawna first saw Alex in camp in Survivor: Amazon, the boys find the strength to continue. Anthony is very distracted by cleavage and is way too tired to be subtle… or blink.

Anthony loses three hands in a row. It’s now been 24 hours of play and both have less than $50. They decide to go “all in” on the next hand. But we’ll have to wait for that to play out.

To get more time, the VIP guests are given an extended tour of the property from Cammy and Amy. Meanwhile, the people in the penthouse are mopping up spills, preparing the bar, and generally hustling like mad. I wonder if, until they saw the show, any of the VIPs suspected the reception wasn’t ready?

It’s getting late, and poolside Patrick still has fight tickets and no date. He tries to pick up The Grape Goddess. Gee, that’s probably never happened before! And the scene ends, with Patrick striking out. Grape Goddess Katie says, “And that’s how it goes at the pool!”

The marathon blackjack game is coming to a close. Dealer Michele Adams, who we’ve seen a few times before, is now on shift, and it’s quick and merciless – she deals herself a 21. A perfect ending, there is no winner as everyone lost their $500. Michele feels sorry for them, but the guys agree, it was the only right way for it to end.

It’s time to conclude our last story – the VIP party. Cammy gets the word from Valentino that it’s time to bring the guests to the suite. At the reception, all goes well and the VIPs are suitably impressed. Caesars lands the account and Valentino says to his staff, “Good job guys, we did it again.”

In Conclusion: Tonight’s episode of Caesars 24/7 was called, “On The Edge.” The VIP party might have been the best but I didn’t find any of these stories extremely compelling, so I’ll give this episode a “C-.”

So how many of the Seven Deadly Sins were invoked in this episode? I think an argument could be made that we hit all seven to some slight degree.

Next episode: It ran immediately afterwards. You can read about it here.

Brian is an unemployed/retired programmer from Toronto who really needs to go on a junket to Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. He can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com.

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