Checking in to madness
IDON’T know about you but one of the biggest frustrations I encounter with the typical hotel room is it never has a decent basketball court. Honestly, if these businesses can’t even get the basics right, what hope is there for the hotel industry’s future.
Fortunately for Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford (right), there are no such irritations with the place into which they’ve booked themselves for their latest documentary.
EAMONN & RUTH DO VEGAS (Channel 5, 9pm) finds the couple in Las Vegas, surprisingly enough, in the Hardwood Suite of the Palms hotel, a residence that requires them to shuffle just a few feet from its main living area whenever they feel that urge to shoot some hoops. The only slight snag is the cost of these digs – namely, $25,000 a night. But for that you do get 10 times the living space of the average UK house (presumably in case the Harlem Globetrotters drop in) plus your own round-the-clock butler.
Eamonn and Ruth, as I think we’ve twigged by now, are utterly obsessed with the lifestyles of those with money to burn and this feature-length special finds them encountering some of the most gloriously barmy examples to date.
There’s one just down the road, for instance, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. The Bellagio has 1,200 fountains which wealthy guests can choreograph to their requirements, complete with their own choice of song.
“Say I wanted them to go off,” Eamonn inquires, “especially for me and my dear wife here. How much would that set me back?”
He’s a tad flabbergasted by the answer but then uses his famous charm to negotiate a discount.
“I can probably do it for $225,000,” the hotel guy concedes.
Of course, not everyone in Vegas is a visitor with mountains of cash and laughably bad taste.
No, there are also permanent residents with the same attributes, such as the brilliantly named Brad and Kimberly Friedmutter.
Kimberly is a celebrity hypnotherapist while Brad made his fortune designing some of the world’s costliest buildings, a number of which dot the horizon as he gazes from his living room window.
Eamonn and Ruth are almost lost for words as they enter the Friedmutter’s home.
But not quite. Fortunately their hosts don’t seem to mind being told, albeit not in these exact words, that this house and its decor are stratospherically tacky. And they do seem generous, spiritual souls. Kimberley even pours Ruth a glass of her special “gem water” infused with tiny diamonds. Intrigued, Ruth takes a sip. And her verdict? “It just tastes like water.”
Earlier, THE GADGET SHOW (Channel 5, 7pm) tests the latest in washing machine technology – namely, smart devices with their own wifi connection. Co-host Jon Bentley persuades some chefs to hand over their dirty uniforms after a shift then loads these into three rival high-tech machines. For an equally effective test, of course, you could load them with the emperor’s new clothes.