Columnist Kate Maddox: Marrying a multimillionaire — again

Kate Maddox

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, only in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at kmaddox@vegas.com. To subscribe to the Sun, call 383-0400.

It was bound to happen. Enough people tuned into Tuesday night's "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire" on Fox that they're going to do it again.

With a whopping 16.2 million viewers, the network finally beat ABC's Tuesday night "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and scored record demos as well -- the show brought in the largest number of female viewers ever for Fox on a Tuesday night. And with all of this success, of course they're going to do it again. So, for you ladies who missed it the first time, break out the rice and start doing some sit-ups -- a swimsuit category is a prerequisite for all the semifinalists.

Producers and organizers from the show, which was taped at the Las Vegas Hilton, are actually back in town today with Tuesday night's co-host, Leanza Cornett.

Cornett and company are back to do a little behind-the-scenes footage of how things went down at the taping of the show and this extra info will be added to an edited version of the original program. The whole thing will run for one hour, one hour less than the first time around, and will air on Fox on Tuesday night.

This second coming will give audiences another chance to witness the "love" that blossomed between California ER nurse Darva Conger and San Diego multimillionaire/amateur stand-up comedian Rick Rockwell.

Rockwell and Conger reportedly spent their wedding night in a Vegas suite and are now on a cruise to an "undisclosed" location. In fact, a lot of things with this show were -- and still remain -- "undisclosed," leading some insiders to think twice about whether this thing was the real deal or a PR stunt to rival "War of the Worlds." After all, Fox is the godfather of shock TV and has yet to produce a legit marriage certificate or a copy of a pre-nup or any more details about the fledgling comic-turned-groom and his new leading lady.

Whatever questions remain, or however long the marriage remains, sources reveal that, yes, there will be a round two for the show with a new romantically-challenged groom and 50 more needy wanna-be brides. Vegas has been given the green light to play host again and the early word has taping scheduled for sometime in May.

Reports out of Hollywood have Oscar-nominated director Michael Mann -- whose movie "The Insider" was a hit with critics and audiences -- at the helm of a new biopic of legendary eccentric Howard Hughes. Mann is apparently developing the film for Leonardo DiCaprio who, oddly enough, has shown quite a bit of interest in the life of the reclusive mogul.

A little scandal rocked Hollywood this week when it was feared that a website had gotten hold of the top-secret Oscar nominees before the early Tuesday morning announcements were made.

Harry Knowles, who runs the popular insider Ain't It Cool News site, listed the "winners" on the Internet on Monday. On Tuesday he announced he was wrong.

The mix-up did send a minor tremor of fear throughout L.A. because the Academy Award nominees list has always been a famously leak-proof deal for the past 70 years. And these folks work to make that happen.

At 8:55 on Monday night two representatives from Pricewaterhouse enter the Academy building with the list of nominees. At 9 p.m. the doors to the building are locked and guards are posted at all of the entrances. Cell phones are confiscated from employees and the phone service within the building is disconnected to ensure that no one can phone out a tip. As the night goes on staffers spend time compiling press packages on the nominees, including pictures, bios, fact sheets, etc. At 3 in the morning doors are unlocked and TV crews are allowed to enter and set up. By 5:30 a.m. the entire press room is filled with journalists and the announcements begin.

The Second Annual Gourmet Games will be held on Saturday in the Grand Ballroom at Caesars Palace (see Muriel Stevens' The Main Course column on page 4E for details). The games, which feature 22 of Las Vegas' finest restaurants, are a chance for people to come out and taste some of the best food around. And it's all for a good cause.