Columnist Kate Maddox: Frisky Fox makes call to arms

Kate Maddox

Friday, June 8, 2001 | 5:20 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column also appears Tuesdays and Fridays in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at 259-2309 or kmaddox@lasvegassun.com.

Having issues with your partner? Unsure about your beau's level of commitment? Does your girl's wandering eye give you pause?

Well, pack your bags and get on down to Temptation Island. Two.

On Thursday hundreds of Las Vegas singles and couples are expected at an open casting call at popular pick-up place Gordon Biersch. The auditions will help narrow down the good-lookers lucky(?) enough to get shipped to Fox's little island of sin. (Said island is still in question, but bear in mind that Honduras is one of the options.)

"Temptation Island 2" casting director Marki Costello says she's coming to Vegas to look for "America's most eligible singles. Singles who want to meet their Mr. or Mrs. right, that have good jobs, and are at a point where they want to settle down." (Um, and maybe it's me, but if I were looking to settle down, I don't think I'd do it in a place called Temptation Island.)

Who is Costello not looking for? "People who are going just to have fun and make out with people." Hey, wipe that smirk off your face -- breaking up committed relationships is serious business!

And if you don't look good in a bathing suit, don't bother showing up. "They're going to be in an hot place, in a bikini or trunks, pretty much the whole time," Costello explained. "So, definitely, do not do this, don't even come to the casting call, if what you look like would make this a problem."

All you other skinny, soulless types listen up. You have to be at least 21, with no kids, marriages, or criminal record and must be able to travel mid-August through September. The tryouts start at 5:30 p.m. May the best tempter win.

The Tonya Harding story just won't go away. Now the skater's godmother, Linda Lewis -- who insists she is also Harding's publicist and manager, and whom Harding calls "Mom" -- is saying that Harding no longer wants to do a topless Vegas revue on ice. In a phone interview from Portland, Ore., Lewis added that Harding will now "have to deny the story, and (to do so) we're negotiating with the media to get that done."

Translation: Harding was indeed contemplating the nudie show, there was an offer made, she has reportedly had second thoughts and is now looking for payment from a tabloid for her "exclusive." That's how it works.

The National Enquirer is indeed in talks with Harding to pay her for her story, or her denial, or whatever, but a source at the tab says the ice princess wouldn't be able to get more than $1,000. Enough for new hubcaps, perhaps ... ?

In the meantime, Lewis insists Harding is just a "good girl" who did "get an offer to put this (show) deal together" but she did "turn it down a couple of weeks ago" because she is now "working hard on a book about her life story and checking out appearance deals, movie offers and television roles."

With any luck, Jerry Springer needs a sidekick.

The real deal with a Las Vegas variety show, a la Ed Sullivan, has nothing to do with Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams (as reported elsewhere,) but rather with Danny Gans and Aaron Spelling.

Gans has been working with Spelling and Pearson Television to put together a variety show, which the impressionist would host and that would be produced on the Strip and air on a national TV network. The variety program would be in addition to the sitcom that Spelling has been working on for Gans.