Brody Jenner
'The Hills' star spends a night with his 'bro' at the Marina Bay Beach Club
In a VIP balcony overlooking the outdoor dance floor at the Marina Bay Beach Club (formerly known as WaterWorks), Brody Jenner - son of Olympic track and field star Bruce Jenner - is being paid to party.
"The Hills" heartthrob is dressed in a grungy flannel shirt and sneakers, much to the disappointment of some of his VIP female fans. "Wasn't he wearing the same thing the last time we saw him?" asks a young brunette in high heels who saw Jenner at a similar event last winter. "He could have shaved," says another.
Jenner's day job is as a reality star on "The Hills" and on the upcoming series "Bromance," which features regular guys vying to become part of his Hollywood entourage. When his surreal life is not being filmed, Jenner gets paid to make nightclub appearances. The night before, he was on the payroll at a lounge on Long Island. Two nights before, he was at Shrine, the club at the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
The Marina Bay Beach Club management won't disclose exactly how much they're paying Jenner to be here, but they admit it's in the neighborhood of $20,000 for two hours. It's not a bad gig, especially considering the fact that the fans who show up to get a glimpse of Jenner are mostly women under 25 wearing tube tops or skimpy sundresses.
"I'm having fun," Jenner says with some discomfort when he notices a reporter in the room. "I always have fun."
At the start of his shift, Jenner doesn't seem to be faking it. He appears legitimately happy as he looks over the VIP lounge railing at the packed dance floor, bobbing his head to the beat of Jay-Z's "Money Ain't a Thang."
For about 10 minutes, Jenner watches one of the club's paid dancers do fancy handstands on a platform in front of the balcony. Jenner taps the shirtless guy on the back to tell him he likes his moves, and they do something between a handshake and a fist bump. It looks like a Bromance, but Jenner already has an object of affection for the night: Matty (real name Matt Osborn), an overbearing friend who came with him from LA.
In "Entourage" speak, Matty is like a cross between Ari Gold and Lloyd. He runs back and forth in the VIP area, gesticulating wildly as he talks up the blondes in the corner. He's already yelled at the Beach Club staff, prompting the manager to sigh, shake his head, and walk out.
When someone refers to Matty as Jenner's "Chinese friend," Matty yells back, "I'm not Chinese! I do not work at Panda Express!" (He's Korean, according to another member of his entourage.)
Matty has put an effort into his look tonight. With his wallet chain, gray suit vest, and trendy sneakers, he looks more fit for "The Hills" than Jenner does. After finishing a Bud Light and opening a bottle of Patron, Matty walks over to one of the club bouncers and tells him he wants more women in the VIP booth.
"All I want are two fatties and hotties. I want hotties and I want two fatties," he says. "You can't have all pretty people up here, you know what I mean?" The bouncer nods.
Jenner remembers there's a reporter in the room and asks, "Is there anything you need to know? Do you have any questions?"
I ask him if he has spent much time in Boston, and Jenner says that his half-sister (not to be confused with his step-sister Kim Kardashian, a fellow reality star ) and her husband live nearby, so he has been to the area a few times. "You're not going to write anything bad are you?" he says defensively. "Because I'm just here to have a good time."
Before long Jenner and Matty walk away and start talking to a new group of women who have entered the VIP lounge - they're definitely not the "fatties." Jenner's followers ask him to pose for pictures, and in groups of two, they stand on either side of him and pose. Jenner grins for every shot, only stopping to answer his cellphone.
Eventually, Jenner is asked to get on the microphone and address the club from the balcony. In an "Evita" moment, he stands on the platform, looking down at his people, and says a number of things, including "You're amazing," and "Get the [expletive] up here."
By 12:30 a.m., the manic Matty is already busy planning part two of the night, when Jenner is off-duty. There's been talk of an after-party at a hotel downtown. At 1 a.m., fueled by Patron and Bud Light, the group makes its way to a chartered car that will take them to a place where Jenner will do more of the same, but for free. 