More injuries for Dancing With the Stars cast revealed at celebrity-studded party

By Robin Leach

Monday, Oct. 20, 2008 | 10:56 a.m.

Pop-prince Lance Bass should have walked the red-carpet at the Blush boutique nightclub -- but instead, the Dancing with the Stars contestant was in a hospital emergency room being treated for a windpipe injury sustained in a kickboxing accident. DWTS co-host Samantha Harris gave me the exclusive news at the first anniversary celebration party of the boutique Wynn nightclub hosted by Dom Perignon champagne and Esquire magazine.

A glittering group of stars walked the red carpet, including Mena Suvari, Laura Prepon, Neil Patrick Harris, Christopher Knight and Adrienne Curry, Desperate Housewives star Josh Henderson, actresses Ali Landry and Olivia Wilde, and Married with Children actor Ted McGinley, who was the second contestant axed from the current series.

CLICK HERE to see our full red-carpet report and star interviews in our Luxe Life video section.

The stars began their night attending Franco Dragone’s aquatic-themed spectacular Le Reve and they went backstage afterward to meet the cast. Then they enjoyed dinner at Alex Stratta’s new Italian restaurant, Stratta and then headed for Blush. At midnight, MTV’s Next Top Popgroup Mosaic performed a happy birthday song as the cake in a replica of the club’s signature lantern was presented to the celebrities.

Here are the highlight notebook jottings from my red carpet celebrity chats:

TED McGINLEY: “People have stopped me all over Vegas saying I was robbed for being kicked off Dancing with the Starsbut I knew it was my time to go. I wasn’t the first kicked off so I felt OK. My wife and I love Vegas -- it has a very special soft spot for us. I took her away from her family and drove her out from the Midwest to get married in Los Angeles. We stopped in Vegas en route. Now that our kids are 11 and 14 we’re ready for a second life so tonight we’ll dance the mambo at Blush to celebrate.”

ALI LANDRY: “I have a 15-month old baby so I’m not much of a night owl anymore having to get up at the crack of dawn. But I love Vegas because it has something for everybody: fabulous restaurants and great shows. I danced a little when I was younger so tonight since we have a night off from parenting we’ll do a little salsa at Blush.”

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: “It was extraordinary to watch ‘Le Reve’ – to see those human beings doing incredible feats and realize they do it twice nightly. Now that’s outrageous … I’m not actually a nightclub dude. I went to one last night and even though I’m only 35 years old I felt old. I don’t party anymore. I partied when I had a fake ID before I was 21...

Magic has been a hobby for me since growing up in New Mexico when I was a 10 years old. I saved up my allowance to buy magic tricks and then I learned its history and I’m still doing it on a much grander scale. I’m a big fan of the art of magic and it’s a major part of my life. I’m on the board of directors of the Hollywood Magic Castle -- and Vegas is the best place in the world for it. You have Lance Burton and David Copperfield and others doing live magic without camera trickery right here in Vegas in front of your eyes. That’s great and to think that many of these illusions date back to the turn of the century is even more awesome. I’ll be back on the opening night of Criss Angel’s Believe show. I love Cirque, I love magic and can’t wait to see their merger. These days I’m into mentalism and have learned how to bend spoons just thinking it. Even though it's important for an actor to know sleight of hand and misdirection as an art form I keep the magic and the acting quite separate.”

LAURA PREPON: “Nightclubs are not really my vibe but tonight it’s a party so I’ll be dancing inside Blush. I love the salsa and the old school music of Journey and Bon Jovi. I love my job and my life is amazing but everybody’s freaking out over their 401Ks crashing, including me. But I won’t. I can’t go crazy about it. My accountant can freak out but an artist can’t have that depressing stuff put on us because we’d stop working.”

OLIVIA WILDE: Vegas is interesting with extremes and people going completely wild. I want to experience all it has to offer so tonight i'll salsa, do a little meringue and dance flamenco -- all on top of the bar! This is Vegas so I can go wild on the bar! I was named after Oscar Wilde – with an ‘e’. He was my favorite writer and he never minded what people said about him. I’m the same but tonight I’ll live up to my name without the ‘e’."

BOYZ II MEN: “We love coming to Vegas. It’s the only place we get to relax being on the road eight months out of the year. Vegas is awesome.

Last night we did Justin Timberlake’s Friends show. Every artist there gave their heart and soul to make it the best music show ever. Tonight we went to see the Wayne Brady show at the Venetian – and now we’re at Blush. We’re going to party like it's 1999 as Prince sang on his hit. We’ve been singing for 18 years now and we’re still going strong. The secret of our survival and longevity is that we really are into our craft. We do everything that is our being for our music and stay in tune with fans so we give and grow together. It's been a blessing for us and we respect what we have and do."

SAMANTHA HARRIS: “We have incredible competition on this new season of Dancing with the Stars. The bar has been set high and this is the best so far. There’ll always be some dancers who are weak right out of the gate and some dancers who are very strong. Then it settles down but remember the stars have put in five weeks of work before the show actually begins. This week we have four new numbers that have never been done before: the jitterbug, the hustle, the West Coast swing and a modernized salsa. Even our professional dancers had to learn the choreography and then teach the celebrities. It’s a tough schedule with rehearsals and practice running as much as 10 hours a day, even on Saturday. Sunday is our technical "blocking" day so that’s another full day of tech and rehearsals. We have all of them complaining about blisters, corns and some bleeding feet. Ask Cloris about her huge bunions. We’ve had a lot of injuries from Jeffrey’s eye to Misty’s foot and now Lance texted me this afternoon to say he’s in the ER with a kickboxing injury to his windpipe and couldn’t make it to Vegas for the Blush party. Don’t worry he will be dancing Monday night. I’m having a blast hosting the show. I grew up in a family of dancers but after seeing our pros dancing the best I can say is that I only move on the floor!"

Earlier in the week Blush’s anniversary celebration kicked off with Kardinal Offishall performing his hit song "Dangerous." Tonight our hometown-singing sweetheart Toni Braxton and regular Vegas visitor Lance will be competing in the fifth round of Dancing with the Stars. They face all new dances selected from the hustle, the jitterbug, the West Coast swing and an updated modern salsa. Luxe Life will have the judges scoring right here early tomorrow morning. Then the viewers vote tomorrow night and once again Toni and Lance could be on the firing line if 82-year-old Cloris Leachman proves to be the ongoing viewer’s favorite.