Where have all the Playboy Bunnies gone?

By Samantha Rea, Special to The Sunday

Monday, Sept. 14, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The Playboy Club opened in Las Vegas in October 2006 on the 52nd floor of the Fantasy Tower at the Palms. It was the first official Playboy Club in the United States since 1988, and at the time, the only Playboy Club in the world.

Crystal chandeliers hung over blackjack tables, and Playboy magazine spreads papered the walls. The bunny costumes were designed by Roberto Cavalli, and the bunnies themselves had been selected from thousands of women nationwide. Those chosen worked as dealers, cocktail waitress and hostesses.

The club regularly hosted events with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and his playmates, but business floundered in the club’s latter years. Ultimately, it closed in June 2012.

What happened to the bunnies? As a former bunny myself, from Playboy Club London, I initiated a bunny hunt to find out what the women are doing now.

Jill de los Reyes

"I’d been featured in Playboy magazine and worked at the Playboy Club for a few months in 2010. I was a cocktail bunny; I served drinks.

“One of my best memories was when a group from Atlanta won $20,000 and invited me to gamble with them. They gave me $500, and I won $1,000, but they made me play until I lost it all. They actually became good friends and now visit me everywhere I work.

“After the Playboy Club, I went to Marquee as a go-go dancer. Playboy had only 10 tables; I wanted to work at a larger venue. Marquee featured me on a billboard and took me to Utah for the Sundance Festival.

“Now I work at Drai’s doing bottle service, and I’m buying a house. I have a degree in fashion design, so in the future, I might do something with that.

“It’s wilder at Drai’s — there are champagne showers, and there’s more energy — but it’s not as glamorous as at Playboy. I miss my bunny costume. It was painful, but it was really cute.”

Nicole Rodriguez

"I was one of the original bunnies. I auditioned at the Palms in August 2006 and got a call on Sept. 5. I had to move to Las Vegas and be ready to start training on the 10th. I came from California, and they put me up for four weeks at the Palms.

“I was a blackjack dealer and was given intensive training for eight hours a day at Blackjack Bootcamp.

“I was sad when the club closed because I felt like it was the end of an era. I was surprised, too, because I felt like it would have lasted longer.

“I left Las Vegas to come back to Los Angeles for acting and dancing. Now I run my own skin-care business. I have an aesthetician’s license and I make my own scrubs. I’m still acting, too.

“As a bunny, I worked 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. — it was brutal. Now I have a regular sleep schedule — that’s my dramatic life change.”

Patty McNeil

"I was a blackjack dealer from 2006 to 2010. Most of my memories are of the girls; we had a really good relationship.

“We did potlucks where we’d bring in food to share. There was an employee break room in the basement, but the bunnies had a suite on the 51st floor, beneath the club. We’d ‘TP’ each other’s dressing areas — cover the place in toilet paper and Post-it notes. One day, half the room was covered in plastic cups; there were more each time we came back from break. They were probably mad at us for wasting so many cups.

“I left before the club closed, as had a lot of the original bunnies. A lot of us expected it, but it was sad. It was the end of an era in our lives. You miss seeing those people every day, but we stay in touch. Thank God for social media.

“After I left Playboy, I bartended while I finished my degree. The Playboy name helped me get a bar job, but when I started office work, I played it down.

“Now, I’m a medical scribe. I went back to school when I was at Playboy and did a degree in biology. I just applied to grad school to be a physician’s assistant.

“Going to a day job is strange — not having to spend hours getting ready. I used to wear a corset, and now I wear scrubs. Working as a bunny, no one expected you to be smart. Now I’m in the medical field, and no one expects you to be pretty.”

Charity Mays

"I opened the Playboy Club in October 2006 and left in December 2010. I was a blackjack dealer. I didn’t want to learn roulette; it meant you had less chance of going home early.

“The girls are my biggest and best memory. It was like a sorority. On our breaks, we’d eat and have fun. Everyone helped each other get ready. It was like a sisterhood. Members would send us chocolate fountains, magnums of Dom Perignon and food.

“I enjoyed dealing cards, and I left Playboy to gain more experience in the gaming industry. I never wanted to be just a pretty face; I took pride in my job. If you’re dealing high stakes, you can’t be adding with your fingers and toes. When the players tried to tell me a payout, I’d say, “I know that. Don’t let the blonde hair fool you!”

“I moved to Caesars to deal blackjack there. It was less money, but I didn’t have to wear a bunny costume. It was so uncomfortable, I used to call it the torture chamber.

“I’m more relaxed now. I don’t have to think so much about my appearance. As a bunny, our tans, nails and makeup had to be immaculate, and we were weighed and measured every three months. I used to get anxiety.”

Jackie Unterreiner

"I’d been working in marketing as a spokesmodel. I wanted a cool, exciting Las Vegas job, and the Palms was the hottest casino at the time. Five thousand girls tried out to be bunnies. It was special, coveted.

“I worked there in 2006 and 2007. I started a few months after the club opened, and I stayed for a year. I was a blackjack dealer and remember dealing high-stakes games when I’d had only one month of training.

“One night, Paris Hilton went home with my bunny ears. I was so mad. It’s hard to get a pair that fit right. I had just worn them in and angled the ears how I wanted them. My boss came into the break room and said, ‘I need some ears now!’ We all held back, and she said, ‘I don’t care who, but somebody give me your ears.’ I gave her mine, and she gave them to Paris Hilton. It’s funny now, but at the time, it was the end of the world.

“I’d already left when the club closed, but I did feel sad. Working there was one of the coolest, most exciting and unique experiences of my life. I couldn’t make it to the final party, and I’ll always feel sad about that.

“Now I’m a full-time massage therapist with my own company. I always wanted to do something in health care to better people’s lives.

“The year I spent at Playboy, I earned the most I’d ever earned. But when I did my taxes, I realized I had $10,000 of beauty expenses. I spent so much on eyelashes, hair extensions and makeup. I felt so ugly without it, I even put on false eyelashes in the daytime to go to the store. I was so hard on myself. Now, I’m much more low-key and natural. I focus on inner beauty more than outer beauty.”

Natasha Wicks

"I wanted to be a bunny because it was the job to have. Everyone knows the Playboy brand. Being a part of it was a real honor.

“I worked at the club in 2008 and 2009 for about a year as a bunny hostess. I would greet every guest and walk around schmoozing. When celebrities had a table, the other hostess bunny and I would sit and talk to them.

“I was so excited when swimmer Michael Phelps came to the Palms. It was right after he’d won eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. I showed him my Michael Phelps dance, which was basically me impersonating his warm-up before swimming. He thought it was so funny, he asked a manager to send me and a bunny of my choosing down to dine with him and his friends. It was such a fun night. He was a genuinely nice guy.

“I already had left Playboy when it closed, but I was bummed to hear it. Those clubs have so much history.

“I planned to move to L.A. for acting and modeling work, but a month later, I won the UFC/Maxim Octagon Girl Search so I stayed in Las Vegas after all. Now I’m the face of Kountermove, the Fantasy MMA company, and an Invicta FC ring girl. I’m also a sponsored long-distance runner, and I had my first child this year, so I’m a mommy, too.

“My life is so different and just continues to get better. Being a full-time mommy is so rewarding and so much fun, but I still love acting, modeling and competing, and I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon.”

Heidi Wheeler

"I was living in West Hollywood and went to the bunny casting at the mansion on a whim. I got hired and moved to Las Vegas a month later. I opened the Playboy Club in October 2006 and worked there until October 2009.

"I was a bunny blackjack dealer. I dealt the first hand of blackjack to Hugh Hefner at the grand opening!

"The Playboy Club absolutely gave me some of the best years of my life. I spent two fantastic New Year’s Eves there. Players would send champagne and food to the Bunny Hut dressing room, and it was so much fun spending those times with friends. Working at Playboy was never really like working.

"The original bunnies and I will always share a special bond that no one else will understand.

"It was very sad to see the club close. I actually went to closing night. It was bittersweet to have been there the day it opened and the day it closed. For me, it was the end of an era — for Playboy Club, Las Vegas and myself.

"I left Playboy to move back to my hometown of Wichita, Kan. I was there for two years, then moved back to Las Vegas in 2011. I now live in Denver and am a marketing executive for WINC Winery."