Teri Weigel will be appearing at The Bunny Ranch in Reno, Nevada from May 15 to June 1. "This is a big thing for us," says Bunny Ranch impresario Dennis Hof. "I want to get the word out. This is a big move for us." Hof's guess is that Weigel is going to be making herself somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 - a darn good incentive for women in the adult industry to start circling the name Reno on their Rand McNally's.
Hof: "A year and a half ago when we first decided we were going to bring the XXX girls up there, we were really doubtful whether we could get anyone to make the switch. Now they're lining up, and they come back. It took Sunset Thomas [to get the ball rolling]. All the big guys like Vivid were saying Sunset would never work again. She said, 'Fuck them. I want to try this. I want to party with my fans. I want to do it in a legal manner. I don't want to go to jail for it.' She did it, and it was a tremendous success. An unbelievable success." So successful, Hof estimates that when a Sunset Thomas does a gig at the Ranch, the house does 100% more money without even counting what a Sunset Thomas takes in.
According to Hof, Thomas, during an eight-day stint at the Ranch in October, made $70,000 and $200,000 for all of 1998; over five days last week, she made another $40,000. "We did that without any advertising because she decided to do it on the spur of the moment," he said. Thomas has been at the ranch on at least five different occasions. "Clients are fighting for rooms when Sunset comes here," Hof observes. "It will be the same way with Teri Weigel."
Hof: "Sunset's decided that she's only going on the road one week a month, that way she can try to make six trips a year to The Bunny Ranch. Kathy Willets is up there with us right now [for a week], and she's telling Spontaneeus Xtasy [who's also there right now] and the other girls that the road-thing is drying up. The money just isn't there anymore."
In fact, Spontaneeus did her recent Howard Stern gangbang summit interview as a live remote from the Ranch. A crew filmed her and sent the tapes to Stern to put the TV show together. Hof, himself, has also been a guest on Stern along with Capri Cameron, his former working girl, who's now Arrow's contract girl.
Porn girls who have broken The Bunny Ranch barrier include Thomas, Willets, Kayla Kleevage, Suzi Suzuki, Christina Angel, Kristina St. James, Nancy Vee, Alicia Rio, Treasure Chest and B.J. Biggs. There may be more, but Hof was at a loss at the moment to recall their names. Kristina St. James was real popular, according to Hof. "She'll be coming back." But it's the wiggle of the Weigel that has Hof particularly captivated.
"Teri Weigel's a big name," says Hof. "I talked to Larry Flynt, and he said he's got to rush something in the magazine." Flynt, according to Hof, wanted to play up the whole Hef's former bunny angle working at The Bunny Ranch.
According to Hof, the going rate for a porn star is a matter of negotiation. "We don't control the rates," says Hof. "That's part of the IRS test of being an independent contractor. We don't get involved in that." The reality of it is that Hof claims he's never seen Sunset Thomas do anything for under $500.
Hof: "Howard Stern asked her what's it going to cost? 'Will you give me a handjob for $500? I would take that. In fact, I'll take that right now - someone as beautiful as you are.' About the lowest I've seen her do anything for is $500, and the most I think is $12,000 which a guy spent the week before last. She's got a guy who was here a couple of days ago who spent $8,000 on her and told me that she is the most incredible sexual experience he ever had in his life. He said it wasn't about money. That when it gets to that level, it just doesn't fucking matter. This guy is a senior vice president of a major bank.These guys fly in on their own personal jets. That's the neat thing about these XXX girls. These guys have been whacking off to their movie for years; been going to the titty bars and watching them make them crazy, now they can come in and actually have sex with the girl. And they can bring their wives. Watching XXX-stuff is the wives and the guys. Sunset was having at least two parties a day that were couples. We're talking real upper-end couples that are paying $2,000 to $5,000 dollars to spend an hour with her. It's working. I see this not as an alternative to the dance circuit but as the answer. Why go in a dance club and make $8,500 for a week [as Thomas did recently in Sacramento], when in six days you can walk out making almost $40,000? I have girls telling me, 'The hell with these loonies on the road, I'm having fun here.'
Hof: "And she [Thomas] tells me she's more in demand in the films than she ever was. It's interesting. I just spent three hours in the Vivid offices last week where they're trying to sign me up to an exclusive deal to do a series of movies with my girls and the porn girls. So their whole attitude's changed. I see the philosophy changing. Quickly."
Hof talks about doing some "sexual extravaganzas" with Larry Flynt. "In December we signed a letter of intent for a partnership with me to put a big Hustler super store and Internet center here," he says. "We'll have like six sets going where the girls can do Internet sex and also where we can film movies. All the things that they run into in California about making movies, and the laws, and permits and police, I don't have that problem. We're not sure how we're going to do the store," Hof continues, "but at this point we've agreed on a Hustler Internet showcase. None of this bullshit-stuff now that's jerky and small pictures. It's going to be full-frame, full-screen stuff. We've held off with having a site because we want to do it right. We're on to it big."
Hof says he's going to put in an adult video store at the Ranch. "It's possible that in our Hustler partnership we're going to do a store but we haven't finalized that part yet." To promote the Hustler Internet showcase, Hof plans to have all the girls from Hustler up to the Ranch. "We're hoping that'll induce more of the XXX girls because that will go on the Hustler website. What's that? 1,300,000 hits a day? It will tell you when Teri Weigel's going to be at The Bunny Ranch."
Hof says he's got about 25 hours-worth of film which he's digitizing to put on the website. "Every time a XXX girl comes in, I do an interview that's a combination of Al Goldstein and Howard Stern," he says. "Then the girl puts on a show where she does masturbation or something with a dildo. Then, one of our girls will come in. We'll throw her in bed, and they'll do each other. That's going to promote them coming to the ranch, also."
Hof says the XXX girls are drumming up Ranch business by handing out flyers on their road trips or by putting information on their websites. "They [the fans] just come in droves," says Hof. Word also gets out to the old guard. Porsche Lynn is scheduled to be at the Ranch in two weeks. "We're getting a zillion phone calls a day from guys asking about her," Hof says. "Guys that remember her from five years ago."
Hof: "The majority of America doesn't realize that prostitution is legal in certain spots in Nevada, and they don't know that The Bunny Ranch is even there. Having these girls here brings in a new customer base. We're on to something big here."
[By the way, John Wayne Bobbitt's having a birthday party at the Ranch the end of this month.]
Call 888- BUNNY RANCH for information, menus and lists of the XXX stars coming in.
