Vegas stripper’s reality TV fame sets Brits Googling
Angelique Morgan was the second-most Googled person in the UK in 2014, beating out the queen of England and all the other soccer fans of Britain, even though Morgan lives in Las Vegas.
I sat in Morgan’s bright kitchen, behind the gated golf mulligans of Rhodes Ranch, and after her tall dogs stopped barking, she and I talked about life.
She’s known as Frenchy, she was raised in Paris, she drives a pink car featuring Hello Kitty insignia, and she sometimes exuberantly calls herself “Plastic Fantastique,” for her sculpted nose, 34-D silicone from “Dr. 90210,” permanent lip biogel, botox and fillers.
“I am Plastic Fantastique!” Frenchy said to me as giddy as a cheerleader for herself.
Her accent is French-American, so she pronounces “health nut” as “‘elth nut.” Her dialect is reality-TV celebrity, that’s why she explained the launch of her exhibitionist career like this:
“My mom and dad would take me to a beach that was nude or topless,” she said. “I got very comfortable with nudity and myself — and I just like the attention I get when I’m half-naked!
“We bond naked!”
Dear grammar police: When I use an exclamation point, it means Morgan exclaimed something very merrily in a high pitch and often laughed like they did in carefree 1960s movies. Exclamations have a point.
Morgan moved to London as a young adult. She earned a pitiful $1,000 a month as a receptionist.
“I would always get in trouble, because my skirt would always be too short,” Frenchy said. “I was, like, ‘Oh my God, why do I have to wear so many clothes? This is ridiculous!’”
Then came the exotic dancing for $5,000 a week. Next: Miami, where she was so successful as a dancer, she engaged more cosmetic surgery, reasoning:
“I need to make myself ready for Hollywood,” by getting “Barbiefied.”
She owned her first Barbie at 3. Her license plate has the word “Barbie” in it.
She moved to Vegas in 2006 for the more lucrative $500-an-hour dance money at the time, when one day she met the crew of Howard Stern’s show in town. Howard wouldn’t put her on the air. But Frenchy emailed producer Gary Dell’abate “30 times a day for two weeks” until he booked her.
Someone on VH1 heard her on “Howard,” signed her up for a TV audition, then she beat 50,000 women who tried out for Bret Michaels’ “Rock of Love 2,” catapulting her to fame.
“Saturday, I was a nobody. I was a dancer,” she said. “And then I got on that show, and all of a sudden, I would go to Starbucks and run my errands, and everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, you’re the ‘Rock of Love’ girl, we love you, Frenchy, can we take a picture?!’ I was like, ‘What the hell is going on!?”
VH1 signed her for two more shows, “Rock of Love Charm School” with Sharon Osbourne, and “I Love Money.”
Weirdly, she stopped dancing periodically, because gentleman’s club patrons wanted to take pictures of her, interfering with people paying $500 an hour for dances.
So she took a few years off from Spearmint Rhino and Sapphire, but in 2013, she became a sensation on Britain’s “Celebrity Big Brother,” a tortuous show, and she lost to Gary Busey, but like I said, Frenchy, 39, 5 feet 3, 110 pounds, was the second-most Googled person there last year, bested only by Banksy, the street artist(s), after Frenchy shredded one “Big Brother” costar’s underwear with scissors, went topless, let a guy lick her toes, and kissed a woman.
“I came out of the (sequestered ‘Big Brother’) house, and the producer said, ‘You got so much press.’ I said, ‘Why? All I did was be me!’ I went to the store and I was in every single magazine!’”
The Sun of London named her an “Ultimate Reality TV Villain.” Frenchy moved back to Vegas and Malibu, and she still had no American agent or manager.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done on my own for 12 years,” she said. “If you get the wrong people around you, it’s going to stop you from getting opportunities.”
To cast her, try Tweeting or Instagramming her (@CBBFrenchy).
She has a dance song out, “I Wanna Get Naked,” she’s writing a sex-help book, she’s waiting to see if she lands more American reality shows, she wants to learn to DJ, she’s a PETA vegetarian, and she doesn’t drink or do drugs or smoke, she’s a Virgo, she’s “5 percent bi,” and she’s “never been in a relationship more than three months,” because, “If you’re with the right person, why do you have to work it out? It should be easy, and fun, and simple.”
“I want somebody who looks like me, and crazy, and high maintenance, who has the same personality and common interests.”
She has always craved a relationship with a man who’s a Ken Doll, and as of now, she’s seeing Beverly Hills celebrity hairstylist Daniel DiCriscio.
“He looks like a Ken Doll!” Frenchy said. “He’s so beautiful!”
OPP VILLAGE ELVI CELEBRATE THE KING
I’m pretty sure most people don’t realize Elvis Presley was an early supporter of Opportunity Village, having his stage scarves made there by helping hands.
I only found this out when Penn Jillette competed on” Celebrity Apprentice,” raising money and awareness for Opportunity Village.
Anyway, on Thursday morning, Opportunity Village continued to support the legacy of Elvis, on what would have been his 80th birthday party, with a performance at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.
Jesse Garon, the official Elvis of Las Vegas (did you know we had this Elvis Laureate position?) performed moves and vocals popularized by the King of Rock and Roll, along with the OV Elvi and Roaring Thunder dance troupe, as presented by Opp Village and the Fine and Performing Arts Program.
Pretty cool. Did you see ABC News’ mock-up illustration of what ABC’s artist thought Elvis might look like at 80? Answer (as pointed out by a friend of mine on Facebook): Chuck Woolery.
Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
