From Bieber to topless Kendra: The best and worst celebs at indoor skydiving
Do you know how terrible Justin Bieber is? He’s the worst celebrity who ever stepped foot inside Vegas Indoor Skydiving.
Bieber made news by trashing and then stiffing the popular attraction a few years ago.
I finally went flying at Indoor Skydiving myself, floating over a trampoline-ish net as air propelled me upward from a custom motor attached to a DC-3 plane propeller in a 1,000-horsepower vertical shaft.
It was one of my very favorite things I’ve ever done on the Strip. If there was an all-day pass, they would have to kick me out. Otherwise, it’s $40 to $75.
Then I asked Dave McMahan, head of business development, to spill the beans on Bieber and other stars he has seen in his 17 years there.
He said the staff favorite is X Games superstar Travis Pastrana: “That guy is one of the most unique, cool dudes you’ve ever met in your life. He’s also psychotic and unbreakable. I’ve watched him fly with a broken leg. And I had to tell him to stop calling me ‘Sir,’ ” McMahan, a born-and-raised local, said.
Josh Brolin: “He was awesome. Josh Brolin came in with the family. It was when he and Diane Lane were still together. She was not the most, uh … she was cool, but you could just tell the family was on vacation and she didn’t want pictures taken. Josh didn’t care. I gained so much more respect for him as an actor.”
Michael Strahan: “His whole family was super cool people. He played around and took pictures.”
Leo DiCaprio: “A totally normal dude. He was laid back, super cool, baseball cap, sunglasses. You’d never know it was him. We took him up through the back way. There’s a certain level of celebrity where we have a discreet entrance and anonymity.”
Howie Mandel: “He’s pretty ballsy,” McMahan said. “That guy walked down the street to the liquor store himself to get a 12-pack of beer. It was nighttime on Convention Center Drive.”
Kendra Wilkinson: “She was really cool. I think she might have flown topless. I can’t remember.”
Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and kids: “Super sweethearts. I totally dug them.”
Edward Norton: “The instructor comes up to me and goes, ‘Hey man, I think I’ve got Edward Norton in my class.’ I look over at him and I go, ‘Nah, that guy’s too tall to be Edward Norton.’ ”
McMahan was just assuming Norton would be short, because celebrities are “always shorter than I thought,” but it was Norton, coming in at 6-feet.
“He’s got a pilot’s license, so we could talk aerodynamics, and he just turned out to be the coolest, most down-to-earth dude. He sat around afterward for an hour to talk to us.”
Tim Duncan: “That’s a big dude.” Luckily, instructors had a 7-foot-tall outfit for him to wear.
People who never come in: Big Strip headliners, such as Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Donny and Marie Osmond, Mariah Carey, Bette Midler, Prince.
“Those headliners are under contract. They may not want to break something. Plus, Mariah Carey — she’s a diva. She’s not gonna want to wear goggles (and) earplugs.”
Fun fact: No celebrities have ever got so scared they wet their pants or upchucked.
Sexy time: “We’ve done tons of naked shots. ‘Wild On! E!’ used to come here. We’ve done a bunch of Playboy shoots. It’s a lot more scientific than sexy, let me tell you. Your skin does some amazing things in the wind. The ripple effect is awesome.”
Oh, I almost forgot Bieber and his entourage of “massively big” friends from Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s circle:
“It was rough and tumble, man. Those dudes were rude, to be honest. They trashed the place. It was like the entitlement thing,” McMahan said.
“As far as bad stuff, Bieber would be the top (worst), just because he was such an out-of-touch-with-reality human. But one day, he’ll have his Milli Vanilli moment.”
Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. Find him on Twitter: @VegasAnonymous