Outrageous celeb demands: Dubai delivers

Tom Cruise, Shah Rukh Khan and George Clooney have been stars that Dubai has hosted, though we have information on what their celeb demands were. (GETTY/AP)

Published Monday, December 10, 2012

By Bindu Suresh Rai

Van Halen gained notoriety back in 1982 with their now legendary tour request that all brown M&Ms had to be removed from candy dishes in their tour dressing rooms.

Such strange and bizarre starry requests or riders as they are called, are not new to the celebrity scene, with many A-listers stipulating such terms and conditions in their contracts for the venues they will be presenting at.

Click to see gallery: Freida Pinto makes a Diff

With the onset of the ninth edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff), Andy Cuthbert, General Manager for Events, Madinat Jumeirah, is no stranger to such outlandish demands, both, in his hospitality experience or in the emirate itself.

“We had one celebrity guest once, who wanted the entire room painted pink –walls, furniture, bedding, food, simply everything,” he recalls.

“It was his daughter’s birthday and she had certain affection towards the colour.

“So we simply did as requested.”

He added: “Another time, one celebrity requested an energy drink that isn’t available anywhere in the Middle East. We made it happen; we have our ways.”

Without revealing any names, the Madinat Jumeirah in the past has hosted Hollywood celebrities that have included George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Ben and Casey Affleck, Colin Firth, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and the most recent being, Tom Cruise, who attended Diff last year with the world premiere of ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’.

Cuthbert revealed: “Tom Cruise stayed in our Malakiya Villas, because what he wanted was told privacy and seclusion.

“But most of the VIP guests opt for our suites, taking up sometimes two, sometimes 10 suites, depending on how large the entourage is, comprising kids, nannies, bodyguards.”

Mention the Van Halen story and Cuthbert promptly replied: “It is actually stipulated on the last page of their contract.

“But it is done more for assurance that the pages have been read with a fine tooth and comb, as opposed to the rockers having some strange aversion to brown M&Ms.”

With his global experience in the hospitality business, Cuthbert has long encountered many a bizarre request when celebrities pass through properties he has worked at over his career.

“Yes, we have seen, experienced many strange celebrity requests over the years, but one thing that can be said about Dubai is, most of the celebs that pass through our property here are very well behaved,” he said, adding, “With requests usually bordering on daily vitamin water to fresh cut roses in their rooms every day, to their private chefs that tour with them being allowed in the kitchen to whip up their meals as per dietary requirements.

“We strive to accommodate all such requests.”

Prompt him further about his experiences during Diff and he reveals: “Most of the celebs travel down here with their families, so the majority of requests are for babysitters that can take care of the kids, while the parents are out on the red carpet.

“But even without them requesting, we always keep tailors and shoe repair staff on standby during Diff; you would be surprised how often a dress rips just before they have to face cameras.”

Cuthbert reiterated that celeb guests at their hotel have been pretty tame in comparison to some of the other stranger tour riders that have left people scratching their heads in confusion.

Earlier this year, MIA’s tour rider leak revealed a demand for ‘three women between the ages of 20 and 25 to dance on stage wearing full-body burqas’.

Strange? Well, others have been just as bad, with Jennifer Lopez – who performed in Dubai last month – making a doozy of a request a decade back when she was making a charity appearance.

Apparently, while attending a recording session for the African AIDS charity single ‘What’s Going On’ in 2002, she submitted her standard tour rider, which demanded a 40-foot trailer furnished all in white from top to bottom — flowers, tablecloths, drapery, couches, candles….

Meanwhile, Katy Perry, who performed in Dubai on December 8, has in the past issued a 23-point driver policy for her 2011 US tour, which included details of how those around her should behave.

‘The Smoking Gun’ reported on one such rule that stated drivers could not converse with Perry or stare at her from the rearview mirror.

Also, singers Madonna and Mary J Blige are flushed with concern over toilet hygiene, allegedly demanding different toilet seats for every city they tour.

Oh dear.

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