Drama? What Drama?
Wow – I knew this was going to be an AH-MAZING party when months before the time people were begging me to get them on the guest list. Even though there were massive bribes given, Melinda Shaw AKA: The Boss was adamant – only the very best A-list celebs should be there. So, after surviving months of cajoling phone calls, it was almost time for the most talked about event of the year!

Erm, did you say work?
You could feel the excitement in the office on the day – we’ll all remember the exact date: 21st November. Now, while we were all ‘supposed’ to work until 12, it was pretty obvious that us girls were more concerned about whether to have curls or bring out the GHD for extra- sleek hair. One by one, we all started disappearing – hoping The Boss wouldn’t realise we had sneaked out even earlier than we were supposed to.

Eventually, with my face in place, I made my way back to the office and was armed with my lip-gloss and camera for the night ahead. A colleague and myself decided to travel together. Directions have never really been my strong point and since it was Constitution Hill in Braamfontien, I figured there was a very good chance I could end up at the ANC’s headquarters – since that’s really the only other place I know in the CBD.
heat hot 100 time…

A little dizzy after that whirlwind parking experience – 10 floors down my poor car had to drive – we stepped out and felt like stars! There was a yellow carpet nogal because, of course, our amazing sponsors MTN were there in full force. We were given potent Mojitos and the vibe was really magical.

After some fireworks and an awesome guitarist (damn, I wish there had been a camera zooming in on him, because his music sounded hot and we all wanted a better look at the…erm… full package) we were ushered into the venue. It really was superb. There were big screens all over, the tables were decorated in this opulent way that made you just want to touch everything and it was PACKED to capacity.

5fm’s Jen Su was the host for the night –and my, oh my, does that little lady have a voice on her. Girl! You need to get out there more! After being entertained by Three Tons Of Fun – (make this a new years resolution – you have to watch these gals perform) the extra-special celebs chosen by well, The Boss made their entrances.

Leagues ahead of the rest!
One of the things that makes a heat party extra glam are the celeb entrances. Every year we choose our favourite dudes and dudettes to make a spectacular entrance into the party – and this year was no different. First there was Paul Wilson swinging across the room dressed as Batman. Then Daniel Hadebe, Jacques Terreblanche and Vernon Koekemoer did a little dance with Three Tons of Fun – No, really! Vanessa Carreira came in on a majestic horse, like Lady Godiva (but fully clothed), but Lee-Ann Liebenberg’s steed was a superbike – I could literally hear all the boys licking their lips.

A forklift was driven in, carrying a crate, which burst open to let Lee-Ann’s man, Danny K out. The ever elusive Emmanuel Castis made an appearance, and as usual, girls swooned all over him. There was also our fabulous columnist, Uyanda Mbuli, and her maatjie Cindy Nell who arrived with dogs and shopping bags – strutting their stuff a la Paris Hilton and co – just with WAY more dogs!

And then there was our big winner: heat’s hottest celeb over all (yes, I DO mean he’s hot all over!) Ryk Neethling. He beat hot international stars, like Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and George Clooney, to be the first ever local celeb to win the coveted prize. And, oh baby, after the girls met him in person for the first time, it was agreed that this man should come collect his prize in person, from… well, us! You’d also want to do more than eat him! The award went out and after Ryk got his bottle of Moet, Tasha Baxter entertained us for the next couple of hours.

A special mention to our heat readers who won the voting competition and scored themselves a night of celebrity pampering they're unlikely to forget. Not only were they the life and soul of the party, but they looked as fabulous as any of our other guests after their day of pampering and luxury. Plus, they got to hang out with our Hot 100 winner Ryk! Lucky, lucky girls...

What the others didn’t want me to say
Part of my job is to spill the beans on all the naughtiness. In this case, that would include some of our own staff members! In reverse order:

5th Place goes to Karen Wentzel – Girl you can dance. The way you moved your hips, damn, we’re thinking you so need to give us a lesson or two or three…

4th Place goes to Jo-Ann King – She was just everywhere. This Chief-Sub-Editor had absolutely no skaam in going up to Ryk every now and then, to you know, chat!

3rd Place goes to Peter Langa – Dude, we ALL want to know exactly who that girl was that you were chatting up the ENTIRE night? And then when she left, you moved right along to your next conquest – NICE!

2nd Place goes to Natasha Barendse – I sit next to you and didn’t realise you could be so FUNNY. You may have been making utterances under your breath, but we ALL heard you. Hilarious!

1st Place goes to Nico Nel – without a doubt Nico you are the overall winner! You had us begging you to take off your top. You had Tasha Baxter leading you like a dog – with your tie between her teeth - touching your torso and well, a whole load of other girls were touching too, trying to get that shirt off… the tie could stay! We like!

Reflections
I go to parties all the time, in fact for the past two months I can count on one hand the amount of times I have actually been home to stroke my pug. I can, without a doubt, say it was THE BESTEST party I have ever been to but, if you don’t take my word for it, let me relate what an opposition journalist said to me (no names mentioned for fear of the poor soul losing his job) “Heard you guys threw the best party on Saturday. Screw you for having a better one than us – I guess we can only learn…” And yes, there was free booze… Plenty!

Only 358 days till the next heat Hot 100!

Check out our fab gallery of pics of the party below:

Photos: Waldo Swiegers & Bruce Hill