The Dancing With The Stars Season 18 official wrap party was held at Riviera 31 of the Sofitel Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on Tuesday, May 20. The beautiful space had partygoers strolling the red carpet, and dancing their way into the indoor outdoor space. Guests had cocktails under the stars, and sampled divine bites from some of the best restaurants and chefs in the nation. The stylish crowd mingled over numerous food stations while gazing in awe of the massive cupcake designed cake that was created to look like a gold dance floor.

Guests from America’s hit show from ABC included Drew Carey, Cody Simpson, Karina Smirnoff, Danica McKellar, Kym Johnson, Cheryl Burke, Tom Bergeron, Victor Ortiz, Erin Andrews, and Billy Dee Williams. 

Upon arrival, I was greeted my Chef extraordinaire Scott Fischer, who boasts over 35 years of experience in the food, entertainment, restaurant promotion and culinary industry. He lead me from station to station to meet the chef teams he selected for this special event consisting of high-profile celebrity and renowned chefs that dazzled the DWTS cast, stars, executives and media with a multi-course dining reception.

Blendtec blenders, the powerful, safe, commercial and residential blenders that are designed and manufactured in Utah, were used by every culinary team to create their concoctions. Blendtec’s Culinary Dream Team collaborators included Whitney Miller (Modern Hospitality), Bernard Guillas, Mario Cassineri, Emilio Tiburcio, Christopher Maggetti, Frankie “The Bull” Terzoli, Avis White, and Cris Patolot. 

The creative and cutting edge cuisine prepared with Blendtec blenders consisted of Cocktail, Appetizer, Entrée and Dessert courses. Some of the evening’s highlights included shrimp and watermelon ceviche with a watermelon margarita shooter as well as an oyster fantasia from Frankie “The Bull” Terzoli.

Whitney Miller and her mom shared cornbread crostini with turnip green pesto and sun dried tomato,  then followed with a dessert blend of coffee milk tea shooters with a brownie cookie topper. Christopher Maggetti’s culinary dream team made a nice chilled red and yellow tomato soup with a crispy bacon garlic grilled cheese crostini. Other sizzling bites included beef cheeks over pureed cauliflower, Louisiana pan fried chicken, and Andouille and sausage gumbo with cornbread. My favorite restaurant in San Diego Bice was on hand too.

I spent the evening circulating back to the Blendtec station to sample their incredibly healthy green smoothie drinks and green blended juices made from greens, bananas, grapes, and vanilla protein powder.

The executive producer spoke to the crowd towards the end of the night since it was the last season working on the show, while the revelry continued as the cast and crew watched a memorable video of their years working together. It was neat to see their joy as they ‘Oohed’ and ‘Aahed,’ while laughing and screaming at the screen. Many people I met were both music and visual editors as well as responsible for the stage design. One guy I met said how much of an incredible working experience it had been for him since the behind the scenes production crew had such great energy and spirit.

America’s hot show Dancing with the Stars surely ended with a POW! Too bad the winners Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Meryl Davis had to hop on a plane to NYC and miss out on the $70,000 food frenzy.