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In February of this year, I was alerted to the accusations on missnudepageants.com about Rio Rivers, Ken Shinkle (LykensEntertainment.com) and the alleged fixing of the Miss Nude USA/Universe titles. A couple of weeks ago, I did an interview along a similar vein with Craig Valentine, the man in the life of Summer Haze. In early January of 2000, I did interviews with Richard Marchelli and Jim Hayek (husband of Ann Marie of Pure Talent agency). I got an email from Charlie Frey. We got into depth on the strip club circuit. Tuesday afternoon, May 24, 2005, I speak by phone with an annoyed Ken Shinkle. Ken: "I wish you'd let this crap drop about the MissNudePageants.com. It is so old. This has been going on since 20 years ago. There isn't anything newsworthy in this at all. If you want to do an interview with me, do an interview with me. I'll take each individual [thing]. It's not going to be a blanket interview. You come to me with a specific question and I'll be glad to answer it." Duke: "Tell me a little bit about the..." Ken: "No. I said specific questions. Not just tell me a little bit about this, or tell me a little bit about that..." Duke: "Do you know who's behind MissNudePageants.com?" Ken: "No. "If I sound a little tense, it's because I'm real tired of this. Devon Michaels, who you did a nice interview with, called me up and said, 'Did you see this?' This is nothing new. This s--- happened in June or July of last year. You're redredging up the crap in the cistern. "I have a good idea whose doing it. I can't prove it. "Have you gone to MissNudePageants.com?" Duke: "Yes." Ken: "Have you tried to contact them by email?" Duke: "Yes. They won't talk to me." Ken: "What does that tell you right there? If they do return your emails, what does it say on the header? 'Rio Rivers.' Why would Rio Rivers put up a website bashing her contest?" Duke: "That's a fake." Ken: "They have MissNudePageants.com on a rotating server. We have gone around and closed this thing down and they just put it on a different server. If [Rio Rivers] goes through her attorney and shuts it down, then it pops up on somebody else's server. The people who put this website up won't come forward and say who they are." Duke: "I got a package..." Ken: "From Taya Parker, who was pulling the same bulls--- in Las Vegas in August last year when she went out there for the Exotic Dancer Expo. She was going around to different people handing out these different packets. "Did Taya Parker's packet include the email and letter that Rio Rivers' attorneys sent to Taya Parker to stop using Miss Nude USA and all titles there enclosed?" Duke: "No." Ken: "Of course not. If you check out Taya Parker's website, Miss Nude USA 2004 is still up there. She is not Miss Nude USA 2004. Jada [DeVille], who happens to be my wife, is. "They've got this crap about me on MissNudePageants.com. I have no affiliation with Rio Rivers. I'm an agent. I book featured entertainers into clubs. I've known Rio for a long time. I used to book her into clubs. That's as far as our arrangement goes. "If you want to take the crap on that website [MissNudePageants.com] and just throw it against the wall, then anyone who is ignorant doesn't read between the lines. "It says that many contestant hopefuls are directed to me. It is my job to guide these ladies in their search for pageant glory? No, it's not. My job as an agent is to turn around and help these girls get credits. "I used to do a whole series of showcases and contests. When Rio bought the Miss Nude USA titles from Samantha Jones, I was still doing pageants in clubs I book. I had to go to Rio and ask for her permission to use certain titles that she had copyrighted. "The only thing I have ever done is ask a girl if she wants to do the Worlds or the USAs. I have not received one penny from Rio Rivers. I even pay for my own hotel room when I go to her contests. I am not a part of R&D Promotions. "I am married to Jada [DeVille]. I think that is very unprofessional of them to put that in there. She's gone to clubs now and guys have come up to her and said, 'What kind of name is Shinkle?' So guys know her real last name now. We don't really care. But think of the security concerns when she checks into a hotel under Jada Shinkle. Now she has to use a fake name. I used to bodyguard people. I had to shoot a guy in New York because he was trying to come after one of the girls. "I emailed this bulls--- website and asked them over and over again to remove my last name. Please, if you want to put something up there about me, fine. I've got big shoulders. I've been doing this job for a long time. They are just throwing out a bunch of s--- for all the ignorant people who want to believe it. "People can go into a database somewhere and find our home address, our phone numbers. You know computers. I asked them nicely and they wouldn't. They don't think they're under any liability if something would happen to my wife. They told me I was the one creating security concerns for my wife." Duke: "Surely Taya Parker has something to do with this site?" Ken: "Serena Star was named Miss Nude World 2005. Yes, Serena is the duo partner of Jada. So now they're bringing Serena's name into this, implying it is fixed because they're duo partners and I book them. That's how warped this is getting." Duke: "Why do they hate you?" Ken: "I don't have a clue. I have my theories but I don't believe in saying anything before it is true. "You printed from that website that the crowd was aghast and there was chaos ensued after the announcement was made who won. I've got the tape of the unedited raw footage of when they announced that Jada won and Taya Parker took second. There's one guy going 'Bulls---. Bulls---.' That's it. The chaos ensued over the hotel in the lobby. Jada, Serena and I were eating breakfast. We heard there was a big ruckus in the hotel. "The next day we were invited to their room by Taya & Jaz, we didn't go up on our own. That's when he [Taya's man Jaz Securo] approached me about getting in a lawsuit against Rio Rivers. I said I didn't have a bitch with her. You're the one who says it's fixed. I have nothing to do with that. Jada and I went down there to compete for the Miss Nude USA title and she won. Taya took second. For a girl who had just been featuring for two months and take second place, she should've been happier than s--- and shut her mouth and took her award and be grateful." Duke: "What do these titles mean for a girl's dancing career?" Ken: "Anymore? They don't mean s---. At one time, Miss Nude World was the most prestigious title out there. Even though Samantha Jones owned the titles. "This story about everything being fixed has been going on as long as I've been in the industry (20 years as a bouncer, club-runner, photographer, bodyguard, agent). "There was a big stink one year about Vanessa Steele stuffing the ballot box. She sued the Pink Pony and the Galardi Corporation. It didn't go nowhere. There was a big stink when Jade St. Claire won it. Another year it was said Holly Montana should've won it. It started about two years before Sam got out of it. The girls who were going up and winning it, people didn't think they should win. Watch American Idol tonight. Half the people are going to be happy and half are going to be pissed. "On any given night of any given contest, anybody can win. It just depends on what the judges like. "There are brand new girls coming out on to the feature circuit who don't know how to do anything. They don't know what it is like to do the kindergarten circuit. So they don't respect what they get now." Duke: "Don't most of the girls lie about their credits?" Ken: "Taya Parker is lying about hers. She says she's Miss Nude USA 2004. If Taya Parker hadn't created all this bulls---, I would've been booking her now. "The only thing that Taya Parker has that she can verify is that she is a 'Sum Pussy' bottle model. That energy drink they sell at the clubs. "She says she was in Playboy. You are not allowed to advertise you were in Playboy. It is against their rules. They will sue." Duke: "MissNudePageants.com has to be connected to Taya Parker because it is the same information she sent out in the packets." Ken: "Isn't that amazing? You said it. I didn't." Duke: "Who are Craig Valentine and Summer Haze?" Ken: "Summer Haze is a semi-porn star. There are girls out there who do a few movies and they think they're porn queens. They're not. A girl used to have to go out and 200 movies before she could get the money some of the porn girls want now. "Summer Haze wanted to work with Continental. A lot of times in this business, if you get an overbearing, obnoxious roadie whose her manager, husband, boyfriend or whatever..." Duke: "Craig Valentine?" Ken: "There you go. You said it. If you have to deal with something like that, you turn off the agents. They don't want to talk to you. "Being an agent or feature is easy, but you have to do your job. But when someone is calling you up five times a week, 'She's the best thing since sliced bread.' They were supposed to do a showcase for me in New York. I was with Continental. "They didn't have the courtesy to tell me about it. They told Frank. Frank forgot to tell me because Frank has no brain cells left. "That's a joke. Frank and I are friends. "When they called me a week before the showcase that they weren't coming, I told them that I didn't need to book them. "I have a policy that I won't book what I haven't seen. I want to see what somebody can do on stage and if they smile. "These guys (the roadies, managers, boyfriends/ husbands) think I am booking them. I've never seen Craig Valentine get up there and take his clothes off. "Every picture she had sent to Continental as promo was crap. She doesn't smile. She's got a big ol' ugly tattoo on her tit. It's just not an attractive package." Duke: "Craig says your classify yourself as G-d and the Anti-Christ." Ken: "I am the Anti-Christ. When I was going to the Exotic Dancer Expo, and Don Waite has gotten way too expensive, I used to have ten booths. I had them filled with girls. Every little stupid agency would try to take my girls. It was like putting out a buffet and everyone would take what they wanted to eat. "I was known as the Anti-Christ because I don't take any s--- from anybody. I don't book shi--- entertainers. I don't book sh---- clubs. If I have problems with a girl because she does coke, or she's a drunk, or her husband can't keep his pants on and tries to screw all the housegirls, or they don't show up when they are supposed to, I let the other agencies book them. Because I'm a no-nonsense businessman, people think I'm a prick. So I create a lot of enemies. "I did a thing in Vegas called Anti-Christ Angels. I had 25 girls show up one day at the Expo and they all dressed in my room. They had black skirts and tube tops that said 'Anti-Christ Angels' and we all walked down into Caesars Palace through the hallways. I've got a cover on Exotic Dancer magazine [about six years ago]. They did an interview on it. "It was meant as a publicity stunt and it worked. "I haven't been to Vegas since Jada and I got married, which will be four years in August." Duke: "Craig says you have the power to make sure no girl can dance in any club in the United States." Ken: "That's bulls---. I don't have any power. I'm just a little guy who puts a puzzle together." Duke: "I heard you control the industry." Ken: "I don't control anything. I'm a stupid agent. A club calls me and says I want a girl for July 12. I tell them whose available at their price range. They make a decision. I call the girl up and say you've got a job. "If I have a problem with a dancer, I don't even talk to them. Their bookings will dry up because they've done something somewhere and word's gotten around. "Back in the day, I was hells on wheels. I would bitch at girls. I thought it would make a difference. It doesn't. "If I am so powerful, why can't I get Jada, Serena and some of the other girls I book into clubs that other agencies book? "Nobody has to kiss my ass for anything. All they have to do is do their job. It's a small business. Word gets around. "People don't like me because I'm brutally honest. I'm not in this industry to make friends. I've done that before and gotten screwed." Duke: "How does the industry compare to ten years ago?" Ken: "It sucks." Duke: "I used to hear about porn stars making $25,000 a week." Ken: "The only person who's going to do that now is Brianna Banks. When Jenna got out, everybody thought that Tera Patricks would take the reins. But Tera has a guy with her who is Craig Valentinish. It didn't turn out. "I don't think any porn girl is worth what they're making per show. Brianna Banks supposedly broke her toe a few weeks ago. The club she was booked into had a billboard on the highway. She cancelled with one day's notice. "There were more talented girls out there ten years ago than now. As far as shows, personality, and responsibility, the girls ten years ago, there's no comparison. It's too easy now. Any house girl can go to an agency and say, I want to be a feature." Duke: "Why don't clubs book the youngest and hottest women?" Ken: "That's not the be-all and end-all. I've always thought Tera Patrick was hot. But if Tera decides not to show up, or if she shows up and has problems with her old man, or if she can't dance... I've never seen her perform. But if this happens, and someone lays out $3,000 a show... I would love a Super Bowl of stripping. I'd take all the showgirls I represent and put them up against all the porn girls and my showgirls will outperform any porn girl. You book porn girls for the name. There are exceptions -- Stormy, Mercedez, Nikki Lynn. "I can book several showgirls into a club for the price of one porn girl." Government regulation has hurt strip clubs over the past decade. Ken: "When Jada and I got married in Vegas, all her bridesmaids were girls that I booked. On the other side were their boyfriends and husbands. Two of the girls who came to the wedding came f---ed out of their minds on Ectasy. One of them had the drug dealer meet her in the parking lot so she could get more so she could party." Duke: "Do criminal elements try to muscle in on your business?" Ken: "Not on mine. It's a pretty safe business. I've never heard of anybody trying to muscle in on somebody. "I have nothing against Craig Valentine and Summer Haze except that they didn't show up to my showcase when they were supposed to. Craig Valentine is just a panty picker-upper. "Amber Waves. She has wanted to book with me for a long time. I invited her to come to Ponderosa about five years ago. She told me that she and another girl were going to come out. She was three hours away. She didn't come. I don't book her. I don't book bad talent." All the stripper agents take 12% of the booking fee. Ken: "I had talked to Don Waite [publisher of Exotic Dancer magazine] a few times about [the high price of booths at his annual show in Las Vegas in August and how other agents would poach Ken's women]. He couldn't understand that I got tired of bringing out 30 girls and another agency would pop up, meet them in a bar or whatever, and skim the cream off the top. And the prices kept getting higher [for a booth]. "An average show girl, if she takes off that week of Expo, she's already missing out on her week's base pay, and tips, plus she has to pay for a hotel room, air fare, her badge... "It's not inconceivable that a showgirl will lose $3,000-$5,000 to go out there for a week to promote herself. "Booth now run $1,300 booths. "If you go to the conspiracy section [of MissNudePageants.com], you will read: 'Rio has guaranteed several pageant contestants 'titles' despite what the judges indicated. Many contestants have been told to enter certain categories to get a guaranteed title.' "That's not what Rio does. I've sat there in the meetings. Rio gave Taya Parker the option of winning the Miss Nude USA Brunette title. The year before, Lori Alexia, the little black girl..." Duke: "She's adorable." Ken: "Well, yeah, I'm not even going to go there. She's one I won't book." Duke: "Why? Is she a prima donna?" Ken: "No. She thinks she's a prima donna." Duke: "Why won't you book her?" Ken: "I'll tell you facts. The reason Rio stripped Lori Alexia of her title of Miss Nude USA a couple of years ago, was because Lori was drunker than s--- at The Pink Pony in Atlanta [1837 Corporate Blvd, 404-634-6396] and she beat the s--- out of her roadie and got arrested for assault and battery. Then she tried to beat the s--- out of a cop and she kicked the window out of a cop car. "Rio has a thing in her contract that if you discredit the title, she has the ability to strip her of it. "I did a showcase with [Lori Alexia]. She was so s----faced drunk that she turned around and was pissing... I have digital pictures of it. "If Lori was more of a professional, she had the opportunity to change the way a lot of clubs think about black performers as features, because a lot of clubs will not book black performers. She had the opportunity to change that and she f---ed that up." Duke: "She told me how hard it was to be a black girl." Ken: "It is. She had one strike against her right there. Number two strike: She can't keep her mouth off of a bottle because she's a drunk. And when she gets drunk, she gets violent and she gets arrested." From KSEXradio.com October 2004: Last week a reader named Coggsie wrote in to suggest that maybe all the titles Lori Alexia claims are not valid. Lori Alexia posts in response:
Ken: "This whole thing about Rio forcing you to go into certain things. Rio will tell you what your best shot is at getting a title. If you are in several different categories, she will tell you, this might be good if you go Miss Nude USE Brunette... It's not a guaranteed title. "If you go to the link racketeering: 'The club is charged a hefty fee.' Why don't you call Pure Talent and find out what they are charging to host their showcases? Anywhere from $5,000-$10,000." Duke: "Why don't clubs book black women? Because their customers are more interested in seeing white girls?" Ken: "I don't think that's it. It's a stigma that people won't get over. They think that if you book a black feature..." Duke: "The club is going to be overrun with young black men." Ken: "Yes." Duke laughs: "Who'll start shooting people." Ken: "Yeah, right. The wrong type of customers. Black guys don't tip as much and this and that. It's a stigma that needs to be put aside. I used to book a black girl (Barocca). She used to tell everybody she was the Brazilian Bombshell. She was black from Compton. "She was a good entertainer. People liked her. Clubs were booking her. But then she went off the deep end." Duke: "I did this book on Hollywood and I found out that many theater owners don't want to book black movies because they're afraid of attracting the wrong crowd." Ken: "That's another stigma that has to go away. I will not go see a horror movie or a black comedy in theaters because I like to be able to hear the movie and for the most part if you're sitting there, somebody behind you will say, 'Don't go in that closet!' 'Stay out of the house!'" Duke: "I find that in a black audience they talk back to the screen." Ken: "Yes. They talk back to the screen. It's like an interactive movie. I'll wait for them on cable or DVD. "I just want this [missnudepageants.com controversy] to go away. Jada has still not been able to enjoy the Miss Nude USA title because as soon as she won it, all the s--- started. "She's damned if she does or doesn't. If she doesn't win, it's because she's married to me. If she wins, it's because she's married to me. "It's normal for only three or four girls to compete for the Miss Nude USA/World titles. Whoever wrote [missnudepageants.com] doesn't have a clue about how contests are run." Duke: "How's Jada's career?" Ken: "Last year she worked 46 out of 52 weeks. "We tried to do something on jadadeville.com when this came up. That we wouldn't accept anything that she didn't win. We know nothing about the scores. They were wrong about who was doing the scoring." Craig Valentine responds:
I found Jada DeVille's life story on her website:
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