Former Playboy Club croupier lifts the lift on Hugh Hefner’s famous casino where champagne, money and sex ‘ran on tap’
Lucie Eloise, 33, has 'partied with Kate Moss, Harry Styles and Anthony Joshua' at the club in posh Mayfair
IT is the hedonistic hangout where wealthy punters go to gamble — and try their luck in other ways.
The Bunny Girls that serve them at the Playboy Club can make THOUSANDS in tips alone, but the good fortune can come with a much higher price.
A former croupier has told The Sun how guests would beg to sleep with the waitresses and reduce many to tears with their demands.
Lucie Eloise said Champagne, money and sex “ran on tap” at Hugh Hefner’s West London casino, where a croupier was this week sacked for having an affair with one of Britain’s richest tycoons.
Rude customers, long hours and inappropriate requests meant many girls could not hack it. Lucie, 33, said: “You’d get constant flirting or men trying it on and making remarks.
“At the end of the day, the men are loaded and there are bunnies — it’s extremes on both sides.”
Lucie, who has “partied with Kate Moss, Harry Styles and Anthony Joshua” at the club in posh Mayfair, revealed how bosses tried to keep the bunnies in check.
Secret microphones were installed on every table, bouncers patrolled every floor and there was a strict phone ban.
But some staff manage to slip through the net, at least at first.
Victoria Jack, 25, was this week fired for gross misconduct after breaking the club’s strict policy of no fraternising with clients.
She was bombarded with sexual messages on WhatsApp by the married businessman, who had tracked her down to her home and given her £1,000 for her birthday.
Another former bunny we spoke to this week, who did not want to be named, worked as a hostess for two years. She said: “Most of our clients were wealthy Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Israeli men.
“The rich are the most debaucherous. They want to take cocaine and have sex all night. I secretly slept with 50 members during my first year at the club. Everyone does it but nobody talks about it.
“One customer paid me and another bunny a six-figure sum to get naked and rub oil over each other’s breasts at a party. After, we had a threesome. It was the best sex of my life.'
“Another time, a Premier League footballer stuffed a wad of cash in my hands and told me to meet him in his hotel when I finished. He wanted me to wear nothing but my bunny ears in bed.”
Alice Edwards (not her real name), 27, from East London, has worked at the club for two years.
She told us: “We have innovative ways of hooking up with clients we fancy.
“We scribble down our numbers in lipstick on receipts, bank notes and serviettes and subtly slip them into clients’ pockets. Or we would lean over a microphone to try to cover it.
“Of course we want to date these men. They are some of the most powerful in London.
“Not only are they filthy rich, but they are filthy in the bedroom too.
“One offered me £20,000 for my bunny costume if I would wear it for a shift first without my knickers. Sadly, I had to turn him down as we are not allowed to take our uniforms home.
“One time a guy who claimed to be a BBC producer offered me £100,000 to sleep with him.
“I politely declined but he started promising me the world and told me he would make me the star of a new drama he was producing. It was tempting but I didn’t fancy him and I’m not a prostitute. Of course I’d get with customers if I fancied them but he was receding and old enough to be my grandad.
“He got really aggressive and told me I was making a horrible mistake. I went home and cried that night.”
Alice also recalled how a politician once asked her to go to his Westminster office to have sex with him.
She said: “I didn’t recognise him but he said he worked for the Government. He wanted to be dominated in bed and begged me to tie him up and spank him.
“I smiled and cheekily replied it wouldn’t work for me because I like to be submissive in bed.”
Lucie, from Rochester, Kent, is not surprised some staff lose their jobs over relationships with customers.
She recalled: “One time I was flirting with a Premier League footballer and I forgot about the microphone on the table. He asked me where I was going after I finished work and I told him. Shortly after I was called into the office and given a firm warning.
“Bosses told me I would be fired if I did it again. The security is so tight, it’s like Big Brother.
“As croupiers we handle big money so it would be a conflict of interest to sleep with a customer.
“We aren’t talking about small sums of money either — one man gambled £3million in an afternoon.
“Another time I was tipped £200,000 by a member after he won big on the roulette.
“It went in the pot to be shared out between all staff at the end of the month.”
Lucie beat “thousands” of girls to become a Playboy croupier when the club first opened in 2011. At the time she was working as a PA for an architect. She had three auditions to secure the role as a bunny.
She said: “I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I applied for the job.
“At my first casting I had to sing Happy Birthday sexily, as if I was performing it for a punter. For my second I had to pose in swimwear.
“Naturally, bosses wanted to see my figure. At the time I was a size 8 with 32D boobs and a big bum.
“For my third audition I had to host a cocktail party. It was a big deal, CEOs flew in from Vegas. They wanted to see we were confident, sassy, approachable and charming.”
Lucie sailed through the auditions and was sent to Bunny School to train for nine weeks before she was allowed on the floor. She was also given a “Bunny Bible” of Playboy’s dos and don’ts.
The red carpet was rolled out for Hefner, who died aged 91 in September, at the club’s launch. Paparazzi scrambled for pictures while feminists protested outside.
Lucie said: “It was one of the most surreal but proudest moments of my life. I felt like Cinderella when I first slipped into my outfit.
“Everyone was fussing over me. We had to look perfect.”
Before every shift the girls were inspected by the Head Bunny before they could leave their changing room, nicknamed The Hutch.
Lucie recalled how “our nails had to be French manicured, our eye make-up had to be smoky and our tights the right shade of black”.
She added: “From head to toe we had to look immaculate before we hit the floor.”
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In 2015 she flew to LA for the Playboy Mansion Halloween party hosted by “blonde playmates wearing nothing but gems”. Lucie “wore nothing but painted-on black underwear”.
After six years at the club, Lucie hung up her tail so she could lead a “normal” life. Now, 12 months on, she has set up a swimwear business and is dating.
She said: “I will always be a bunny at heart. But sometimes you have to get out of The Hutch and dig your own burrow.”
Dos and don'ts of Hef club
THE Playboy Club’s girls are kept in check by the “Bunny Bible”. Here are some of the rules they have to follow.
Bunnies must have attractive make-up that enhances her already pretty face and looks glamorous in all lighting.
Bunnies must have a sleek, well-proportioned figure that is made further alluring by the perfectly fitting and flawless bunny costume.
Bunnies should make the client feel comfortable in their surroundings and engaged in light conversation so as to give a “party atmosphere”.
Bunnies must arrive on time and look your loveliest, as you are representing Playboy and the Playboy Clubs.
When in view of patrons, a bunny should stand in a slightly exaggerated model’s stance – legs together, back arched.
Don’t indulge in alcoholic beverages without permission.
Don’t date the sponsor of a promotion or someone you meet at this promotion while you are at a given location for the specific promotional assignment.
A bunny may never, under any circumstances, divulge personal information about other bunnies such as outside activities, phone numbers, addresses etc.
When a bunny sets napkins or drinks on the table, she does not awkwardly reach across the table, she does the “Bunny Dip”. This keeps her tray away from the patrons and enables her to give graceful, stylised service. This is performed by arching the back as much as possible, then bending the knees to whatever degree is necessary. Bend the back heel as you bend the knees.
Remember that if and when Hef makes his appearance here, you are not to shake his hand or ask for autographs.