Parties worth your paycheck

Newport Beach resident and party planner Brian Dobbin never imagined he would have to face Bengal tigers and put on a smile for the television cameras while planning ritzy soirees for the upper echelons of Newport Beach society when he and a friend began catering parties out of the back of two Volkswagens some 20 years ago.

“Being in the presence of a 600-pound Bengal tiger is completely terrifying and humbling at the same time,” Dobbin said earlier this week while taking a break from filming one of the final episodes of his new cable reality television show that showcases some of the most over-the-top parties in Orange County.

One of Dobbin’s clients for the television series recently requested that exotic animals be flown in for a jungle-themed bash, including two Bengal tigers — one was still a cub, while the other was slightly larger, Dobbin said.

Dobbin’s battles to find the most fabulous food, drink, linen and silverware for his elite clients are featured in the new cable reality television show “Top This Party: Orange County,” which debuts at 10 tonight on the Lifetime cable channel.

The show features several glitzy parties in Newport Beach. Party hosts pay for their own parties on the show, but get Dobbin’s help and a television crew out of the deal.

The parties profiled in the show cost more to throw than what some Americans make in a year, Dobbin said — typically $100,000 or more.

“We’re starting off with a bang,” Dobbin said of the series debut, which profiles the James Bond-themed singles bash for newly divorced Newport Beach oil and real estate heiress Caren Lancona.

“She has a huge personality — that personality comes across every bit on the camera,” Dobbin said. “She is very intelligent, and she wants what she wants.”

The initial concept for Lancona’s party was a jungle theme with palm trees and exotic animals on a boat off Newport Harbor, but heiress and businesswoman Lancona changed her mind in the middle of the project and decided to go with the more glamorous James Bond theme instead.

“We went from loin cloths to sequins,” Dobbin said. “Honestly, it’s a really fun train wreck.”

Lancona said her friends all loved being filmed for television during the soiree, which she ended up hosting at a friend’s local 20,000-square-foot mansion. The party featured casino tables and an ice sculpture carved in Lancona’s and her assistant, Liz Phan’s, likeness. She also hired a live jazz band and models dressed in gold in keeping with the James Bond theme.

Lancona said she’s already thinking of ways to top the $150,000 bash.

“I’m thinking bigger, including private jets and yachts and limos,” she said.

Discussions are already underway with producers for a follow-up episode of “Top This Party,” featuring Lancona, she said.

“I think it’s a world most people never get to see,” said “Top This Party” Executive Producer Mechelle Collins. “In half an hour, they get to see people with extravagant cars and amazing jewelry. It gives them a taste of a world they don’t get to live in.”

The 14-episode first season of the series alternates locations between Orange County and Las Vegas. Collins said some of the most colorful party hosts for the first season of the show came from Newport Beach.

“You definitely have a lot of eccentric people in Newport Beach a lot of excess,” Collins said. “We found that Orange County people had such fantastic lifestyles and weren’t afraid to show it.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.