The point of the gathering was to select guys for AMC's Search for the Sexiest Man in America (who will win a role on AMC), so periodically Budig and Ivens had to go down to the stage to anchor a segment of the process. Unfortunately, Minshew began to feel ill shortly after arriving, and had to leave, but Budig and Ivens soldiered on. The crowd was strangely sedate (there was plenty of ambient noise, but for a contest inside a bar, there was precious little screaming and no drunken tomfoolery). The guys were winnowed away in big chunks; a select few made it onto the stage to answer questions from the stars along the lines of, "What would be an ideal first date?"and "What do you think makes you sexy?"

The assembled soap stars leaned over the balcony railing to look down on the stage. A couple of unattached actresses (perhaps jokingly) admitted they may have been checking out the contestants for...more than professional reasons. Amid all the star socializing, cell phones were a fixture, as seemingly everyone pulled out a glowing handset at least once and cupped a hand over their ears to screen out the deafening music.

Many fans could be seen pointing up at the stars, chattering and taking pictures. I realized many of them would kill to be standing where I was -- six inches away from Riegel on one side and Ivens on the other.

Many viewers have the mistaken impression that everybody on television knows everyone else; that just isn't the case. Several actresses from different shows were meeting for the first time, and at the end of the night there were many promises to "keep in touch."Plans were made to go to other clubs that night as stars discussed when they were due at the studio the next day. "I'm not supposed to be in until 3 o'clock,"revealed one lucky actress as she stated her determination to party on into the night.

By 11:30, one lucky guy qualified for the next round, and the soap stars had melted into the night.