Mean Girls: Giving the first season a run for its money, three new women joined The Real Housewives of Vancouver franchise, setting the stage for new friendships, new foes and new spectacles. Robin Reichman, Ioulia Reynolds and Amanda Hansen join Ronnie Negus, Mary Zilba and Jody Claman, Canada's favourite mean girls, for the sophomore edition on the Slice network. Bedecked and bejeweled, the nipped and tucked gals gathered at the Loden Hotel for the invite-only, season two launch party. Resembling a love fest more than smack down in the series opener, tempers will flare judging by the preview of shows to come. The reality soap of rich girls behaving badly has become Slice TV's highest rated show.

A Real Sparkler: Vancouver's Shangri-La Hotel recently joined a select group in the hospitality industry. The four-year-old property, occupying the first 15 floors of Vancouver's tallest building, received the city's only AAA Five Diamond designation - the travel authority's highest rating for hotels and restaurants. Only one of four properties in Canada to achieve such status from nearly 60,000 hotels AAA approved and diamond rated, the hotel celebrated its achievement with an East-meets-West shindig hosted by hotel manager Vito Romeo. Yours truly emceed the sparkling diamond-do that featured the Canadian Tenors and six-year old piano virtuoso Shuqi Li.

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Hear Fred Mondays 8:20 a.m. on CBC Radio's The Early Edition; email yvrflee@hotmail.com; Twitter: @FredAboutTown or fredabouttown.blogspot.com.