Entertainment

BID PLAYERS – WHAT FANS WILL PAY TO EAT WITH CELEBS

FEW folks were willing to fork over $10 to see Ben Affleck in box-office bombs like “Gigli” and “Jersey Girl,” but there are dozens who would eagerly spend more than 10 grand to chow down with him.

April Shuford, a 34-year-old from Atlanta, is one of them.

“I think having dinner with Ben would be great fun, kind of James Carville/Mary Matalin-ish, me being the Mary type,” says Shuford, who bid just north of $14,000 in a charity auction.

“And he is hot, after all! Maybe he could invite some of his friends for me to meet.”

Affleck, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Benjamin Bratt, Ricky Martin and Leonardo DiCaprio, have put themselves on the block to raise money for their chosen charities through Godiva Chocolate’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

Affleck has become Big Ben in the bidding – the offers reached $15,000 as of yesterday evening – but the other Ben, Bratt, better get a new agent.

Dinner with Julia Roberts’ ex was going for a mere $1,625 -pretty much the cost of a large table for dinner at a fancy spot.

Martin is trailing only Affleck, at $10,100. Parker was up to $7,100 last night and DiCaprio was at $6,800.

The winners will sit down for a meal in a trendy eatery in the stars’ hometowns, with the on-line auction winners and six of their guests. Bidding continues until Oct. 3.

Why would anyone spend such whopping amounts for a dinner – no matter who the guest of honor is? Chalk it up to love.

“I’m doing this for my wife, Lori, who’s probably the biggest fan of Sarah Jessica’s – she literally cries just seeing her TV commercials,” says Jay Leib, 31, a software company vice president in Chicago, who’s bid over $7,000 so far for a Mario Batali dinner at Lupa with Sarah Jessica Parker.

“She’s claimed for years that if she ever met Sarah Jessica, they’d become best friends.

“It’s not like going to dinner with Joe Namath, in my book, but my wife’s pregnant now with our first kid, so this would be my gift to her. Better than jewelry, right?”

Potential DiCaprio dinnermate Piercarlo Abate is also bidding for his wife.

“I haven’t seen many of his movies, but my wife’s from L.A. and it would be nice for her and my 2-year-old daughter – although she’s too young for Leonardo DiCaprio.

“It would be a lot of money, but it would be interesting and unique. We could talk about global warming,” says the 40-year-old photographer from Austin, who’ll bid up to $7,200 to nosh with Leo.

Abate speculates that DiCaprio and the other celebs aren’t going to be quite as enthusiastic about the dinners as the bidders will be.

“I think they’ll hate it. I think they’re scared by ‘common’ people,” he laughs.

Let’s hope Miami Beach’s Jody Lang, 33, doesn’t get the cold shoulder after bidding $10,100 for some dinnertime bonbons with Martin – even though the most she’s ever spent on dinner was a $600 meal for two in the Bahamas.

“Should there be a limit,” she asks, “on the opportunity to meet someone who affects my life in so many ways?”