''George is the member of the cast that I have known for the longest time,'' Daiha says in her Brazilian accent. ``We spent three years dating, and then we were married for three years and a half. We stayed friends. But now I think how naive of me to think Bravo was not going to focus on my relationship with George.''

''In a way, it's a bit disconcerting being on a reality show,'' says the handsome, smooth and always impeccably put-together Hill, who does protest too much, because he's hardly a stranger to the reality concept. He was on the second season of Big Brother in 2001. (''There were half a million reasons to do that show. All of them dollars.'') Hill and the others would not say how much they got paid for Miami Social.

''You only want to show what you want people to see, but they get to see what you don't want them to see,'' says Hill, former general manager of the Shore Club's Skybar who then marketed nightspots run by the Opium Group (Mansion, Set and others) and has promoted endless parties, including a weekly Gansevoort pool-deck hottie fest that gets a lot of air time on Miami Social.

The cast made it a point to hang out there, in a VIP cabana with an ocean view.

Stein, who developed the ''Wearable Towel'' -- sort of a subtropical answer to the Snuggie blanket -- wanted to be on Miami Social to get his brand out there. But he's also truly smitten with the South Beach scene.

''I grew up in South Florida but in an Orthodox Jewish community,'' he says. ``I didn't even know anything about Lincoln Road until I was 16. My first clubs were Liquid and Bar Room. When I met Elaine Lancaster the drag queen I thought she was the tallest woman in the world. I knew I wanted to live this kind of fabulous. Who doesn't?''

TRYING TIMES

Never mind that Miami Social premieres at a not-so-shining moment for South Beach. The economy has put a damper on the party, especially now in the summer doldrums. Tuscan Steak has closed. Opium and Prive nightclubs are gone (though Opium relocated to the Seminole Hard Rock in Broward, and the owners have said the clubs didn't close for financial problems but because of recurring issues with the city and its noise ordinance south of Fifth Street).

The Forge is shuttered for renovations. Kobe Club is dark most nights. The upscale restaurants at the financially strapped Fontainebleau, which reopened in November after a $500 million renovation, can look empty even on weekends.

All over the Beach, concierges, bartenders, kitchen staffers and others in the industry are feeling the pinch. Some are being let go; others are having their shifts reduced.

A favorite pastime for locals right now is rattling off the list of places that are in, out, or doomed to fail before next season.

''We have definitely been reducing staffs and reducing shifts,'' says Terry Zarikian, director of product development for the China Grill Group, which owns, in addition to China Grill, the Blue Door at the Delano and Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian. ``As a company, we have taken big measures to be able to survive, including closing Tuscan Steak. I cannot accept somebody on the Beach telling me their business is not down. But it's not that the Beach has lost its cachet. It's more that the economy is struggling and that, also, people don't have to go to the Beach anymore to have fun. A lot of great places have opened on the mainland.''

Vanessa Menkes, spokeswoman for Opium Group: ``There are places that are not going to make it through summer. But that just separates the boys from the men. Actually, I think South Beach is on an upswing. The W South Beach just opened, and that is resetting the bar for fabulous hotels. The Webster just opened, which is as chic as you can get. We recently opened Louis at the Gansevoort, which is doing great. This month, we're opening Wall at W South Beach with the owners of Mokai.''

So what does the plugged-in Miami Social crew think is up with the Beach right now? Is it morphing yet again? Hot? Not?

''Where else is better?'' Daiha asks. ``In New York, everybody puts up a facade. The Vegas scene is dead. The L.A. scene is not so fun because everybody just sits around looking at each other. Where else is hot if not Miami?''

''I think if you've been here a long time, it may seem a little tired,'' says Hill, who runs Hill Hospitality Group, which offers nightclub-managment and marketing, plus concierge services to upscale clients who want to be ushered into the top restaurants and nightspots.

'But if you're looking at it from outside the fish bowl, you're saying, `I want to swim there.' ''

Or are you?

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