♪ have you got room for love this is "nightline." >> tonight, these are the most extensive homes in america. for $100 million or so, this could all be yours. >> and note, the passioning of the tarp. >> now, brokers to the stars show us the dream of luxury living. and take us inside the art of the real estate power play. and we join the wild and fearless gator hunters. taking population control into their own hands, on a death-defying mission, for a record-breaking catch. monsters as big as 1,000 pounds. ♪ my anaconda don't

and look at her. >> oh, my gosh. look at her butt. >> nicki minaj is twerking half-naked and dancing. what is her controversial kwn anaconda" video all about? but first -- the "nightline 5." >> we are the saunders. and we're new to the pacific northwest. the rain, the mud. ba-bam, it's there. the outside comes in. it's kind of nasty. you start the power mop shuffle. where are you, sun? oh, wow. it's a swiffer wet jet. this puts my towel mopping to shame. oh. sunshine is overrated. now, we can get messy. >> number one, in just 60 seconds.

good evening. you're about to get a peek inside the priciest homes in america. when these gems make it on the market, a small group of real estate brokers are hired to sell them. and there are tricks to that trade. from serving champagne and ca e caviar to leaving a flashy car in the driveway. here's paula faris, for our series, "realty check." >> you have the infinity pool. insane. >> reporter: from the palaces of l.a. to the penthouses of manhattan. >> like, oh, my god. i paid $30 million and i'm so happy. >> reporter: luxury living is back and more expensive than ever. mansions in los angeles and greenwich, connecticut, each sold for more than $100 million. shattering records.

and this legendary beverly hills estate is still available. for anyone with $135 million to spare. >> very exciting time to be living in the high-end. it's like the dow jones, who knows how high it will go? >> reporter: brokers catering to high-end clients in hollywood. >> the architecture is stunning. >> reporter: and new york city. took us inside their most exclusive listings and showed us the art of the big sale. >> today, i have a really important client flying from out of town. a little more conservative. i will put on a tie. >> reporter: he is a real estate broker who specializes in ultrahigh-end homes. that's when he's not moonlighting on "the real housewives of beverly hills." >> thank you very much. >> reporter: his wife is housewife kyle richards. the real estate agency he runs is called simply the agency. >> i sold houses to absolutely

everybody. to extraordinarily high-end celebrities, whether it be armed schwarzenegger or heidi klum and seal. big stock guys. gurus in their industries. >> reporter: this 16,000-square-foot estate in los angeles is for sale for $45 million. built by italian developers, it is by some accounts, the most expensive home for femasale in america. a master bedroom with three walk-in closets and 8 1/2 bathrooms. >> obviously, we take the client to this house that is an art enthusiast. we brought in the effort of bringing in special art. >> reporter: that's his daughter, also a broker at the agency, by his side. >> we are on boardwalk right now. the opportunity to represent market and sell a property like this, is extraordinarily exciting. >> reporter: tonight, he is throwing a champagne and caviar

party. not for the high networth buyers. but for other select brokers, getting a first peek at the house. >> have you had any of the caviar yet? >> i'm vegan. >> reporter: and if this is what $45 million can get you in los angeles, this is what a similarly-priced duplex looks like in new york, where prices are skyrocketing. how much are you paying for the view? >> a lot. there's very few viewpoints in manhattan. it could be the rivers and central park, that are priced less. you'll never be able to lose your view here. >> reporter: frederick ekland. you may recognize him from bravo's "million-dollar listing: new york." and his producer had one of the top brokerage teams in the country. their ten-person group has done $400 million in sales so far this year. >> you're entertaining in the great room, you can have staffers coming in and working in the kitchen. >> reporter: you're not doing

the cooking yourself. >> exactly. >> reporter: the apartment they hope to sell is in the upscale time warner center, next to central park. the price tag, around $35 million. >> walk-in closets are very important. >> reporter: this is my favorite. >> this was designed by a woman. >> reporter: it's like a bowling alley. >> it reminds me of that one in "sex and the city." it really is tough. i would want to verify the tub with my view. with bubbles. >> and note the positioning of the tub looking at central park. >> reporter: wow. is this your rub-a-bub tub? they are filling the place with furniture. it's all about creating the right atmosphere. the buyers they expect will be internationals, shopping for a new york city crash pad. >> if they're from out of town, it's our job to sell new york, and the city and the lifestyle. we get them some tickets.

we fly them to the hamptons. >> we're selling a lifestyle. >> reporter: and is all on your dime, correct? >> all on our dime. >> reporter: their marketing strategy, you have to spend money to make money. across the country, the marketing strategy includes a ferrari worth more than $1 million, parked outside of a $38 million place, high in the beverly hills. >> for this much money, you get to park your car on a lawn. >> reporter: they are prepping for an evening event for ferrari owners. >> we look at ways of selling a house, through its lifestyle, versus of selling a property through its real estate. >> reporter: the $38 million price tag includes the furniture and a stacked wine cellar. although, not the art. >> somebody buying this house would be like leo dicaprio. i see leo dicaprio buying this house. >> reporter: dicaprio has not come in for a tour. although he has been recently house-hunting in new york city. frederick said that dicaprio

visited one of his team's listing, a new construction downtown. >> i want to designing in very specific for someone superduper wealthy. the roof is for the penthouse only. >> reporter: those who are not household names do not get the red carpet rollout. potential buyers are screened before they can tour. >> i said no to multiple people who wanted to see houses. and generally speaking, we don't feel they qualify. i had another client who wanted to live next door to sylvester stallone. i called up sly and he said he had a stalker. and we were able to cancel it. >> reporter: have you ever been taken advantage of? >> it's nothing for us to ask for bank statements, letters from accountants to verify there's money in their account. it's standard at this price point. >> reporter: it's a high-intensity lifestyle, selling these high-end homes. >> everything must be perfect. >> reporter: where a multimillion-dollar deal can hang on a tiny detail.

but if all goes well and the sale comes through, the potential payoff is big, for these homes in the $50 million range, commissioner is about 2 million bucks. >> i think getting the big numbers is very important. you need to do a few of those a year. you cannot do one. >> reporter: what are you driven by? >> the rush, i guess. when i've been negotiating long time. and i do the impossible, getting the buyer and seller to meet. and i do a high kick. >> reporter: it's a rush that can be worth millions. i'm paula faris, for "nightline," in new york. >> oh, god. a day in the life. next, it's gator-hunting season in the mississippi delta. we tagged along on a hunt for the biggest and baddest gators of all. and you've got to see nicki minaj put her spin on girl power in her new video "anaconda."

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to most, pest control involves calling an exterminator. in the mississippi delta, it can mean hunting time. going after pretty massive monsters. gators that can grow up to 1,000 pounds. abc's gio benitez joined those are adventurous fearless folk to see how they wrangle those reptiles. >> reporter: it's midnight, deep in the dark waters of the mississippi delta. and we're along for the final 48 hours of this alligator hunting season. what lies beneath, jurassic

park. these hunters are struggling to reel a writhing, 11-foot alligator into their 18-foot boat. we're in the delta national forest. it's the same place where, during mississippi's alligator hunting season, three teams captured massive monsters, sparking headlines across the nation. >> this massive gator tipped the scales at 7,140 1/2 pounds. >> reporter: just the past weekend, the stoke family in alabama, captured a true behemoth. 1,011.5 pounds, the biggest caught ever. and next door in mississippi, meet beth trammell and her family of unusual gator huntsers. her son, parker, and brother-in-law, shawn. they caught this 723-pounder. and just an hour later, justin and his team wrangled this one. four pounds heavier.

so, on this night, we hit the pitch-black swamps of mississippi, with the ordinary suburban family, turned reptile wranglers. paralegal by day. alligator hunter by night. >> alligator queen. >> reporter: the alligator queen and family capturing that gator on their first night ever. it sounds like you're -- >> yes. >> reporter: sometimes? >> it looks like it. it's like the loch ness monster. >> reporter: were you ever scared? >> yes. very scared. he pulled us around in circles for an hour, hour and a half. >> reporter: it's her son, parker's, 18th birthday. and he's looking to catch a second gator. aboard their 12-foot wrangling rig, we spot the first gator. and shawn throws out his line, hooking the gator's foot. it's about five feet long.

which makes it a legal catch. it's beautiful, really. >> that beautiful. >> reporter: plus, the night is young. and they let it go. it's gone. for the next three hours of chasing, the trammells would spot gators. but they'd disappear underwater as soon as they spotted us. saw his eyes. those red eyes. it's now midnight. and this alligator shows his face. >> come on, bud. come on up. it's your friend. >> reporter: at about five feet long, it's the one they want. some people might be wondering, why do you do this? >> we eat the meat. i don't see it any different than prepackaged meat in the grocery store. >> reporter: with that giant catch, they'll have 120 pounds of meat, enough to last months. >> let's get the cover out. it's hydrogen peroxide. i'm not kidding. >> reporter: is it safe?

>> it is safe. we only had two accidents reported. both of those were fairly minor. one person got bit on the hand. >> reporter: ricky flint, the hunt coordinator, took us right to a female gator's coveted spot, the nest. they are so big because for years nobody was allowed to hunt them. so, the gators kept growing in size and population. so much so, they've become a dangerous nuisance. for many people here, alligators have become a problem on their property? >> absolutely. fish ponds, swimming pools, under the deck of a house, in the highways. in the parking lots of downtown jackson. >> reporter: even though gators are not endangered, there are critics who say this is a bloodsport, that wild alligators should be left in the wild. people who are watching this will say i'm not so comfortable with that. why are you killing alligators?

>> we see this as a renewable resource. just like the trees that are growing here. i cut that tree down, it's going to regenerate itself. either from the acorn that falls to the ground and sprouts. or root sprouts. the same thing happens to the alligators, as well as any other wildlife species we manage through hunting. >> reporter: and the record-breaker, dustin bachman. >> an overnight celebrity. isn't set in. but everywhere i go, people recognize me. see if i can find a good one. >> reporter: dustin and his team are looking for a bigger catch tonight. >> hunting an animal, 700 pounds, is something that can eat you. thousands of pounds. it's very exciting. it's not a competition. but we try to take our older animal. that's what we're shooting for. >> reporter: four hours go by, without a bite. >> they're saying, maybe, i'd say 40 or 50 alligators.

and you got close to a couple. but not close enough to get a shot. >> reporter: now, at 3:00 a.m., his team spots the big one. >> get the line. >> reporter: the battle would go on for hours. >> i got it. let it go. >> reporter: in the end, an 11-foot monster. captured in front of our cameras. each hunter, allowed two gators in this ten-day season. the long night has turned into an early morning. >> we set out tonight with hopes of catching an alligator. maybe a big one. maybe a small one. but really hard to get one in the first place. i just enjoy being out here. and love doing it. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm gio benitez, in the mississippi delta. next, nicki minaj is going over the top in "anaconda." now she's firing back at the critics who say she's gone too far.

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as we come on the air tonight, nicki minaj's viral music video has shattered the record for most views in a single day. snagging the top spot from miley cyrus' "wrecking ball." minaj is making a statement with "anacon "anaconda" but what is that statement? >> reporter: nicki minaj is ringing the alarm. including her backside, front and center. >> look at her butt. >> reporter: in her new explicit

music video, "anaconda," nicki purposely goes over the top. on first watch, you may be too distracted to hear what nicki is rapping about. but she says the song is all about female empowerment. >> you can feel free to love whatever body you got right now. >> reporter: it samples sir mix a lot's "baby got back," this is about her own message. owning her sexuality and, yes, her behind. >> recently, because of the shift in pop culture, even hip-hop men are really glorifying the less-curvy bodice. >> reporter: the video and the image on her album cover, has ignited a firestorm. >> there's going to be people

who see this video and think it's trashy. she spends the entire time shaking her butt and other women shaking her butts. and you have to wonder, why is that necessary in this day and age? >> reporter: nicki fired back on instagram. pointing out a double-standard when it comes to body type. posting this photo of slim supermodels on the cover of "sports illustrated." >> people think the whole conversation about nicki minaj and her butt is ridiculous, but it's starting a dialogue about race and body type. >> reporter: make no mistake. this song is for the curvaceous, leaving no room for skinny girls. >> i love to keep people guessing. i never want people to think, i know what she's doing next. >> nicki has an important message. it's embrace yourself. love your curves. be proud of your body. but that's lost with all of the