'Welcome to Your Fantasy' podcast uncovers scandalous side of Chippendales

Most of us know Chippendales as the guys with the bow ties. The male dance revue has become an international phenomenon, but a new podcast strips down the organization — exposing scandal, sex, and even murder behind-the-scenes. Welcome to Your Fantasy is an eight episode podcast from Pineapple Street Studios and Gimlet Media, that explores the dark side of Chippendales. Host Natalia Petrzela is a professor of American History at the New School in New York, and says that her interest in the male dance troupe was sparked by their prominence in the zeitgeist.

Video Transcript

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Hey everyone, it's Brittany Jones-Cooper, and today I'm chatting with Natalia Petrzela, a historian and host of "Welcome to Your Fantasy," an eight episode podcast exploring the scandal, sex, and yes, murder behind the Chippendales phenomenon. Welcome, Natalia.

NATALIA PETRZELA: So happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: What initially sparked your interest in exploring the world of the Chippendales?

NATALIA PETRZELA: This particular story came about when I was asked to do a talking head thing for this European documentary and to comment on sexual culture in the 1980s. And they were talking about the kind of sexual politics of Chippendales, so then I started doing some primary source research, and I'm like, wait a minute, there is a murder. Wait a minute, there's also all these feminists, like, arguing, like, is this a feminist act? And then I ended up pitching it as a podcast, and here we are.

- Four nights a week, women flock to Chippendales, where male strippers gyrate, boogie, and yes, they do strip.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: What was it in the culture in the '80s that made the Chippendales so successful?

NATALIA PETRZELA: Kind of the moment in women's liberation and feminism, the notion of a kind of woman who earns her own money, a working woman, you know, 9:00 to 5:00, who's got money to spend, who's like, you know, in touch with her sexuality. All of that had sort of begun to filter into the mainstream, and that's definitely how Chippendales sold itself. These guys would show up to do promo events at the mall, and they told me, like, I felt like I was in the Beatles. Like all girls would be, like, rushing to get autographs. Like, the idea that men stripping for women was mainstream, like, they created that.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: How did you discover this murderous kind of plot?

NATALIA PETRZELA: So Nick De Noia is the choreographer and producer of Chippendales. He's hired by Steve Banerjee He really takes it from, like, a take it off strip contest to, you know, a theatrical production. And Steve Banerjee is, you know, really, like, so excited about all the success of this thing he's started and is getting because of Nick's talents, but also, like, so deeply resentful. So I won't give everything away, but when Nick is killed, it takes a while to solve the crime. Everybody in his immediate circle is like Steve did it.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And you interviewed some of the most prominent Chippendales' dancers like Michael Rapp. Was there a universal experience, or did each guy kind of have his own take?

NATALIA PETRZELA: Some of the guys were willing to kind of pull back that macho veneer, and as we got to talking, to be like, you know what? Like, this really messed with me. Like, after a certain point, you know, having to kiss 200 women a night, constantly be in this role of, like, sex god, but it wears on you. And you know, it's hard to admit that, I think, as a man, even in 2021.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And Hollywood is making a film about Steve Banerjee and the world of Chippendales, and Dev Patel is slated to play him. Do you have any tips for them, things that they have to include in the film?

NATALIA PETRZELA: Capturing the world in which they operated is so, so important. Like, this is not just the story of two men at each other's throats, like, you know, and their battle of kind of greed and ambition, but it really is a story about 1980s America.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And if you guys want to check it out, episode one of "Welcome to Your Fantasy" is available now on Spotify, and there's new episodes every Wednesday. Natalia, thanks for joining us today.

NATALIA PETRZELA: Thank you so much. This was great.