Second Episode of Welcome To Your Fantasy about Chippendales Highlights "We Want Meat!"

 Spotify has released the second episode of its latest Original true-crime podcast, WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY, from Pineapple Street Studios, in association with Gimlet.  

  In the 1980s the “male exotic dancers” of Chippendales were everywhere, selling the promise of women’s liberation for the price of a few dollars in a g-string. But behind the powerful mullets, oiled pecs, and non-stop parties lies a much darker story of greed, corruption and murder. In the eight-episode series host and historian Natalia Petrzela exposes one of the great, sordid, unexamined stories in American culture.

The second episode continues the exploration of Chippendale’s mysterious history and includes first-hand interviews with those closest to the Chippendales scandals - business advisor Bruce Nahin; cinematographer Curt Cressler; former dancer Michael Rapp; and investment banker turned Chippendales tour manager Candace Mayeron and more - who share exclusive details about what really happened off-stage. 

 

In this episode, host Natalia Petrzela delves deeper into the famed 18-minute “The Perfect Man” performance created by Nick De Noia that left audiences screaming for more as they literally chanted: “We want meat! We want meat!” 

In the episode, Curt Cressler describes it best: “The first night that we did that, all the women in the first row fainted. There was this big noise, and there were women on the floor… And I mean, it was amazing. It was amazing.”

WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY is the story of how two men — an immigrant from India and a children’s TV producer from New Jersey — transformed a seedy nightclub in Los Angeles into a global phenomenon, and how paranoia and greed turned Chippendales into a hotbed for drugs, corruption, and murder.

Beyond the well-known cuffs and collars, cheesy dance routines, and unlimited supplies of body oil, the series examines the club’s role in the late 70s/early 80s rise of female sexuality, gender roles and masculinity, and the corruptible power of capitalism.

Podcast host and co-producer Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Ph.D. is a historian of contemporary American politics and culture and is currently writing a book on American fitness culture, FIT NATION: How America Embraced Exercise As The Government Abandoned It.

  Listen to the second episode NOW on Spotify: HERE