[Revisited] The Chippendales: A Story of Fame, Money and Murder

[00:00:00] Hey there, Compendium Crew, Kyle here with a quick heads up to our faithful followers. As Adam and I are currently soaking up the sun in a much needed break exploring the stunning landscapes of Australia, we're making sure that you're not left without your weekly

[00:00:16] dose of intrigue and mystery. So during our hiatus, we're bringing you back some of the gems from our podcast vault, episodes that have stayed with us long after the minds were turned off and today, we've got a real treat for you.

[00:00:29] An episode that Adam originally hosted and has since become one of our all time favourites. Today's Revisit dives into the dark and dazzling world of The Chippendales, a story of fame, money and murder which first aired back in June of 2023.

[00:00:46] This story peels back the curtain of the iconic male stripping troupey revealing a tale that is as captivating as it is chilling. And of course it includes everything that we love, envy, greed, deadly consequences and of course a horde of sweaty boys.

[00:01:04] We hope you really enjoy this one, we'll be back with more tales from the Compendium very soon. One of the women offered to pay them $100 for every inch of cocaine she could snore off his… Wow, soft of his dick.

[00:01:25] Surely it could not possibly be more than six inches of cocaine. Depends if it's Brent. Because Brent can fit in the glory, huh? And that's why we all love Brent. Yeah, anyway, where was I? You think about Brent, aren't you?

[00:01:55] Welcome to the Compendium, an assembly of glitz, glamour and gyration and where a dark path of self-destruction is driven by greed and revenge. What the hell is happening right now? I feel like I've got my, you know, the movie trailer voice going on.

[00:02:26] Oh yeah, this is your movie era. A little bit. Your movie trailer era. Exactly, yeah. I love it. This is practicing anyway. Without further ado, we should do introductions, right? Sure, let's go for it. Okay.

[00:02:38] I'm Adam Cox, your host for today and the guy who's going to show Kyle just how this hosting malarkey is done. And I'm Kyle Reese, your co-host for today and I'm here to show Adam Cox how to be a good co-host. Actually you probably will. There we go.

[00:02:57] Let's do this. So yeah, so we talked about it for a while that I would host an episode. The day is finally here. And I get to sit back and relax and just chill out. Yeah. I've got a week off this week.

[00:03:08] Exactly, well, I think today's going to go one of two ways, either a roaring success or this could become one of our lost episodes that never makes it to air. Oh you mean one of the ones where oops my fingers slipped and I deleted it? Yeah, possibly.

[00:03:20] How are you feeling about it? Like I said, I'm really excited. Today I just get to relax, have a week off. It means that I can catch up on writing because it's quite hard work. But yeah, I'm really excited about today. Great. Okay.

[00:03:34] Before I crack on with the main story, got to give you your own sort of five minutes. Have you got anything to update us on this week? Yes, I do have one story for us today.

[00:03:43] So a few nights ago, the Los Angeles Philharmonic was playing Chayvosky, Fifth Symphony. Oh yeah. Have I said that correctly? Chayvosky. Chaykosky. And now this story went viral because apparently right at a climactic moment in the music, a woman in the audience had a very loud orgasm.

[00:04:02] And at first people didn't believe it but the reason people started believing it is because Ralph Fiennes brother who is a guy called Magnus Fiennes. He's like this British composer. He was in the audience and he was like no, it absolutely happened.

[00:04:19] And he was like, he went through it all in his head and he ran through all the possible scenarios of what it possibly could be. Did she hurt herself? Did she stub her toe?

[00:04:28] And he was like, I was in proximity of her and with several other of my friends and they all reached the exact same conclusion that she inevitably had an orgasm at that climactic moment of the Fifth Symphony song. What? But how did so the music, wow.

[00:04:46] Moved her in more than one ways. Moved her in all the right ways. It did indeed. But it reminds me of, was it Harry Metzali? Is it Meg Ryan? Yeah, yeah. And the person across the table was like, I'll have what she's having. I see.

[00:04:59] Actually, I think when I was looking this up and I Googled it, I think that was one of the references that came up. Oh really? I think people were associating the two stories together. Harry Metzali and the Symphony story.

[00:05:10] So apparently according to Magnus, which is a fantastic name by the way, Magnus Fiennes, she remained for the rest of the show as if nothing had happened. And her demeanor was in evidence, he said, which I guess that just means she looked tired and maybe satisfied.

[00:05:27] And that kind of backed up what everyone had thought. And yeah, so I have some audio. Do you want to hear it? Oh wait, I mean yes, of course. Let's go for it. So it's very quick. You ready? Well, that was it. Yeah, did you hear it?

[00:05:49] No, I kind of like... I told you, it plays really quickly. Let me go again. That was a... Oh my word! That's an orgasm if I've ever heard one of them. So another classical pianist added in a tweet that she checked with someone who she knows

[00:06:06] that works at the Philharmonic and they corroborated the story. They confirmed that it happened. And it's not like the show just stopped, it carried on. People liked it. It was like mermis and whispers and giggles over the next 30 seconds that came

[00:06:20] while people were trying to work out what was going on. But yeah, she corroborated that it happened. What was it? What was it if she was your friend and you're with her and you're just sitting there and you're like, oh my God, Janice, can you just calm down?

[00:06:33] That's my mother's name. I didn't mean to suggest that. Yes. So that really tickled me that it happened. That's brilliant. That's very good. But it's testament to the power of music, right? Especially with classical music, how you can really get caught up in the moment

[00:06:51] and then boom, you're having an orgasm in front of 400 people in an auditorium. Well, do you know what? It's quite interesting that actual news of the week because it's quite fitting for today's story. Go.

[00:07:02] Have you got any news for the week this week or are we just going to jump straight into it? We're going to jump straight into it. Let's do this. Because this story I'm very excited to tell. Very excited. Do it. What is it?

[00:07:11] In today's compendium, we're going to be telling the story of the Chippendales. So I know what you're thinking and by your reaction... You have no idea what I'm thinking. Well, what do you know about the Chippendales to begin with? Okay. So they were in the rescue ranges. Yeah.

[00:07:26] Ch-ch-ch-chippendale. Rescue ranges. So we're talking about the story of the Chippendales. No. Sorry. So we're talking about the story of Chippendale. The Chippendale. Unfortunately not, but maybe that'll be a follow up. Now today we're going to talk about the Chippendales, which is a male review show

[00:07:43] where men with golden tans and magnificent mullets would strip off and dance seductively to music, often donning nothing more than bow ties, collars and cuffs. Sounds sexy. Sounds like the male version of the Playboy girls, Playboy bunnies. That's interesting that you mentioned that because the two are...

[00:08:02] There is a link between the two. Oh really? Yeah. Exciting. So they were the original Magic Mikes and Gaydened worldwide fame, particularly during the 80s and very early 90s. And while the show may not be to everyone's taste, the Chippendales history is nothing short of fascinating.

[00:08:19] As my first story on this podcast, I'm excited to share the backstory that many millennials and Gen Zers may not know because we're coming of age. People have only fans nowadays. That's true. You don't have to pay admission fee to go and see some naked men or women.

[00:08:34] You just double click online and only fans there you go. There you go. But yeah, this is the golden era, I guess you could say. This is the real life tale which involves a story of rags to riches,

[00:08:46] drugs, sex, crime and death that could easily rival one of your favorite soap operas like Dages of Your Lives or an EastEnders Christmas special. Okay. So get ready for a wild ride as we explore the captivating story of the Chippendales, a story of fame, money and murder.

[00:09:06] I'm so excited for this. Let's do this. Bring it. Okay, so our story starts with Somen Banerjee. Somen Banerjee was born in Bombay, which is now known as Mumbai, in 1946 but he had his site set on more than just a humble life in India.

[00:09:22] Now, when I had a look, I couldn't really find out much about his family whilst he was growing up in India. I think his father ran a printing press but he moved to Canada and then shortly after that to LA in the mid-1960s

[00:09:36] and started work as a janitor. From the get-go, it's quite clear that he had big aspirations and he was determined to be a success because he borrowed some money from a friend and bought not one but two petrol stations

[00:09:48] and his timing was perfect because oil prices not just doubled but they tripled which wasn't great for everyone but it was really good for Somen because he turned a very good profit and then with that he could save up enough money to buy a failing cocktail lounge

[00:10:03] called the Round Robin in 1975. So this is the midst of high inflation and the previous cost of living crisis. So he bought a cocktail bar in the midst of a recession, did he? A failing one as well. Oh, a failing one.

[00:10:21] But he went into it with one of his first business partners, a lawyer named Bruce Nahin. Now you might be wondering how a janitor ended up owning two petrol stations and then a club. Not really. I wasn't wondering that. Okay, you're going to wonder.

[00:10:37] But tell me what about it? Okay, so Somen was a man with a plan. He was quite shy, often described as awkward in social situations. He wasn't one that wanted a lot of attention but he did command respect and authority, two very key things from him

[00:10:53] and his ambition knew no bounds. He also admired Hugh Hefner a lot. Of course. Isn't he every young man's childhood hero? At the time, obviously, Hugh was like very popular and a symbol of the American dream. Hang on. The symbol of the American dream.

[00:11:11] Pull yourself up from the bootstraps and you too can have all these naked women like falling all over you with a big giant mansion and your own logo with the bunny on it and a diamond and... Yeah, he was a big inspiration.

[00:11:25] Also to help Somen along the way, he rebranded himself and went by the name or changed his name to Steve partly because of people's prejudice against his accent but he basically didn't want anything to stand in his way. Surely it's just going to be a case of,

[00:11:40] oh, here comes Steve and then Steve is going to speak and they're going to go, oh, he's from Bombay. True, I think... I guess it gets him in the door, right? Yeah, there's talks like kids that would go to his petrol station

[00:11:53] and basically take them out of his accent and things like that. So I think he just, I don't know... He's an American now so he just wants to fit in as much as possible. Oh yeah, sure, I get that. And so in his quest to achieve success

[00:12:05] Steve was a man who paid great attention to his appearance. He often would wear an Oxford shirt buttoned to the neck with wire roomed glasses almost giving a look of a Wall Street banker rather than a nightclub entrepreneur. I see. So he's completely transformed, he's now assimilated.

[00:12:21] I like how we're no longer dead naming him because he's now Steve, right? And we're going to call him Steve. Forevermore he is Steve Banerjee. So it was during the disco era of the 1970s that Steve's opportunity to capitalise on a new venture presented itself.

[00:12:38] A man named Ray Cologne was often at his club and he befriended Steve and suggested that he taps into the disco craze which was really popular in New York at the time not so much in LA and so the idea was to bring it to LA.

[00:12:52] Ray Cologne would also go to help Steve out in the years to come by being his fix-it guy more on that later. Oh, okay. And so with a new disco focus the club underwent a transformation changing its name to Destiny 2.

[00:13:07] Now in case you're wondering is that after Destiny 1? No, because that club didn't exist but he thought that Destiny 2 sounded more successful like something like better and bigger than before. No, to me it sounds like exactly what you said Destiny 1 failed.

[00:13:23] So we're just going to go to Destiny 2 and we're like what makes you think that Destiny 2 is going to be better than Destiny 1? What made Destiny 1 fail? Some people thought that maybe it was almost like a metaphor for Steve's second destiny but yeah, there we go.

[00:13:38] He just wanted a different name. Fair enough. So during the 70s it was also the time of the sexual revolution and the rise of porn made waves in the film industry leading to a newfound believe it or not credibility of the genre.

[00:13:52] Porn stars began socializing with film stars and these big parties would be thrown at the Playboy Mansion and various night clubs so the whole level of attraction came with it essentially. And Steve, like in Hugh, wanted to capitalize on this trend within his night club.

[00:14:09] So interestingly, his club had the unlikely beginning of a backgum and club. Ha ha! Ha ha! So I know what you're thinking, back coming. Back coming? Ha ha! Have you come back? I'm starting to get a sense that this isn't just

[00:14:26] a night club but it's also like maybe a porn dungeon where they film porn, come back. Anyway, carry on. Yeah, anyway, so the club had an unlikely beginning as a backgum and club. So when I know what you're thinking, backgum isn't sexy.

[00:14:42] Well let me tell you Kyle, it's not. I'm not thinking any of these things. But actually it did attract a lot of the rich and famous at the time really and despite being a very crowded and poorly lit club, it was the go-to spot in LA for backgammon

[00:14:58] and coincidentally or maybe not so coincidentally, Hugh Hefner also owned a backgumming club in Hollywood. So this is the thing, right? So he's capitalizing on a trend. Hang on, what's happening at these backgumming clubs? Are they actually playing backgammon? Because as far as my understanding is

[00:15:15] backgammon's quite a difficult game. I don't think I even know how to play it. I have no idea. It's, I think it's quite a complicated game, no? I think so. Is that the one with the stripes, like the pointy stripes? Yes, correct. Yeah, it's got those weird point,

[00:15:27] yeah, the little elongated triangles. Yeah. Not only the tiger. Yeah, so tiger chest but yeah, no idea. No idea. Okay, this is weird. Carry on. So the club had backgumming, they had disco. They were some of its big nights. So it was a bit of an odd combo,

[00:15:44] but it gave it some moderate success. So there's a few busy nights a week and the club was doing okay, but the other nights of the week not really a success. And Steve wanted every night to be making money.

[00:15:55] So he would put on theme nights like magic shows, theater and dinner, even female mud wrestling, which apparently was one of the more successful shows. Lovely. So basically trying various things didn't really have an identity. So in the fast-paced world of night clubs, staying relevant was key.

[00:16:13] So every few years, I think even now, like clubs undergo a bit of a rebrand, a new name as Destiny 3. No. So in the case of Steve and Bruce, that's the lawyer guy they teamed up with to begin with, they landed on the name Chippendales.

[00:16:27] And that's because they gave it a bit of refurbishment and put Chippendale furniture in there. I was gonna say because Chippendales is a furniture, isn't it? Exactly. So it's from a British cabinet maker of the, I think the 18th century. How weird! Yes.

[00:16:43] He felt the name Chippendales gave this sense of class and sophistication. Yes. That's why. Craftmanship. Shizzled. Yes. But unfortunately the name change wasn't gonna fix the flailing nightclub. Flailing? Flailing? Flailing. Oh, flailing. Not running down the street going, Waaaaaah! Yeah, it's not doing that. Oh no!

[00:17:04] So Steve is running out of money and it's 1979 and he needs to do something different quite quickly. That same year, Steve partners with a guy called Paul Snyder. Have you ever heard of Paul Snyder? The name Snyder sounds familiar. Sounds very Jewish. Is he a Jew? Yeah.

[00:17:21] Well, very good. But Paul is basically this animated guy. He's a bit crazy, very obnoxious, doesn't stop talking, which kind of reminds me of someone. But he's described as... You talking about me? Yeah. Bitch! He's described as a small muscular man who would wear

[00:17:38] an ankle length fur coat and a star of David Chaine. Okay, so he was a Jew? Yeah, he was known as the Jewish Pimp back in Vancouver. So he's a repugnant human being though. That's, let's be clear about that.

[00:17:51] He grooms young women and one of which he takes on is his client. She's an up-and-coming model named Dorothy Stratton. She's a really famous playboy model. Exactly. She became his client, his girlfriend and later his wife. Okay. So Paul persuaded Dorothy to pose nude for a series

[00:18:10] of professional photographs that he would then send to Playboy. They really liked them and she gets invited to be a Playboy girl. Nice. She becomes hugely successful and her success later dwarfs that of Paul's basically. It takes off. And I definitely feel he has small man syndrome

[00:18:28] based on his description and how he behaves. She supports him through a lot of failing, get rich quick schemes. And so there's a sense of jealousy and I think he definitely tries to own her and that's where we go on to that.

[00:18:40] So it's the kind of the sexual gender dynamics that are a play here. Like he introduced her to the modeling world. He gave her a kickstart. She's hugely successful and therefore there's a lot of resentment because... He's like, oh, I created you. Exactly.

[00:18:55] We'll come back to them as a couple in a little bit. But Paul, after returning back from Canada, he suggests turning Chippendales into a male review show, which is an exotic male strip show because he had seen it being very popular

[00:19:08] in the gay clubs in Vancouver and he thought actually you could do that with straight women. And so Banerjee was running out of money, had nothing to lose and decided to give it a go. As part of the deal, Snyder would be the emcee

[00:19:20] and they would split the profits, a joint partnership. So they went about recruiting men from local gyms and beaches that would be up for stripping and dancing for tips. The first time they did it, it was a strip competition so they'd win $100 or something. Nice.

[00:19:35] They took out advertising in local papers, female bathrooms basically where the women would hang out. That's where they would advertise and it was very much exclusively for women. Like the first original ladies night. Exactly. Yeah. At the moment hadn't been done before. Really? Yeah.

[00:19:52] So you're the first guy who came up with ladies night, their concepts of just women only? Exactly that. On the opening night of Chippendales, it was like a huge turnout. So the capacity of the club probably would fit 150 to 200 people but they squeezed in about 300. So it was...

[00:20:08] Over capacity then. Yeah. So the first night it was like a huge success and essentially all the women were sort of elevated in the club. I think looking down on this stage while these waiters would go around and be offering a tipping kiss

[00:20:21] where the women get to tip a dollar and get a kiss in return. From who? From the waiter? Waiters that are moving around. Are they female waiters? I don't know if it's a male. Oh, it's a male because it's ladies night. Yeah, exactly. Wow.

[00:20:32] And it was very much unique and exclusively for women a concept that never been done before. Women could let loose, have fun and enjoy the show without being objectified by men. But the thing is though, like how long is it going to take?

[00:20:43] Because like women frequent gay bars, right? Because they feel like they're safe, they're not going to be harassed by straight men. Then all of a sudden straight men go, do you know what? We come to accept like all the gayness around

[00:20:56] and we can go and get these women that have got there. Let their guard down. We can capitalize on that. Actually that's something they actually did turn the club into. So up until about sort of 10 o'clock it would be for the females. But what they realized was actually,

[00:21:10] hey, if we let men in after the show, you've got all these women that are here. All the men are lining up out the door and all these women are just like, I've been like trapped. Trapped to the pen. Let the men in.

[00:21:24] Well they've all been riled up by these naked men and so they're just like, let the men in. Oh my God. I love it. He's genius. So yeah, that's one way that he helped to make even more money. Yeah. Steve didn't plan for the show

[00:21:38] to be a space for female empowerment or safe haven or anything like that. He did capitalize on that. It was a financial success and it was an opportunity for women not to be objectified by men basically and they held the power. At this point, Dorothy Stratton, Paul's wife,

[00:21:56] would often be at the club with her playboy friends which added a layer of prestige to the establishment and Steve loved that. And that's one of the reasons he kept Paul around because he was not a good emcee and Dorothy was bringing in more value to the club

[00:22:10] than Paul was at this moment in time. So the club's doing okay. Did need some improvements and it's worth noting at this time it wasn't what you think of the Chimdales now. The dancers weren't necessarily skilled and they didn't have matching outfits and the choreography,

[00:22:24] well, it wasn't polished so it was very amateur at this point in time. As the club night becomes more popular keeping Paul around becomes more of a problem and Steve recognizes that something needs to change. Paul isn't funny. He's not bringing the necessary energy

[00:22:37] to get the women excited so he brings in a guy called Richard Barsh, a radio DJ and aspiring actor. He's a complete opposite of Paul. Richard sets the rules for the women that night and he says no touching and he echoes three magic words

[00:22:50] that are still uttered to this day. Go, what? Take it off. That's where that came from. Take it off, take it off. No, put it on, put it on. That was Richard's idea but yeah, he successfully whipped the women into a frenzy on his first night

[00:23:07] and Steve wants him to come back every week which makes Paul very jealous and he's determined to stay part of the club because it's his idea but Steve becomes cutthroat and says, well, prove it and he's gone. Okay. He's gone. Going back to one of your earlier points

[00:23:22] about the connection between Playboy and Chippendales Paul's wife, Dorothy is credited for suggesting the dancers where the matching bow ties, collars and cuffs similar to Playboy bunnies. Oh, that was her, was it? Yeah, she suggested... Does she have that similarity between the two, don't they?

[00:23:37] Yeah, and I think she got permission from Hugh Hefner to do that and he was like, yeah, that's fine. Oh really? How come he said yes? Did he need to... Did he get a kickback or anything from that? I don't know but I know that Dorothy

[00:23:47] is one of his favourite models I think at the time. Really? So maybe just... Yeah, sure, why not? It's a club in LA. What happened to Dorothy Stratton? Did she... Does that get covered in this? It does. Are we going to come onto that?

[00:23:59] Okay, I don't want to spoil that. No. I thought maybe it was a side thing. Yeah, we'll get into it very quickly. So to summarise where we're at so far, the success of the Chivendales wasn't just down to Steve. It's other people around him

[00:24:11] that have had ideas and contributed. So I think we can say that Steve has a knack for recognising the right people perhaps to bring in and help developers' business further. So you could say in some ways he's a good businessman, a good leader in that sense.

[00:24:23] Paul's growing jealousy and his need for control, particularly over his wife Dorothy at this time with what's been happening, intensifies and she's become successful in her own right. He's no longer working at Chivendales and he becomes more possessive and controlling over her, despite the fact that

[00:24:40] she's been financially supporting him. So as her success Sky Rockets, she's named Playmate of the Year in 1980 and she lands various television and film roles. However, a lot of the people close to her are saying you need to sever your ties with Paul.

[00:24:56] He is not a good man. You need to get out. And I think during the production of one of her final films she actually, I think as a reporter, she has an affair with one of the directors. Oh really? Yeah, and so I think they've become a strange.

[00:25:07] They haven't seen each other for like three months and divorce proceedings start to happen which I think are instigated by her. So Paul goes to see Dorothy after three months not seeing her. So he arrives at their old house where she's still living Oh no.

[00:25:23] And he rapes her and he shoots her with a shotgun. Oh. And then he shoots himself. Oh, so she's gone. She's dead. Yeah. He kills her. And then he kills himself. Kills himself. What? Which is an awful end. She was only 20 years old. She was only 20.

[00:25:40] And had a life taken by the... How many she achieved so much in her life? She was going places and Paul took that all the way. So he's a horrible man. Yeah. Aw. And he's actually just a small part in the whole Chippendale history.

[00:25:51] But I think he is also a cautionary tale and a bit of a red flag and it shows the kind of the things that plague the Chippendales throughout their history. Dorothy isn't the only murder of this story, however. Why am I not surprised by that at this point?

[00:26:05] So the death of Dorothy and Paul is a shock, particularly those that sort of worked at the club. And despite this very sad news, Steve is adamant the show must go on and they continue to do that. On more than one occasion, the dancers would get arrested

[00:26:17] for public deem decency. The club would get raided by police. They would say like these guys are naked. They would go like, no, they're not wearing G-strings. It's fine. But exposing your butt was still a no-no. Female attendees were getting caught with touching the men

[00:26:32] where they weren't allowed to do that. And the naughtiness of the club led to the club's temporary closure. But I think it pretty much opened a week later. Oh really? So not a very long closure then? No, not at all. And there are rumours that actually Steve

[00:26:46] would call the police or these Christian evangelicals to come to the club protest or cause us a news story, which then would be in the press or beyond the news. Oh, so like no publicity is bad publicity. Exactly. So this is free marketing for him.

[00:27:01] So he's quite smart in that sense. I quite like that as a marketing technique. So whilst the show was making waves as this female empowerment and feminism, Steve just wants more cash. Hence opening the club up to the men later that evening to let them in

[00:27:15] when all the women are ready. So the MC Richard Barsh continues to work really hard. Every night he dons his tux and he straps on a pair of roller skates to entertain the crowd. What? Yeah, he skates around. He skates round the club? Yeah. In roller skates?

[00:27:30] Yeah, can you remember that? I mean there's handbags in the way and there's girls dancing in a circle, there are coats in the middle and he's skating around, potentially tripping over all, breaking his leg, tripping over all these coats. I love that. He's got that charisma, I'm guessing,

[00:27:44] he paints a picture. I see. I guess it's the disco era as well, right? So it's fitting. Exactly. And he makes some changes or he suggests some changes that he's taken on board. So, like? Costumes, characters. So you've got the cowboy Dan. Yeah. Superman. Nice. The barbarian. Nice.

[00:28:02] And one guy wore a paper bag on his head and became known as the Unknown Stripper. God. Jilt that reminded me of. SMTV Live went out, Kat and Deck were dressed up as the cause. Oh yeah, and then Jim Woodward, his little paper bag on his head. Yeah.

[00:28:20] I'm so beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Shut up, Jim! I think only people from the UK will get that reference. So despite these positive changes, Steve wants to continue to improve the show and he's not afraid to replace people once he finds better people

[00:28:35] or he deems better people to replace them with. And so Richard is discarded. He tries to sue Steve, but that doesn't really go anywhere. So we're now in 1980 and Steve was approached by a man called Nick DeNois. Nick is a well-known director, screenwriter, choreographer

[00:28:51] and two-time Emmy Award-winning producer for a kids show. So the next step in his career is... Pawn. Well, no, he's producing an adult's dance show. So Kids TV adult dance show. Natural progression. Entertaining kids to, I don't know... Entertaining women? Yeah, entertaining women

[00:29:11] to get ready to make kids. So what is he going to be like a choreographer? Basically, yeah. So he pitches to Steve that he can make the show better. A proper spectacle with tightly choreographed routines rather than these untrained men gyrating in front of women,

[00:29:26] which to be fair, it wasn't doing too badly up until now, but Nick was like, no, this could be much better. I can tell you now that, like when you say untrained gyrating men as a man in my 30s, gyrating is hard work.

[00:29:40] So I would say that's pretty skilled and trained to me Okay, there we go. Maybe there's more to it than I realize. It goes to show if you don't use it, you'll lose it. Keep gyrating boys. Keep gyrating. So once on board, Nick brings in some new dancers.

[00:29:58] He's basically men that can actually dance and he holds like daily rehearsals. He's much stricter and he wants a really good show. He's an active, like creative director and he holds a different presence than Steve, who is probably more reserved and in the shadows of production.

[00:30:16] And so to some, this makes Nick appear as the boss, which starts to plant a bit of a seed and they're troubling working relationship between Nick and Steve. So Nick's influences felt pretty quickly and transforming the Chippendales from an amateur club night to a full blown production.

[00:30:33] But the thing is though, like he's making a success of it. So why would Steve be upset by that? He's making it successful. I agree. Yeah. But I think Steve, a bit like Paul has trouble with ownership. Okay. It's the control and it's the accreditation of it.

[00:30:52] But the thing is that ultimately he owns it. He owns the club. So he's ultimately gets the credit for it, right? Yeah. I think and initially he didn't want the extra attention. He's more of a background kind of character anyway, but there's this whole kind of respect

[00:31:11] and authority. And I guess if people are going to Nick and as the kind of leader, then that kind of grinds his gears. I see. So it's also around this time that they start to do merchandise and it's huge. It ends up being in every mall in America

[00:31:28] and it starts to make lots of money, particularly the yearly calendars because women can now own pictures of half-naked men and put them on their fridges at home. And that was okay. There's quite a sexist remark there, thinking that women would keep their porn in the kitchen

[00:31:44] rather than in like their top drawer in their bedroom. Adam, I think you need to look inside yourself and realize that we're not living in the 1950s anymore. Women don't always have to store their porn in the kitchen. I didn't mean like that.

[00:31:59] What I meant was this was quite unusual for women could have these calendars now and just display them around the house and be like, didn't have to be ashamed about it. So, in all times where women had access to this type of material

[00:32:11] that was purely catered for them, that was always normally in the male domain. Exactly. Interesting. So the Chippendales brand keeps growing and the males basically offered a lot of money for additional services at the club. The club became a hub for cocaine, alcohol, and wild parties.

[00:32:31] It was filled with debauchery. I love it. So much so they had a special room for orgies. The dancers would attract so many fans that, yeah, some of them would become male prostitutes basically. Oh, the men. The men are having the orgies with the women. Yeah.

[00:32:46] They're not allowed touching. I think it's different. But I've got a quote coming up which makes me feel a little dirty to say. So I've got... Say it. I want you to, when I give you the cue, do the clown car horn sound? Oh, okay.

[00:33:00] I'll try my very best. You've got to practice. Uh-huh! Is that what you mean? Good. One of the dancers said that one of the women offered to pay them $100 for every inch of cocaine she could snore off his... Uh-huh! Wow. So off of his dick. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:21] Surely it could not possibly be more than six inches of cocaine. I don't know. Depends if it's Brent. Because Brent can fit in the glory, huh? And that's why we all love Brent. Yeah, anyway. Where was I? You think about Brent, aren't you? No.

[00:33:43] So the point was my point. Well, how many inches did you manage to sniff off? That's not the point. Anyway, so back to the club and all the women that are there. So they're from different backgrounds, shy, confident, and it's busy every week.

[00:33:56] And Steve wants to get as many women in the club as he can. And so he's happy for it to be overcrowded. He's happy for there to be blocked aisles, obstructed doorways, and the fact that this really poses a safety risk.

[00:34:08] Yeah, you don't want to risk anyone getting injured during an orgy. Safety is paramount. Yeah, so... For the duty of care and concern for my patrons. Sorry. No. So he would get the fine, the club would get fined for all the overcrowding and that didn't bother Steve

[00:34:26] because he was happy to pay the fines because that was just like a marketing expense because he was making so much money anyway. Okay. Steve's getting very greedy. Meanwhile, Nick is contemplating a move. He wants to expand. He's not really enjoying working with Steve.

[00:34:43] They're at loggerheads with each other and he's in discussion with some club owners in New York about bringing the Chip and Dale show to New York. He managed to convince Steve about doing it and he sets up the New York branch. And in 1989, the door opens

[00:34:59] and it's just as grand, if not more significant than the original club. And is it called the Chip and Dale's as well? Yeah. Wow. So they've branched out. The production values are higher and it's getting more attention from the press now because it's in New York.

[00:35:13] Celebrities would turn up there like Andy Warhol, all sorts. So as the Chip and Dale's continue to gain publicity, particularly now in New York, Nick is being featured in lots of newspapers. He's on talk shows. He's everywhere. He becomes the spokesperson for the brand.

[00:35:29] And Steve is kind of okay with this as it's generating a lot of money. But what does bother him a lot is the fact that people are referring to Nick as the founder or Mr. Chip and Dale himself. So again, it's this whole like,

[00:35:42] hang on a minute, that isn't your idea to sell. Even though technically the Chip and Dale's wasn't his idea in the first place. It was Paul's. It's crazy that he can't just put his ego aside. One of the things he wants is money, right?

[00:35:56] And now he's got the money, but he's losing the stranglehold over the ownership and the founding of the Chip and Dale's, which I think is such a shame. Yeah, but I think Nick's not discouraging those rumors

[00:36:08] or what people are saying that kind of works him a little bit. Sure. Okay. You know, I get it. But yeah, I completely agree. He should be happy. That's a big success and he hasn't got to do a load of extra work.

[00:36:19] So this kind of tension fuels further animosity between the two. And Steve wanting that recognition and being the mastermind, he would take over and make stupid decisions. He would hire and fire dancers, make creative decisions just to assert his authority and be like,

[00:36:35] no, I'm the person that runs this business, not Nick. But he doesn't know how to put on a compelling show. So as the Chip and Dale's grow in popularity throughout the 1980s, imitators start to emerge. And Steve doesn't take kindly to this

[00:36:50] because he is the person that invented male stripping, according to him. You can't own male stripping. There's always going to be people getting naked and sometimes they're going to be men. You can't just own stripping. And you know what? If it was done in a public place,

[00:37:06] then that's just lewd behavior, which men of like all sorts of people have done for all of history. Well, own being lewd in public. If Steve could trademark nudity, he probably would. Yeah, I think you can start to see how extreme

[00:37:22] his paranoia and jealousy is starting to sink in. Just to give you a bit of an idea what Steve would do basically if he saw someone that was a threat to his success. Twice, Steve attempted to have two separate competing bars burnt down once in 1979

[00:37:41] and another one in 1984, but did fail both times. And he would call on his fix it guy Ray Cologne, remember? He would call on him to basically carry out some of his darker deeds, things he doesn't want to get his hands too dirty with.

[00:37:54] And so Ray threw like these Molotov cocktails over one of the competing clubs, but it didn't really do enough damage and the club stayed open. But this wasn't revealed until much later on when the story unravels further. But yeah, it kind of shows that Steve would let jealousy

[00:38:09] get the better of him. There was also another time when a couple of the dancers attempted to make their own cat. And they attempted to make their own calendar because the calendar becomes such an ex-success and associated with the Chippendales. Steve basically fired one of them.

[00:38:24] Steve also faces various different lawsuits. There was a lawyer student named Don Gibson, him and his friend Barry, waited in line to Chippendales one night. But the doorman asked them, can we see your Chippendales ID, your membership ID? And they were like,

[00:38:39] oh well, we don't have an ID, we just want to go in the club. And they're like, oh no, you need to go down the road, pay a couple hundred dollars and get an ID. We're not going to bother doing that. We just want a night out.

[00:38:48] A few weeks later, Barry actually goes back to Chippendales and he's not asked for membership. And so when he tells Don about this, Don starts asking around and it turns out all the people of color are given that rationale of, no you can't come in, you need membership.

[00:39:05] Oh, I see. So basically race plays a part of that. Which I think is strange seeing the prejudice that Steve faced coming to the country. Yeah. But he was like, no, white women won't want people of color here. Oh, but yeah, I expect Steve,

[00:39:21] expect all the women in the club that gets like to go into VIP to be all over him. Yeah, it's very, it's very weird. He wants to be the only minority person in the club. I think it's more of the fact that he doesn't want anyone

[00:39:35] to jeopardize his image or style that he thinks that he needs to portray in this club. And he's like, well, white successful rich women are not going to want this. And unfortunately, that's a horrible attitude. So Don files a discrimination complaint

[00:39:53] and he tries to get paid off by one of the lawyers that says, hey, we'll just give you free admission for the year and a bottle of champagne. No harm done, right? But Don declines that and in the case goes on for years

[00:40:04] and other patrons of color complain. A few years later, Don gets a call while working as a clerk for a federal judge and this guy on the phone says he has something to show Don. Don meets the guy and he works for a car rental company

[00:40:18] and says that he found a notebook left in one of the rented cars which belongs to someone that worked at Chippendales. In the book was the whereabouts of Don tracking his every move. Really? Yeah. So nothing in the book suggests violence but he's being tracked essentially.

[00:40:36] So more months pass and Don gets another call from one of the very few black dancers that were allowed to work at Chippendales. So it's very much like we'll have a token black dancer. He informs Don that Steve is so annoyed about the lawsuit

[00:40:49] that there is a hit out on Don which explains the book that is found. So the dancer agrees to make a statement under oath which forces Steve's lawyer, Bruce, to make an offer of like $10,000 which is nothing I think but that's this kind of settlement

[00:41:04] that we'll give you up to Don and he makes another settlement of 85 grand to be divided up amongst other black patrons and then Banerjee is saying like, yeah, we'll let black patrons in and we'll make sure that at least a quarter of the staff

[00:41:15] are of color and all this kind of stuff that apparently never really happened. Right. So it just shows the, I guess the extremes that Steve is willing to do to shut people up or if you're causing a problem, I want you gone. Yeah. On a slightly lighter note,

[00:41:32] despite Steve's egotistical and problematic personality, he does manage to win the heart of a young woman named Irene. They fall in love, they get married and they do have two children. There's not much about her that's revealed publicly but she does play an important role

[00:41:46] towards the end of the story. Now returning to Nick in New York, the tension between him and Steve is palpable. Nick who is doing much of the heavy lifting to repel the business forward feels like he shouldn't have to answer to Steve

[00:41:58] and should be reaping the rewards of his hard work and Nick's becoming increasingly frustrated and he wants compensation for his efforts. As a result, he arranges a meeting with Steve to propose a new idea. Nick suggests that the Chippendales

[00:42:13] should not be limited to just New York or Los Angeles but instead should tour America then potentially later down the line the world. You know, women everywhere should be able to enjoy the thrill of half naked male dancers. Nick offers to do all the work essentially

[00:42:28] in exchange for half the profits because he doesn't have to lift a finger. Wow, okay so they're going to take the show on the road. He doesn't have to do anything. He just has to like, I guess he owns the name, right?

[00:42:40] And this other guy's just gonna go. But half the profits is quite a lot of money. I think it was half the profits. It's a substantial amount. But then this is where Q the infamous napkin. Okay, thank God. Do you know anything about the napkin? No!

[00:42:54] Okay, so Steve is in financial trouble at this time and even though he's making lots of money, I don't know, you get rich and maybe you live beyond your means, whatever it is, this is quite interesting. He also made a huge mistake which cost him thousands.

[00:43:06] Potentially some suggest like hundreds of thousands. He ordered these new calendars to be printed but being so busy or whatever he didn't properly proof it before it went to the printers. Oh my God, has he like got the wrong date on there

[00:43:20] or has he got like steady four days in October or something? Close. Every month had 31 days. Which I think is ironic that his dad worked at the printing press. Basic things he perhaps should have got from his father but anyway, so it went to print

[00:43:35] and he couldn't use any of the stock and so loads of money wasted and that what he was banking on. Hey if he was like Ty Warner, he would have kept them, take them out of circulation and there'd been like this weird kind of

[00:43:47] high sort after limited edition like erud first edition calendar thing. Do you know what I mean? But you can kind of understand a beanie baby without an eye and you'd want to keep that but a calendar that you have no use for.

[00:44:03] Yeah, but it's about the fact that there was a printing error. So for example, like sometimes you get like coins that are minted and they get the date wrong or they forget to put the date on there and therefore they become standout editions

[00:44:16] and then they go for three pounds instead of 50p. Yeah, I don't know. Anyone's got use for a faulty calendar. So trust me, if these calendars are going in the top drawer of women's bedside cabinets then there's always going to be a use

[00:44:34] regardless of what date it is. I don't think you really can quantify that but anyway, Steve sees dollar signs from Nick's proposal about taking the show on the road and he agrees but they say let's get it in writing so they draw up a contract on a napkin

[00:44:50] because apparently this stands up in court as long as you write it down and it's signed doesn't matter if it's on a napkin, piece of tissue paper, bag packet. Bag packet, yeah exactly. But on the napkin Nick writes, I, Nick

[00:45:03] have the rights to take Chippendales on the road and own this, perpetuity. So perpetuity, do you mean in perpetuity? In perpetuity. Forever. Forever, exactly. What? Which is obviously a long time, there's no end date on this. Yeah.

[00:45:21] Is that for the rest of his life or just for the all of eternity? In perpetuity forever, forever. Oh Steve. So I don't think Steve picks up on that very important but minor detail. But minor detail, there's a major detail. Major details are, yeah. Wow.

[00:45:38] So he signs it not really knowing what it probably means now knowing that Nick now owns the rights to the tour. No one. Was it Nick who wrote the napkin and then Steve signed it? Signed it. Oh okay, so Steve was duped. Do you think it was intentional?

[00:45:53] Did he intentionally duped Steve? I don't know. All right in the word, in perpetuity. I don't know, possibly. Wow. Great. So what's Nick's situation? Was he married? He did have a wife for a period but then I think he was a closet homosexual. Oh he's a homo.

[00:46:12] Yeah, I think he does have a sort of a boyfriend later on. Okay, interesting. So the tour turns out to be a big hit just like it did in New York. Raking in over 80 grand a week. But Nick can't just endure Steve's animosity anymore

[00:46:29] or the drama and so he actually was holding on to the rights of the tour and getting the benefits. He decides to leave the Chippendales and he steps up a rival mail review show called US Mail. Oh that's clever.

[00:46:43] So yeah, clever play on words of the postal service and they had a very apt slogan called We Deliver. Oh, clever. He intends to go head to head with Steve and I'm going to have my own show which I'm going to own all at right

[00:46:58] and it's going to be producing calendars, he's going to have tours, he gets former Chippendale dancers in, he's literally having his cake and then eat it. But before like US Mail could properly take off. It's just such a great name, US Mail.

[00:47:14] It is and it's been interesting to see how that would have succeeded. Oh, it's not around today then? No. So before US Mail could properly take off on the 8th of April 1987 a guy walks into a Manhattan building where Nick DeNoyer had his office. No.

[00:47:34] The man appears like he's going to deliver something. No. But within his hand is a gun. Oh. A gunshot is heard by other people within the office and they discover that Nick has been shot in the face. Is he dead? He's dead. Oh no. Who's the Steve?

[00:47:54] Well, based on what we know so far who could have done this? Steve! Trying to build a mystery here. Sorry. But yeah. But yeah, all the fingers are currently pointing at Steve and once the news broke, I think everyone in the cast

[00:48:10] instantly knew like within their gut that is Steve. And Steve is investigated but he has an alibi at the time and he's actually... What was his alibi? I think it was at dinner or something like that. But the thing is though, like it was a hit man obviously.

[00:48:24] It wasn't Steve that was dressed up as a male man. Yeah, it's true. And so the police clear him. They don't have enough evidence and yeah, that's it really. That's poor Nick. And so the rights of the show go to Nick DeNoyer's family. Good! In perpetuity. In perpetuity.

[00:48:44] Where's the napkin? Is the lawyer got a napkin? Has the lawyer got the napkin as evidence? I don't know where the napkin is right now. Okay. I wonder if it's in a museum somewhere. In a frame. Yeah. Someone's like that and tomato ketchup from the lip from it.

[00:48:58] So yeah, the touring rights to the Ship and Tails go to DeNoyer's family. And they try to run the tour but they don't do a very good job. It loses money and they decide to cut their losses and sell it to Steve for a million.

[00:49:13] Even though they think Steve killed Nick. So I don't really quite get the rationale there. Is that a good price though? What I don't think. Is that undervalued? I feel like that's undervalued based on what, if it's turning like 100K a week. Yeah. Oh wow! 100K a week.

[00:49:28] That had to be netted when it was being run by Nick. And how many branches have they got at this point? Do we know? I don't know. Was this early on in them taking the show on the road? Yeah, so it's just America I think at this point.

[00:49:40] Okay. Yeah. Interesting. So Steve takes over with the tour in America. And it's actually, it's now 1990. So a few years after Nick died. And the original club in LA is actually shut down due to years of issues with the licenses

[00:49:58] over capacity fines, dances being found out to be prostitutes. All the sort of that sort of drama. All the classic things. Yeah. Just what happens? And so Steve strikes a deal to take the Chip and Dale's on tour in Europe. All the focus is on the tour.

[00:50:13] But during this time there are more copycats popping up. And so another male review show called Adonis becomes Steve's latest target. Now Adonis stars a couple of former dancers from the LA club and Adonis is also touring in Europe. And they're actually in UK in Blackpool.

[00:50:31] And on July the 23rd, 1991, a detective from Blackpool receives a phone call from the FBI as they've received a tip-off that a hitman was coming from America to kill a couple of the dancers of Adonis in Blackpool. What? Is this Steve again? We don't know yet.

[00:50:50] We don't know yet. Do we find out? Come on you mean suspense Adam. So the police have basically watched over the cast of Adonis for a few days, checked their safe and everything. And the show does carry on. Check the safe? Check their safe.

[00:51:02] Oh, check that they are safe. And it's only a few days actually after the original phone call that then there's a follow-up call from the FBI. And they're like, don't worry, stand down. We've got the alleged assassin in custody. All good.

[00:51:15] It transpires that the hitman had been given the wrong dates and came to the UK too early and sort of got cold feet. And then what did what? Well, the hitman went by the name Strawberry, which sounds more like a cabapatch doll than it does a dangerous assassin.

[00:51:32] Yeah. In fact, he was a small-time criminal, heroin addict, and he actually helped Ray out with some of the arson attacks from the competitive clubs. This isn't Cologne guys. Yeah, Ray Cologne. I'm big one. Yeah, so that he had helped Ray.

[00:51:47] When asked who put the hitman up to the job, it was revealed that it was none other than Ray Cologne. Okay. So Ray had offered Strawberry $25,000 per person to go to the UK and administer cyanide to two of the dancers,

[00:52:03] as this was easier than sneaking guns on a plane. So 25 grand, I don't think there's a lot to kill someone. Well, I mean, this is 1987 money, right? Well, 1991. 1991 money. And it's per dancer. So if you could get like five dancers, it's not a money.

[00:52:18] True, but I still don't think there's a lot. But you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. All right, Adam. But actually Strawberry did later admit that he had agreed to do the job in fear of his own life or to cover his own butt basically.

[00:52:34] You know, killing two people wasn't really his biggest concern. When he was interviewed, he arrived to the UK and he was more worried about the cold and that he only had a short sleeve shirt and no coat. The food sucked and the girls weren't any better.

[00:52:47] So he was like, I'm out of here. So where did he go? So he was he, where was he when he got caught? He thought about going to the British police to hand himself in, but he basically said, well, I don't want to speak to them.

[00:52:58] They don't speak the real English. I'm going back to the US, which makes no sense. No, it makes no sense at all. So where did they apprehend him? Did they apprehend him at the airport? He went back out. He went to the USA and confessed. Oh, I see.

[00:53:10] And so they get Strawberry to call Ray who didn't know that he wasn't in London. So they thought they was in the UK ready to do the whole cyanide attack. And he was like, yeah, so Ray, what do I need to do again? Oh, this is a sting.

[00:53:23] Yeah. They want to get a confession. And Ray's like, oh, you just need to go and I don't know if I can get close enough. So just get a brick, hit them over the head and inject them with cyanide. Job done. They've got their confession. Wow.

[00:53:38] So the FBI then searched Ray's home three days later where they find 46 grams of cyanide. Now, do you know how much 46 grams can kill? From the Jonestown massacre episode. Yeah. I imagine a lot. Or 230 people. Wow. Is that what you were thinking? No.

[00:54:02] I didn't actually know the answer. I was just going to say a lot. I needed to plug the previous episode. Oh, OK, fine. Nice one. So yeah. So I don't know why he bought in bulk. Maybe he was planning to kill even more male dancers at one point.

[00:54:14] Yeah, I don't know. Maybe you can only buy it in like a certain quantity. As a discount? I don't know. Yeah. Ray's arrested and he's charged for murder for hire and he's held in prison for seven months and things aren't looking good for him.

[00:54:28] But he actually gets a kidney, a serious kidney disease. I'm not too sure what it is. And he's looking. Kidney disease. Yeah, I don't know exact details basically. OK, kidney disease is a thing, right? No, I do know. I know that. Thanks for clarifying.

[00:54:43] It's not a fake disease. And so he wants to basically get a more lenient sentence and also he's like, hang on a minute, I'm not the one that was behind all this. It's Steve, bloody banergy. So Ray tells the FBI how Steve threatened

[00:54:58] and blacked him to get rid of someone back in 1987. And if Ray didn't comply, Steve would reveal the failed arson attacks that Ray carried out or worse, get members of organized crime to pay Ray a visit. And so Ray reveals that the person

[00:55:12] that he was asked to kill was Nick DeNoyer. Ooh. This would start a manhunt that went on for years to get Steve to admit for the crimes that he did. In an attempt to get Steve to confess, Ray would go undercover. But Steve were made so paranoid.

[00:55:28] He knew that Ray had spent some time in prison and he thinks his loyalty has been compromised. Ray tries to call him and everything and he blocks all of his calls. He doesn't want to talk to him. Ray gets out of prison

[00:55:41] and he said like he was allowed out of prison because of his kidney disease and Steve's like, I still don't buy that. In 1992, Ray does convince Steve to meet him at a hotel in Santa Monica. Oh no, don't do it. You're going to get killed, did it?

[00:55:53] Well, when Steve arrives to meet Ray, he marches Ray straight to the toilet, strip searches him, not knowing there was a wire concealed in his crotch area. I thought you were going to say they have an orgy. No, but Steve still doesn't trust Ray

[00:56:07] so he only communicates through written notes which he then flushes down the toilet. Okay, smart. So he's like, he couldn't find a wire but he's like, nope, something's up. Still don't want to talk. Might be up his butt. Could be. It wasn't in his crotch.

[00:56:22] Wait, there was a wire in his crotch? Yeah, they like sewed like a, well, into his like shorts or whatever he was wearing and they put the wire there. Smart. Yeah. But so he still suspected, even though he didn't find a wire,

[00:56:35] he suspected that there was a wire there. Yep. And they sewed it into his crotch. I guess they didn't expect him to cup him which would be weird to meet someone you hadn't seen in a while. That's true. We should all do that.

[00:56:47] We should all be like, hey Steve, how are you doing? Cup. That's problematic. So the FBI needed a new plan and the only way they think they can get Steve to talk is if Steve thinks Ray is a fugitive. So they pull some strings,

[00:57:04] get Ray a fake passport to make it convincing that Ray was fleeing the country and that he's hiding in Switzerland. So Ray calls up Steve, whilst he's on a European tour, and tells him, hey, I'm a fugitive now. I'm running away. Steve actually bites

[00:57:16] and he agrees to meet Ray at a restaurant in Switzerland. Ray even wears a dodgy mustache to appear as if he's in disguise. So Steve and Ray are at dinner and Ray takes off his jacket but then the Y is in his jacket

[00:57:29] and these undercover agents in the restaurant are like, put your jacket back on. Oh. Bet he doesn't get it. So they somehow call the Swiss. Are they doing this like wavy thing? And he just waves back, hi. Hi. What do you want? Yeah. But yeah, he's clueless.

[00:57:44] He doesn't quite get it. So the FBI person that's managing the case gets the Swiss cops to close down the restaurant. I don't know why. I guess to get them out and go somewhere else. Get them to put his jacket on,

[00:57:55] which I think would look a bit sus. But apparently, you know, Ray is like, oh yeah, this is normal. This always happens in Switzerland. Oh really? It's a Swiss way. Yeah. But come back to my hotel room and we'll have a whiskey or something.

[00:58:07] And does he suspect at this point you're so suspicious? He goes along with it. I think he buys the fact that, okay, Ray is definitely on the run. He's got a fake muster. She's got a fake passport. He's on the run.

[00:58:17] So they go back to the hotel room. The FBI are listening in an adjacent room and Ray managed to get Steve talking and they start to recount everything that has happened, the failed arson attacks, Nick DeNoyer and other crimes that Ray has helped Steve with over the years.

[00:58:30] Steve perhaps letting the pressure get to the better of him asked Ray, have you ratted me out to the feds? Not knowing that those choice of words would admit his involvement. So in 1993, after an additional seven months of investigation, I don't know what they were doing,

[00:58:46] getting more proof or whatever, the FBI agents finally arrest Steve as he's arriving for work in LA. He is charged with eight counts, including racketeering. What is racketeering? I'm not too sure. Did he hit some of the racket? Yeah, probably. Is he playing squash? I don't know. Illegally.

[00:59:04] Anyway, he is charged with eight counts, including racketeering, conspiracy and murder for hire. It was suspected that he had also plotted the murder of his original business partner and lawyer Bruce Nahin, the guy that started the Chippendale or the club with, I should say.

[00:59:21] At the same time as he was going to kill Nick DeNoyer, or he did kill Nick DeNoyer in New York, but apparently a family illness prevented Bruce from attending New York, which ultimately saved his life. So that's another person he was going to get rid of.

[00:59:35] The media is very quick to catch on. The news is a hot topic everywhere. The media loved the Chippendales and they love a good rise full story. Steve pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Wow! The Chippendales business was to be forfeited to the government.

[00:59:50] However, Steve was determined... What's the government going to do with the Chippendales franchise? I don't know, Christmas parties. The Pentagon Christmas party! But Steve was determined to protect his empire and handed his business over to his wife, Irene. Oh, a quiet, shy one that we know nothing about.

[01:00:11] Well, yes, she was just in the background. She's actually played... I'll come on to that a bit. But Irene had actually started divorce proceedings whilst this was happening, but she still provided some level of support to him, I guess. You know, there was love there.

[01:00:23] They shared family, you know, he was a murderer. The night before his sentencing, he took his own life. He was never found guilty. What? He killed himself? He killed himself. He hung himself. In prison? God! Yeah. And the government was unable to...

[01:00:40] Because they weren't able to find him guilty, they couldn't seize his assets and therefore the Chippendales company couldn't go to them. It stayed with Irene. Wow, okay. So do you think he obviously planned this? I mean, you planned your suicide, don't you? You don't do it by accident,

[01:00:56] but do you think that was his intention was to kill himself knowing that he'd handed the business over to Irene and then they would be able to take away his legacy? I think so. I think he... He passed it down to his kids.

[01:01:07] Yeah, he was still providing for his family. Perhaps he just didn't want it to let go. He still wanted it to continue. I'm not going to lie. That's really noble. Well, yeah. He did it to keep the franchise inside his family and to continue to support his kids

[01:01:26] rather than being a narcissist and like pleading innocent. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And he just went off and... I'd like to... You'd hope he would be doing it for his family rather than I just don't want anyone else

[01:01:39] to own this outside the family or whatever. Yeah, that's exactly what he did. Yeah, but... I guess the providing caregiver being a good dad maybe in the end. Interesting. The Chippendales remained under Irene's ownership for a short period and then she actually did eventually sell it.

[01:01:57] Oh, who did she sell it to? There was a few people, I think. I can bring you up to date with where we're at now with the Chippendales. Go, do it. Okay. The Chippendales is still going. There are still tours out there

[01:02:08] and there's a residency show in Vegas which had a bit of a resurgence after Magic Mike came out. Gilberto Riviera Lopez which was actually Nick DeNoyer's murderer that was the one that they hired because I didn't speak about him. He was actually found guilty of second-degree murder

[01:02:26] and faced 25 years in prison. Yeah, I think Ray also got confession out of him. Ray was convicted of conspiracy and murder for hire and received a reduced sentence because of his help. A large part of that sentence was actually in a medical facility to treat his kidney disease

[01:02:43] and there appears to be some form of appreciation from the police because some of them apparently donated blood as a blood transfusion for him. So even though he was a crook, there was some sort of compassion there to actually, he perhaps did want to reform

[01:02:59] and do better and be good. He generally seemed to show regret that he had been involved in it. Right. Now I'm not too sure about his whereabouts. I had heard he was released in 1996 but then died in early 2000s but I can't really corroborate that very easily.

[01:03:15] How are they saying that he died? I'm assuming potentially the disease. Kidney stones. Kidney stones. Yeah, I re-insult the Chippendales for two and a half million but she didn't really get to enjoy that for long. She passed away of breast cancer in 2001. Oh, okay.

[01:03:32] So she left behind two children and the fortune that she inherited. I see. The Chippendales has since been owned by private equity owners since 2000 so I think it changed hand a few times. So the bronchitis is still going by the sounds of it. Yeah.

[01:03:46] It's still going quite strong. Exactly. Wow. Steve and Irene's children, they were raised by Irene's sister and her husband and one of their children, Christian, is followed in the family business by becoming an exotic dancer. He is describing it as a spiritual calling launching his own brand, Stripendales.

[01:04:05] Zero points for imagination. So, yeah, good on him. That was only a few years ago so I think he's, I assume he's still doing that. I wonder if there's like a Yorkshire version of a male strip troupe called Stripendales. Good leads go to like bar fiber

[01:04:27] and it's like Stripendales. Stripendales. And they're running around and it's like Emmerdale music playing in the background and you hear like the occasional like moo, you know, a few points. For a cow. Yeah, because they're in the dales and it's the farm like

[01:04:41] and like a wheel of cheese hurting down a hill and there's just like some strippers just stripping and gyrating. There's a reason. It's a concept. It's a concept. I'll give you that. It's a good concept. No, I wouldn't go for it. It's a better concept

[01:04:55] than Steve Banerjee's son following in his footsteps. Well, after he might have made that work, we'll have to work that up. Anyway, and so ends our journey through captivating and the dark history of the Stripendales a story of fame, money and murder.

[01:05:12] It's a story that spanned over two decades filled with drama, scandal and tragedy from humble beginnings as a simple idea for a nightclub act to a global phenomenon. The Stripendales success has been marred by the greed and corruption of its founder Steve Banerjee. His obsession with power

[01:05:28] and control ultimately led to the downfall and he became entangled in a web of deceit and murder for higher schemes. Despite Steve's death, the legacy of the Stripendales continues to this day. The male review show that started as a small act in Los Angeles has since become

[01:05:43] an international sensation with countless imitations and spin-offs around the world. The Stripendales may have left a lasting mark on popular culture, but its legacy will be forever tainted by the crimes committed in pursuit of its success. You could even say the Stripendales

[01:05:59] have joined the ranks of cockroaches and Cher. Why? They will survive just about everything. Yes. And that's it. Well done, that was so good. Who knew that there was such a story behind the Stripendales? I think it's fascinating. I'd only learned about this

[01:06:20] what maybe six, eight months ago and I was just like, what? Yeah. Like you really gripped me when you were like, orgis. I was like, this is good. I know. But there are, if people want to learn more, there is a podcast,

[01:06:38] I think it's like an eight or nine part series called The Cependium an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things where Adam Cox tells you all about the Chippendales. Yes, there is that. This is the bite size. This is like GCSE learning.

[01:06:52] But if you want to go into deep dive, you've got Welcome to Your Fantasy podcast, which they interview some of the detectives and people involved. So that's quite interesting. You've then got the show, which is on Disney Plus called Welcome to the Chippendales. That's an eight part series.

[01:07:05] And it's a pretty good representation. Some events have changed and stuff like that. But the main guy does an awesome job. And also there's some documentaries you can watch. There's one on BC iPlayer and things out there. So yeah. Nice. I think I'll be watching that. That's good.

[01:07:20] That's so good. Well done. Yeah, that was my week off. Your way back on next week and I'll have to start. Maybe not. Maybe never. Maybe it'll just be me, the compendium with Adam and friends. That sounds terrible. All right. We'll think about it until next time.

[01:07:37] See ya. Bye.