In any field, there’s always some kind of shit the public isn’t privy to. Sex work is no different, and if anything, it can be worse. Whether you’re talking about stripping, content creating, or mainstream films, there’s always something we’re not seeing that’s happening right in front of us. I don’t think any of this compares quite as much to escorting—and more specifically, legal escorting. A&E Network just released a new series not too long ago that gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what happens inside legal brothels. Some of what they filmed came as no surprise, while the rest opened my eyes a bit.
The network used the famous Bunny Ranch brothel as its catalyst. The brothel has been well-known since its days being featured on HBO’s Cathouse series. Since then, the legal establishment has come up in interviews, political conversations, and a scandal or two. None of which have stopped them from keeping their doors open and remaining a go-to spot for many clients. So even with this new documentary featuring them, I highly doubt it’ll slow them down now.
The A&E original is called
Secrets of The Bunny Ranch. It premiered June 12th and dives into everything happening behind the ranch walls. It shows that as fun and polished as things might look on the outside, there’s some real psychological damage that’s occurred over the years on the inside. The documentary features interviews with women spanning decades—all of them sharing their own stories of living at the ranch and being with every kind of client, from average working men to top celebrities. The biggest controversy all the women seem to gravitate toward? Their boss and manager, Dennis Hof.
Dennis passed away in 2018. But even before his death, a lot was already swirling around him regarding how he ran the Bunny Ranch and how he treated the courtesans there. His reputation was already in the toilet. After he died, the real shit came out—woman after woman stepping forward with different allegations and accounts of who he really was when the cameras weren’t rolling. I’ve got to say, this show doesn’t make him look any better.
Alongside the interviews, former courtesans named a few celebrities who had shown up at the ranch—former NBA player Lamar Odom, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, and, no surprise, former adult star Ron Jeremy. One provider even gave a firsthand account of how she was sexually assaulted by Ron Jeremy—something you absolutely can’t interpret as anything else.
The show has six episodes and I believe it’s already wrapped. Most of you probably won’t watch it, but it wouldn’t hurt to get a little more insight into the hobby we all deal with on a daily basis. This is the other side of it—not many of us have visited or plan to visit a brothel. Still, knowing this information gives you a better understanding of just how layered the industry really is—and why some stories are never told until long after the fact.
