5: The Wild West

Novel.

Hey listeners, this is Ellie Flynn. Before we get started, I just wanted to let you know that this episode contains swearing and explicit sexual language and a scene that raises questions around consent, which might be distressing. It's also a story of female empowerment and camaraderie thanks to the women who have shared their stories with us. We contacted the photographer mentioned in this podcast multiple times for comment,

Rouder, catching me at the Miss Miami, I be Miss. We are so happy to be here for Playboy. I got chosen, should be published Playboy Mexico.

On everywhere I.

Go, it's just IBMIST, IBMIST. I've seen it promoted everywhere on social media, and I've been told time and time again to go to the IBMS. I'm told it attracts huge models and amazing photographers. If I want to find the glamour, that's where it's going to be.

I am here today to tell you about the IBMS.

Bahamma's event coming up.

Let's get your books.

This is the one.

This is the glitz and glam. Everyone knows about it, a big event of the year. Crucially, we know Luis Gomez is not going to be at this event. I'm not ready to make myself or my investigation known to him just yet. So it's a perfect opportunity to get

I want to walk in the model's shoes.

So that's why my producer Eleanor and I decide to go to the IBMS. We contact the organizer, a guy called Patrick McKinney, to ask if.

We can come.

They know that we're journalists, they know that we're covering the glamour industry for a podcast, and they know that we're going to interview people, but they don't know that we're looking specifically into Luis, and they don't know much about the kind of dark side that we're investigating. So we're hoping that we can get some answers there and we can get a bit of a better understanding of the industry. He says he's happy for us to come, but asks us to pay one thousand US dollars each

There's been a bit of a change of plan and the event is no longer happening in Bahamas.

Now a much smaller event in Florida, in Orlando, which is where the organizer lives. We've been told that there still will be Playboy models and it will be held in a mansion, but Orlando is not quite the Bahamas. So I don't know how to say this all like sort of causing offense to all of our American.

Listeners, but like so much looks the same. It's kind of like it's these kind of soulless parking lots with like Owend's and Denny's, an ihop a Hampton in We're gotted. Yes, So that was obviously a real blow. Yeah, I'm furious.

I wanted to go to an all inclusive in the Bahamas and I'm never going to get that opportunity on a reporting trip again. It's still exciting, though, this is my first opportunity to see the glamour world up close. Is it really just victim after victim, scam after scam?

Or am I finally.

About to enter the glamorous world of so many models fantasies.

Can here we go, Oh my god, I actually can't believe that that we're doing this.

I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This is the Bunny Trap, episode five, The Wild West.

So we're here. We are here, pulled up. That's knock on the door. Completely not what I'm originally.

We've arrived at the IBMS and our first impressions are underwhelming. This is not the mansion Patrick described on the phone. It's actually a neat, mid sized suburban house identical to the others on the street.

Where's the playboy mansion of my glamour dreams?

The door and once we ring the doorbell and go inside, oh, we're greeted by what can only be described as a motley crew. There's about seven people here. Three half made up models mill around the room in massive high heels, while the photographers are padding around the open plan living room and flip flops or bare feet, wearing T shirts and board shorts. It look like they've wandered in off the street. Some of them are playing with their lighting equipment.

I have four kinds of cookies that I bake, and I wanted to see what you were if you have any dietary restrictions.

I don't have any dietary restrictions.

Alongside the cameras and leads crowding the kitchen table, there are bowls of scrambled egg left over from a home cooked breakfast. Top forty hits blare out of the wall mounted TV. This doesn't seem like a professional glamor modeling event. In fact, it feels more like a family get together. Patrick, a fit looking guy with biceps straining out of his T shirt, greets.

Us with a warm hug, like we're long lost relatives.

The only clue as to where we are is the baseball cap on his head and blazing with the letters IBMS. Patrick's apologetic about the fact that we aren't in the Bahamas. He says it's because the beaches aren't ready.

There was a hurricane Hurricane George, like five six years ago and infected the Obamas, and before the hurricane we were there, like three hundred of us. We're all there for the event and it was beautiful.

So instead, the next IBMS will be in Costa Rica.

I was like, okay, so move it to Costa Rica, and that's what we did, and everyone moved to Costa Rica with me. We don't have problems there.

So looking around this room, I've got no idea what we've spent two grand on.

When I ask where.

The Playboy models are, Patrick tells me they're running late and we'll be here tomorrow.

He tells us not to worry. There's another glamorous site for us to observe.

Someone's going to shoot in the Mermaid thing today.

Draped over the back of a kitchen chair. It's a gigantic loan mermaid tale.

Just check this out.

Yeah, okay, you don't kill it? Wow?

Oh heavy?

What the fuck am I doing here? When I meet the event headliner, I realized things aren't going to get any better. He's a photographer called Bob Womack, or, as he prefers.

The infamous Bob Womack photo.

I've never heard of Bob, but the model's here assure me he's a big deal. Like Bob is who he's at editing skills for days. He's one of the top photographers in the industry.

Bob is tall and wiry, puffing hard on a vape. He looks like he's in his late sixties, and he's wearing a homemade T shirt with his business name, email address, and cell phone number printed on it front and back.

I've been a firefighter par mat for the last thirty eight years. I retired from the fire department a year ago, and I'm traveling around the country and around the world and shooting the hot girls in bikinis and lingerille on the beach or I'm pretty happy with that. Retirement doesn't suck.

By and large, the models here are a lot younger than the photographers, and while I don't see anything on toward happening, this strikes me as the kind of environment where something bad could happen with the wrong photographer present. I ask the models if they've ever experienced bad behavior from glamor photographers. Is that's something that you've seen photographers trying to kind of push push boundaries?

Yes, yes, all the time, all the time.

Oh yeah, they will try, But with Patrick, no.

They know better.

I'm mean that we have rules like well, big one for me.

Is just protecting the marrs like a big time.

Have you had to fand people, Patrick? Oh yeah, really, lots of people, how many people are Sometimes.

You know, you just tell people what's not allowed and they listen. But every once in a while people don't listen, so not allowed to come back, you know.

I mean, as a model, I can't imagine how difficult it is to navigate your way through this safely, because, like as journalists, we're trying to work out, you know, who who are the good guys and who are and it's and it's hard. They're all bad guys. It might have been a throwaway line from Patrick, but it rings true for me. Unsurprisingly, Eleanor and I don't stick around until the end of.

The event.

To meet you.

Okay, bye h.

We paid nearly two thousand dollars to spend time with retirees, a woman in a mermaid toe and a man who is making bad after batch of cookies. I'm feeling the way a lot of the models I've spoken to have felt scammed.

You're okay, you look absolutely pained. I'm just so confused. It's really really suspect to me.

There is a sense of glamor and luxury on their website that I don't think translated to today. Maybe this is the reality of these events. Maybe It is a few models and a few photographers banding together to try and find something in a bit of a dying industry. And if the magazines don't exist anymore, then really, what are you doing it for? They all just kind of seemed happy to be there. Yeah, it's just I'm struggling to find where the glamour is in this industry.

And we've asked about a refund, you know, partial refund, and Patrick said yes, so that's something that will chase up.

I contact some of my sources to ask what they know about Patrick. I hear that he's used the hurricane excuse before to cancel events in the Bahamas, and that he'll never return our money. Then I find out something much worse. I'm told that the IBMS was the event that Luis Gomes was banned from and then invited back to because of his supposed playboy connections. Remember the one we told you about where the girl allegedly ran out

Fuck me. It scares me that you just have no idea who you're meeting, or what kind of position you're putting yourself in, and that could be a dangerous situation. There just appears to be no regulation whatsoever.

So now we're stuck in Florida, not sure what to do next, and more confus used than ever about whether there's anything remotely glamorous about the so called glamour industry. We've heard from so many models chasing dreams of stardom, but what does it really mean to make it? We decide to head south to try and find out to the glamor capital of the USA.

New York is all about work, La is all about entertainment, and miamis all about fun.

South Beach Miami, blue sea, white sand, and beautiful people. Everyone here is gorgeous, tans, glowing sous and music spilling out of boomboxes, beach bars, margaritas and crystal glasses. It's expensive, it's luxury.

I can't believe it. So gorgeous I am.

You're going to cry.

We've found the glamour.

When I thought of this world, when I imagined where this podcast would take me, this is what I've been looking for this whole time, and I've not found it. Anywhere until I got to Miami.

Okay, well, now I can.

See why everyone wants to live the high life, because I'm sorry.

I'm never leaving. I live in now. I need to tell the father of my son and my son I won't be returning to a lot of day.

Sorry.

I love you, boy, Daly. I live in Miami. Now.

I've lined up an interview with a model who seems to be living the glamorous lifestyle I had in my head. Her name's Melissa Laurie, and she's a big deal. She's been in the industry for ten years and she's got nearly half a million followers on Instagram.

I wanted to be a superstar. I wanted to be a celebrity. It was sex, drobs, rock and roll.

You know.

It was just all the glitz and the gleam, the yachts, just I want it at all.

The thing I really want to know from Melissa is how she makes money in a world that seems to be full of gammas and dodgy operators. Unlike most of the other models I've spoken to, Melissa gets paid for her sheets.

I have actually never ever paid a photographer in my entire life. I have never paid for a photoshoot ever, not once.

The reality of the industry today is worse than I thought. Melissa says one of the only ways to make money is to travel around to be photographed by guys with cameras who are willing to pay to photograph a big model.

Traveling models, you're going city to city mostly to work with amateurs, and amateurs are the ones that are willing to pay usually.

But photo shoots alone don't pay the bills I know.

For me and like most models that I know, this is not our only source of income. There's times that I can't even book a photo shoot for a month or two months. It's not reliable.

So Melissa and all the other big models she knows have a second source of income.

I do have only fans. That's like my pacid income. The only fans culture down here is massive. The sugar baby culture is massive. I used to be a little naive to it. I found out some of my friends were doing that kind of stuff. I'm like, oh, that's what you do. I had no idea.

Do you feel sometimes like your pressure to kind of take things further, to be more explicit on there than maybe you first envisioned, you would be.

Absolutely I do feel pressured. I have felt pressured being freely nude on the internet. Once you open that door, people want more, they want to see more, and they're tempting and taunting and teasing, and it's hard. I feel like people are judging me because it's considered sex work. I had this conversation I think with my roommate. She didn't understand why girls like turn to stripping and porn,

So that's glamour today.

There is still money to be made, but not in the pages of Glamor magazines. It's online on new platforms that blur the lines between modeling and sex work, and this opens models up to ever increasing demands for more explicit content. That's fine for models who want to enter the sex industry, but plenty don't. Lots of the models I've spoken to say they'd never consider having an OnlyFans account, and so it feels even more depressing that they're striving

Oh so depressing. He's still out there, like, how many models is that? And this fine where is going to be? Okay? So I'm just on the universe one three seven website.

By now, Luis's website has become a permanently open tab on my laptop. There's usually nothing news to report, the same mix of Playboy covers and posts of Luis shredding on his guitar. But today is different. A new section has appeared, and it's called Events.

What the actual fuck?

Louise's ad advertising his very own shoot camp taking place in Puerto Ayata, a popular Mexican resort town on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. So this event is Fashion Beach Mexico Experience. Another amazing brilliant title We've been trying to piece together, Luise is, whereabouts and what is up to now? The most recent allegations I've heard about Luis are from twenty twenty, when the group of models in the UK called him out. There is Louise still claiming

Can you hear me?

Yes?

Now I can, Now I can.

We're talking to a freelance journalist who's agreed to attend Luis's event undercover.

I'm we outside of town. There's vultures circling in the air overhead.

God, that's ominous.

We're calling him Mark, but that's not his real name. He's an American based in Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous places to be a journalist, so he doesn't want to be named in the podcast. Mark's going instead of us, as we thought sending a guy would give us the best chance to get close to Luis. So Mark's in Poersevata, getting ready to talk his way into the hotel where Luis Gomez is hosting his event, and we have the perfect idea to help him blend in a.

Goofy guy who just happened to stumble upon a photo shoot, had.

My camera on me.

A guy with a camera.

Mark's going to see how close he can get to Luise and send us voice notes along the way.

Okay, good luck.

Mark enters the hotel. It's a massive complex a five minute walk from the beach. He heads out into a courtyard filled with people.

I'm in the back part of the resort, concets for the beach.

I've got on of goes names Infinity.

Pools ah whatever. It looks like the horizon of the pool explosion.

The crowd seems mainly to be Mexican families on holiday, but Mark soon spots Luise.

A Black Star Wars baseball cap, a Black Star Wars T shirt, black shorts, black socks, a little sling bag around his shoulder, and he's wearing the big heavy kneepads. And I guess for getting down and taking pictures. I think I'll make an approach.

The guy with the camera act works a treat. Luisa. Mark hit it off.

I shook hands with Luis. He did a weird I've never had this happen before. He shook my hand and then snapped his fingers like around my hand. It's a toy. One of the weirdest things. He gives me bad vibes. That's how you that much. But he's friendly in a superficial way.

Louise has an entourage. There are three photographers and five models from all over the world. Guatemala, Canada, the US, and Argentina.

Yeah, we're all hanging out.

There's a photo shoot wrapping up in the fountains and meat.

I've got to know a few of the mines.

Everybody's very nic.

Mark captures the action on his phone.

Louise is soaked to his waist, kneeling in the pool taking photos of a woman in a blue bikini.

We go.

Hiks now, I'll give back to it.

It's crazy to hear Mark talking about what he's seeing being so close to Luise. It's even crazier to occasionally pick up the tone of Luis's voice in the background. As the sun goes down, Louise invites Mark to the beach.

And there are some new.

Props in one, two, three, four fire forces and then all of us, and then there's also a guy whose robberries to pick up the horse pook on the beach. The rest of the beach is just doing their beachy things. Yeah, it's a very strange scene.

Now Louise wants to talk.

Business Universe one three seven studios.

Yeah, okay, now one, So we're gonna be doing you know, I speak more for Playboy, every.

Chan, Maxine Lifestyle, What Set Magazine.

Although amazingly Louise offers to give Mark his big break into the glamour industry as a photographer.

Well, if you do like a good photos, although I can't help to.

Publishing, Okay, yeah, I do a lot of my fifty three fifty three magazines. Yea in Mexico, No.

In USA, in in everywhere, in Australia everywhere.

Wow, all they playbooks everywhere.

The all, the every chen around the world, every people.

It seems Louise is still dining out on the same old claims that his Playboy connections give him the power to make a newbie's career, whether they're a model or a photographer. Mark didn't see Louise behave inappropriately with any of the models, but considering everything I've heard so far, I find it hard to believe his behavior would have changed.

And then I hear from a new witness.

She's got an allegation to share, and it's the most recent I've heard.

I believe it was the longest and also at the same time shor it is a few seconds or minutes of my life. The thing is, obviously I wanted to try a modeling courier, didn't know how to do it. I'm not from Ali, I'm from Europe.

Gabriella not her real name, had long dreamed of making it as a glamor model in the States. She met a fellow model who told her that shoot camps were a way to break into the industry. She recommended one that was happening in twenty twenty two, and guess he was hosting Luis Gomez. The event was almost identical to the one Mark went to. It cost five hundred dollars for six nights of food, board and photo shoots.

It's a cool experience, you know. I was super excited and happy. Of course, why not.

On the first night of the shoot camp, Louise came over to Gabriella.

Like, Hi, my name is Lois. What's your name? So he already showed me magazines since covers with his name because his name is Universe one thirty seven.

He invited her to shoot with him the next day, and she agreed.

And they're at ten eleven a m ish to his room to make pictures because he told me he likes making pictures in the room, so I didn't think much of it, and I told him at the beginning, I don't have many experiences. If you have any kind of suggestions of posing.

Guide me.

Gabrielle is so green that she hasn't yet decided her levels. The boundaries model set in terms of how explicit they're willing to shoot.

I did not know what I was prepared for. I never planned on every kind of shooting nude.

Gabriella in the Ways begins shooting on the balcony.

I told him, I'm nervous. I've never, you know, made so many pictures professionally done, and at first he was positioning me on the balcony with underwear laundres. So with every shots when there's music, he makes you feel a little bit more comfortable, more relaxed, more easy, especially when saying, yeah, your looks are pretty, you look great. Oh my god, that is a gorgeous shot. There's going to be great pictures.

Gabriella says that Luise suggested they move inside to the bedroom.

It was first lingerie and then do you want to put your bra down?

Gabriella describes Luise as patiently insistent.

He doesn't overwhelm her. He plays nice.

And then your slowly, step by step, also get into the content of making nude pictures. I told him that I don't feel comfortable. I've never done that. He said, you know what, no worries. It's just gonna be pictures for you. You can use them for your boyfriend or man whatever. You should just capture the beauty of yourself. And I believed him because I was, you know, figuring he is an honest, respectful man. He's a professional photographer.

Then Louise suggests that they do some filming.

And I asked him again, you know you're not gonna put them anywhere. No, they're just for you and stuff like that.

For the next few minutes, you'll hear Gabriella talk about what she alleges happened next.

While he was making me feel more and more comfortable and making sexyon videos and pictures of me, he was putting the camera down, and after he put it down, he started his way up from my feet and legs, kissing me upwards. I was scared to leave at this point when I was with him alone in the room. So what other options do I have?

Gabriella says it escalated to penetrative sex. She says she didn't say no to Luis because she was too scared.

There were so many thoughts in my head from one second. So if I'm gonna say no, what are the consequences. He can choke me, he can beat me on my head, he has maybe a knife, I don't know what else. Too many thoughts rushing through my brain. That the possibility of me saying no was more harmful in my scenarios that I was making up than just saying yes to just get over, just let him have it, Just close your eyes and it's done.

To be clear, Luis didn't threaten Gabriella, but she was alone in a room with a man she just met. She still felt a risk.

I was feeling and in a us endangerous situation. My brain was like frozen. It was shutting off just I would say survival mode. I believe it was the longest and also at the same time, for it was a few seconds or minutes of my life.

When it's over, Gabriella gets up to leave.

Her mind is racing, not making it obvious that I'm super scared and nervous and shaking inside. Once I was actually right. Two minutes later in my room, I just figured what the fuck.

It left her grappling with the idea of consent. Gabriella called her mom to help her understand what happened.

I didn't cry because I didn't want her to be scared or worried about me. But I'm so glad and grateful that she was here having an open heart and listening to me and supporting me and knowing I can be honest to herself without being judged. That's what I needed at this moment, calling my mother and not being judged. And you know, at least I didn't get strangled, I didn't get beaten up.

That was my man.

I'm not gonna say I'm a victim, However, I was an ef I'm gonna tell you right up front, I was stupid and naive because I didn't know. You blame herself. That's the thing, what I did? You blame yourself. You feel so stupid, you feel so what the fuck did I do? Why am I so stupid? And that's the thing I did not know. I already cried about it. You know what, when you can tell a story without crying, this is the sign that you healed, you healed. I'm not a victim. I'm a fighter. I'm a warrior.

Gabriella was able to get through the rest of that terrible day by surrounding herself with the other models at the event, and they gave her the confidence to confront the ways.

I will tell you even what happened later during that day. I'm at the best women that could have ever met. These girls advised me to make a recording of.

Him coming up on the Bonnie Trap.

Ladies, I got that, I got it all. I got it all, I got it all, I got it all.

Oh my god, oh my god.

Would you like to see him prosecuted?

I would if I had a chance, because I know there's people who back me up.

It's not just me.

We're an Army in comparison to him.

Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.

We contacted Luis Gomez multiple times for comment, but we never heard back. He has not been charged with any crimes and is presumed innocent under the law. We also sought comment from Playboy USA. They declined our request for an interview, but stated that they asked their licensees to blacklist the photographer mentioned in this series and that they prohibit paid to play the practice of charging models to appear in magazines. The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel.

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