November 19, 2024 • 35 mins
Ellie and producer Eleanor hit the road in search for the glamour in glamour modelling.
The Bunny Trap is produced by Novel.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Novel.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
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
(00:31):
the photographer mentioned in this podcast 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 contacted Playboy USA. They state that they've 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. Our research into his
(00:54):
association to Playboy and their statement can be heard in
episode four. What do you do when you're a young,
green glamor model who's desperate to make it in the industry, Well,
you go to a shoot camp, all inclusive, week long
events in exotic parts of the world where models and
(01:16):
photographers come together to take photos and party. And the
biggest one of all is the IBMS. And no, that's
not a medical condition. It's the International Bikini Model Search,
the super Boys floor.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
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.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
On everywhere I.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I am here today to tell you about the IBMS.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Bahamma's event coming up.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Let's get your books.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
This is the one.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
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
to know this world better. From speaking to our sources,
(02:32):
I feel like I understand Luisa's m O. It appears
that he tends to work with models new to the industry,
who are more likely to be swayed by his reputation,
but I do still have some questions about the industry itself,
what's left of it, what being a glamor model today
is really like, and what it looks like to make it.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
I want to walk in the model's shoes.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
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.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
We can come.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
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,
(03:26):
but asks us to pay one thousand US dollars each
to cover food and board. We pay, book our flights
and start packing our bikinis. Oh my god, we're going
to be in an all inclusive resort in the Bahamas,
living it up, having the time of our lives doing
a bit of reporting. But two weeks before the trip,
(03:47):
Alana gets a call from Patrick.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
There's been a bit of a change of plan and
the event is no longer happening in Bahamas.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
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.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
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.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
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?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Or am I finally.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
About to enter the glamorous world of so many models fantasies.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Can here we go, Oh my god, I actually can't
believe that that we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This
is the Bunny Trap, episode five, The Wild West.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
So we're here. We are here, pulled up. That's knock
on the door. Completely not what I'm originally.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
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.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Where's the playboy mansion of my glamour dreams?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
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,
(06:53):
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.
One of them is in the middle of baking a
batch of cookies.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I have four kinds of cookies that I bake, and
I wanted to see what you were if you have
any dietary restrictions.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
I don't have any dietary restrictions.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
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
(07:38):
T shirt, greets.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Us with a warm hug, like we're long lost relatives.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
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.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So instead, the next IBMS will be in Costa Rica.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So looking around this room, I've got no idea what
we've spent two grand on.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
When I ask where.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
The Playboy models are, Patrick tells me they're running late
and we'll be here tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
He tells us not to worry. There's another glamorous site
for us to observe.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
Someone's going to shoot in the Mermaid thing today.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Draped over the back of a kitchen chair. It's a
gigantic loan mermaid tale.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Just check this out.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, okay, you don't kill it? Wow?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Oh heavy?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
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.
Speaker 7 (09:25):
The infamous Bob Womack photo.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
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.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
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.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
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.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
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?
Speaker 8 (10:34):
Yes, yes, all the time, all the time.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
Oh yeah, they will try, But with Patrick, no.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
They know better.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
I'm mean that we have rules like well, big one
for me.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Is just protecting the marrs like a big time.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Have you had to fand people, Patrick? Oh yeah, really,
lots of people, how many people are Sometimes.
Speaker 6 (11:02):
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.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
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
(11:37):
true for me. Unsurprisingly, Eleanor and I don't stick around
until the end of.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
The event.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
To meet you.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Okay, bye h.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
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.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
You're okay, you look absolutely pained. I'm just so confused.
It's really really suspect to me.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
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
(12:36):
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.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And we've asked about a refund, you know, partial refund,
and Patrick said yes, so that's something that will chase up.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
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
(13:26):
we told you about where the girl allegedly ran out
of a shoot with Luis crying. We put all of
this to Patrick in writing, but he never responded to us.
He said it himself. They're all bad guys.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
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.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
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
(14:16):
the glamor capital of the USA.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
New York is all about work, La is all about entertainment,
and miamis all about fun.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
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.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
I can't believe it. So gorgeous I am.
Speaker 6 (14:48):
You're going to cry.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
We've found the glamour.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
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.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Okay, well, now I can.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
See why everyone wants to live the high life, because
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
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.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
I love you, boy, Daly. I live in Miami. Now.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
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.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
I wanted to be a superstar. I wanted to be
a celebrity. It was sex, drobs, rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You know.
Speaker 9 (15:49):
It was just all the glitz and the gleam, the yachts,
just I want it at all.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
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.
Speaker 9 (16:07):
I have actually never ever paid a photographer in my
entire life. I have never paid for a photoshoot ever,
not once.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
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.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
Traveling models, you're going city to city mostly to work
with amateurs, and amateurs are the ones that are willing
to pay usually.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
But photo shoots alone don't pay the bills I know.
Speaker 9 (16:40):
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.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
So Melissa and all the other big models she knows
have a second source of income.
Speaker 9 (16:57):
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.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
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.
Speaker 9 (17:20):
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.
(17:43):
I had this conversation I think with my roommate. She
didn't understand why girls like turn to stripping and porn,
and it's money survival. People have to survive. If you
don't know what it's like to have nothing in your
bank account and your survival mode, you will do things
for money that you might not have done.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
So that's glamour today.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
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
(18:30):
I've spoken to say they'd never consider having an OnlyFans account,
and so it feels even more depressing that they're striving
for a dream that died with Hugh Hefner. But the
Playboy dream does still exist for many young green glamour
models who don't know any different, and whether or not
that dream is realistic doesn't seem to matter to Luis
(18:51):
Gomez as long as there are still models willing to
pay for the fantasy. And back in the UK, I
learned that he's still coming up with new ways to
cash in on that.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Oh so depressing. He's still out there, like, how many
models is that? And this fine where is going to be? Okay?
(19:33):
So I'm just on the universe one three seven website.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
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.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
What the actual fuck?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
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
(20:23):
are from twenty twenty, when the group of models in
the UK called him out. There is Louise still claiming
to be a playboy photographer? Are there any new allegations
of abuse? This shoot camp is our first opportunity to
find out.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Now I can, Now I can.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
We're talking to a freelance journalist who's agreed to attend
Luis's event undercover.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I'm we outside of town. There's vultures circling in the
air overhead.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
God, that's ominous.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
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
(21:18):
the hotel where Luis Gomez is hosting his event, and
we have the perfect idea to help him blend in a.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Goofy guy who just happened to stumble upon a photo shoot, had.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
My camera on me.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
A guy with a camera.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Mark's going to see how close he can get to
Luise and send us voice notes along the way.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Okay, good luck.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
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.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I'm in the back part of the resort, concets for
the beach.
Speaker 10 (21:55):
I've got on of goes names Infinity.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Pools ah whatever. It looks like the horizon of the
pool explosion.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
The crowd seems mainly to be Mexican families on holiday,
but Mark soon spots Luise.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
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.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
The guy with the camera act works a treat. Luisa.
Mark hit it off.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
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
(23:02):
superficial way.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Louise has an entourage. There are three photographers and five
models from all over the world. Guatemala, Canada, the US,
and Argentina.
Speaker 10 (23:14):
Yeah, we're all hanging out.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
There's a photo shoot wrapping up in the fountains and meat.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
I've got to know a few of the mines.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Everybody's very nic.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Mark captures the action on his phone.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Louise is soaked to his waist, kneeling in the pool
taking photos of a woman in a blue bikini.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
We go.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Hiks now, I'll give back to it.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
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.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
And there are some new.
Speaker 10 (24:00):
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.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Now Louise wants to talk.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Business Universe one three seven studios.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, okay, now one, So we're gonna be doing you know,
I speak more for Playboy, every.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Chan, Maxine Lifestyle, What Set Magazine.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Although amazingly Louise offers to give Mark his big break
into the glamour industry as a photographer.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Well, if you do like a good photos, although I
can't help to.
Speaker 10 (24:43):
Publishing, Okay, yeah, I do a lot of my fifty
three fifty three magazines. Yea in Mexico, No.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
In USA, in in everywhere, in Australia everywhere.
Speaker 10 (24:54):
Wow, all they playbooks everywhere.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
The all, the every chen around the world, every people.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
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.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
And then I hear from a new witness.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
She's got an allegation to share, and it's the most
recent I've heard.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
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
(26:05):
try a modeling courier, didn't know how to do it.
I'm not from Ali, I'm from Europe.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
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
(26:32):
for six nights of food, board and photo shoots.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
It's a cool experience, you know. I was super excited
and happy. Of course, why not.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
On the first night of the shoot camp, Louise came
over to Gabriella.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
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.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
He invited her to shoot with him the next day,
and she agreed.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
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.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Guide me.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
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.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I did not know what I was prepared for. I
never planned on every kind of shooting nude.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Gabriella in the Ways begins shooting on the balcony.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
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,
(27:58):
that is a gorgeous shot. There's going to be great pictures.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Gabriella says that Luise suggested they move inside to the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It was first lingerie and then do you want to
put your bra down?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Gabriella describes Luise as patiently insistent.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
He doesn't overwhelm her. He plays nice.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
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.
(28:40):
And I believed him because I was, you know, figuring
he is an honest, respectful man. He's a professional photographer.
I figured it's okay for me as a woman to
feel pretty and beautiful and comfortable in my own skip.
That's the intention that I had for myself when I
always making pictures of me being fully naked.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Then Louise suggests that they do some filming.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
And I asked him again, you know you're not gonna
put them anywhere. No, they're just for you and stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
For the next few minutes, you'll hear Gabriella talk about
what she alleges happened next.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
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.
(29:47):
So what other options do I have?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Gabriella says it escalated to penetrative sex. She says she
didn't say no to Luis because she was too scared.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
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
(30:18):
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.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
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.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
When it's over, Gabriella gets up to leave.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
It left her grappling with the idea of consent. Gabriella
called her mom to help her understand what happened.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
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.
(31:54):
And you know, at least I didn't get strangled, I
didn't get beaten up.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
That was my man.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
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,
(32:25):
this is the sign that you healed, you healed. I'm
not a victim. I'm a fighter. I'm a warrior.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
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.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Him coming up on the Bonnie Trap.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Ladies, I got that, I got it all. I got
it all, I got it all, I got it all.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Would you like to see him prosecuted?
Speaker 8 (33:20):
I would if I had a chance, because I know
there's people who back me up.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
It's not just me.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
We're an Army in comparison to him.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
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
(34:04):
appear in magazines. The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel.
For more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show
is hosted by me Ellie Flynn. You can find me
on social media by searching my name that's eb l
(34:27):
i e f Y double N. This season is produced
by Eleanor Biggs and written by me Ellie Flynn and
Eleana Biggs. Our assistant producer is Amalia Sortland, with additional
production from Lee Meyer and Saskia Collette. Additional research by
Valeria Rocker. The editors are Georgia Moody and Austin Mitchell.
Our executive producers are Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. Our
(34:49):
fact checker is Fendall Fulton, Production management from Scherie Houston
and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel
Kempson and Nicholas Alexander, Music supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Elena
Biggs and Max O'Brien, Original music composed and performed by
Jake Long, and additional production by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa Gersteine
(35:10):
and Daniel Kempson. The series artwork was designed by Christina
Limcol Willard Foxton, its creative director of Development
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Novel
Novel.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
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
(00:31):
the photographer mentioned in this podcast 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 contacted Playboy USA. They state that they've 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. Our research into his
(00:54):
association to Playboy and their statement can be heard in
episode four. What do you do when you're a young,
green glamor model who's desperate to make it in the industry, Well,
you go to a shoot camp, all inclusive, week long
events in exotic parts of the world where models and
(01:16):
photographers come together to take photos and party. And the
biggest one of all is the IBMS. And no, that's
not a medical condition. It's the International Bikini Model Search,
the super Boys floor.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
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.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
On everywhere I.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I am here today to tell you about the IBMS.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Bahamma's event coming up.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Let's get your books.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
This is the one.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
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
to know this world better. From speaking to our sources,
(02:32):
I feel like I understand Luisa's m O. It appears
that he tends to work with models new to the industry,
who are more likely to be swayed by his reputation,
but I do still have some questions about the industry itself,
what's left of it, what being a glamor model today
is really like, and what it looks like to make it.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
I want to walk in the model's shoes.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
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.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
We can come.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
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,
(03:26):
but asks us to pay one thousand US dollars each
to cover food and board. We pay, book our flights
and start packing our bikinis. Oh my god, we're going
to be in an all inclusive resort in the Bahamas,
living it up, having the time of our lives doing
a bit of reporting. But two weeks before the trip,
(03:47):
Alana gets a call from Patrick.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
There's been a bit of a change of plan and
the event is no longer happening in Bahamas.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
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.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
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.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
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?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Or am I finally.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
About to enter the glamorous world of so many models fantasies.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Can here we go, Oh my god, I actually can't
believe that that we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I'm Ellie Flynn and from the team at Novel. This
is the Bunny Trap, episode five, The Wild West.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
So we're here. We are here, pulled up. That's knock
on the door. Completely not what I'm originally.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
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.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Where's the playboy mansion of my glamour dreams?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
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,
(06:53):
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.
One of them is in the middle of baking a
batch of cookies.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I have four kinds of cookies that I bake, and
I wanted to see what you were if you have
any dietary restrictions.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
I don't have any dietary restrictions.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
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
(07:38):
T shirt, greets.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Us with a warm hug, like we're long lost relatives.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
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.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So instead, the next IBMS will be in Costa Rica.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So looking around this room, I've got no idea what
we've spent two grand on.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
When I ask where.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
The Playboy models are, Patrick tells me they're running late
and we'll be here tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
He tells us not to worry. There's another glamorous site
for us to observe.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
Someone's going to shoot in the Mermaid thing today.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Draped over the back of a kitchen chair. It's a
gigantic loan mermaid tale.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Just check this out.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, okay, you don't kill it? Wow?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Oh heavy?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
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.
Speaker 7 (09:25):
The infamous Bob Womack photo.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
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.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
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.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
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.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
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?
Speaker 8 (10:34):
Yes, yes, all the time, all the time.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
Oh yeah, they will try, But with Patrick, no.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
They know better.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
I'm mean that we have rules like well, big one
for me.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Is just protecting the marrs like a big time.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Have you had to fand people, Patrick? Oh yeah, really,
lots of people, how many people are Sometimes.
Speaker 6 (11:02):
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.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
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
(11:37):
true for me. Unsurprisingly, Eleanor and I don't stick around
until the end of.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
The event.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
To meet you.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Okay, bye h.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
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.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
You're okay, you look absolutely pained. I'm just so confused.
It's really really suspect to me.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
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
(12:36):
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.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And we've asked about a refund, you know, partial refund,
and Patrick said yes, so that's something that will chase up.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
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
(13:26):
we told you about where the girl allegedly ran out
of a shoot with Luis crying. We put all of
this to Patrick in writing, but he never responded to us.
He said it himself. They're all bad guys.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
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.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
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
(14:16):
the glamor capital of the USA.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
New York is all about work, La is all about entertainment,
and miamis all about fun.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
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.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
I can't believe it. So gorgeous I am.
Speaker 6 (14:48):
You're going to cry.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
We've found the glamour.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
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.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Okay, well, now I can.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
See why everyone wants to live the high life, because
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
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.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
I love you, boy, Daly. I live in Miami. Now.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
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.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
I wanted to be a superstar. I wanted to be
a celebrity. It was sex, drobs, rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You know.
Speaker 9 (15:49):
It was just all the glitz and the gleam, the yachts,
just I want it at all.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
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.
Speaker 9 (16:07):
I have actually never ever paid a photographer in my
entire life. I have never paid for a photoshoot ever,
not once.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
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.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
Traveling models, you're going city to city mostly to work
with amateurs, and amateurs are the ones that are willing
to pay usually.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
But photo shoots alone don't pay the bills I know.
Speaker 9 (16:40):
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.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
So Melissa and all the other big models she knows
have a second source of income.
Speaker 9 (16:57):
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.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
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.
Speaker 9 (17:20):
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.
(17:43):
I had this conversation I think with my roommate. She
didn't understand why girls like turn to stripping and porn,
and it's money survival. People have to survive. If you
don't know what it's like to have nothing in your
bank account and your survival mode, you will do things
for money that you might not have done.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
So that's glamour today.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
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
(18:30):
I've spoken to say they'd never consider having an OnlyFans account,
and so it feels even more depressing that they're striving
for a dream that died with Hugh Hefner. But the
Playboy dream does still exist for many young green glamour
models who don't know any different, and whether or not
that dream is realistic doesn't seem to matter to Luis
(18:51):
Gomez as long as there are still models willing to
pay for the fantasy. And back in the UK, I
learned that he's still coming up with new ways to
cash in on that.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Oh so depressing. He's still out there, like, how many
models is that? And this fine where is going to be? Okay?
(19:33):
So I'm just on the universe one three seven website.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
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.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
What the actual fuck?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
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
(20:23):
are from twenty twenty, when the group of models in
the UK called him out. There is Louise still claiming
to be a playboy photographer? Are there any new allegations
of abuse? This shoot camp is our first opportunity to
find out.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Now I can, Now I can.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
We're talking to a freelance journalist who's agreed to attend
Luis's event undercover.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I'm we outside of town. There's vultures circling in the
air overhead.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
God, that's ominous.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
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
(21:18):
the hotel where Luis Gomez is hosting his event, and
we have the perfect idea to help him blend in a.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Goofy guy who just happened to stumble upon a photo shoot, had.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
My camera on me.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
A guy with a camera.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Mark's going to see how close he can get to
Luise and send us voice notes along the way.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Okay, good luck.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
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.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I'm in the back part of the resort, concets for
the beach.
Speaker 10 (21:55):
I've got on of goes names Infinity.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Pools ah whatever. It looks like the horizon of the
pool explosion.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
The crowd seems mainly to be Mexican families on holiday,
but Mark soon spots Luise.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
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.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
The guy with the camera act works a treat. Luisa.
Mark hit it off.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
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
(23:02):
superficial way.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Louise has an entourage. There are three photographers and five
models from all over the world. Guatemala, Canada, the US,
and Argentina.
Speaker 10 (23:14):
Yeah, we're all hanging out.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
There's a photo shoot wrapping up in the fountains and meat.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
I've got to know a few of the mines.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Everybody's very nic.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Mark captures the action on his phone.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Louise is soaked to his waist, kneeling in the pool
taking photos of a woman in a blue bikini.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
We go.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Hiks now, I'll give back to it.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
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.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
And there are some new.
Speaker 10 (24:00):
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.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Now Louise wants to talk.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Business Universe one three seven studios.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, okay, now one, So we're gonna be doing you know,
I speak more for Playboy, every.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Chan, Maxine Lifestyle, What Set Magazine.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Although amazingly Louise offers to give Mark his big break
into the glamour industry as a photographer.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Well, if you do like a good photos, although I
can't help to.
Speaker 10 (24:43):
Publishing, Okay, yeah, I do a lot of my fifty
three fifty three magazines. Yea in Mexico, No.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
In USA, in in everywhere, in Australia everywhere.
Speaker 10 (24:54):
Wow, all they playbooks everywhere.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
The all, the every chen around the world, every people.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
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.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
And then I hear from a new witness.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
She's got an allegation to share, and it's the most
recent I've heard.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
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
(26:05):
try a modeling courier, didn't know how to do it.
I'm not from Ali, I'm from Europe.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
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
(26:32):
for six nights of food, board and photo shoots.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
It's a cool experience, you know. I was super excited
and happy. Of course, why not.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
On the first night of the shoot camp, Louise came
over to Gabriella.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
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.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
He invited her to shoot with him the next day,
and she agreed.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
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.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Guide me.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
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.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I did not know what I was prepared for. I
never planned on every kind of shooting nude.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Gabriella in the Ways begins shooting on the balcony.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
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,
(27:58):
that is a gorgeous shot. There's going to be great pictures.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Gabriella says that Luise suggested they move inside to the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It was first lingerie and then do you want to
put your bra down?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Gabriella describes Luise as patiently insistent.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
He doesn't overwhelm her. He plays nice.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
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.
(28:40):
And I believed him because I was, you know, figuring
he is an honest, respectful man. He's a professional photographer.
I figured it's okay for me as a woman to
feel pretty and beautiful and comfortable in my own skip.
That's the intention that I had for myself when I
always making pictures of me being fully naked.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Then Louise suggests that they do some filming.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
And I asked him again, you know you're not gonna
put them anywhere. No, they're just for you and stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
For the next few minutes, you'll hear Gabriella talk about
what she alleges happened next.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
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.
(29:47):
So what other options do I have?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Gabriella says it escalated to penetrative sex. She says she
didn't say no to Luis because she was too scared.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
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
(30:18):
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.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
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.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
When it's over, Gabriella gets up to leave.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
It left her grappling with the idea of consent. Gabriella
called her mom to help her understand what happened.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
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.
(31:54):
And you know, at least I didn't get strangled, I
didn't get beaten up.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
That was my man.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
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,
(32:25):
this is the sign that you healed, you healed. I'm
not a victim. I'm a fighter. I'm a warrior.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
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.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Him coming up on the Bonnie Trap.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Ladies, I got that, I got it all. I got
it all, I got it all, I got it all.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Would you like to see him prosecuted?
Speaker 8 (33:20):
I would if I had a chance, because I know
there's people who back me up.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
It's not just me.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
We're an Army in comparison to him.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Thanks to the women who shared their stories with us.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
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
(34:04):
appear in magazines. The Bonnie Trap is produced by Novel.
For more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show
is hosted by me Ellie Flynn. You can find me
on social media by searching my name that's eb l
(34:27):
i e f Y double N. This season is produced
by Eleanor Biggs and written by me Ellie Flynn and
Eleana Biggs. Our assistant producer is Amalia Sortland, with additional
production from Lee Meyer and Saskia Collette. Additional research by
Valeria Rocker. The editors are Georgia Moody and Austin Mitchell.
Our executive producers are Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. Our
(34:49):
fact checker is Fendall Fulton, Production management from Scherie Houston
and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel
Kempson and Nicholas Alexander, Music supervision by Nicholas Alexander, Elena
Biggs and Max O'Brien, Original music composed and performed by
Jake Long, and additional production by Nicholas Alexander, Louisa Gersteine
(35:10):
and Daniel Kempson. The series artwork was designed by Christina
Limcol Willard Foxton, its creative director of Development
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Novel
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