Male strippers bare all

Image Credit: “Stripped Down,’ OUTtv / OUTflix

By Cameron Scheetz

In South Florida, just north of Miami and outside of Fort Lauderdale, lies a place that claims the title of the “second gayest city” in America.

Yes, only out-gayed by Provincetown (or Palm Springs, depending on who you ask) is the gorgeous coastal small town known as Wilton Manors, which boasts a whopping 140 same-sex couples per 1,000 residents.

Naturally, the community’s home to a rather robust nightlife scene, with dance clubs, a leather bar, plenty of drag destinations to boot, and the infamous male burlesque palace Johnsons, all of which are popular amongst the locals while also bringing in thousands of LGBTQ+ tourists & visitors each year.

And if you’re wondering what it must be like to live & work within these rainbow-colored city limits, well you’re in luck, because a new series is about bare all for Walton Manors. Quite literally.

Coming to OUTtv’s streaming service OUTflix on March 3 is Stripped Down, a streamy new docu-series that will take viewers behind-the-scenes of the lives of six of the most in-demand queer male strippers who call the Florida enclave home.

Per the official synopsis, the “unapologetically raw and entertaining” Stripped Down will “peel back the curtain on the lives of six gay strippers navigating the vibrant nightlife of Wilton Manors, Florida.”

“By day, they’re roommates grappling with personal ambitions, complex relationships and hidden struggles. By night, they’re performers who take the stage to captivate audiences and earn a living in the high-energy, no-holds-barred world of gay strip clubs.”

In other words, it’s not just about how these guys work the poles, it’s about what they’ve really got going on underneath their clothes… their hearts! We’re talking about their hearts—what makes them tick, what keeps them coming back to the stage, and why it’s important for them to be part of this tight-knit community.

The reality series comes from filmmaker and content creator (and frequent Old Gays collaborator!) Matt Cullen, whose fantastic YouTube series Our Queer Life sees him traveling the world to explore the different corners of queer experiences and highlighting the vastness of our big, beautiful community in the process.

In fact, Stripped Down seems to have been inspired by one of his past projects, a short documentary titled “Bi-Sexual Stripper” which is built around an interview with the iconic dancer known as Crush Daddy, a resident star of Wilton Manors.

One of the most popular videos on Cullen’s YouTube channel—with over 476k views and counting!—the conversation opened the door for him to delve even deeper into the town’s impressive strip scene, so he called up Crush and assembled five more of his peers under one roof, then let the camera roll as the magic unfolded.

So, who are these guys, you might be wondering? Well, scroll down below to learn a bit more about each, and to get a sneak peek at what they’re working with.

Crush Daddy

This South African-born performer is a former Division I basketball player who, after overcoming past struggles with addiction, left the wide world of sports behind to strip. And, as he revealed in Cullen’s past Our Queer Life video, he’s proudly pansexual with a girlfriend who supports his line of work!