The Pleasure Boys XXL have been “inundated” with calls to return to Ireland after a recent show sparked controversy here, according to the group’s owner and director.
On Lunchtime Live, John Woodward said his UK-based strip act has received over 30 booking requests since clips of Saturday’s performance at The Devenish Complex in Belfast went viral.
The PSNI are now ‘reviewing’ the show, which involved full nudity and simulated sex acts, while it is also being investigated by Belfast City Council.
Defending the show, Mr Woodward said people knew “what they were coming to”.
“We are one of the biggest male revue groups in the UK and Europe – our social media is everywhere,” he said.
“It’s very obvious through social media and websites what we are, we are male strippers and of course, we’re going to be going nude.”
Shocking
The nudity was not what most people found shocking, according to Mr Woodward.
“I think it’s the fact this is the XXL tour and these guys are very big down there, freakish in that region,” he said.
“For anybody normal, they have not seen guys like that – I think that’s where the big shock is coming from.
“If you look at a lot of the memes online, they are all indicating towards how freakish the guys are in that department.”
'More heated'
A typical Pleasure Boys XXL show features drag, acrobatics, and lots of choreography, according to Mr Woodward - but he said things “got a little bit more heated” than normal in Belfast
“We usually get four to six people up on stage for the curtain call where the boys dance about with the girls,” he said.
“What happened on Saturday evening is we had maybe in excess of maybe 40 who all came on at once.
“The guys just got on with the job, they’re obviously not going to walk off stage and they made sure everyone had a fun time.
“Some angles of the videos and what the boys were doing, hovering over girls naked, those are the videos that have gone viral.”
Irish audience
Mr Woodward said the show tends to shock people in Ireland more than in other countries.
“I do find that Belfast is more shocked and Ireland in general is more shocked with this kind of activity,” he said.
“You’ve got your strippers over there, but I don’t think they're as big as the guys here which was a shock to people.
“But also, they don’t go quite as far [in Ireland], we go a little bit further without being seedy.”
'Inundated' with bookings
Mr Woodward said the Dream Boys XXL have been “inundated” with calls to return to Ireland.
“We’ve had around 30 requests so far,” he said.
“Not only that, we’ve got well over 200 different messages from girls asking when we are coming back, that they want tickets to the show.
“It’s gone completely mental where people want to book us and want us there as soon as possible as, obviously with all the hype at the moment, they know they will sell all their shows.”
The Pleasure Boys previously had a five-year residency at the Red Cow in Dublin which ended in 2022.
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