So what drives male escorts?
Comments | Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland), The, June 10, 2002
Byline: Sally Raikes
RECRUITMENT day at Lush International, a male escort agency in Manchester, is almost as excruciating as reliving the Pop Idol auditions.
“Thousands of guys want to do it,” claim the couple orchestrating the interviews, as they leaf through scores of unlikely candidates. “But it’s up to us to narrow it down to who is going to be able to make bookings.”
Trouble is, being wined and dined by a woman and getting paid a princely sum seems like the perfect job. It is payback time, too, as one hopeful confesses, with only a smidgen of bitterness: “I’ve been taking women out for meals, buying them drinks – it’s my turn now.”
But life is never that simple, and the chasm between fantasy and reality never wider than in this job sector, as the Channel 4 documentary, Cutting Edge: Gigolo, reveals tomorrow.
The programme charts the progress of three wannabe escorts, Andy, Wayne and Pete, all of whom are convinced they have what it takes to become a woman-pleaser.
Unfortunately, the three seem doomed from the start. Andy is socially incompetent, Wayne is, well, bald, and Pete – the only one with any hint of charisma – is soon hindered by the acquisition of a girlfriend, who is less than happy with his chosen career path.
As they fumble their way closer to a date, the camera offers a tantalising glimpse into the life of one extremely wealthy male escort.
Owen, who has nine years of experience, charges $300 per hour, or alternatively, $1500 for “a good night out”. We first meet him in a gym. “I do have a high sex drive, definitely,” he says, pelting a punch-bag and emitting a grunt in demonstration of this virility. “But it’s something that’s got to be trained. You can have sex two or three times a day, with the right kind of training.”
What this training consists of is never quite clear – although Owen, later seen shaving his forearms, confessing: “It’s a case of where I don’t shave, really,” clearly has his own set of rituals – but Andy, who has been accepted on to Lush International’s books, and is off on his first date, could do with some advice
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