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Welcome to Your Fantasy

Welcome to Your Fantasy

Pineapple Street Studios / Gimlet

In the 1980s the “male exotic dancers” of Chippendales were everywhere, selling the promise of women’s liberation for the price of a few dollars in a g-string. But behind the powerful mullets, oiled pecs, and non-stop parties lies a much darker story of greed, corruption and murder. Historian Natalia Petrzela exposes one of the great, sordid, unexamined stories in American culture.
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Top 10 Welcome to Your Fantasy Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Welcome to Your Fantasy episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Welcome to Your Fantasy for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Welcome to Your Fantasy episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Welcome to Your Fantasy - 1. A Disneyland for Adults

1. A Disneyland for Adults

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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07/06/21 • 49 min

When Steve Banerjee, a young Indian immigrant, arrives in Los Angeles, he is determined to start a successful business just like his two idols, Hugh Hefner and Walt Disney. And by 1979, he does. With the help of a Canadian pimp Steve turns his crumbling dive bar into the hottest nightclub in L.A. Welcome to the early days of Chippendales, where women lose their inhibitions and men lose their clothes. But don't look too closely because what's hidden beneath those oiled pecs and dollar-stuffed g-strings is more twisted than you could ever imagine.

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Banerjee Interview copyright Eric Gilbert.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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6 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 3. Part of the Act

3. Part of the Act

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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07/20/21 • 43 min

Greed. Cocaine. Porn in Times Square. It’s New York in the ‘80s and the destination for Chippendales’ flashy second location. As Chippendales gains national fame and daytime talk show ubiquity, Nick de Noia and Steve Banerjee enter into a fateful agreement aimed to take them to bigger heights.

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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5 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 7. The Golden Goose

7. The Golden Goose

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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08/17/21 • 41 min

When a hired hitman flips on his boss, the FBI begins an investigation that turns into a years-long international manhunt. Can the lead investigator—a rookie agent who plays by his own rules—match wits with the paranoid strip kingpin who manages to evade capture at every turn?

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 2. The Perfect Man

2. The Perfect Man

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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07/13/21 • 47 min

The Chippendales show gets a revamp from Steve Banerjee's latest hire, Nick De Noia. An Emmy Award-winning children's TV producer with a big ego and even bigger opinions, Nick uses his song-and-dance sensibility to turn the show into a full-blown theatrical extravaganza. But could “Mr. Chippendales” be more trouble than he’s worth?

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 4. Three Men and a Lawsuit

4. Three Men and a Lawsuit

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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07/27/21 • 53 min

In 1982, after being turned away at the door of Chippendales, a UCLA law student brings a racial discrimination lawsuit against the club. His life, and the life of one of the L.A. club dancers, become unexpectedly linked.

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 6. A Tad of Cyanide

6. A Tad of Cyanide

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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08/10/21 • 44 min

1991. The UK. An international muder plot featuring a hitman, cyanide, male strippers, and a kingpin who’s determined to take out his competition at any cost. Hollywood movie plot? Or just another day in Steve Banerjee’s reality?

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 5. 31 Days in February...One Day in April
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08/03/21 • 40 min

The bigger Chippendales gets, the more paranoid Steve Banerjee becomes, until everything and everyone begins to look like a threat. A confidante creates a rival beefcake calendar, and a printing error of his own becomes a million dollar mistake. Meanwhile in New York, a stranger walks into the office of Nick De Noia, and changes everything.

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 8. The Final Act

8. The Final Act

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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08/24/21 • 39 min

Steve Banerjee’s final move leaves the community reeling. But the show’s legacy lives on in the lives of the people who built it, and in the theaters around the world where the Chippendales dancers continue to perform today.

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. You can also text TALK to 741741 for free, anonymous 24/7 crisis support in the US from the Crisis Text Line.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - 9. Where The Butt Ends

9. Where The Butt Ends

Welcome to Your Fantasy

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08/31/21 • 60 min

It’s the end of the season, but it’s not the end of the story. Natalia is joined by fellow historians and co-producers Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young for a discussion of the things that fascinated them most about exploring Chippendales history. You’ll hear from the women who went to the club over the years, the dancers on what it feels like to age as professional hot people, and the specific ways in which Steve Banerjee harnessed the power of American capitalism. Find out which Chippendales dancer ran for President of the United States. Hear the Chippendales original song Natalia can’t get out of her head. We may never learn where the butt begins or ends, but perhaps some mysteries are better left unsolved.

Follow us on Instagram for archival footage, photos and more at @chippendalesrevealed.

Recreate the club experience for yourself with our playlist on Spotify.

Did you ever go to Chippendales? Got a wild story? A burning question? Leave us a short voicemail at (323) 475-9424.

Cover artwork by Lindsay Mound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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3 Listeners

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Welcome to Your Fantasy - Episode 1 Sneak Peek: A Disneyland For Adults
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02/10/21 • 7 min

It’s 1987, and the Chippendales dancers are packing nightclubs across America with their sold-out male exotic dance shows. As crowds of women scream for the mullets, the spandex, and the tans...a shocking event about to change the course of the brand and its booming business forever.

This is a sneak peek of Episode 1 of Welcome to Your Fantasy. To hear full episodes, every week, follow and listen for free at spoti.fi/WelcomeToYourFantasy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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FAQ

How many episodes does Welcome to Your Fantasy have?

Welcome to Your Fantasy currently has 12 episodes available.

What topics does Welcome to Your Fantasy cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, True Crime, Documentary and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Welcome to Your Fantasy?

The episode title '1. A Disneyland for Adults' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Welcome to Your Fantasy?

The average episode length on Welcome to Your Fantasy is 36 minutes.

How often are episodes of Welcome to Your Fantasy released?

Episodes of Welcome to Your Fantasy are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Welcome to Your Fantasy?

The first episode of Welcome to Your Fantasy was released on Jun 21, 2020.

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