A reality show that promises to sell off three virgins to the highest bidder is — to say the least — raising a storm of controversy on two sides of the Pacific.
The show is the brainchild of an Australian filmmaker, Justin Sisley, and will be made for TV there. But, as of yesterday, the show was set to be filmed in Nevada.
The three virgins — two women and one man — are to be paid $20,000 each plus 90 percent of their “sale price” to take part in the auction, according to a report in the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
Australian authorities forced Sisley to move production of the show out of the country, threatening to charge him and the virgins with prostitution if they went through with their original plan.
But in Nevada, prostitution is legal.
“Technically, I’m selling my virginity for money,” a 21-year-old woman named Veronica told the paper.
“Technically, that would be classified as prostitution.
“But it’s not going to be a regular thing, so in my head I can justify that I’m not going to be a prostitute,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll regret it.”
The male virgin, identified only as Alex, said he volunteered for the show as a way to meet a woman.
Sisley says the parents of the young people involved “hate me.”
According to the casting notice, the show entails “our camera follow[ing] the principal cast . . . as they shed their virginity to a complete stranger in front of a worldwide audience.”
Flyers of the Virgin Mary, with the words “Virgins Wanted,” were posted in several Australian cities in recent months, seeking applicants.