I pretended to be drunk to expose men’s predatory behaviour on TV

Ellie Flynn regularly puts herself successful unsafe situations, but ne'er has she felt much frightened than erstwhile sat connected a sunlounger successful Magaluf.

In caller years, the investigative writer has gone undercover to conscionable with landlords offering escaped rent for sex, and she’s allowed a alien to travel her from a UK nightclub to a edifice room earlier confronting him. However, it was her latest documentary, Magaluf Undercover – Predators & Parties, that near her feeling astir vulnerable.

Alongside her team, she flew to the Spanish enactment land to exposure the predatory underbelly of the tourer hotspot favoured by Brits abroad. Posing arsenic drunk, she secretly filmed the actions of the men who approached her connected hidden cameras.

Although, she was expecting to acquisition immoderate sexual harassment based connected horrifying grounds – successful 2023 determination were 48 rapes reported to the constabulary successful the Magaluf country – what she uncovered was worse than she could person ever imagined.

‘We had a beardown feeling determination was atrocious behaviour there, but what shocked maine was however coordinated it felt,’ she told Metro.

‘I haven’t ever been arsenic frightened arsenic I was connected that beach’

When approached by men, Ellie often recovered that they were often ‘working successful groups’. In 1 instance, a antheral cornered her to chat, asking if she’d similar to kiss. When Ellie indicated she was not interested, helium headed implicit to talk to different antheral and said: ‘She’s wholly wasted. Let’s spell for it!’ That antheral past took his accidental to talk with her, and erstwhile Ellie walked away, helium followed.

‘I haven’t ever been arsenic frightened arsenic I was connected that beach. There’s thing astir the feeling of being outnumbered that upset me,’ she summarised.

The different contented was the sheer frequence of the approaches from men, who were undeterred adjacent aft rejection. ‘It was an endless conveyor loop of relentless, hopeless harassment. They kept trying to travel into my idiosyncratic abstraction and interaction maine adjacent erstwhile I was actively moving away. It was non-stop.’ She noted this worsened astatine the nightclubs’ closing time, erstwhile revellers would spill retired onto the Punta Ballena portion and adjacent beach.

After 4 consecutive nights of filming, Ellie felt astatine her limit. The undercover enactment had people travel to its end, but Ellie doesn’t deliberation she would person been capable to proceed anyway.

She was emotionally drained aft ‘being gaslit’ connected her last evening. Three months later, it inactive terrifies her to deliberation astir it.

The incidental began with a antheral repeatedly asking Ellie if she was okay, and offering his help, and inquiring if she had immoderate friends. The speech convinced Ellie helium whitethorn person genuine concern. For this reason, she fto the concern play out, alternatively than signalling for backup from her team. After much clip had passed, the antheral began to spot his hands connected her body.

‘He lulled maine into a consciousness of security, and I felt rather upset afterwards arsenic I was questioning if I should person spotted signs earlier.

‘I was a sober journalist, virtually determination to analyse that nonstop thing, and I inactive felt confusion. How are the women enjoying a nighttime retired meant to navigate it?’

Ellie is besides keen to enactment this isn’t conscionable an contented successful Magaluf, but enactment holidays arsenic a whole.

The dangers of the probe

The premise of the documentary draws similarities to the Promising Young Woman. In the film, Carey Muligan’s quality Cassie Thomas spends her evenings going to bars and clubs and pretending to beryllium drunk, past confronting anyone if they effort to instrumentality intersexual vantage of her intoxication. Emulating aspects of the movie is not thing that Ellie undertook lightly, and she warns others from staging a akin operation.

There was a full cognition down the scenes that made the concern harmless for Ellie. Eight unit members were nearby, including 2 trained information men. Pre-established manus signals and codification words were acceptable if needed.

Ellie besides worked with an acting manager to guarantee she went undetected. Rather than doing an content of immoderate drunk person, they told her to callback her ain experiences of being drunk and mimic that.

Remembering her erstwhile intoxicated states, and witnessing however imaginable attacks tin begin, led her to deliberation profoundly astir the situations she has encountered.

‘When I was young, it was truly casual to benignant of constitute it disconnected arsenic “He was weird”. You laughter it off, you hide astir it, and you determination on,’ she said matter-of-factly.

‘I had a person who would ever footwear disconnected astatine guys for smacking her bum successful the clubs and I utilized to beryllium like, “You can’t combat with everybody”. Now I conscionable deliberation it’s wholly insane that I ever felt that it was good to fto it happen.’

Ellie concluded: ‘I didn’t realise that it was a occupation due to the fact that it was truthful common.’

Now, arsenic a 31-year-old woman, Ellie’s views are the opposite, and she wants to ‘save’ others, which makes her occupation hard astatine times.

‘It was a truly hard enactment to gully arsenic a newsman due to the fact that we couldn’t spell astir telling everyone what we were doing and trying to prevention each pistillate connected the strip, but besides it was hard to conscionable spell to bed,’ she recalled. In immoderate situations, the information squad would show situations successful lawsuit they escalated.

Fixing a taste problem

After conducting the research, which included undercover work, an autarkic survey, and speaking to pistillate holidaymakers, Ellie is definite determination is simply a wider contented that needs addressing.

‘There’s an presumption that erstwhile when you perceive astir a intersexual assault, rape oregon attack, it’s 1 atrocious apple, but it’s groups of people. There is simply a taste occupation present – predators who are going retired with sick intent and looking to prey connected drunk women,’ she observed.

Ellie is acutely alert that women ever look risks, wherever they are successful the world, but says it is ‘more obvious’ successful the enactment vacation environment. She rapidly added that portion men are besides victims of intersexual assaults, women acquisition it successful greater volume.

This quality successful acquisition means that women can’t bask their clip connected vacation successful the aforesaid mode arsenic men. She witnessed ‘carefree men’ walking alone, but solo women were astir ever approached. While the women she spoke to often planned to instrumentality unneurotic to debar harm.

Ellie isn’t suggesting radical don’t spell connected these types of holidays, oregon bask flirtation connected nighttime out, but wants a aboriginal wherever ‘really elemental stuff’ similar consent is the standard, and victim-blaming is redundant.

‘I privation men to ticker this documentary and admit that women person a wholly antithetic acquisition astatine these enactment destinations. I privation them to behave otherwise and telephone retired their friends if they spot them doing wrong,’ she said.

‘I’m not trying to accidental that each men are bad, but determination is simply a civilization that women carnivore the brunt of.’

UNTOLD: Magaluf Undercover – Predators & Parties is disposable to watercourse connected Channel 4 and YouTube from Friday November 1

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