Zara McDermott has been hit with backlash over her new BBC show, Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise after a YouTuber who featured shared a scathing video.
The programme follows Zara, 28, as she tries to reconcile Thailand’s ‘two conflicting sides’ – its idyllic beaches against the seedy underbelly of drugs and cheap sex’.
However, Mac, 30, who is seen showing her around the red-light district in the city of Pattaya has now claimed producers ‘edited’ his answers and ‘dramatised everything.’
In a video uploaded to his YouTube account he says everything they told him was ‘BS’ but he ‘went along with it because ultimately it would mean more exposure, more subscribers and more money.’
Mac, who is originally from Staffordshire, puts together virtual ‘guides’ to Thailand’s sex industry – including how to negotiate with the women and the top ‘mistakes’ to avoid in bars.
He helps Zara navigate Soi 6 that the he describes as a red light district ‘on steroids’ and points out a ‘blowjob bar’, while skirting around the subject of prostitution.
Zara McDermott has been hit with backlash over her new BBC show, Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise after a YouTuber who featured shared a scathing video
The programme follows Zara, 28, as she tries to reconcile Thailand’s ‘two conflicting sides’ – its idyllic beaches against the seedy underbelly of drugs and cheap sex’ (pictured with Mac)
The pair’s meeting is cut short when police officers ‘escort them off the premises’ after bar owners in the area ‘forced us to stop filming’.
Speaking on his YouTube channel Mac said: ‘They chopped up my voice in the edit and made me say things that I didn’t actually say. I thought that was really sneaky and really deceiving.
‘They didn’t shut us down, that was all fake. The producers made us walk back up the street to get their money shot. I suspect the near arrest was also all fake. I think they tried to dramatise everything.
‘I told them to go and find some other bozo to answer their questions because I didn’t want to and that’s what they did with this Loukas guy.
‘They found the most stupid, gullible guy to answer their questions. That’s what they had to do. I have a reputation to uphold.
‘I do remember feeling sorry for Zara because she is just a puppet, she’s told what to say.’
In the programme Zara said that Mac’s videos ‘feed a dangerous mindset’ to which he hit back in the clip: ‘If your mindset os to get out of your home town and have a good time… and that is dangerous then I don’t know what is real.’
Daily Mail has contacted the BBC and Zara’s representative for comment.
The next time Zara met Mac during the show was at his house to meet his girlfriend, a Thai woman named Panida who goes by Beverly Hills after one of his followers gave her the nickname.
However, Mac, 30, who is seen showing her around the red-light district in the city of Pattaya has now claimed producers ‘edited’ his answers and ‘dramatised everything’
Mac, who is originally from Staffordshire, puts together virtual ‘guides’ to Thailand’s sex industry – including how to negotiate with the women and the top ‘mistakes’ to avoid in bars
Speaking on his YouTube channel Mac said: ‘They chopped up my voice in the edit and made me say things that I didn’t actually say. I thought that was really sneaky and really deceiving’
Beverly Hills is featured prominently in Mac’s YouTube videos, including one in which he gloats he has a ‘beautiful Thai woman’ cooking bacon and eggs for him.
When Zara confronted him about selling a ‘fantasy’ while ‘ignoring the reality that women are being exploited here’ and actually ‘feeding the beast’ that is the sex work industry by promoting his lifestyle, he replied: ‘If anything, I’m helping this place.’
‘There’s a lot of guys that come here because of me. And, ultimately, they’re putting money into these bars, they’re putting money into Thailand and helping the economy,’ he spun his brand of content.
When asked why he decided to date a Thai girl, he said ‘it’s more fun’ than dating English women ‘barking’ at him or nagging him.
‘I feel like there’s lots of expectations that English women put on men, and they feel a lot of pressure from that.’
The new show joins a list of thought-provoking and critically-acclaimed documentaries Zara has made for the BBC in recent years.
The new programme, made by South Shore Productions, looks at what draws Brits to Thailand – as well as the darker side of the country, including the access to drugs and the sex work industry.
It opens in bustling Bangkok before heading to some popular party islands and will feature a lively cast of characters.
