Tickled Page #3

off on me left and right,

sending emails to the

high school that I coach at.

Woman:
"I have additional

information as a past employer.

You don't want this

guy in your league.

Can you afford the distraction,

the press,

with an outed gay guy

having a male tickling fetish,

in which he likes to tickle

and be tickled

by tied-up other gay

athletes and bodybuilders?"

False accusations,

saying I'm a drug addict

and I was a child molester

and I'm gay, and this and that,

which none of those things

have ever been true.

I've always been very proud.

The way I walk around,

I'm proud of who I am.

You know what I mean?

So to speak.

I'm confident in myself

as an athlete,

as a person, as a player.

But when I'd go to try-outs,

the first thing

I would think about is,

"well, I wonder

if these coaches

have looked up that video?"

And it's happened.

It has happened.

I've been released

from football teams.

They've told me, uh,

that I'm the best player

on that team at that position,

but because it is

a distraction for the media,

they don't need that attention

and they'll go with somebody

else 'cause they don't feel

like explaining it.

You know, and I've actually

dealt with a lot of things

because of it.

It's cost me money, it's cost me

jobs, it's caused me harassment,

which is exactly what Debbie

kuhn and Jane o'brien wanted.

So, I mean, more or less in

that aspect, they've won.

David:
It's obvious we're not

the only ones being harassed

by Jane o'brien media.

And there are so many websites

made up like tj's

which seem to exist purely

to shame the guys

who've been tickled.

What goes on at these shoots,

and why is she so aggressive?

Dylan's been doing

some research,

and he thinks he knows where

the next shoot is happening.

We stake out the studio,

hoping to find out

how a competitive

tickling shoot goes down.

Dominic:
Okay, car.

And another car. Two cars.

David:
Two cars.

Dominic:
Can you see

what the car's doing?

I've lost him.

- Dominic:
Who's that guy?

- David:
Oh, that's Marko.

Dylan:
Oh, yeah. And we've got

four guys going in so far.

Dominic:
Four guys.

Dylan:
That's the guy

from New Zealand.

David:
Yep, there's Kevin.

David:
We could hear laughter

coming out of the vents.

It went on for hours,

the boys occasionally

taking breaks.

You know, this is actually

f***ing creepy as f***.

Dylan:
Like, this feels

to me like a pep talk.

Dominic:
Yeah.

David:
As the day wraps up,

I want to give Kevin

one last chance

to talk about what's going on.

With pending lawsuits,

I'm cautious and don't want to

storm into the studio.

David:

They haven't locked the door.

Dylan:
I think we go.

All right. Okay, let's go.

- David:
We're good?

- Dominic:
Yep, we're good.

Dominic:
Come this way.

David:
Here we go.

We've been spotted.

Hello, Marko. Hey, guys.

Adam, how's it going?

Adam:

Hello, sir.

Kevin:

We're not welcome here?

All right.

Well, we'll head off.

You don't want to do

any final chats or anything?

Last opportunity.

That's all we can do.

Turn right

on bellevue Avenue,

then take the first right.

I think... yeah, uh,

after New Zealand and that,

I think it's

safe to say that we don't...

We don't have an interview

with Kevin or Marko.

And we certainly

weren't getting

any more of the competitors

to talk on camera.

They were all too terrified,

hoping if they stayed quiet,

the harassment would go away.

Dylan:
I mean, are we making the

whole thing worse for everyone

just by even being here?

David:
Yeah.

I think it's possible.

I worry that we make it

worse for some people who...

Who've gotten through the

worst of it, you know?

Dylan:
Mm.

David:
Jane o'brien clearly

isn't being honest

about what the videos are for.

And I'm convinced that despite

the Adidas gear,

it's not a real sport.

I've tracked down

a man in Florida

who also makes tickling videos,

but, unlike Jane, is more

than happy to talk about it.

Richard:
People ask me about

what is the appeal of tickling?

It's kind of like the whips

and chains, you know,

bondage sort of thing, where

somebody's getting flogged.

But it's just really brought

down a level, you know?

It's like kind of a sadistic

exerting your will

on someone else,

and having them do something

out of their control

like laughing without

being able to get away,

as if it's, uh,

tickle torture to them.

David:
And a lot of people

don't seem to know

about the tickling fetish.

Do you think it's a little bit

more unknown?

Oh, totally.

Yeah, completely.

'Cause most people, you know,

know about a foot fetish,

um, but tickling?

Most people are like,

"oh, wow. Is that a thing?"

It was in 1999. I had just

gotten out of grad school,

you know, so I just got

a video camera,

put together a little

business plan,

talked to one of my friends

and he financed me,

when I started the site,

I think for $6000 or $7000.

It got pretty much an

immediate response.

I was making enough

after a year

to quit my job

and do it full-time.

David:
So this is it?

- This is it.

- This is the studio.

- Mm-hm.

- The chair.

And then the changing room,

bathroom.

And so, this whole place

is purely for the tickling?

Yes.

David:
Oh, so you've got a few

different spaces, right?

Richard:
Yeah, yeah.

I used to do all this

out of my house.

David:
Yeah.

And then it was, you know,

a parade of people coming in,

do all this, have to clean up.

You know, have to clean

it up before a shoot.

And this way I can walk away.

Yeah, this is great.

Like, "I'm tired. Going home."

David:
You're done.

Well, this is work, right?

It's like work, home.

Richard:
Mm-hm. Exactly.

Have you done stuff like this

before for anyone else?

Or this sort of a unique

thing for you?

Uh, unique thing.

I never worked for

a tickling site before.

- Okay.

- Man:
No.

David:
And what did you first

think when you got the pitch?

Man:
I mean, I laughed about it.

I'm like,

this can't be really serious,

like, people really can't...

Enjoy watching this

or getting it done.

But, um, I said, "why not?"

You know, I'm more of like

the risk-taker.

I'd rather say I did something

than didn't do something.

So I came down,

really was kind of nervous,

didn't know what to expect.

And then...

But Richard put me at ease,

and once you're trapped

in you're there.

So, I mean, you might

as well enjoy it.

All right.

- Richard:
Okay, ready?

- I think you're...

Man:

Take it easy on me today.

Richard:
Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Man:
That's good.

- Got to enjoy my freedom now.

- Richard:
Yeah.

- Because I cannot.

- Richard:
Wave goodbye.

I am not getting out.

Oh, sh*t.

The world of tickling.

So, catch your breath.

- Breath caught.

- Okay.

All right.

Now tell everybody

what a tough guy you are.

Just go.

Stop.

Oh, my gosh.

I hate this.

David:
So when did you realize

that you found tickling

to be an erotic thing?

Richard:
I was very young,

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