Latest news with #DennisHof
Scottish Sun
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
I was lured to infamous Bunny Ranch brothel by Love Island style show…vile star Hof choked girls & forced us into sex
Young girls flocked to become sex workers after watching the sexy models having 'fun' in the glossy TV show SECRET TORMENT I was lured to infamous Bunny Ranch brothel by Love Island style show…vile star Hof choked girls & forced us into sex WITH their model looks and stunning figures the young women giggling around the swimming pool and partying with champagne looked like they were having the time of their lives. But this reality TV hit was no Love Island. Advertisement 26 Dennis Hof pictured with three of his employees Credit: getty 26 The girls at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch looked like they were having fun and hanging out Credit: getty 26 Air Force Amy was one of the stand out stars in the show Credit: Splash 26 Cathouse acted as a 'recruitment' poster for young wannabes Credit: Rex Features The gloss and glamour of Cathouse, which aired from 2005 to 2014, hid a dark reality and the pink-painted paradise in the sunshine was actually a legalised brothel in Nevada called The Bunny Club Ranch. For girls like Dolly Hart, who grew up watching Cathouse, the intoxicating picture seved as a recruitment ad. 'Around the time that I caught a glimpse of the show, I was probably 11, 12,' she says. 'The girls looked like they were having fun. "There was a camaraderie amongst them. It seemed like you could make friends there. I was thinking, when I grow up I'm going to go there.' Advertisement In the six-part documentary, Secrets of Bunny Ranch, former employees reveal the truth behind glossy image promoted by publicity hungry owner, Dennis Hof in the show, claiming bullying, humiliation and sexual assault were the norm and that they felt trapped. 'I saw the velvet couch, the pink Bunny House on TV and thought it was so cute,' says Dolly. 'I was having trouble making friends as a first generation little Mexican girl, getting bullied and being labelled the ugly duckling. 'I didn't come from a privileged background and I saw these girls making money on the show and thought, 'Let's go for it.' Advertisement "The Cathouse made it seem like it was the Playboy mansion with bunny playmates playfully jumping on each other and tickle fighting. But it was nothing like that. 'Dennis is an intimidating predator who knew who he could coerce and manipulate. The last time he propositioned me for sex was at his birthday party. I created the notorious 'OnlyFans Playboy mansion' - I've made £39 MILLION in 2 years, it's better than being a waitress 26 Hof claimed he treated the girls fairly and was no 'pimp' Credit: Getty - Contributor 26 The brothel was based in Lyon County, one of the few counties in the USA which permits legalized prostitution Credit: getty Advertisement "He expected me to have a threesome with him and this other girl. I asked if I would be paid and he said no, it's my birthday. I refused.' Hof, born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1946, made good money selling time-shares before turning that business knowledge to buying and transforming The Bunny Ranch, taking prostitution out of the shadows and into the mainstream with his flair for publicity. TV and radio interviews led to the reality series Cathouse where everything at the brothel appeared to be professional and fun with the women treated fairly and respectfully by Hof, who the girls called 'Daddy.' 'I'm a businessman who supplies a place and an opportunity for ladies to work and we share the proceeds,' Hof liked to claim. 'The last thing I am is a pimp.' Advertisement Easy prey 26 Shelly Dushell, started working at the Bunny Ranch aged 30 after her house was destroyed by a tornado Credit: Crime+Investigation 26 Every Thursday evening prostitutes had an opportunity to buy new 'work clothes' from a salesman (Shelly pictured) Credit: getty 26 Shelly takes a cigarette break between clients Credit: Getty Shelly Dushell, who began working there at the age of 30 after her house was destroyed by a tornado and she had divorced her husband, has a very different view. Advertisement 'I saw the ugly side of Dennis but the world on Cathouse only saw the fun side of him because they didn't know the real Dennis. He was all about being violent.' After hearing Hof and one of his favourite girls at the ranch – known as Air Force Amy – talking about the brothel on TV, Shelly decided to apply. 'I sent an email with a picture of myself to the ranch and Dennis Hof himself called me back within two hours and said, 'I want you out here.' "I flew out and he picked me up at the airport and he told me that HBO was doing a show and he wanted me to be part of it. Advertisement 'He walked me in and there were cameramen filming there. Dennis took me out to the bungalow behind the building and wanted sex. He didn't want to wear a condom. I was absolutely horrified. Shelly Dushell "That was my first day at the ranch. I was afraid to tell Dennis no. No one cares if a prostitute gets raped. 'Dennis preyed upon the women that were the most easily victimised. I was afraid to not go along with what he wanted. "It was hard for me to resist Dennis in the first couple of years that I was there. Advertisement 'He liked that power and control over the girls and he was very violent when he had sex. He liked to slap and choke. It was hard to get him to stop.' Former Bunny Ranch cashier, Shonda, says: 'Dennis had a very active sex life with the working girls. "There were girls who would offer themselves to him and there were girls who didn't want to sleep with him but felt they had to. "He had a great presence on TV but behind closed doors, Dennis was a rattlesnake.' Advertisement 'Recruitment' ad for young girls 26 Air Force Amy looks through a box of tricks Credit: Getty 26 Air Force Amy, who features in the documentary, was a Cathouse star Credit: bridget bennett 26 Dolly Hart, revealed she grew up watching Cathouse wishing to go there Credit: Crime+Investigation 26 Ex-workers revealed Cathouse was a set up Credit: Crime+Investigation Advertisement A regular feature of the show saw the women happily running into the parlour whenever the bell rang, signifying a customer had arrived. There they would line up while he chose who he wanted. But their smiles hid their humiliation. This 'unscripted' TV series was very much not that. 'It wasn't a documentary. We were told what to do,' says Shelly, who claims she was paid $300 dollars for onscreen sex scenes and nothin for non sex scenes. 'The Cathouse show was set up. In the first scene I did they wanted the women to sit down with a bunch of clients, teaching them about good sex. Advertisement "But one of the men was not a client. I recognised him as Jesse Fillmer, a driver and bartender at the Ranch.' Jesse confirms: 'Everyone in the scene who was supposed to be a customer were actually friends of Dennis or people who worked at the Ranch. "The Cathouse was just basically a promotional video for the Bunny Ranch.' Shelly regrets being part of the fake image that encouraged young girls to be a part of the sex industry. Advertisement 'HBO definitely wanted it to look like it was a fun place to be and so I can see where it can be tempting for a young girl to watch the Cathouse show and think it would be something fun,' she says. 'But they don't understand the reality of it. They aren't seeing what it is really like behind closed doors with Dennis. 'I didn't know that young girls would come to work there who would never have thought of working there if they had not seen the show. "So, looking back, I should never have agreed to do it. It's just horrifying to think that girls so young would want to do that.' Advertisement Deep regrets 26 Dennis Hof, 72, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, died at one of his brothels after a birthday party in 2018 Credit: Getty Images 26 Moonlite Bunny Ranch featured in HBO reality TV show Cathouse: The Series between 2005 and 2007 Credit:26 Alice Little revealed she would sneak downstairs to watch Cathouse when her parents went to bed Tom Hurwitz, Cathouse cinematographer, also came to regret his involvement. Advertisement 'Over the weeks that I worked there I realised that HBO never really wanted to dip further than just below the first public relations level. "Dennis groping people was a daily occurrence, and they pretended to like it,' he says. 'After the first season of Cathouse had been on the air, young women wanted to live in the glamorous image of it. "And so the show began to attract younger women to the Bunny Ranch. Advertisement "It became clear to me that we were part of the recruiting system and I did not feel good about it.' Another of these starry-eyed 'wannabes' was Alice Little. 26 Tom Hurwitz, Cathouse cinematographer, came to regret his involvement 26 Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, can be seen on Crime+Investigation on Wednesday, 25 June Credit: Crime+Investigation Advertisement 'Seeing something that was on late at night that my parents didn't really want me to watch… as a kid that only makes you more intrigued,' she recalls. 'They would go to bed and I would sneak out of my room, go downstairs and watch with the volume turned down low. "I thought it was the coolest thing, being paid to be gorgeous. It sounded amazing. So I decided I was going to go the Bunny Ranch.' As Cathouse became a huge hit, Hof was raking the money in and bought up a string of brothels nearby, transforming them into the model of the Bunny Ranch. Advertisement But he was eager to tell interviewers that he offered women the chance to earn a good living themselves. 'This is an opportunity for you either to make a lot of money in four or five years, invest it properly and never work another day in your life or to make a good amount of money in a short period of time every month so you can be with your kids and work on your writing or acting career or your studies,' he said. The brothel had a 50-50 split of profits with the women but they would had little left after being forced to pay for their accommodation along with laundry bills, clothes, make-up, condoms, lube and other subsidiaries. If they went days without being chosen by a client, their debts grew so many were constantly trying to pay off their tabs, effectively keeping them trapped there, as they couldn't walk away. Advertisement Wheel of doom 26 It was difficult for ex workers to rebuild their lives without 'extensive medical, psychological and psychiatric assistance' 26 Taina Bien-Aime´ said: 'Cathouse was glamorising the sex trade and pimps' Credit: getty 26 Ex-workers revealed no one became millionaires from the show Taina Bien-Aime was a former HBO Business Affairs Director before becoming an anti-sex trafficking activist. Advertisement 'Cathouse was glamorising the sex trade and pimps,' she says. 'It was not looking at the suffering of the women who are in these brothels. "On screen there is free-flowing alcohol, they are having fun, everybody's laughing, there's a pool. It's a beautiful marketing ploy to recruit young vulnerable women to try it out. 'It's a myth that they can become millionaires. And the moment they leave prostitution they are in abject poverty and it's very difficult for them to rebuild their lives without extensive medical, psychological and psychiatric assistance.' Rape claims 26 Jennifer O'Kane accused Hof of rape Advertisement 26 Rebekah Charleston, who worked at the Bunny Ranch, tried to stay away from Hof 26 Vince Neil, singer, assaulted Andrea Terry, a working girl at the Ranch Credit: wireImage Bekah Charleston, who worked at the Bunny Ranch, adds: 'There are many girls there who are falling into debt. And that's a position you don't want ever to be in at the brothel. "Because that means that whenever a customer finally does pick them, they have to do whatever he wants. No matter if they want to or not. Advertisement 'Dennis himself was notorious for 'partying', which meant having sex with whoever he wanted and not giving them any money. Whenever he was around in the parlour I would try to stay away from him.' Bekah was there when Vince Neil, lead singer of the heavy metal band, Motley Crue, came to visit Dennis in 2003. He was more angry than I had ever seen someone Andrea Terry Andrea Terry, a working girl at the Ranch, later filed a police report after an encounter with him. In the report she says, 'He tried to get me to touch his penis. I reminded him we had to pay before any sexual acts could take place. Advertisement "With such a rage in his eyes he grabbed me by the throat and pushed me against the window frame, holding me there, yelling at me, then yanked me down towards the bed. He was more angry than I had ever seen someone.' Bekah was upset by Hof's reaction to the violence. 26 Each prostitute from out of state works and sleeps in one of the brothel's 30 rooms during the entire duration of her stay Credit: Getty Images 26 Hof was accused of being violent with the girls Credit: Getty Images Advertisement 'Instead of Dennis Hof kicking Vince Neil out for assaulting one of his employees, he took him to the bar, bought him a drink and then paid for him to party with some other girl. I mean, they don't protect you. "In the end, the police actually charged Vince Neil and he pleaded no contest but if Dennis Hof had had his way, no one would have ever known.' Hof died in 2018 of a heart attack. Before his death several women who had worked at the Bunny Ranch accused him of rape, including Theresa Lowe and Jennifer O'Kane. He denied their allegations and never faced any charges, with authorities citing a lack of evidence. Advertisement Vince Neil, The Bunny Ranch and HBO did not respond to the producer's request for comment. Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, can be seen on Crime+Investigation on Wednesday, 25 June
The Sun
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I was lured to infamous Bunny Ranch brothel by Love Island style show…vile star Hof choked girls & forced us into sex
WITH their model looks and stunning figures the young women giggling around the swimming pool and partying with champagne looked like they were having the time of their lives. But this reality TV hit was no Love Island. 26 26 26 26 The gloss and glamour of Cathouse, which aired from 2005 to 2014, hid a dark reality and the pink-painted paradise in the sunshine was actually a legalised brothel in Nevada called The Bunny Club Ranch. For girls like Dolly Hart, who grew up watching Cathouse, the intoxicating picture seved as a recruitment ad. 'Around the time that I caught a glimpse of the show, I was probably 11, 12,' she says. 'The girls looked like they were having fun. "There was a camaraderie amongst them. It seemed like you could make friends there. I was thinking, when I grow up I'm going to go there.' In the six-part documentary, Secrets of Bunny Ranch, former employees reveal the truth behind glossy image promoted by publicity hungry owner, Dennis Hof in the show, claiming bullying, humiliation and sexual assault were the norm and that they felt trapped. 'I saw the velvet couch, the pink Bunny House on TV and thought it was so cute,' says Dolly. 'I was having trouble making friends as a first generation little Mexican girl, getting bullied and being labelled the ugly duckling. 'I didn't come from a privileged background and I saw these girls making money on the show and thought, 'Let's go for it.' "The Cathouse made it seem like it was the Playboy mansion with bunny playmates playfully jumping on each other and tickle fighting. But it was nothing like that. 'Dennis is an intimidating predator who knew who he could coerce and manipulate. The last time he propositioned me for sex was at his birthday party. I created the notorious 'OnlyFans Playboy mansion' - I've made £39 MILLION in 2 years, it's better than being a waitress 26 26 "He expected me to have a threesome with him and this other girl. I asked if I would be paid and he said no, it's my birthday. I refused.' Hof, born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1946, made good money selling time-shares before turning that business knowledge to buying and transforming The Bunny Ranch, taking prostitution out of the shadows and into the mainstream with his flair for publicity. TV and radio interviews led to the reality series Cathouse where everything at the brothel appeared to be professional and fun with the women treated fairly and respectfully by Hof, who the girls called 'Daddy.' 'I'm a businessman who supplies a place and an opportunity for ladies to work and we share the proceeds,' Hof liked to claim. 'The last thing I am is a pimp.' Easy prey 26 26 26 Shelly Dushell, who began working there at the age of 30 after her house was destroyed by a tornado and she had divorced her husband, has a very different view. 'I saw the ugly side of Dennis but the world on Cathouse only saw the fun side of him because they didn't know the real Dennis. He was all about being violent.' After hearing Hof and one of his favourite girls at the ranch – known as Air Force Amy – talking about the brothel on TV, Shelly decided to apply. 'I sent an email with a picture of myself to the ranch and Dennis Hof himself called me back within two hours and said, 'I want you out here.' "I flew out and he picked me up at the airport and he told me that HBO was doing a show and he wanted me to be part of it. 'He walked me in and there were cameramen filming there. Dennis took me out to the bungalow behind the building and wanted sex. He didn't want to wear a condom. I was absolutely horrified. Shelly Dushell "That was my first day at the ranch. I was afraid to tell Dennis no. No one cares if a prostitute gets raped. 'Dennis preyed upon the women that were the most easily victimised. I was afraid to not go along with what he wanted. "It was hard for me to resist Dennis in the first couple of years that I was there. 'He liked that power and control over the girls and he was very violent when he had sex. He liked to slap and choke. It was hard to get him to stop.' Former Bunny Ranch cashier, Shonda, says: 'Dennis had a very active sex life with the working girls. "There were girls who would offer themselves to him and there were girls who didn't want to sleep with him but felt they had to. "He had a great presence on TV but behind closed doors, Dennis was a rattlesnake.' 'Recruitment' ad for young girls 26 26 26 26 A regular feature of the show saw the women happily running into the parlour whenever the bell rang, signifying a customer had arrived. There they would line up while he chose who he wanted. But their smiles hid their humiliation. This 'unscripted' TV series was very much not that. 'It wasn't a documentary. We were told what to do,' says Shelly, who claims she was paid $300 dollars for onscreen sex scenes and nothin for non sex scenes. 'The Cathouse show was set up. In the first scene I did they wanted the women to sit down with a bunch of clients, teaching them about good sex. "But one of the men was not a client. I recognised him as Jesse Fillmer, a driver and bartender at the Ranch.' Jesse confirms: 'Everyone in the scene who was supposed to be a customer were actually friends of Dennis or people who worked at the Ranch. "The Cathouse was just basically a promotional video for the Bunny Ranch.' Shelly regrets being part of the fake image that encouraged young girls to be a part of the sex industry. 'HBO definitely wanted it to look like it was a fun place to be and so I can see where it can be tempting for a young girl to watch the Cathouse show and think it would be something fun,' she says. 'But they don't understand the reality of it. They aren't seeing what it is really like behind closed doors with Dennis. 'I didn't know that young girls would come to work there who would never have thought of working there if they had not seen the show. "So, looking back, I should never have agreed to do it. It's just horrifying to think that girls so young would want to do that.' Deep regrets 26 26 26 Tom Hurwitz, Cathouse cinematographer, also came to regret his involvement. 'Over the weeks that I worked there I realised that HBO never really wanted to dip further than just below the first public relations level. "Dennis groping people was a daily occurrence, and they pretended to like it,' he says. 'After the first season of Cathouse had been on the air, young women wanted to live in the glamorous image of it. "And so the show began to attract younger women to the Bunny Ranch. "It became clear to me that we were part of the recruiting system and I did not feel good about it.' Another of these starry-eyed 'wannabes' was Alice Little. 26 26 'Seeing something that was on late at night that my parents didn't really want me to watch… as a kid that only makes you more intrigued,' she recalls. 'They would go to bed and I would sneak out of my room, go downstairs and watch with the volume turned down low. "I thought it was the coolest thing, being paid to be gorgeous. It sounded amazing. So I decided I was going to go the Bunny Ranch.' As Cathouse became a huge hit, Hof was raking the money in and bought up a string of brothels nearby, transforming them into the model of the Bunny Ranch. But he was eager to tell interviewers that he offered women the chance to earn a good living themselves. 'This is an opportunity for you either to make a lot of money in four or five years, invest it properly and never work another day in your life or to make a good amount of money in a short period of time every month so you can be with your kids and work on your writing or acting career or your studies,' he said. The brothel had a 50-50 split of profits with the women but they would had little left after being forced to pay for their accommodation along with laundry bills, clothes, make-up, condoms, lube and other subsidiaries. If they went days without being chosen by a client, their debts grew so many were constantly trying to pay off their tabs, effectively keeping them trapped there, as they couldn't walk away. Wheel of doom 26 26 26 Taina Bien-Aime was a former HBO Business Affairs Director before becoming an anti-sex trafficking activist. 'Cathouse was glamorising the sex trade and pimps, ' she says. 'It was not looking at the suffering of the women who are in these brothels. "On screen there is free-flowing alcohol, they are having fun, everybody's laughing, there's a pool. It's a beautiful marketing ploy to recruit young vulnerable women to try it out. 'It's a myth that they can become millionaires. And the moment they leave prostitution they are in abject poverty and it's very difficult for them to rebuild their lives without extensive medical, psychological and psychiatric assistance.' Rape claims 26 26 26 Bekah Charleston, who worked at the Bunny Ranch, adds: 'There are many girls there who are falling into debt. And that's a position you don't want ever to be in at the brothel. "Because that means that whenever a customer finally does pick them, they have to do whatever he wants. No matter if they want to or not. 'Dennis himself was notorious for 'partying', which meant having sex with whoever he wanted and not giving them any money. Whenever he was around in the parlour I would try to stay away from him.' Bekah was there when Vince Neil, lead singer of the heavy metal band, Motley Crue, came to visit Dennis in 2003. Andrea Terry, a working girl at the Ranch, later filed a police report after an encounter with him. In the report she says, 'He tried to get me to touch his penis. I reminded him we had to pay before any sexual acts could take place. "With such a rage in his eyes he grabbed me by the throat and pushed me against the window frame, holding me there, yelling at me, then yanked me down towards the bed. He was more angry than I had ever seen someone.' Bekah was upset by Hof's reaction to the violence. 26 26 'Instead of Dennis Hof kicking Vince Neil out for assaulting one of his employees, he took him to the bar, bought him a drink and then paid for him to party with some other girl. I mean, they don't protect you. "In the end, the police actually charged Vince Neil and he pleaded no contest but if Dennis Hof had had his way, no one would have ever known.' Hof died in 2018 of a heart attack. Before his death several women who had worked at the Bunny Ranch accused him of rape, including Theresa Lowe and Jennifer O'Kane. He denied their allegations and never faced any charges, with authorities citing a lack of evidence. Vince Neil, The Bunny Ranch and HBO did not respond to the producer's request for comment. Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, can be seen on Crime+Investigation on Wednesday, 25 June
The Irish Sun
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
I was lured to infamous Bunny Ranch brothel by Love Island style show…vile star Hof choked girls & forced us into sex
WITH their model looks and stunning figures the young women giggling around the swimming pool and partying with champagne looked like they were having the time of their lives. But this reality TV hit was no Love Island. Advertisement 26 Dennis Hof pictured with three of his employees Credit: getty 26 The girls at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch looked like they were having fun and hanging out Credit: getty 26 Air Force Amy was one of the stand out stars in the show Credit: Splash 26 Cathouse acted as a 'recruitment' poster for young wannabes Credit: Rex Features The gloss and glamour of Cathouse, which aired from 2005 to 2014, hid a dark reality and the pink-painted paradise in the sunshine was actually a legalised brothel in Nevada called For girls like Dolly Hart, who grew up watching Cathouse, the intoxicating picture seved as a recruitment ad. 'Around the time that I caught a glimpse of the show, I was probably 11, 12,' she says. 'The girls looked like they were having fun. "There was a camaraderie amongst them. It seemed like you could make friends there. I was thinking, when I grow up I'm going to go there.' Advertisement READ MORE IN DENNIS HOF In the six-part documentary, Secrets of Bunny Ranch, former employees reveal the truth behind glossy image promoted by publicity hungry owner, 'I saw the velvet couch, the pink 'I was having trouble making friends as a first generation little Mexican girl, getting bullied and being labelled the ugly duckling. 'I didn't come from a privileged background and I saw these girls making money on the show and thought, 'Let's go for it.' Advertisement Most read in The Sun "The Cathouse made it seem like it was the Playboy mansion with bunny playmates playfully jumping on each other and tickle fighting. But it was nothing like that. I created the notorious 'OnlyFans Playboy mansion' - I've made £39 MILLION in 2 years, it's better than being a waitress 26 Hof claimed he treated the girls fairly and was no 'pimp' Credit: Getty - Contributor 26 The brothel was based in Lyon County, one of the few counties in the USA which permits legalized prostitution Credit: getty Advertisement "He expected me to have a threesome with him and this other girl. I asked if I would be paid and he said no, it's my birthday. I refused.' Hof, born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1946, made good money selling time-shares before turning that business knowledge to buying and transforming The Bunny Ranch, taking prostitution out of the shadows and into the mainstream with his flair for publicity. TV and radio interviews led to the reality series Cathouse where everything at the brothel appeared to be professional and fun with the women treated fairly and respectfully by Hof, who the girls called 'Daddy.' 'I'm a businessman who supplies a place and an opportunity for ladies to work and we share the proceeds,' Hof liked to claim. 'The last thing I am is a pimp.' Advertisement Easy prey 26 Shelly Dushell, started working at the Bunny Ranch aged 30 after her house was destroyed by a tornado Credit: Crime+Investigation 26 Every Thursday evening prostitutes had an opportunity to buy new 'work clothes' from a salesman (Shelly pictured) Credit: getty 26 Shelly takes a cigarette break between clients Credit: Getty Shelly Dushell, who began working there at the age of 30 after her house was destroyed by a tornado and she had divorced her husband, has a very different view. Advertisement 'I saw the ugly side of Dennis but the world on Cathouse only saw the fun side of him because they didn't know the real Dennis. He was all about being violent.' After hearing Hof and one of his favourite girls at the ranch – known as Air Force Amy – talking about the brothel on TV, Shelly decided to apply. 'I sent an email with a picture of myself to the ranch and "I flew out and he picked me up at the airport and he told me that HBO was doing a show and he wanted me to be part of it. Advertisement 'He walked me in and there were cameramen filming there. Dennis took me out to the bungalow behind the building and wanted sex. He didn't want to wear a condom. I was absolutely horrified. Shelly Dushell "That was my first day at the ranch. I was afraid to tell Dennis no. No one cares if a prostitute gets raped. 'Dennis preyed upon the women that were the most easily victimised. I was afraid to not go along with what he wanted. "It was hard for me to resist Dennis in the first couple of years that I was there. Advertisement 'He liked that power and control over the girls and he was very violent when he had sex. He liked to slap and choke. It was hard to get him to stop.' Former Bunny Ranch cashier, Shonda, says: 'Dennis had a very active sex life with the working girls. "There were girls who would offer themselves to him and there were girls who didn't want to sleep with him but felt they had to. "He had a great presence on TV but behind closed doors, Dennis was a rattlesnake.' Advertisement 'Recruitment' ad for young girls 26 Air Force Amy looks through a box of tricks Credit: Getty 26 Air Force Amy, who features in the documentary, was a Cathouse star Credit: bridget bennett 26 Dolly Hart, revealed she grew up watching Cathouse wishing to go there Credit: Crime+Investigation 26 Ex-workers revealed Cathouse was a set up Credit: Crime+Investigation Advertisement A regular feature of the show saw the women happily running into the parlour whenever the bell rang, signifying a customer had arrived. There they would line up while he chose who he wanted. But their smiles hid their humiliation. This 'unscripted' TV series was very much not that. 'It wasn't a documentary. We were told what to do,' says Shelly, who claims she was paid $300 dollars for onscreen sex scenes and nothin for non sex scenes. 'The Cathouse show was set up. In the first scene I did they wanted the women to sit down with a bunch of clients, teaching them about good sex. Advertisement "But one of the men was not a client. I recognised him as Jesse Fillmer, a driver and bartender at the Ranch.' Jesse confirms: 'Everyone in the scene who was supposed to be a customer were actually friends of Dennis or people who worked at the Ranch. "The Cathouse was just basically a promotional video for the Bunny Ranch.' Shelly regrets being part of the fake image that encouraged young girls to be a part of the Advertisement 'HBO definitely wanted it to look like it was a fun place to be and so I can see where it can be tempting for a young girl to watch the Cathouse show and think it would be something fun,' she says. 'But they don't understand the reality of it. They aren't seeing what it is really like behind closed doors with Dennis. 'I didn't know that young girls would come to work there who would never have thought of working there if they had not seen the show. "So, looking back, I should never have agreed to do it. It's just horrifying to think that girls so young would want to do that.' Advertisement Deep regrets 26 Dennis Hof, 72, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, died at one of his brothels after a birthday party in 2018 Credit: Getty Images 26 Moonlite Bunny Ranch featured in HBO reality TV show Cathouse: The Series between 2005 and 2007 Credit:26 Alice Little revealed she would sneak downstairs to watch Cathouse when her parents went to bed Tom Hurwitz, Cathouse cinematographer, also came to regret his involvement. Advertisement 'Over the weeks that I worked there I realised that HBO never really wanted to dip further than just below the first public relations level. "Dennis groping people was a daily occurrence, and they pretended to like it,' he says. 'After the first season of Cathouse had been on the air, young women wanted to live in the glamorous image of it. "And so the show began to attract younger women to the Bunny Ranch. Advertisement "It became clear to me that we were part of the recruiting system and I did not feel good about it.' Another of these starry-eyed 'wannabes' was Alice Little. 26 Tom Hurwitz, Cathouse cinematographer, came to regret his involvement 26 Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, can be seen on Crime+Investigation on Wednesday, 25 June Credit: Crime+Investigation Advertisement 'Seeing something that was on late at night that my parents didn't really want me to watch… as a kid that only makes you more intrigued,' she recalls. 'They would go to bed and I would sneak out of my room, go downstairs and watch with the volume turned down low. "I thought it was the coolest thing, being paid to be gorgeous. It sounded amazing. So I decided I was going to go the Bunny Ranch.' As Cathouse became a huge hit, Hof was raking the money in and bought up a string of brothels nearby, transforming them into the model of the Bunny Ranch. Advertisement But he was eager to tell interviewers that he offered women the chance to earn a good living themselves. 'This is an opportunity for you either to make a lot of money in four or five years, invest it properly and never work another day in your life or to make a good amount of money in a short period of time every month so you can be with your kids and work on your writing or acting career or your studies,' he said. If they went days without being chosen by a client, their debts grew so many were constantly trying to pay off their tabs, effectively keeping them trapped there, as they couldn't walk away. Advertisement Wheel of doom 26 It was difficult for ex workers to rebuild their lives without 'extensive medical, psychological and psychiatric assistance' 26 Taina Bien-Aime´ said: 'Cathouse was glamorising the sex trade and pimps' Credit: getty 26 Ex-workers revealed no one became millionaires from the show Taina Bien-Aime was a former HBO Business Affairs Director before becoming an anti-sex trafficking activist. Advertisement 'Cathouse was glamorising the "On screen there is free-flowing alcohol, they are having fun, everybody's laughing, there's a pool. It's a beautiful marketing ploy to recruit young vulnerable women to try it out. 'It's a myth that they can become millionaires. And the moment they leave prostitution they are in abject poverty and it's very difficult for them to rebuild their lives without extensive medical, psychological and psychiatric assistance.' Rape claims 26 Jennifer O'Kane accused Hof of rape Advertisement 26 Rebekah Charleston, who worked at the Bunny Ranch, tried to stay away from Hof 26 Vince Neil, singer, assaulted Andrea Terry, a working girl at the Ranch Credit: wireImage Bekah Charleston, who worked at the Bunny Ranch, adds: 'There are many girls there who are falling into debt. And that's a position you don't want ever to be in at the brothel. "Because that means that whenever a customer finally does pick them, they have to do whatever he wants. No matter if they want to or not. Advertisement 'Dennis himself was notorious for 'partying', which meant having sex with whoever he wanted and not giving them any money. Whenever he was around in the parlour I would try to stay away from him.' Bekah was there when Vince Neil, lead singer of the heavy metal band, Motley Crue, came to visit Dennis in 2003. He was more angry than I had ever seen someone Andrea Terry Andrea Terry, a working girl at the Ranch, later filed a police report after an encounter with him. In the report she says, 'He tried to get me to touch his penis. I reminded him we had to pay before any sexual acts could take place. Advertisement "With such a rage in his eyes he grabbed me by the throat and pushed me against the window frame, holding me there, yelling at me, then yanked me down towards the bed. He was more angry than I had ever seen someone.' Bekah was upset by Hof's reaction to the violence. 26 Each prostitute from out of state works and sleeps in one of the brothel's 30 rooms during the entire duration of her stay Credit: Getty Images 26 Hof was accused of being violent with the girls Credit: Getty Images Advertisement 'Instead of Dennis Hof kicking Vince Neil out for assaulting one of his employees, he took him to the bar, bought him a drink and then paid for him to party with some other girl. I mean, they don't protect you. "In the end, the police actually charged Vince Neil and he pleaded no contest but if Dennis Hof had had his way, no one would have ever known.' Hof died in 2018 of a heart attack. Before his death several women who had worked at the Bunny Ranch accused him of rape, including Theresa Lowe and Jennifer O'Kane. He denied their allegations and never faced any charges, with authorities citing a lack of evidence. Advertisement Vince Neil, The Bunny Ranch and HBO did not respond to the producer's request for comment. Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, can be seen on Crime+Investigation on Wednesday, 25 June
Daily Mail
19-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Former legal prostitute claims she was regularly raped by Dennis Hof and left for dead when she tried to escape
A former legal prostitute has claimed she was raped on a regular basis by Dennis Hof during the six months she worked at three of his brothels – and was beaten up so badly when she desperately tried to flee that she had multiple seizures and ended up in hospital. The shocking new A&E documentary series, Secrets from the Bunny Ranch, exposes what it claims is the seedy underbelly of Hof's legal brothels, who ran several establishments from 1992 until his death in 2018. Jennifer O'Kane Lawrence first started at Hof's Love Ranch South in Nevada and was only a legal prostitute for six months, but in that time, she claimed she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Hof at two of his brothels and left for dead when she tried to leave. Speaking in the documentary, Jennifer said that she was first raped by him on her first day at the Love Ranch South, where she worked under the pseudonym Karmen Leigh. 'Dennis was in my room, and he asked me to sit on the bed,' she recalled. 'The door was closed, and he told me to get undressed and I did. 'Dennis started touching me and he said he gets to try all the flavors. I told him I didn't think I needed to sleep with my boss. He's like, "I've got to try you, this is how it's got to be." 'I did not authorize Dennis Hof to have sex with me, nor did I get paid,' she continued. 'I know and I feel in every bone in my body that Dennis Hof raped me. He owns us, he owns you and so he gets to try you.' Jennifer claimed the incident was swept under the rug after she tried reporting it both at the brothel and with the cops. 'I went into the town, and I went to the Nye County Sheriff's Office, and I said I wanted to report a rape. He said who? I said Dennis Hof. It didn't even phase him, it was like… and? What do you want me to do? 'I learned that day that I was a prostitute. I was nothing more than the trash underneath their feet. 'The police didn't help me. The house staff don't care. No one cared, that was it.' Jennifer said that she walked out of the police station and went back to the brothel at Love Ranch South. 'I was completely trapped at the brothel at that time. I had no money for food, I had no money for a hotel. I was stuck 25 miles outside of town in the middle of nowhere. 'I had a moment that this was my life, I'm going to make as much money as I can as fast as I can and I'm going to get the hell out of here.' Jennifer revealed that she had initially turned to the brothel to escape her abusive husband, Johnny, and was led to believe it would be a safe working environment because of what she saw on the HBO Cathouse, which was a popular television show about the brothel. Unfortunately, the violence from Hof did not stop and she claimed she was repeatedly raped by him in the short time that she was employed at his brothels. 'Once I got to his lair and he had handcuffs, toys, and all of that on the bed already,' she recalled after Hof had flown her to work at the Moonlite BunnyRanch. 'He would handcuff me to the bed. He would then stick things in me. It wasn't even sex; he would literally shove things in me that hurt. 'He dominated me. That's all he did and by doing those things, he felt like he had control over me.' She continued: 'When Dennis decided that he liked me… he raped me on a regular basis any time he was at the property. 'So, if he was there for a week, it was every night or every other night, or a couple of times a day.' While Jennifer desperately wanted to leave the industry, she became stuck there once her abusive ex-husband had tracked her down. 'I didn't leave the brothel because the fear factor was there,' she explained. 'The protection was there. I had already been through Dennis raping me, but I wasn't getting beat, so those were my choices.' Jennifer's luck began to change when she met Michael, her now husband, at Hof's Love Ranch in Pahrump. After striking up a connection, the pair continued to speak daily, and Michael spent 'quite a bit of money and kept coming back.' Eventually, during Jennifer's sixth month at the brothel, the couple decided that she was going to leave for good. The decision, however, was said to infuriate Hof who allegedly set his workers on her as she was backing out of the ranch in her U-Haul truck with her belongings. She was left so badly beaten that she had multiple seizures and was taken to hospital with head injuries. 'Dennis made it very, very, very clear that I was not to leave. That was his vagina. I thought I could quit a job… [but] it didn't work that way,' she said. Recounting the brutal attack, Jennifer claimed: 'Dennis sent his girls to beat the s**t out of me and try and kill me and they did a pretty good damn job. 'I was on the ground having grand mal seizures. Seizure after seizure after seizure. I knew every single one of them, I had smoked with them, I had done parties with them, I knew these people personally. 'I remember waking up in the hospital. I had a head injury and so Michael took me to his house, he took care of me. I never got restitution from that. I had to pay the hospital bills from it. 'Maybe a month later, my abusive ex-husband put a bullet in a young lady's head, and he shot himself in the head.' According to Mayo Clinic, a grand mal seizure causes a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. Following the attack, Jennifer moved in with Michael and the pair went on to buy a house together – and they have been together ever since. 'My life is the best it's ever been in 53 years,' she gushed. 'I tell him all the time that he's my knight in shining armor and I'm waiting for the ball to drop. I have a great life.' The Moonlite BunnyRanch previously slammed the allegations made against Hof in Secrets of the Bunny Ranch in a statement to Daily Mail. They said: 'We note that allegations against Mr. Hof are not new. 'During his lifetime, Mr. Hof publicly addressed and denied similar accusations through official statements and media responses, including detailed rebuttals available on his website. 'We find it particularly concerning that these matters are being revisited now, when Mr. Hof is no longer alive to personally respond to or defend himself against any claims. 'The timing raises serious questions about fairness, as the accused party cannot provide their perspective or defense.' They added: 'The Moonlite BunnyRanch has always operated in compliance with Nevada state regulations governing legal brothels, and we remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of operation and worker safety.'
News.com.au
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Sex workers expose ugly truth of living at notorious Moonlite Bunny Ranch
Two decades after the headline-hitting HBO docuseries brought prostitution into America's living rooms, sex workers who appeared on the show are accusing its producers of exploitation and misrepresentation. Cathouse, which began airing in June 2005, took a lighthearted look at the lives of employees at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Mound House, Nevada. An instant ratings smash, it ran for two seasons and spawned 10 specials. The prurient program portrayed the world's oldest profession as empowering and depicted the brothel as a makeshift sorority house where glamorous gal pals bonded by profiting off of horny, harmless, men. But the reality, exposed in the six-part special Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, premiering June 12 on A&E, was far more sinister. The documentary paints a picture of desperate women humiliated, intimidated and manipulated by the brothel's notorious owner, Dennis Hof, who was later accused of rape by a former employee. Several women who worked at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch claim Cathouse tacitly encouraged young female viewers to pursue a career in prostitution, buoyed by the show's fun and fizzy tone. 'It enticed these young girls and we did get a lot of them,' Cathouse star Shelly Dushell told The Post. 'As soon as they turned 18, [they] were trying to work there… I mean, the show really was good for recruiting.' 'I would say to HBO and Cathouse [producers] shame on you,' former Bunny Ranch employee Bekah Charleston declared in an interview with The Post. 'Shame on you for making something look glamorous and fun when that's not the reality. It wasn't glamorous and fun. It is disgusting and horrific work in the middle of nowhere.' HBO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A powerful pimp Hof had a starring role on Cathouse. In the mid-2000s, at the time of the show's airing, he was portrayed in mainstream media as a pioneering entrepreneur getting rich in light of legalised prostitution. But far from being a benevolent boss, the Bunny Ranch was more like Hof's house of horrors, with employees saying they lived in fear of him. Dushell told The Post that Hof, who owned six other legal brothels, regularly pressured her into sex. 'Dennis wanted to sleep with me the first night that I got there,' she claimed. 'I didn't say no to him, so I wasn't raped, but I was put in a position where I felt like I could not say no to him…. So I just went along with it and I thought, 'OK, well, maybe he makes all the girls do this,' and I was right.' 'For the most part, he tried out most of the girls that would let him,' she added. 'And then he apparently he did it even when girls didn't want him to.' Per The Las Vegas Review Journal, Hof was accused of raping a prostitute at one of his brothels in 2005. He was also accused of sexually assaulting women in 2009 and 2011. Hof ran as a Republican candidate for the Nevada Assembly in 2018. He died of a heart attack in October of that year, but his name was left on the ballot at elections the following month. He was posthumously elected to the seat. 'If Dennis had lived, he probably would have ended up in prison because of all the accusations he had against him,' Dushell said of the pimp-turned-politician. Meanwhile, on Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, several employees claim that Hof financially exploited them. He allegedly underpaid numerous workers, stripping them of their agency and effectively keeping them confined to the remote brothel. Charleston, who worked briefly at the Bunny Ranch in the early 2000s, told The Post that some of the employees were trapped there 'for years at a time without leaving.' 'I was the only person at that time that I remember who actually had my own vehicle there,' she shockingly stated. As for Hof: 'He was just was a disgusting, vile human being that just profited off of other people's backs and bragged about it.' Moonlite Bunny Ranch has released a statement regarding the new A&E special, stating: 'As the documentary series Secrets of the Bunny Ranch has not yet aired, and we have not been provided with an advance copy, it would be premature for us to address any specific allegations without first reviewing the actual content and claims being made. That said, we note that allegations against Mr. Hof are not new.' 'During his lifetime, Mr. Hof publicly addressed and denied similar accusations through official statements and media responses, including detailed rebuttals available on his website,' the statement continued. 'We find it particularly concerning that these matters are being revisited now, when Mr. Hof is no longer alive to personally respond to or defend himself against any claims. The timing raises serious questions about fairness, as the accused party cannot provide their perspective or defence.' Empowerment or exploitation? Hof wasn't the only one making a pretty penny from the Moonlite Bunny Ranch. Cathouse quickly became a ratings smash for HBO, garnering millions of curious viewers. Dushell became one of the show's stars and was immediately recognized in public, but fame didn't come with a fortune. 'HBO wasn't much better than a pimp, because I was barely paid anything,' she claims in the Secrets of the Bunny Ranch documentary. 'I made between $300 and $350 per sex scene,' Dushell further explained to The Post. 'And that was all they paid me for.' 'I got actual pay stubs from HBO and W-2s mailed to me, and it was exciting to get an envelope that said 'HBO' on it with a paycheck, but the paycheck was just a few hundred dollars, so it was pretty embarrassing to be honest with you,' she said. 'They didn't pay me for just normal scenes, and it was just a ridiculously low amount of money. People seeing me on TV thought that I had gotten rich,' Dushell added. A different time Cathouse premiered a year after HBO aired the finale of Sex and the City — another envelope-pushing series in which women unabashedly discussed their sexual proclivities and activities. In the mid-2000s, pop culture seemingly promoted sex positivity at every turn, making it seem that women were profiting from their provocative pursuits, from Britney Spears in her raunchy video clips to Paris Hilton in her infamous sex tape. But in the wake of the #MeToo movement, many women are reassessing how much agency that era actually brought about. For posterity, the New York Post's 2002 review of the original Cathouse, which is referenced in Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, has aged far better. 'There hasn't been a portrayal of hookers this one-dimensional and phony since Pretty Woman,' our acid-tongued TV critic Linda Stasi savagely wrote. Cathouse is no longer available on HBO platforms. 'Even when we were filming it, I knew it wasn't a true representation,' Dushell admitted to The Post, saying the HBO show omitted the gritty reality of life at the brothel. 'They wanted to sell the show, they wanted to make money off the show, and they wanted to make money off the girls having a great time. They just didn't want to show the ugly side of it,' she further says in Secrets of the Bunny Ranch. Despite the veneer of glamour and empowerment that Cathouse presented, many of the employees were desperate women who had fallen on hard times. In the Secrets of the Bunny Ranch special, Dushell reveals that she was sexually abused as a child, saying: 'I probably would never have thought about working at the Bunny Ranch if I hadn't had an old man touching me when I was a little, bitty kid.' Charleston, meanwhile, told The Post that she was a teenage runaway when she got into prostitution. 'The vast majority of people that find themselves in prostitution are disenfranchised people that come from impoverished backgrounds, homelessness, the foster care system,' she said. 'I mean, I was a runaway kid living on the streets, vulnerable and hungry and so I think it's really important to keep that in mind.' Several years after leaving the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, Charleston was arrested for tax evasion and served 13 months in federal prison. It was later determined she had been a victim of sex trafficking and was granted a full pardon by President Trump in 2020. She has obtained both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree and is now a public speaker raising awareness about human trafficking. Both she and Dushell also want to raise awareness about not believing everything you see on TV. ' Cathouse did exploit the girls,' Dushell said. 'I really expected more from HBO. They came across with a great show, though. I mean, people loved it. It just wasn't real.'
