When Zara McDermott travelled to Thailand earlier this year, her mission was to make an even-handed documentary exploring the country’s ‘two conflicting sides’ – the idyllic beaches and the seedy underbelly of drugs and cheap sex.
What the Strictly star, 28, didn’t expect was the storm that has erupted since the release of her three-part BBC series. In it, Zara visits Bangkok and Pattaya, interviews sex workers and brands Thailand ‘Benidorm on steroids: cheap, cheerful, full of women’.
Locals have accused the show of being ‘repulsive’ and ‘misleading’, while contributors claim it was ‘full of lies’ and that ‘scenes were staged’. Others warn the programme could have ‘devastating consequences’ for the country’s vital tourism industry.
Yet a TV insider has told the Daily Mail the responsibility lies with the BBC, not Zara. ‘It is not Zara’s fight to have,’ the source said. ‘Given how much Zara does to raise awareness about difficult topics for young women, I’m sure she would be pretty upset to find herself in the middle of tensions between contributors and the BBC.’
Since leaving ITV dating show Love Island in 2018, Zara has worked to reinvent herself from bikini-clad influencer into serious filmmaker. In the past six years she has fronted acclaimed documentaries about women’s issues such as revenge porn, rape culture and the violent death of teenager Gaia Pope-Sutherland.
She has also spoken up about her own personal battles, such as when she competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2023 and was partnered with Graziano Di Prima, revealing that ‘distressing incidents’ had occurred in the training room and video footage showed Di Prima kicking Zara during rehearsals.
In Thailand, Zara sought to give a platform to sex workers who are exploited by tourists ‘soliciting sex for as little as £23’. But critics say she focused only on negatives – and now her project has been plunged into chaos as several contributors publicly allege they were misled.
The most serious claims come from two British YouTubers based in Thailand who say the BBC concealed the film’s true premise.
Zara McDermott’s three-part BBC series, Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise, has attracted criticism from Thai locals and expats
British YouTuber Mac TV, who lives in Thailand, appears in the show and has said he was misled by BBC producers who concealed the true agenda of the documentary
One, who goes by ‘Mac TV’ online, says he was approached to show Zara around the city of Pattaya, where he has lived for two years. Expecting to discuss life as an expat content creator, he now says he was ‘tricked’ and that the finished programme was cut to fit the showmakers’ agenda.
Since broadcast, Mac has launched a blistering campaign against the Beeb. His videos, which have since racked up 1.5 million views, accuse producers of scripting questions for Zara and even chopping up his voice to make him say things he never uttered.
Recounting the saga from his home in Thailand, he said: ‘I will expose the truth behind what really happened and tell you guys about all the lies that were told.
‘I had a call with the BBC about eight months ago. They told me the documentary was about content creators in Thailand and why so many people are coming here. Let’s be honest, it’s not about that at all, so that’s the first lie.’
He alleges that he sent producers a list of topics he wanted to avoid talking about. According to Mac, when the cameras were rolling they asked about them anyway.
He said: ‘They [producers] ignored all of my requests and kept throwing all the questions at me I’d asked them not to.
‘Well it was the producers, throwing the questions at Zara… there was not one question from Zara that did not come from that producer’s mouth. Everything was scripted.
‘She hasn’t got any opinion on what to say, she gets told what to say about everything.’
Expat Dave, known as ThaiTok online, said he thought the show was going to be about the positive aspects of Thai culture and wouldn’t have taken part had he known how life in Thailand was going to be portrayed
Zara has tried to move on from her Love Island identity and has presented a number of documentaries since leaving the reality show in 2018
In the documentary, viewers watch Mac and Zara walking down a bustling street crawling with suspected sex workers, before in a dramatic turn of events they are asked to stop filming and leave by suspicious-looking police officers.
But the YouTube star alleged this was yet another fiction cooked up by producers and the scene was ‘staged and faked’ and the ‘producers actually asked us to walk halfway back up the street so they could get the money shot’.
His attention then turned to Zara who he said he ‘felt sorry for’ because ‘she’s just a puppet for this company getting paid to push these woke narratives’.
He added: ‘She’s just getting pulled in 15 different directions, she’s getting told what to say, she doesn’t have her own mouth, it’s all filtered through the producers.’
The BBC has hit back, with a spokesman telling the Daily Mail: ‘We refute any suggestion that this contributor was misrepresented and that any sequences were fabricated.
‘He was fully briefed before participating, fully consented and understood the nature of his contribution and the series as a whole.’
In response to allegations Zara was ‘fed’ questions, the spokesman said: ‘Zara McDermott has co-developed and fronted multiple documentaries for BBC Three over the past five years, often tackling challenging and timely subjects relevant to her audience. She is supported during filming by an experienced production team.’
The Daily Mail has also seen the official briefing which made clear Zara was in Thailand to uncover both ‘light and shade’.
But now others have chimed in with their experiences behind the scenes.
Mike Yu, 29, a former London film producer who now makes videos about luxury living in Bangkok, says he too was deceived. After leaving a £900-a-month job in the UK, he now claims to earn £10,000 a month in Thailand. When the BBC filmed him showing Zara around a plush hotel, he believed he was contributing to a positive feature.
Sitting in his bedroom last week, Mike told his followers: ‘I want to clear things up with the recent documentary on Thailand with the BBC.
‘When they interviewed me, they just asked all the good things about Thailand and how my life has changed.’
‘Annoyed, upset and sad,’ he accused producers of ‘trying hard to find the bad part of Thailand’ and failing to speak to locals.
‘Everything was strange,’ he said. ‘I want to say, don’t believe the BBC, all of it was rubbish.’
Another expat, Kent-born Dave – known online as ThaiTok – shared a similar experience.
He told fans he always posts positive videos celebrating Thai food, culture and people, and had he known the documentary was going to be called The Dark Side of Paradise, he never would have taken part.
He said: ‘In my interviews, I talked about the amazing food, culture and opportunity and most importantly how amazing the Thai people are.
‘None of which were included. I can fully understand how the other people that took part in this documentary may feel like their conversations have been manipulated.’
On TikTok and other social media platforms, hundreds of thousands have joined the pile-on – not just against the BBC, but against Zara herself, who is dating One Direction star Louis Tomlinson.
One British man living in Thailand sneered: ‘The BBC basically paid one of those Love Island girls, who doesn’t know left from right, to come here and talk a load of rubbish.’
Another wrote: ‘Zara McDermott the travel reporter? No, she’s famous for Love Island. The BBC are a joke.’
For Zara, who has painstakingly tried to shake off her reality TV past, the controversy threatens to undo years of hard work.
