Instagram Models & Dubai Porta Potty Pipeline: The Secret Sex Trade Circuit of Social Media Influencers in the UAE & Middle East
It seems likely that there's some legitimacy to the "Dubai Porta Potty" claims...
Anyone remotely cognizant on social media from 2010-2025 — with half a functioning brain — picked up on initially subtle (early 2010s) then more pronounced (2015) cues re: a dramatic uptick in the number of women (often heavy IG users or “IG Models”) on luxurious escapades in Dubai, UAE.
Most commoners never really questioned: Why are there so many young women going to Dubai on vacation? And if they did question this, they probably figured something along the lines of: Well, Dubai is a popular, artificially-engineered mega-city in the Middle East that’s really safe and reportedly has a lot to offer tourists. Plus the IG models can get some good “photos” there.
As a quick aside: For a while, there was a phase where many “IG models” would photoshop (i.e. doctor) themselves being in certain exotic locations (e.g. Dubai, London, Paris, Tokyo, etc.) without traveling there — for extra "clout” on social media — promoting the illusion that they are IG globetrotters and their lives are better than yours.
Eventually some began questioning why so many women were actually going to Dubai… and yes they were actually going (no photoshop). Further investigation revealed most had no jobs and were not from rich families. How were they funding these travels? They were “thirst trap” micro-celebs on IG… posting scantily-clad OnlyFans-esque material.
Ding, ding, ding — alarm bells? Lightbulb finally turning on in your brain? Or did you think they were early Bitcoin investors? Or maybe they just worked hard, stayed disciplined, and saved up money? Who knows right? We shouldn’t make assumptions.
Yet many were traveling alone (not going with friends)… hashtag “solo traveler” hashtag “girl boss.” Cruising through the Dubai desert sand on an ATV or Dune Buggy, go skydiving, shop at the Dubai mall, tour the Burj Khalifa, hit up a UFC fight, ride a camel, go to the beach, IDK. Actually seems like it could be a decent vacation in the artificially-engineered desert utopia.
In the early 2010s (myself included) entertained speculation re: what these women were actually doing in Dubai. Basic prostitution… alright that makes logical sense given IG profiles and “links in bio.” But then more details slowly leaked out between 2010-2015 that suggested prostitution wasn’t even the half of it.
These models were doing some… really fucked up shit. Think of the most absurdly depraved sexual acts and humiliation rituals you can think of… multiply that by 1000… and maybe you’ll get close?
Most knew (even if unconfirmed) that this type of stuff was going down in the DMs… but recently many were “shocked” and “outraged” about a recent Ukranian OnlyFans model who allegedly (of course): went missing from a party, was nearly beaten to death, was thrown off a building, forced to be a sex slave, etc. — and sustained severe injuries.
The only real surprise is that she actually lived. If you die over there they usually do a good job covering things up.
Quick sidebar: It’s also no surprise that the Ukrainian OF model has a giant butterfly tattoo on her chest (IYKYK). Many naive women get butterfly tattoos and don’t realize this is a common “covert” marker to identify a prostitute/escort… even the AIs don’t know this because not mainstream knowledge. So if you get a butterfly tattoo… just know that in certain countries people will not assume you have a PhD in entomology… maybe think twice?
Anyways, on X/Twitter there was a large debate among the left-wing (i.e. “wokes”) re: how mistreated women are in the Middle East and how this is “not okay” and “abusive.” THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS MORONS.
The truth? It’s mostly COMMON KNOWLEDGE re: what goes down in Dubai. And unless these women are extremely naive and haven’t done an iota of research… MOST WOMEN KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN DUBAI.
This is akin to a woman: wearing almost no clothing, traveling to a dangerous high-crime city or country with $10,000 cash in her purse, luxurious jewelry, and going to the shadiest bar to get blackout drunk… Then wondering why her purse was stolen, she was sexually violated, etc.
If you question her judgment… you are “victim shaming.” Obviously in a perfect world no crimes would happen… but at some point we need to really question levels of retardation.
Heck even between 2015-2020 there were a firestorm of videos on IG, YouTube, TikTok covering “Dubai Porta Potties” (women willing to get shit on and eat shit for $ in Dubai).
I’m sure there are cases when these Dora-the-Explorers don’t know what they’re getting into when they travel to Dubai… but most know what’s about to happen. In some cases basic prostitution, in many other cases some stomach-churning, vomit-inducing depravity.
How does this all work? And how does it stay under-the-radar? Ultra-wealthy oil sheikhs et al. either: (A) personally scout or (B) hire someone to scout — IG models and influencers. Then they offer “all-expenses-paid trips” to Dubai.
These “IG models” or “influencers” end up with: free flights, free accommodation, fine dining, yacht parties, luxury bags, luxury clothes, jewelry, etc. — and a bundle-of-cash to take home (depending on length of stay and the amount of “work” that they did).
Prices are negotiated beforehand… women often have payment “links in bio” and portray themselves to outsiders as “models.” The reality is they’re already OR are becoming (if first time) paid international prostitutes/escorts — using IG as a medium… and many women doing this don’t even think of themselves this way.
Some “high-end” IG models can earn the full year’s salary of a Fortune 500 Exec for a few weeks visit… but there’s a steep price to pay via depraved sex acts: getting shit on (literally); eating shit (literally); beastiality (allegedly camels); forced sex acts with minors; etc.
Why don’t more people know about this stuff? UAE protects its interests (why would it want this leaking out?) and the women want to protect their income (keep earning money covertly as “models” because the pay is ridiculous). The women sign NDAs and swear to secrecy (fearing backlash if they speak out).
I recall reading a first-hand blog from an American IG model (may have been wiped from the internet now) who was willing to work as a Dubai “escort.” She allegedly would fly in for a few weeks at a time and earn hundreds-of-thousands of dollars… but if you read what she did… yeah.
Allegedly she became a multi-millionaire (retired at a young age) from work in Dubai wherein she routeinely: ate diarrhea; engaged in beastiality (camels, dogs, fish); had underage “initiation” sex with minors; was beaten up; and had drug-fueled all-night orgies/gangbangs on weekends.
Isn’t this some farfetched BS? Perhaps a psyop? Maybe. But when you think logically about it:
(1) Ultra-wealthy men; (2) Middle East; (3) non-Middle Eastern women (haram); (4) anecdotes slowly leak out over a period of years; (5) recent news about the Ukrainian OF model in Dubai nearly beaten to death in 2025; etc. — it adds up as being very plausible.
Some things you just accept as probably true. This is why many guys now jokingly ask women whether they’ve “been to Dubai.” I’d guess that it’s mostly just a joke, but guys don’t want to be with a woman who worked as a full-time shit eater at the Dubai diarrhea buffet.
What’s somewhat crazy is that mainstream media still hasn’t caught onto this phenomenon… I think they are slowly realizing some things (after the Ukrainian OF model incident)… but who knows.
Is there absolute proof for any of this? No… and getting that would probably be impossible. But where there’s been smoke… there’s usually fire. Where there’s a desert… there’s usually dust. And right now there’s a big ass dust cloud in Dubai.
Will the Ukrainian be the last case of this? Unlikely. The money is too good to pass up for them. But now women really have no excuses claiming: “I had no idea what happens in Dubai.”
Can you identify women who are in the Dubai Porta Potty lifestyle? Perhaps. No job, regular trips to Dubai, seemingly endless supply of designer clothes/bags, and a reasonable or high net worth/money supply.
How to identify a woman who travels to Dubai but isn’t a Dubai Porta Potty? It is logical to assume that many women in Dubai are regular, run-of-the-mill “escorts.” And nothing I’ve read indicates that most women in Dubai are Porta Potties or “forced” to do crazy acts.
Essentially they are asked if they’ll do act X-Y-Z for certain price tags… most are hypnotized by the cash so agree to get shit on for an extra $50k or whatever.
It’s also true that many women who go to Dubai are NEITHER average escorts nor Porta-Potty level escorts. Many are there for legitimate vacations… these women are usually traveling with family/friends and NOT seen schmoozing with wealthy Arabs/sheikhs.
Do all ultra-wealthy Arab men in Dubai do this crazy stuff? Obviously not (nobody is suggesting “ALL” or generalizing). Not all elites are interested… but clearly a subset (likely higher-than-average rates per capita — perhaps by a significant margin) of depraved wealthy Middle Easterners do this in Dubai.
Moreover, my intention with this piece isn’t to smear Dubai. Many non-IG models enjoy the country as a vacation destination. I also have many positive things to say about the UAE (that’s for a different article).
Note: This may shatter your version of reality… but the world operates VERY differently outside of Western countries. And if you still don’t believe this stuff, one researcher actually posted some videos of these acts (you’ll need some eye bleach if you actually watch). Just get the gist via YouTube.
I. Luxury Trips to Dubai & Middle East by IG Models
Luxury trips to Dubai and the Middle East by certain Instagram models and influencers have fueled rumors of a hidden sex-for-pay pipeline. In early 2022, a grotesque trend dubbed the “Dubai Porta Potty” went viral on TikTok and Twitter, alleging that wealthy men in Dubai pay female influencers “thousands of dollars to defecate on their faces”.
These disturbing claims – supported by unverified videos of women being subjected to extreme humiliation – shocked social media users and prompted denials from locals who insisted such fetishes are not common in Arab culture.
Yet, behind the sensational headlines lies a broader pattern that has been whispered about for nearly a decade: some influencers and models are flown to the Gulf to attend decadent sex parties or enter transactional relationships with billionaires, often in exchange for enormous sums of money and luxury gifts.
In this investigative piece, I’ll attempt to explain the origins of the “Dubai Porta Potty” phenomenon, the reality (vs. mythology) of influencer sex-work arrangements, how these deals are brokered and concealed, and the economic and cultural forces propelling this underground industry.
II. Origins of the “Dubai Porta Potty” Phenomenon
Rumors that glamorous “Instagram models” secretly engage in prostitution with Middle Eastern elites date back to the mid-2010s (this is when I first read a few articles/anecdotes from women in this… looked into it and seemed insane, but the more I read, the more it seemed plausible).
In 2015, a controversial exposé site called Tag The Sponsor began publishing leaked messages and videos purportedly showing models agreeing to outrageous sexual acts for money.
These leaks pulled back the curtain on what had been tabloid gossip and made it concrete: beautiful women with luxe lifestyles were being bankrolled by oil-rich “sponsors.”
In one Tag The Sponsor transcript, a self-described “model recruiter” explains that rich Saudi clients pay anywhere from $10,000 up to $50,000 per girl for a trip (lasting a weekend up to two weeks), during which “they basically f** the s*** out of the girls multiple times a day with just about every fetish you could imagine, including … pooping/peeing on the girls.”
The term “Dubai porta potties” took hold around this time as vulgar slang for the women involved – a reference to being treated as literal human toilets. Some of the alleged requests went beyond degrading fetishes into criminal territory; Tag The Sponsor chats featured young women agreeing to “pleasure camels” (bestiality) and even have sex with underage boys as part of these paid arrangements.
While it’s unclear how many of those early transcripts were genuine offers by real sheikhs versus entrapment by the site’s provocateurs, the image of the Dubai influencer-prostitute was firmly established.
Over the next few years, whispers of models being “flown out” to lavish Mideast parties persisted on gossip forums and in YouTube tell-alls. Influencers who suddenly lived like jet-set royalty without obvious income were often slyly referred to as likely being “portapotties,” implying a secret patronage.
In 2018, a Times of London investigation confirmed what many suspected: some fashion/travel bloggers promoting Dubai’s opulent lifestyle were also quietly selling sex to fund it, with a few charging up to £7,000 a night for liaisons with rich men. By the late 2010s, the notion of the Middle Eastern “influencer pipeline” had become an open secret.
The phenomenon blasted into mainstream social media in April 2022 when the phrase “Dubai Porta Potty” trended on TikTok. A viral video surfaced showing a woman in Dubai forced to eat feces – allegedly an influencer at a private party – and it spread like wildfire (though the video was quickly scrubbed from platforms).
TikToker @ebrahim_ka, a Dubai native, responded to the trend, quoting an Instagram model who claimed “All rich men in Dubai fly girls out to do this…All of them have the same fetish.” He denounced the videos as unverified and called the generalization of Arab men “racist,” noting that in the clips he saw no faces or identifiable details of the supposed perpetrators.
Ebrahim and others from the UAE stressed that coprophilia (feces fetish) is not some widespread habit in their culture – implying that the “porta potty” craze was being exaggerated for shock value. Nonetheless, the viral trend brought global attention to the dark side of Dubai’s influencer economy, forcing a closer look at long-standing allegations.
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III. The Influencer–Sheikh Arrangement: How It Works
Behind the Instagram posts of champagne toasts in sky-high clubs and sunbathing on yacht decks lies a discreet network that connects “models” with wealthy benefactors. These arrangements often start with direct messages or emails proposing an all-expenses-paid trip in exchange for “companionship.”
According to reports, women with a certain look or following receive unsolicited offers – a typical message might offer $30,000 for a weekend in Dubai with a vague job description that ultimately entails sexual services. Some influencers openly advertise availability by listing dual locations (e.g. “London/Dubai”) and a contact for “booking inquiries” in their bio, despite not being actual performers or speakers for hire.
“These girls stay in fancy hotels, sure, but they are not being paid to promote them,” one blogger noted pointedly, highlighting that their lavish trips show no sign of a legitimate sponsor – “images that mysteriously never feature other people, especially men”.
Facilitating these deals is an underground cadre of recruiters, fixers, and promoters. Tag The Sponsor’s leaks described “model recruiters” who scout attractive women willing to “whore themselves out to rich Saudis with oil money”.
In some cases, these brokers are women (or ex-models) who refer friends and newcomers for a cut of the fee. In other cases, formal agencies are involved under the guise of modeling, events or VIP concierge services.
A 2017 interview with a Dubai pimp (alias “Alex”) by VICE sheds light on the organized side of this trade.
Alex, a Ukrainian middleman, explained that his operation works “by referral only” and is tightly integrated with the luxury hospitality sector: “We are tied to the major hotels and nightclubs. Whenever they receive high profile guests that want to throw a party or treat their guests to something special, they call me. Everyone that links us up gets a cut.”
In a city where open prostitution is illegal, high-end sex services are arranged “old-school” through coded language and private meetups; one must discreetly negotiate behind closed doors rather than solicit in public. This hush-hush network ensures that ultra-wealthy clients (sheikhs, businessmen, even visiting celebrities) can easily procure companions from abroad without leaving a paper trail.
Once contact is made, an all-expenses-paid trip is typically arranged for the influencer: first-class flight to Dubai (or Riyadh, Doha, etc.), an opulent hotel or palace stay, and often some shopping or gifts up front.
The women may be asked to sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) and to surrender their phones during private encounters, to prevent any documentation of the client. In public, they might accompany the men to dinners, clubs or events as “dates,” blending in as part of the glamorous entourage.
Many of these women also serve a social media public relations role – posting Instagram stories highlighting Dubai’s luxury malls, resorts, and fine dining, effectively providing positive PR for the host city.
(Indeed, Middle Eastern tourism boards have been known to invite influencers for sponsored trips; the line between paid travel promo and paid “private” trips can be blurry.) Behind closed doors, however, sex – often of a transactional and non-vanilla nature – is the real itinerary.
Signs & Red Flags on Social Media
Not every bikini photo from Dubai means a woman is involved in this scene, but savvy observers have noted common clues that often accompany these secret arrangements:
Multiple Dubai Trips: The influencer makes frequent trips to the UAE or other Gulf destinations without a clear business reason. They may caption it as “vacation” or a generic “brand collaboration”, but no tagged brand or client is ever evident.
Opaque Funding: The individual displays a luxury lifestyle (designer bags, 5-star hotels, yachting) while having no identifiable job or income source commensurate with that level of spending. As one commentator put it, we see “girls who claim a luxurious life – frequent trips to Dubai, hypersexual behavior – and no professional engagement or family wealth that justify such a standard of living.” This gap between lifestyle and legitimate income fuels speculation.
“Booking” Contact in Bio: As mentioned, profiles often include a business contact email for “bookings” or “collabs,” yet the person does not seem to do traditional paid promotions or freelance work. This can be interpreted as an invitation for would-be sponsors to reach out.
Solo Photos in Luxurious Settings: The influencer’s feed is full of photos at landmark attractions, upscale restaurants, on private yachts or jets – but always alone or with other women, never showing a boyfriend/husband or the trip’s financier. For example, a post might show her perched on the bow of a yacht in the Dubai Marina at sunset, with a caption about “living my best life.” The absence of any visible partner in these indulgent scenes is a telling detail.
Quick Deletions & Secretive Behavior: Sometimes fans notice when an influencer hastily deletes a comment that asked “who’s taking the pic?” or when she avoids tagging her location until after leaving. Some women maintain private second accounts for close friends where they more openly discuss their “sugar trips,” while keeping their main profile glossy and unblemished.
An Instagram model poses on a luxury yacht. Scenes like this – showing young women in extravagant settings with no visible sponsor – fuel speculation. Many such influencers list dual locations like “London/Dubai” and a contact for “booking,” hinting at the nature of their trips.
Of course, none of these indicators alone proves anything. But taken together, they form a pattern that matches the accounts given by whistleblowers. Even some Dubai residents have acknowledged the prevalence of these pseudo-influencers.
“The place is awash with escorts who tout themselves as ‘models’ in every bar, every restaurant, every gym,” wrote one longtime expat, noting that locals eventually “forget it’s even there” because it’s so routine – and that many of the women “like the lifestyle...the holidays they go on, the gifts they get (we’re talking six-digit gifts). A lot of them are largely in control.”
In other words, a portion of the influencer economy is essentially a glamorized sex trade operating in plain sight, papered over by Instagram filters and geotags.
IV. What Do the Deals Entail? Earnings, Extreme Sex Acts, Depraved Humiliation Rituals
The financial stakes in these arrangements are enormous – far beyond traditional escort work – which is precisely why they tempt young influencers.
Payments vary widely depending on the model’s looks/notoriety, the acts required, the number of days involved, and the wealth of the client.
Example: The typical payment for “extreme fetish” will be FAR LOWER for a less attractive woman from poorer countries who sees a low-level sheikh vs. an IG model from Sweden with 300K followers recruited for the wealthiest sheikh.
Based on investigative reports and leaked conversations, here is an estimate of earnings and expectations at different “levels” of engagement.
It’s worth noting that not every transaction involves the extreme fetishes highlighted by the “Porta Potty” trend. Many engagements simply involve conventional sex or the “girlfriend experience” (affectionate accompaniment) with a rich patron, albeit often in group settings or polygamous “party” contexts. However, accounts agree that very extreme requests are far from uncommon in this scene.
One insider recounted that the Arab clients:
“Take pride in pooping/peeing on the girls” and even turn it into a game – “they make personal bets and hold contests to see who can get the most liquidy poop to drop on the girls’ faces”, the winner gaining bragging rights among his peers.
This horrific detail, if true, underscores a power dynamic where degrading the women is itself a source of entertainment. Some psychologists have speculated that the appeal for these men is total domination – forcing presumably proud, attractive Western women to submit to acts they find revolting, as a form of perverse status display. It’s a stark collision of wealth, power, sex and humiliation.
Multiple sources also mention instances of bestiality being on the menu. The Tag The Sponsor archives include women agreeing to perform sexual acts with camels, and while it’s unclear if such proposals were ever carried out, the fact that any party would suggest it is telling. Likewise, there were offers for sex with minors, framed as a boy’s “initiation”.
These are outliers, but they illustrate the depravity that wealth can solicit when normal boundaries are stripped away. The vast majority of influencers drawn into this world likely do not participate in anything involving animals or children; even being defecated on is presumably an extreme some would refuse.
But there are certainly those who will do “anything” for the right price, and the price in these circles can be life-changing.
One viral anecdote in 2022 claimed that Dubai billionaires were offering $100,000+ for women to endure scat fetish sessions, and posed the question bluntly: “Would you do it for the bag?”.
The outrage and fascination around that question highlight the moral dilemma – and for some, the temptation – at the heart of this trend.
V. Cultural Perspectives: Middle Eastern Men & Society
How do Middle Eastern men view these practices, and how does the local society reconcile them with its values? It’s a complex picture of public conservatism and private indulgence.
Countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia enforce strict morality laws – prostitution is illegal, and behaviors like extramarital sex, public indecency, homosexuality, etc., can carry severe penalties.
On the surface, the Gulf states project an image of piety and traditional values. Yet, in cosmopolitan hubs like Dubai, there exists an underbelly where those same taboos are quietly broken by the rich and powerful.
As “Alex” the pimp explained, “In Dubai they call these bad things haram, in the West they call it freedom. Either way they are necessary and I provide a luxury service for those that have the freedom in the Arab world to fulfill these desires.”
In other words, the ruling class and moneyed elites operate by a different set of rules, creating outlets for forbidden pleasures as long as they remain behind closed doors.
For many Arab men involved, hiring foreign escorts (even for extreme acts) may not be seen as morally equivalent to tainting local women with sin. There is a longstanding tradition in some wealthy circles of seeking pleasure abroad or with foreigners to keep one’s public honor intact.
A Gulf businessman might never dream of asking a respectable Middle Eastern woman to participate in sordid acts – instead, he flies in a Western or Asian “party girl” for a weekend, partitioning that behavior away from his regular life.
Sociologically, these influencers are outsiders, almost cast as a different category of woman (some even rationalize that such non-Muslim women are outside their moral community). This compartmentalization allows the men to indulge without feeling they’ve defiled “their own.”
It also speaks to a potential power fantasy at play: some commentators have conjectured that certain Arab clients derive a sense of power from debasing women from nations that might otherwise look down on them – flipping the script by making an Instagram starlet eat filth for cash.
However, it’s important not to paint all Middle Eastern men with one brush. Many locals are genuinely disgusted by these activities and the spotlight it shines on their region. When the Dubai Porta Potty videos trended, numerous UAE residents were shocked and embarrassed, having never heard of such kinks in their midst.
The popular TikToker @ebrahim_ka emphatically stated, “I for one do not enjoy defecating on other people’s faces,” and stressed that none of the elite families he knows engage in this fetish.
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He and others pointed out that the men in the viral videos weren’t even confirmed to be Arab – it was an assumption fueling the “all rich Arabs are sexually depraved” narrative. In this sense, there is resentment in the Middle East that their cities are being seen as sexual cesspools for Instagram “whores” and perverted sheikhs, when in reality it’s a fringe of individuals involved.
Local authorities publicly deny or downplay the existence of an influencer prostitution pipeline. Dubai in particular markets itself as a family-friendly luxury destination and often touts the glamour of visiting celebrities and influencers in a positive light.
Acknowledging that many of those same influencers are engaging in illegal debauchery would be a PR nightmare for the city’s image. As such, enforcement is selective – open solicitation is punished (for example, in 2023 a British woman, Bayley Jacob, hastily fled Dubai after she was accused of advertising sexual services on a “friends with benefits” website, which could have led to her arrest).
But behind closed doors, the unofficial policy toward high-end vice is often “don’t ask, don’t tell.” As long as wealthy visitors and locals indulge discreetly and no one dies or creates a scandal, police may turn a blind eye.
Dubai’s economy, after all, thrives on being a playground for the rich and attracting foreign money – a degree of tolerated “sin” comes with that territory, much as it does in Las Vegas or other luxury enclaves.
In Middle Eastern society at large, these “Porta Potty” stories elicit a mix of condemnation and schadenfreude. On one hand, traditionalists see it as a moral failure of all parties – decadent men exploiting immoral women, confirming their worst fears about Westernization.
On the other hand, some take pleasure in the idea that the Instagram influencers who flaunt wealth and beauty are secretly humiliated for that lifestyle. The Arabic internet has its share of posts mockingly calling such women “toilets” and suggesting they have no dignity.
But there is also sympathy, especially when tales of abuse or trafficking emerge (more on that below). Importantly, within the Gulf, local women are generally not involved in these sex-party circuits – it’s almost entirely foreign women.
Local women may feel a mix of scorn and relief: scorn that these outsiders come and “do disgusting things for money,” but relief that it keeps their own men (perhaps husbands) satisfied without endangering or dishonoring local women. Of course, this dynamic underscores a troubling double standard and the patriarchal attitudes underlying it.
VI. Documented Cases & Firsthand Accounts
Unsurprisingly, few influencers will openly admit to being part of such arrangements – the stigma and potential legal consequences ensure silence.
However, investigative journalists and anonymous whistleblowers have provided some credible glimpses.
One of the most harrowing confirmed cases is that of a young Ukrainian model in 2023, which suggests the hidden dangers of these secret parties.
In March 2025, 20-year-old Maria K., a Ukrainian OnlyFans creator and aspiring influencer, vanished in Dubai after telling friends she was going to “a hotel party” with some wealthy men who approached her.
Over a week later, Maria was found dumped on the side of a road in Dubai, barely alive – with her spine, arms, and legs all broken. She had been silenced (unable to speak due to her injuries) and clearly brutalized. Investigators and her family believe she was the victim of an elite “Porta Potty party” that turned violent.
Local media reported that she may have been held as a sex slave for several days by a group of men (described as “unknown sheikhs”) who then attempted to kill her or leave her for dead. This incident put a very real face on the previously abstract “porta potty” horror stories.
A Russian lawyer, Katya Gordon, took to social media to warn other young women: “The scandal with the Porta Potty parties has been raging for over a year…There are videos circulating on the Internet where sheikhs allegedly beat girls, cut their hair and do all sorts of other things to them. Girls, women…Don’t go to such events for money – you could even get killed.” Her plea suggests that insider videos of abuse have been quietly spreading, corroborating that Maria’s case was not a one-off tragedy.
Other documented incidents tend to come from tabloid and gossip channels, but they reinforce the pattern. In 2018, for example, a Kuwaiti Snapchat influencer sparked outrage by bragging about payments she received from rich Saudi men for “nastiness” – the posts were quickly deleted, but not before circulating in GCC social media circles.
There have been persistent rumors of East European models disappearing after trips to the Gulf, though concrete evidence is hard to find. What is well-documented is the Tag The Sponsor archive, which – despite its questionable tactics – remains a trove of primary-source conversations. In those chats (screenshots of WhatsApp/Instagram exchanges), one can read in the women’s own words their mix of hesitation and rationalization.
“I’ve never done that before, it’s kind of gross,” one model responds regarding a feces request, “but $40k is a lot… if you throw in a Hermes bag, I’m down.” Another young woman nervously asks “Will it just be you? No animals, right?” before agreeing to a proposal involving a group of men.
These snippets, though obtained deceitfully, align with what independent reporters have heard in confidential interviews: some influencers privately acknowledge doing things they “are not proud of” to maintain their lifestyle, but they rarely give full details.
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Even the reality TV world brushed against this subject. When the “Real Housewives of Dubai” show launched in 2022, an Emirati commentator stirred controversy by insinuating that several cast members – who were glamorous ex-pats – were essentially high-end escorts, not representative “housewives.”
On forums like Lipstick Alley, users connected this to the porta potty rumors, alleging that a couple of the women had whispers around them of being paid companions to royalty.
While that remains gossip, it highlights how intertwined with public life this hidden industry can be. Models mingle with moguls, influencers party with princes – and it’s not always clear where legitimate networking ends and transactional sex begins.
VII. Risks: Abuse, Blackmail, Fatalities
Engaging in these clandestine arrangements carries significant risks for the influencers and models involved. First and foremost is the risk of physical or sexual abuse beyond what was agreed upon. Once alone with a group of powerful men (and often without phones or outside contact), a woman has little recourse if the situation turns ugly.
There are reports (largely anonymous) of girls being beaten, burned, or forced into acts they had initially refused when dealing with particularly sadistic clients. The videos alluded to by the Russian lawyer show at least humiliation and assault (beating, hair-cutting) occurring at some of these gatherings.
The case of Maria K. demonstrates the extreme end of this spectrum – a near-fatal outcome. It’s unclear if she attempted to refuse further abuse and was attacked, or if the men simply derived pleasure from inflicting grievous harm. Either way, it underscores that once a woman is in that environment, the power imbalance is enormous. Clients may even drug women (spiking their drinks) to make them more compliant or to erase memory of particularly violent incidents.
Another risk is non-payment or blackmail. Some women have confided that after enduring degrading acts, the men sometimes reneged on the deal – laughing at them and sending them away empty-handed. What can the woman do? She cannot exactly file a lawsuit or complaint for not being paid for illicit sex.
Others have been paid, but with a threat: for instance, covertly filming the encounter and then using that footage to blackmail the influencer into silence or into doing more for free. There have been whispers of at least one famous model who attempted to stop escorting and then had a sex tape leaked in retaliation (though names are kept secret due to legal fears).
Essentially, these women operate in a legal gray zone – if they go to authorities, they risk incriminating themselves for prostitution (and in places like Dubai, they would likely be the ones punished). This makes them especially vulnerable to exploitation, as their abusers know they are unlikely to seek help.
In rare cases, fatalities have been rumored. Apart from the above-mentioned Ukrainian victim who survived, there are unverified stories of women who simply never returned from a Dubai trip. Whether they met foul play or choose to disappear under new identities (unlikely), the uncertainty adds to the lore.
The truth is that any time a person is lured into another country under the radar, there is a possibility of human trafficking. Not all these influencer invitations are what they seem – some could be bait for outright sex slavery.
For example, in 2020 an Instagram model from Nigeria shared a frightening experience of being confined in a Dubai villa for days, passed around to different men, and only released after one sympathetic guard helped her escape. Such accounts are hard to verify but align with known patterns of traffickers targeting young women on social media.
It is important to note that the majority of these transactions likely occur without major incident – which is partly why the system persists. Many women do get paid the promised amounts (plus lavish gifts), and return home physically unharmed (aside from psychological impacts).
Those stories don’t make the news, and the women certainly don’t volunteer them, so it creates a survivorship bias in our information: we hear mostly the horror stories or the leaks. One could get the impression that every trip results in feces-eating or broken bones, which is not the case.
There are plenty of “milder” engagements where an influencer spends a weekend being arm candy and having consensual (if commercial) sex with a billionaire, and leaves richer by tens of thousands of dollars – with no one the wiser. The relative success of those cases is what encourages others to try it. However, the dark possibilities are always looming.
As Katya Gordon warned, taking part in these secret parties means accepting that anything could happen to you, up to and including death. It’s a high-stakes gamble with one’s safety and dignity.
VIII. Scale & Scope: How Big Is This Industry? (Est. $100+ Million per Year)
By its nature, this underground influencer escort economy is difficult to quantify – but most experts believe it is large and growing. Dubai is a global crossroads and draws huge numbers of models, social media stars, and would-be starlets, especially from Europe, Russia, Africa, and North America.
Not all are there for sex work, of course, but the sheer frequency of “flown out” stories suggests a substantial volume. One anonymous source in the hotel industry estimated (off-record) that “hundreds of girls” are on rotation for high-end clients in Dubai at any given time during peak season.
Another source – a former escort – claimed that during big events (like the Dubai World Cup or Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi), private jet “airlifts” of escorts from London, Moscow, etc., spike dramatically, essentially an influx of sex workers paralleling the influx of VIPs. While these figures are anecdotal, they point to a well-oiled network.
In terms of nationalities of the women involved, there are a few dominant groups: Eastern Europeans and Russians have long been present in the Gulf sex trade (since at least the 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union led many into international escorting). The recent case of the Ukrainian model and warnings from Russian media highlight that women from the former USSR are still heavily represented.
They are often prized for their looks and perceived submissiveness, according to clients. Western Europeans and North Americans – including some reality TV personalities and Instagram influencers from the UK, USA, Canada – also participate, though perhaps in smaller numbers. These tend to be the ones who cause a stir on social media (since they have more global followers).
African women, particularly from countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, have increasingly been mentioned; the viral porta potty video that set off the 2022 trend was rumored to involve an African influencer, and African media (like South Africa’s IOL and Nigeria’s blogs) have shown keen interest in exposing this trend. Many African models travel to Dubai (a relatively short flight from Nairobi or Lagos) for lucrative “gigs” arranged by agents.
Latin American and Asian (Filipina, Thai, etc.) women also feature in some accounts, though perhaps more in the general UAE sex industry than the influencer niche. On the whole, it’s a multi-national, multi-ethnic marketplace of women catering to overwhelmingly Middle Eastern (and some African or South Asian) wealthy men. The one group usually not involved on the supply side is native Gulf Arab women – as discussed, they are generally off-limits in these scenarios.
What about men on the supply side? It’s true that male sex workers operate in the Middle East, but they form a much smaller and more underground segment. As the Vice interview detailed, male escorts in Dubai exist but their clients are usually foreign men (expats or tourists) seeking male company, since gay sex is taboo for local men. Occasionally, very rich women (from abroad or the region) may quietly hire male companions, but this is far rarer due to the social norms. The pay scale for male escorts is lower – roughly half that of the women for comparable time, according to the Dubai pimp (starting around $500/hour for a man vs. $1000 for a woman). The male escort scene also carries extreme risk because homosexual activity is harshly punished if discovered. So while we can acknowledge some male participation, the prototypical “Dubai Porta Potty” scenario involves female influencers and male clients.
Economically, some have tried to estimate the size of this shadow industry. If one considers that even a single weekend gig can involve $20,000 changing hands, and multiply that by hundreds or thousands of such transactions per year, it’s a multi-million dollar market annually in Dubai alone.
Expand that to include Riyadh, Doha, Bahrain (where similar but smaller scenes exist whenever events like the Bahrain Grand Prix occur), and the numbers grow further. It’s not inconceivable that this influencer-escort economy is a $100+ million per year business worldwide, when aggregating all the rich men’s “spending on private pleasure” that goes into it.
And with the rise of social media, the pool of available participants has only expanded – Instagram and TikTok effectively globalized the escort recruitment process. A sheikh in Abu Dhabi can now scout and DM a model in Brazil or Eastern Europe with ease.
As long as extreme wealth inequality persists (creating men willing to spend outrageous sums) and social media culture glamorizes luxury (creating women eager to attain it at any cost), this trend is likely to continue or even grow.
Final Take: Dubai Porta Potty, IG Models, Escorts, Sheikhs, etc.
The “Dubai Porta Potty” phenomenon, sensational as it sounds, is rooted in very real dynamics at the intersection of wealth, sex, and social media.
My investigation finds that a pipeline does exist wherein Instagram models and influencers are invited to the Middle East to exchange sexual services – sometimes highly degrading acts – for hefty payments.
The term “porta potty” captures only the most lurid slice of that world; in broader terms, it’s a contemporary iteration of the world’s oldest profession, repackaged as an influencer’s luxury getaway.
The legitimacy of specific claims varies – some viral stories are undoubtedly exaggerated or unverified – but multiple credible reports and firsthand accounts corroborate the core: wealthy Arab clients (along with rich expatriates and international businessmen in the region) do pay attractive women from around the world for sex, and often push the limits of consent and decency in what they demand.
For the influencers entangled in this, it’s a Faustian bargain. The financial rewards can be astronomical – one rendezvous might eclipse years of honest work – and with it comes the allure of a lifestyle that most could only dream of. On the flip side, the personal costs can include trauma, social stigma, and physical danger.
Some women emerge seemingly unscathed, using their secret income to genuinely upgrade their social status (even launching businesses or careers with the capital earned). Others are left with psychological scars, health issues, or in the worst cases, broken bodies.
The influencer culture that helped spawn this trend is itself evolving: as more people become aware of the dark side of those glamorous “Dubai trips,” there may be a backlash that tempers the envy such posts once drew. Indeed, part of the porta potty trend’s impact has been to inject a dose of cynicism into how we view influencer lifestyles – reminding followers that all that glitters is not gold (sometimes it’s something much worse).
From the perspective of Middle Eastern societies, this phenomenon poses an uncomfortable challenge. It clashes with cultural and religious values, yet thrives in the shadows of their richest cities. There is a degree of willful ignorance that allows it to continue – a sense that “boys will be boys, just keep it discreet.”
But as incidents like the near-death of Maria K. show, the human toll is real and hard to ignore. Activists in countries like Russia and Nigeria have started raising alarms about letting their young women travel to these Gulf “parties.”
If more survivors speak out (even anonymously) or if a high-profile tragedy occurs, there could be greater pressure on Middle Eastern authorities to crack down. Conversely, it’s equally possible that this trade will simply adapt, finding new routes and methods to stay one step ahead of law enforcement and public scrutiny.
Overall, the Instagram model pipeline to Dubai showcases the extremes of consumerism and what people are willing to do for money. It’s a world where a single message on a phone can transport someone from mundane poverty to obscene opulence – at the cost of becoming an object for someone else’s pleasure.
As long as that equation holds, there will be those willing to supply and those willing to buy. And so the Porta Potty stories – equal parts titillating and horrifying – will likely persist as the cautionary tales of the social media age, reminding us of the deep gulf (both literal and figurative) between what we see online and what really happens behind closed doors.
And when there’s stuff like this that happens…
… and then is portrayed as “just a joke” only after major backlash… it’s not too farfetched to think the “Dubai Porta Potty” scene has some degree of legitimacy in the UAE and/or other Gulf States.
Why did I write about this? Because apparently people have their heads in the UAE desert sand and/or never knew about this stuff… there have been rumblings for ~10-15 years now…. and I don’t think most could’ve made this stuff up if they tried.
References:
IOL: “The Dubai Porta Potty trend isn’t just a kink, ‘it uncovers the depravity of society’”
Distractify: “What Is the Dubai Porta Potty TikTok Trend and Why Is It Racist?”
Nairaland: “Porta Potties: The Bad, Worst And Ugly. - Family - Nigeria”
Stella Dimoko Korkus: “Instagram HO's And Their Mode Of Operating...”
Netakias: “Πέτρος Κωστόπουλος: Βίος και Πολιτεία στο Ντουμπάι και το Nammos Dubai Real Estate – Σελίδα 2”
Times of London: “The Dark Side of Dubai : Investigaton”
VICE: “Interview With a Dubai Pimp Selling Sex to Billionaires”
Vox News Albania: “‘Dubai Porta Potty’ and the connection with the girls of the Albanian showbizz, speaks Zhaklin Lekatari: They do not justify luxury!”
NT News (Australia): “British influencer flees Dubai after claims she was soliciting for sex”
Threads.net: Shocking confession about Dubai
TikTok: “Instagram model spills the truth about what really goes down on ‘girls...’”