I suffered panic attacks after being ‘secretly filmed while changing into bikini for job as a MERMAID performer’
A PROFESSIONAL mermaid says she’s been left emotionally traumatized after she and a group of other female performers were secretly filmed getting changed at a Florida aquarium.
Caroline Don, 28, whose otherwise known by her stage name “Elora”, performed for a private event at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium as part of a troupe in November 2020.
Officials at the aquarium were reportedly so impressed by the troupe’s performance that they invited them back to perform for the public for a week-long event between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
For the November event, Caroline said her Mermaid pod was allowed to use the staff locker rooms to change into their bikinis and tails, but when they returned the following month, they were instructed to get changed in a room above the dolphin tank.
“It was a medical suite that was very sparingly used. It had a single security camera in it and it was designed for dolphin medical treatments if needed,” Caroline told The Sun.
“We were instructed to change in there and told me we’re not allowed to change anywhere else for the December events because they didn’t want us getting in the way of regular staff members.”
SECRET RECORDING
Don said both she and her fellow performers were concerned by the presence of the camera in the room but were routinely reassured by senior staff that it had been switched off.
Their concern was apparently so prevalent that Caroline claims one of her colleagues asked every morning “‘Hey, that camera is turned off, right?'” to which they were always told by staff, “‘yes it is.'”
For the first two days of their seven-day spectacular, the camera was indeed turned off.
But on the third day, the camera was miraculously switched back on again, capturing several days of the women changing – though Caroline and her troupe wouldn’t be made aware of the fact for several more months.
It wasn’t until June 14 of last year that both Caroline and the aquarium’s board of directors chairperson, Paul Auslander, were made aware of the recordings.
That revelation came when a former employee sent Auslander an email alleging that two aquarium executives had watched the video in January before deleting it.
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That ex-employee was former aquarium director of engineering and operations, Chris Dalton, who said he waited six months to report the incident because he was afraid for his livelihood and safety.
Describing the work environment at the aquarium as “toxic”, only after finding a new job out of state did he feel comfortable disclosing the claims, he said.
DISBELIEF AND SHOCK
In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Dalton claimed that he returned to work after some time off on Jan. 4, 2021, to find then-Vice President of Operations and Zoological Care Mike Hurst watching a video of the mermaids.
Hurst, who was in charge of the aquarium’s camera systems, allegedly told Dalton that he had already shown the video to then-CEO Frank Dame, and tried to get Dalton to watch it but he declined, Dalton claims.
Dalton also claims he was threatened by Hurst after he declined to watch the videos, with Hurst allegedly telling him “if I ever told anyone about Frank [Dame] and him watching the videos, then he would fire me.”
At the same time as alerting the aquarium’s board, Dalton also informed Caroline and her troupe about the recordings, sending her into a state of “disbelief and a lot of shock,” she said.
“This is not my first time dealing with sexual trauma or being recorded or photographed without my consent, so it really brought up a lot of traumatic feelings.”
Dalton’s bombshell admission was made just 11 days before the mermaids were due to perform at the aquarium for a third time for a string of summer dates booked off the success of their December run.
Unsure of their legal options, and having already signed a contract, Caroline and her troupe proceeded on with the event, in the hope “that the aquarium would come to us about the incident and what was going to be done.”
“But the aquarium didn’t even say anything to us,” Caroline claimed. “We were just in shock and confused and we didn’t know how to proceed, so we just started performing.
“They stayed silent for about a week or two in, when they realized that we knew something, and they told us, ‘Oh, we’re conducting an independent internal investigation, and that’s why we haven’t told you yet.’
“We thought it was good that they were investigating it, but we are the victims here. They should have let us know that it was a possibility that we’d been victims of a sex crime.”
AQUARIUM CLAIMS ‘ACCIDENT’
During their summer run, Caroline said the camera in the room above the dolphin tank had been “ripped” out of the wall, with wires dangling down from the ceiling.
She claims that all performers were told that under no circumstances were they allowed to change in the room any longer, aside from putting their tails on.
“We were told that we had to go into the locker room to change into our bathing suits, and then put our tails on in the room above the tank,” Caroline claimed.
“They also told us not to wear a bikini that’s a thong or anything that’s too ‘cheeky’ or revealing.
“And we immediately felt ashamed and victim-blamed, like somehow this had all been our fault.”
As Caroline and her group continued on with the event, the aquarium’s internal investigation determined by August 2021 that the footage of the women changing had been captured “accidentally and unintentionally.”
Auslander met with the women, offering them counseling and pledging to provide them with the findings of their attorneys. The aquarium was reportedly reluctant to involve the police because they had not found any evidence to suggest the recordings had been copied elsewhere and were confident they had been permanently erased.
Mike Hurst, who allegedly showed the video to CEO Frank Dame, resigned on July 31 while he was on paid leave amid the probe. Dame stepped down as CEO two months later to focus on his ongoing cancer treatment.
‘SWEPT UNDER RUG’
Caroline said she and the other mermaids were dissatisfied with the investigation’s findings and allege they’ve never been given access to documents about the probe as promised by Auslander.
Instead, he reportedly reiterated to them that the “sickening” incident was simply an accident and not a case of “boys will be boys.”
“Even if somehow the camera was turned and accidentally and started recording us, what wasn’t an accident was watching it and showing it to other people,” Caroline said in retort.
“That’s not an accident, that’s voyeurism,” she added. “And when that happens you have to call the police, but that wasn’t done. They just immediately swept it under the rug.”
Caroline also claims the group was invited to perform again in December 2021, and given assurances from aquarium executives that they “had their backs” and were going to make a number of changes to make the performers feel more comfortable.
But weeks before the event was due to begin, the aquarium suddenly canceled it, allegedly telling the mermaids “they wanted to save the money in case they needed it for a lawsuit.”
GOING PUBLIC
Caroline and another member of the troupe, Ashley Mengel, finally went public with the ordeal in a series of videos on TikTok late last month, with the clips having since racked up hundreds and thousands of views.
The reason the women didn’t go public earlier, Caroline told The Sun, was because some of the performers were “really afraid” of potential retaliation, so they “decided to give Clearwater the benefit of the doubt.”
But the women’s stance changed dramatically when they saw another group of mermaid performers had been hired to perform at the aquarium across spring break.
Caroline and her group had reportedly been contacted about prospective dates for the show but never heard back.
“It felt like a punch in the gut and it felt like my heartbreaking all over again. It just felt like it confirmed every fear and bad feeling that I had been holding back for months and it was just like a dam breaking,” Caroline said.
“I’d stayed silent before when I had been previously abused and myself and the other women decided this was the final straw.
“The only thing they had provided was therapy for one of our members, which is great, but it doesn’t make up for everything that happened and all the broken promises and whatnot.”
STRESS DREAMS & PANIC ATTACKS
In the months since the women were made aware of the recordings, Caroline said she has found it “hard to keep smiling and bring that magic” to her professional work, likening the ordeal to a nightmare.
“I have stress dreams, I have panic attacks,” Caroline claimed. “Long before this, I was diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD, which has made things more difficult.
“I’m lucky I have a wonderful support system so I’ve been lucky in that regard … but none of this was easy.”
Caroline and the other performers met with aquarium executives last week, where they were informed of a cohort of changes the aquarium was implementing, including stricter background checks, an overhaul of its HR operation, and more comprehensive sexual harassment training.
Calling the measures a “good start”, Caroline informed The Sun that two days after the meeting the aquarium also canceled its planned spring event with the other group of mermaids.
“This feels like another good step in the right direction and that they really are starting to take what happened to us seriously,” she said.
POSITIVE CHANGES
Caroline said she and her colleagues are still weighing legal action against the aquarium.
Since her story went viral on TikTok, she claims to have been contacted by a number of former employees who have alleged being harrassed during their respective times working there.
In a statement to The Sun last week, a spokesperson for the aquarium said: “Clearwater Marine Aquarium and our Board of Directors are committed to making meaningful change in light of the troubling concerns recently brought to us on social media.
“When new leadership came onboard at CMA after this situation became known, it was assumed this issue had been resolved.”
The aquarium said its board worked with a law firm, adding preventative measures were taken.
The statement continued: “It is now very clear to us that those steps taken were not enough.”
After meeting with Caroline and the other women last week, the aquarium’s president, Dr. James Powell, said: “All of our staff at CMA and our senior staff, are committed to making necessary changes and adjustments … And we’ve taken these women very, very seriously. And we’ve heard them.”
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has not yet responded to an updated request for comment from The Sun, following the cancellation of its spring break mermaid event.
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