Pole Dancer From Viral 'Bridgerton' Event Speaks Out
A Bridgerton-themed event in Detroit has gone viral after guests showed up to the venue on Sept. 22 and were disappointed to find a largely empty room rather than a sumptuous Victorian ball, drawing comparisons to this year's panned "Willy Wonka Experience" in Glasgow.
Among the parts of the event that have made waves online is a single pole dancer in the middle of the room. Photos and videos from the event sparked jokes online and fury among attendees.
Now, Tink the Fairy, the dancer hired for the event, is speaking out. The dancer, professional circus performer, and aerialist spoke with The Cut on Sept. 26 about the ill-fated event and recounted her honest experience through her eyes.
"They reached out to me the day of the event and confirmed my booking about three hours before I was supposed to be there," she remembered. "There was no drama with the hiring process. It was very straight, to the point. Through email, I sent them my full menu of acts and dimensions and my quotes, as I normally would do for an inquiry, and they decided to go with dancing pole."
The “live music” advertised was this poor lone violin player ???? pic.twitter.com/Yt6zEOrXxV
— Rachel Eaton @ Realta (@rayleearts) September 24, 2024
Funnily enough, Tink herself isn't an avid watcher of the hit Netflix series.
"They just told me it was a Bridgerton ball," she said. "I’m not too big of a fan of Bridgerton. I didn’t really know what it was, but I did look it up before I went. It was, like, horses and carriages. I packed a bunch of different costumes, and they approved the one I wore when I got there."
The “dancing” they had was ONE. STRIPPER. pic.twitter.com/lEyL6DbNgf
— Rachel Eaton @ Realta (@rayleearts) September 24, 2024
She made $800 that night for three sets of five minutes in one hour. At no point did she wonder why the event organizers wanted to have a pole dancer at a Bridgerton-themed event.
"I didn’t really think about it too much because of the Great Gatsby event I did; they had pole dancing there. But now, thinking about it, Great Gatsby is in the ’20s. Bridgerton is the 1800s," she said. "But I just had a role to play, and they were paying me, so I did it."
"They played two Bridgerton classical songs for the first two stage performances, which was really fun. For the very last stage performance, they put on 'Moves Like Jagger,' which was very uncomfortable," she continued. "They said they were trying to switch up the vibe of the event, trying to make it more upbeat."
The dancer wasn't aware the event had gone viral until people started sending her videos of her performance the following day. She only had one thought until she walked out the door: "When is this going to be over? I’m getting paid, so just do your job and get it over with."
Time will tell if Bridgerton will incorporate a pole performance into one of its ball scenes next season.