How members of Britain’s only black male strip group The Chocolate Men go to extraordinary lengths to thrill women
AS job requirements go, it is perhaps one of the strangest. But bosses who run The Chocolate Men have a good reason to insist their, ahem, members, pass the eight-inch test — as they are strippers. And this week the all-black troupe, whose act is billed as “the UK’s most talked-about ladies’ night” will reveal […]
AS job requirements go, it is perhaps one of the strangest.
But bosses who run The Chocolate Men have a good reason to insist their, ahem, members, pass the eight-inch test — as they are strippers.
And this week the all-black troupe, whose act is billed as “the UK’s most talked-about ladies’ night” will reveal all, so to speak, in a TV documentary.
Filmed before Covid-19 ruined every hen do and girls’ night out, Channel 4 programme The Black Full Monty, focuses on Britain’s only black male strip group.
The 13-strong act, whose stage names include Stallion, Black Magic and Tank, was set up by co-directors Louis Francois and Dante Williams, who spotted a gap in the market for an all-black show.
Louis tells The Sun: “We put on a Magic Mike show at one of our clubs in London and we had one black guy who kept getting the greatest reception from the crowd.
SALES WERE CRAZY
“Afterwards we looked into whether there were any all-black stripper groups and we couldn’t find one. So we put up a show on social media and the ticket sales went crazy. We sold 6,000 in 48 hours.
“But bearing in mind we only had one black guy, we then had the pressure to find black guys who could all work together and perform.
“Fortunately for us, the guys in Britain who came forward all could — and we also found some guys in America too.”
Once they had formed the group, they posted online videos to introduce the strippers, including one of the Americans who talked about how implausibly large he was in the trouser department — which not surprisingly sent some women wild.
Louis recalls: “He did a video talking about his 17 inches. They didn’t see it but they could see it through his trousers. It went crazy.
“And when I say crazy, I mean women from Edinburgh, Bath, Dublin, Birmingham and far and wide were all inboxing us to find out when we could come to their city.”
Louis says it is his insistence on plus-sized packages that turbo-charges the excitement at shows. He adds: “It’s like a pack of wolves. They’re like a kid for the first time going into Toys R Us.”
Dante says: “They are flabbergasted at the size of it. They can’t believe it. They’ve got to pinch their mate or their eyes bulge out of their eyelids.
PACK OF WOLVES
“They see what they have at home and then when they come to the show they start to compare. I have seen on social media people break up with their partners.”
Expressing my amazement that women would dump their other halves due to the show, Dante cheekily replies: “I’m sure if you come to a show, we can convert you as well.”
After I explain I am happily married, he adds: “I have heard that as well. ‘I am happily married — until I come to the show!’ ”
But the two likeable businessmen quickly stress that they set up The Chocolate Men in the name of entertainment. Louis, who established the group with Dante in January 2018, says: “No, we aren’t putting on the show to break romances.”
The Chocolate Men had become a runaway success before lockdown in March put a temporary stop to all performances.
As well as staging a nationwide tour and doing weekly shows at London’s Spearmint Rhino club, the strippers — mostly from Britain, America and Brazil — also sold their own merchandise and ran boat, bus and brunch shows.
Each performance lasts anything from 90 to 120 minutes, with up to six strippers taking part. Each of their sets can last 20 minutes.
And for one of the guys featured in the programme, Black Magic — whose real name is the far less exotic-sounding Anthony — the thrill of stripping never disappears.
STROKES THE EGO
He tells The Sun: “It’s an amazing buzz and it’s a great feeling. It does stroke the ego. I’d never stripped before I joined but I had always been comfortable with being naked.
“The first time you have to get it out is nerve-racking, but you are good from there.”
Black Magic plays different characters for each performance and says: “One week I might wear a policeman’s uniform or another, a sexy, slick, black leather jacket.
“I’ve also done a lifeguard before. I then tailor the music and character around the music.” Before he goes on stage he does press-ups and exercises to music to get himself “in the zone”.
Asked how he feels about the moment when women see him strip off, Black Magic, who lives in London with his girlfriend and daughter, replies: “It’s the big curtain raiser where you bring the house down.
“The whole part of it is the show, and that’s a little bonus the females get to see afterwards. It shows you are comfortable within yourself.”
As for any embarrassing mishaps, he says it can’t get any more mortifying than being filmed by Channel 4 falling over in front of the screaming women in the programme.
Cringing at the memory, he says: “I slipped up on stage. It was in front of the audience and the floor was oily. It was so embarrassing but I love the energy of performing and I just want to get better and better.”
GLOBAL TOUR
But if the women are hoping for any extra-curricular activity, then they will be sorely disappointed.
Sex with the punters on stage is banned and if a stripper dares to cross the line they can expect the sack — which is what happens to new joiner Django in the programme after he starts to enjoy a sex act with an over-excited fan.
Dante says: “It’s not a sex show. Django overstepped the mark and that’s why he got fired. If you break the rules, there are no second chances.”
Neither Louis nor Dante, who are married with families and live in Kent and London respectively, will reveal exactly how much money they have made out of The Chocolate Men, nor what the strippers can earn.
But many of the troupe have other jobs to supplement their income. Black Magic, who works as a gym receptionist, says: “The money is good, but there aren’t enough hours to sustain it full-time.”
And with everything now on hold due to Covid-19, the business has understandably suffered a serious setback financially.
Louis says: “Covid has mucked a lot of things up. We have lost a lot of money and it’s massively affected our business.
“All our shows have been cancelled and a lot of female celebrities have wanted private parties outside of the UK too. Everything is on pause.”
WE’RE NOT EXPLOITING
But they are hopeful that life will return to normal soon and plans are already in place to take The Chocolate Men on tour around UK theatres in 2021, plus a global tour including Australia.
As for whether they ever think they are exploiting their race, the answer is a resounding no.
Louis says: “It’s entertainment and an illusion.
“The guys are not pieces of meat. We are not exploiting.”
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Neither do The Chocolate Men’s directors — who have encountered racial abuse themselves in the past — plan to change the group’s name.
Louis says: “Chocolate comes in all colours. It’s how that person sees it.
“We are a dance collective and we sell a fantasy.”
- The Black Full Monty is on Channel 4 on Thursday at 10pm.
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