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<em>Magic Mike</em> Myths: Real-Life Strippers Don't Drink Beer, Eat Pancakes

By

Jen Chung

Published Jul 1, 2012

Modified Jul 1, 2012

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Still too many clothes

 

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By

Jen Chung

Published Jul 1, 2012

Modified Jul 1, 2012

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Magic Mike, the greatest male stripper movie in history (at least on this side of the Atlantic) and the icing on the 50 Shades trilogy cake, opened this weekend to big crowds (it made over $19 million Friday!). However, no matter how sexy Joe Manganiello is, even while freaking Ann Curry, real-life strippers were a little dismissive of his techniques—"His grinding was not up to par."—as well as other things depicted in the movie. One big beef with the beefcake: Their diets.

The Daily Beast took three strippers from Manhattan's Hunk-O-Mania revue to get their thoughts on the film, which is partly based on star Channing Tatum's experience as a male stripper. They do give him props for his dancing, but were aghast at scenes where the strippers are hanging out and eating to their hearts' delight. One stripper, NIcholas, said, "These guys are having beer and pancakes. He wanted to go to the waffle house? We don’t do that! I haven’t seen a single guy drinking beer. If I drink, I drink a vodka soda with lime." Yes, vodka has less calories than beer—but, hey, maybe that keg was filled with light beer!

Another stripper said, "For special occasions, like my mom’s or dad’s birthday, I can drink a glass or two of wine." The real strippers didn't think the movie strippers were all that, saying, "Most of the guys were good looking, but they were kind of all right. They were not big. When Matthew McConaughey took his pants off, his legs were small" and "They should have used bigger guys! More muscular guys, at least. From the front, McConaughey was great. From the back, he was really flat. He should work on that butt. Nine of out 10 girls are looking for a really firm butt. This is what they want to touch."

No kidding! Manganiello said of extras in the film, "They went fucking bananas! They ripped McConaughey’s thong off and he had to cup his junk and finish the routine, and one of the girls got orally explorative with one of the guys during his routine. She got pretty frisky … with her mouth." Here's some red-band action:

Nicholas, the real-life stripper, offered one rather fresh perspective of how people react at private parties, "Maybe 10 minutes in to a private party, we’d take off our pants. I remember I had a private party in Staten Island for a huge Italian family. I saw one of the guys’ faces, he was jealous. I thought he was tipping me, but he put broccoli in my underwear." Now, here are some frozen desserts ideas to chill you out. Or just have a hot dog.

Tagged

channing tatum

joe manganiello

magic mike

male stripper

matthew mcconnaughey

stripper

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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