Claudia stands out. She is the only one of around 800 women in the room who does not look towards the stage, where a muscular guy with a free torso but a bow tie makes his pectoral muscles twitch alternately. The hall trembles. Claudia is the calm in this storm. She is wearing a red tie with the black jacket and is responsible for safety. Her job as head of the security team on site: protect men. Not just any, but stripping gentlemen, the legendary Chippendales.
Concept: Washboard-bellied men
Half an hour before admission, the Schwäbin with Italian roots sat together with her team at the briefing, divided the positions and coordinated the process. The crew consists of eleven women and four men. "Most of the colleagues volunteered," says Claudia, winking. "But we have to take a few gentlemen with us to such an event. The organizer's regulation." Because the strippers want to be at least in their dressing room in front of the spectators – the only place where the artists are really completely naked. "In the show, the most important thing is covered by a small silk scarf," says Claudia. "Sometimes from a big one," her loud laugh vibrates like bass. Only one woman is tolerated when moving, and she irons and folds the laundry. "Too bad." Yes, too bad.
The guys who attract women for undressing have been well received for decades. Under the motto "Let's Misbehave!" the show is now celebrating its 40th anniversary. It all started in 1979 in Los Angeles, where an Indian immigrant, along with a law student, tried to establish a run-down nightclub. Without success. That changed when the two followed a pimp's tip and hired pot-bellied men to drop their sleeves for women. A concept that has since been ruminated from Las Vegas to here in the Allgäu. Before the show begins, the women stand in line, outside at the entrance to the Oberschwabenhalle in Ravensburg, they cheer and cackle, let champagne bottles go around. "The atmosphere is always good and peaceful, I like that at the Chippendales," says Claudia, who is in a particularly good mood right now because she had a little chat with Paul Jahnke in the backstage area. The ex-Bachelor, Germany's most sought-after bachelor, accompanies the boys from Las Vegas as special guests at their shows. "I think it's cute," Claudia says. "Although it is somehow smaller than on TV."
"Women and alcohol first!"
So a lot of anticipation on both sides of the glass front, but inside there is also a little bit of tension. "If the doors open right here, you don't want to be in the way," says Claudia, pointing outside. "It's like summer and winter sales fell on one day." And then the doors open and it becomes clear what she means: women and alcohol first! In the foyer, the three most important bases are immediately controlled with the cloakroom, the loo and the counter – handing in a jacket, putting on lipstick, ordering replenishments. When the inner doors open, however, things are relaxed and easy again.
At least until the first guy grabs his ass. Screaming! The textiles fall on the stage, the inhibitions in the audience. In the ten shows that Claudia has been responsible for as security, it was basically always the same. Only the men vary, their outfits and the show interludes – building blocks that are exchanged if necessary. In contrast, there is always dancing, singing and stripping. And unfortunately also filmed. Again Claudia catches one of the spectators who keeps on with her cell phone. Of course it is forbidden. Of course everyone knows that. Of course they don't give a shit. "Filming and taking pictures is like a virus that infects the other," she says. Claudia tries again and again and again to stop the viewers from doing so. "Sometimes I feel like this is my main job."
The boys are considered fair game
The insolent woman wears black stretch pants, a hint of lace blouse and bounces from one stiletto to the other. She put her hands in the air to cheer and film. That evening she is the record holder of ignorance. Claudia has been to her seven or eight times. She is getting annoyed. Not Claudia, but the young woman. "Get off, you dried up fig," she roars. The security lady says nothing. Silence sometimes hurts more than any whistle. Experience pays off in her job. And her piercing look as well. Claudia had already seen the Chippendales live as a spectator when this girl was not even twitching in his father's loins. The two of them look at each other for a few seconds, then the cell phone disappears in their pocket. At least for now. A few meters away the next one is already on. But Claudia doesn't have time for that now, because her attention is needed elsewhere.
One of the artists came close to the audience. A situation in which everyone has an increased pulse: the audience because of the stripper, the stripper because of the audience and Claudia because of both. "When the boys do that, some women consider them fair game," she says. "There are almost always people who do the men's laundry. Last year in Friedrichshafen, a spectator went completely nuts and groped one of the dancers everywhere, even in the crotch. When he wanted to get out of there, she tried to pull him on his boots In the end, she even wanted to storm the stage. "
Women in ecstasy
Former Chippendales dancer Michael Rapp, who was there 40 years ago when the show came on stage, once said: "The longer the night grew, the more these shy women turned into hungry women who got what you want to." Apparently that has not changed. The show is something like a cozy party evening for Tupperware, thermomixers, lingerie and dildos all at once. A cliché place where women are among themselves, where they giggle and roar, drink, drink a lot, and dream of the ideal image of an Adonis: "The men we love and the bums we get."
The fact that the light goes out, always exactly when the last shell falls, or something covers the interior – a hat, an American flag, a microphone stand (hehe!) – is a prudish contrast to the heated atmosphere. The women are in ecstasy, willingly climb onto the stage for slippery games, can be tied to bed posts, for example, or they apply cream to their upper bodies with body lotion. Right now, an older woman is trying to put a condom over a banana without putting her hands on it. This Chippendales concept, including the torn undershirts and tight-fitting briefs, actually works. From start to finish.
Sometimes you have to be cheeky
Claudia's most difficult task begins after the show. The sweat on the skin of the artists has not yet dried, so they can be photographed on the stage with women willing to pay. Everyone else has to leave the room now, but doesn't want to. "We're not cows," complains one of the ladies at Claudia, who drives the herd out like a herding dog.
When the evening was really over and all the guests were on their way home, Claudia met the ex-bachelor for the second time, who took her in her arms for a selfie. "Pull your stomach in," says Claudia. Paul laughs. "But you're pretty cheeky," he replies. It's part of their job. And now she's finished.
BJÖRN KRAUSE was in her mid-20s topless on a men's magazine cover. Only the mom screamed.