Losing your virginity — a once-in-a-lifetime event — may soon become a weekly affair.
Australian filmmaker Justin Sisely became a controversial figure last year when he began filming Virgins Wanted, a documentary film project where a man and a woman auction off the rights to first access of their private parts.
It was originally supposed to be a feature-length documentary. Now, Sisely is promoting it as a reality show, which is set to debut at MIPCOM, an entertainment trade fair in October in Cannes, France.
“It is now a factual series,” Sisely said to The Huffington Post by email. “We have signed a distribution contract with a leading global multi-national distributor of television content.”
The worldwide publicity juggernaut surrounding the virgin auction has stroked Sisely’s entrepreneurial spirit and he is hoping to create a franchise.
“We are looking into a ‘VW 2’ due to the large amounts of emails we are still receiving from virgins and potential bidders looking for virgins all over the globe. (At least 50 per week),” he told Huff Post. “We have received over 500 videos of men and women from all over the world outlining why they should be the next virgin to auction their virginity.”
The “Virgins Wanted” project has been arousing controversy and skepticism since it was first announced in May, 2010, but things climaxed in October after it was revealed that Catarina Migliorini, the female virgin, reportedly received a winning bid of $780,000 for her virginity from a Japanese man known as “Natsu.”
Migliorini’s male counterpart, Alex Stepanov, only received a top bid of $3,000. The bid came from an Australian woman identifying herself as “Kasandra Darlinghurst.”
Since then, Sisely has kept information about the two close to the vest, but at a spot on the website marking the days Migliorini remains a virgin, there is now only this symbol: “—.” No such marker exists for Stepanov.
Medical experts raised their eyebrows at Sisely’s claim that there were tests that could prove whether someone is a virgin.
In another brewing controversy, Brazil’s attorney general, Joao Pedro de Saboia Bandeira de Mello Filho, suggested the filmmaker could be facing sex trafficking charges if the “deal” between Migliorini, a Brazilian citizen, and “Natsu” took place.
Sisely told HuffPost in October that potential legal snafus might be avoided by having the sex take place on an airplane.
Though the TV show has a distributor, no air dates have been announced. Nevertheless, the auction has changed Migliorini’s life, making her a celebrity in Brazil, where she graced the cover spot on that country’s edition of “Playboy.”
“This is about transforming life,” Sisely said. “I’ve seen Alex change over the past two years. These people will be different afterwards. Their lives won’t be the same. …. Where will she go after this?”
