ID Documentary Probes 250,000-Follower Pearadise as Ex-Members Accuse Founder of Predatory Conduct
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 27
ID Documentary Probes 250,000-Follower Pearadise as Ex-Members Accuse Founder of Predatory Conduct
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 27
Summary
Investigation Discovery’s new three-part series, “Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise,” revisits allegations that Pearadise founder Stefan Wilhelmy manipulated women in the body-positivity community and engaged in unwanted sexual conduct.
Nearly 250,000 TikTok followers helped turn Pearadise from a pandemic-era Discord group into a Las Vegas-based social media phenomenon, where former members later alleged nonconsensual touching, coercion and a highly sexualized environment.
2022 court records show Wilhelmy denied the claims and sued several women for defamation after they called him a predator, but a Clark County judge dismissed the case under Nevada’s Anti-SLAPP law.
No criminal charges were filed, and the ruling did not determine whether the allegations were true; it held the women could publicly describe their experiences as sexual assault without knowingly making false statements.
Filmmakers said the series is less a true-crime account than a study of power, safety and conflicting interpretations of the same encounters inside an online community marketed as a refuge.