I’m 40 and have been a stripper since the 2000s – I have no regrets

Taking his clothes off in a seductive fashion has paid most of Max Hunter’s bills for two decades – and he doesn’t plan to put his top back on anytime soon.

It all began in the early noughties, when Hunter’s then-girlfriend attended a strip show and told him how fun it was. He had studied drama at university, but after watching other friends struggle to make it in the acting world, the conversation made him consider whether this was the way to utilise his passion for entertainment. There was a separate conversation that was playing on his mind, too. “I’m a great believer in fate, and a couple of months before, I had stumbled into a psychic in a pub. She said, ‘I’m getting this vision of lots of girls taking your photograph, and you’re on a stage dancing,’” he recalls.

His first foray was being hired to attend parties while wearing only a collar, cuffs, a bow tie, and a bottom-revealing apron as a “Butler in the Buff”, but it wasn’t for him. “I used to hate standing in the corner with a tray of drinks for three hours.” He continues: “It was like pulling teeth. I’d be completely ignored and bored, wondering about my purpose.” He therefore had a brief intermission working in entertainment coordination at a retirement village before making it into the Dreamboys. Hunter now organises the Manchester, Blackpool and Liverpool shows, which requires phone calls throughout the week. However, his “office hours” are mainly 6.30-9:30pm on a Saturday, performing at the Liverpool show.

Being around the industry for a long time means that Hunter, 40, has noticed significant changes. He says two movies – Full Monty (1997) and Magic Mike (2012) – have had a substantial impact. “Full Monty inspired the more old-school stripper style, which is putting it all on a plate and making people laugh, whereas Magic Mike is being really seductive through dancing,” he notes. While audiences appreciate the latter style – Magic Mike Live sells out many of its daily performances – Hunter is firm in that the traditional version is better.

“Humour is sexy. You get all these young lads who can do a bit of a TikTok dance and take their tops off on Instagram and automatically think they can be a stripper. All this body popping is boring,” he says. “Performers have definitely changed, but I don’t think it’s for the better. I may not be able to dance, but I will entertain a group.”

He does accept that not everyone sees it his way and that people have personal preferences. “One woman complained to me that she wanted to be seduced by Christian Grey,” he says.

For now, he is sticking to his method and is best known on the circuit for recreating a 2007 Diet Coke advert, in which a good-looking man fixes an elevator. “I’ll wipe the can along my brow, open it, let it spill down my abs and sip from it.” He also has a Baywatch act, in which he’ll slow-motion run towards the oldest person in the room, and another section in which he’ll pull up his boxer shorts so high that his “bits and pieces will fall out the bottom”.

He adds that another major change is the attendees becoming “more woke”. “People are a lot more offended these days than they were 10 years ago,” he claims.

“I used to have a bit where I moved a girl’s hands on my chest, and then I pretended to put their hands down the front of my pants. It was funny, but now it’s seen as inappropriate. I’ve had to change my act.

“We’ve had it where girls have stormed out of the show and said: ‘We’re powerful women, and we shouldn’t be subjected to this’. I can see why these changes are made, but sometimes things are being taken out of context. It’s a strip show.”

When it comes to nudity, rules have drastically changed, too. While it was once common to see plenty of full-frontal action, this has been scaled back, and it is never when a woman is on the stage. “It’s for the safety of the guys, too. I still do a bit where I tuck my penis between my legs, so there’s obviously nothing there at the front. I’ll turn around looking for it on the floor, and the audience sees it, and laughs.”

On a more serious note, he says the audience can cross boundaries. “Nothing in the world surprises me anymore. They have a drink and feel that they can treat you however they like. I have seen girls slapping the guys.

“I need quite a thick skin, as some of the audience can be vile. I’ve had people telling me they expected me to look better. Some guys haven’t got back on stage because they’ve been too hung up on a comment. People may think strippers are full of themselves, but the ones I work with are so sensitive, probably because our looks are so important, that it is pressure.

“If you buy a car, you want to make sure it looks nice, and it is the same for us; we’re selling a product. I am the scruffiest man when I’m not working, because it’s a relief not to impress anyone. If there’s something visually wrong with me, like a big zit on the end of my nose, it doesn’t bother me throughout the week, but for a few hours on Saturday, it does.”

The profession has meant he always needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle – he eats a nutritious, balanced diet, and goes to the gym six days per week. The desirable shape has gone from big and bulky to a trim six-pack, Hunter notes. “When I was younger, I was fresher, so I could get away with not having the best body in the world, but now I am older, with a few grey hairs, I can’t. If all this finishes tomorrow, I’d want it to be my choice, not the world’s, so I keep as trim as I can.”

Being a stripper means there is one question that Hunter is asked weekly. “How can your girlfriend let you do that?”

“My girlfriend, when I first got into the profession, was a little bit unsure, but I bought her a washing machine with my first wages, and she wasn’t bothered after that,” he reveals with a smile. “We did break up, but it wasn’t to do with the job.”

He got straight into a new relationship, and his now-wife knew his job when she became involved. Hunter says she’s totally comfortable and doesn’t worry about him being in close proximity to other women.

“My wife does not mind. She knows it’s just a job, and then I come home to her and our son,” he states. “She helps me with my organisation of it all and washes my kit.

“I’m probably less likely to cheat than a man who goes out every weekend. I hate the idea of a night in town, and I don’t drink as I see people take it too far each weekend, and I want quiet away from work – it is the same for a lot of the guys.

“Your patience runs a little bit thin, but you’ve just got to carry on with that smile on your face.”

As for the rest of his family, Hunter says his dad thinks it’s “ace”, but his mum is not so keen on his career choice.

But with the downsides and his mother’s lack of approval, would Hunter still go down the same road all those years ago?

“100 per cent, I have zero regrets. I wouldn’t change anything I’ve done over these years because the pros still outweigh any cons. The industry has always been very important to me, and I care deeply about its future. I’m kind of addicted to it, and feel like this is what I was born to do. If I pulled away from it, I would miss the thrill. For me, it’s not the ego boost of screaming women, but spotting somebody’s grandma who didn’t necessarily want to go on the hen do and making her smile.

“I still am delivering what I did when I first started, but I’m just more exhausted on a Sunday morning now!”