Is Hulu’s “Welcome to Chippendales” Based on True Story? – The tremendous new Hulu series Welcome to Chippendales, which explores the shadowy side of the Chippendales male striptease dancing group and its creator, Somen “Steve” Banerjee.
In addition to Kumail Nanjiani, Murray Bartlett, Annaleigh Ashford, and Juliette Lewis, the show also stars Nicola Pletz and Dan Stevens. But the play isn’t only about hot men dancing in their underpants; there are some really grim twists and turns that the audience won’t be prepared for.
Is the narrative behind Welcome to Chippendales based on fact? Everything you need to know is on SpikyTV.
Is “Welcome to Chippendales” Based on True Story?
Welcome to Chippendales, a limited series on Hulu that chronicles the true story of the groundbreaking all-male revue started by Somen “Steve” Banerjee in 1980s Los Angeles. The story of male strippers, jealousy, and murder, however, is stranger than anything Hollywood could have imagined.
Based on the 2014 book Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders, the eight-episode true-crime docudrama “Welcome to Chippendales” stars Kumail Nanjiani, Juliette Lewis, and White Lotus’ Murray Bartlett. The series, like the book, explores the emergence of the well-known all-male women’s strip club and the owner’s fall from grace. However, to Nanjiani, who plays Banerjee, the character, the man is more than just a bad guy; he represents the American Dream gone awry.
The New York Times was informed by Nanjiani that “he’s quite uncomfortable in his own skin.” “His only chance of feeling valuable is through success. However, I believe he also experienced some embarrassment over his means of income. Discover the real meaning of Welcome to Chippendales by continuing to read.
Recommended: What was Steve Banerjee’s Nakin Deal with Nick De Noia?
Somen “Steve” Banerjee: Who is He?
In the 1960s, Banerjee immigrated from India to the United States. Before purchasing a struggling Los Angeles club in 1975 and renaming it Destiny II, he worked for Mattel and owned a Mobil gas station in Southern California. (In the TV show, Nanjiani’s Steve says that the name suggested that it was the continuation of a lucrative venture.) However, the dance club had a difficult time drawing in customers. It later offered female mud wrestling and exotic dancing.
Four years later, Banerjee and his business partner, attorney Bruce Nahin, changed the club’s name to Chippendales in homage of the wooden furniture’s design and opened a ladies-only establishment where women could see men get naked. According to Candace Mayeron, a former associate producer for Chippendales, “It was the first time ever where something was fully catered to the ladies,” she told 20/20 in 2021. We created a space where women could be themselves.
What Inspired Steve Banerjee to Create the Chippendales?
Dan Stevens’s portrayal of club promoter and pimp Paul Snider proposed to Banerjee that he change his business into a female strip club. The host of the podcast Welcome To Your Fantasy, which discusses the Chippendales murder mystery, Natalia Petrzela, told Vice in 2021 that Paul Snider had read some homosexual male reviews and felt it would be amusing to do this for women. He then presented Banerjee with the idea, which is how it got started.
In a homage to the Playboy bunnies, Snider’s wife, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten (Nicola Peltz-Beckham), allegedly advised that the shirtless Chippendale dancers wear bow tie collars and cuffs. Eric Gilbert, the former creative director of Playboy, said that Hefner should be given credit for Chippendales’ popularity in the A&E documentary series Secrets of the Chippendales Murders. Hugh Hefner offered Steve Banerjee the greatest present by letting him to transform his signature cuffs and collar into a Chippendales style, he claimed. Women were “simply immediately locked into it” since the reversal caught their attention so much.
Snider was the original emcee for the Chippendales when Banerjee hired him in 1979, but he was swiftly fired when it became clear he lacked the charm required for the position. Snider killed himself in August 1980, and his estranged partner, Stratten. Two films were made about Stratten’s sad passing: Jamie Lee Curtis’ Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story and Bob Fosse’s Star 80.
Nick De Noia: Who is he?
Bartlett played the charming choreographer Nick De Noia, who had won two Emmys for his work on the NBC kids’ show Unicorn Tales. He was appointed the company’s in-house choreographer by Banerjee in 1981 when he was hired to write routines for his Chippendales dancers, but the two frequently quarreled. The two “used to go toe-to-toe and just yell and curse at each other” about the direction of the shows, according to former Chippendales dancer Read Scot.
De Noia relocated to New York in 1984 and established a new Chippendales performance that featured a seductive parody of Frankenstein called “The Perfect Man.” Later, he began a lucrative tour under the moniker Chippendales Universal, a separate business that paid Banerjee royalties for the use of the Chippendale name. Banerjee made a lot of money on this trip, but the founder and choreographer’s already strained relationship broke out.
When Did the Chippendales’ Problems Start?
Chippendales quickly rose to fame as a cultural phenomenon, inspiring steamy calendars, appearances on Phil Donahue, and SNL parodies. De Noia rose to prominence as Chippendales’ popularity grew, acquiring the moniker “Mr. Chippendales” in the process, which Banerjee found offensive. Mayeron told Elle in 2021, “I think that [nickname] helped fuel the resentment that Steve felt toward Nick. “Their verbal scuffles turned violent.”
Beyond his envy of De Noia, Banerjee was dealing with additional issues. He had been indulging in dishonest business methods for years, endangering his empire. He hired someone to torch Moody’s Disco, a competing nightclub, in 1979. He tried to do the same with a different rival five years later. Following a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by Black UCLA law student Don Gibson after being refused access to the nightclub, Chippendales declared bankruptcy in 1987.
Banerjee grew furious over his agreement with De Noia for the Chippendales tour as he became increasingly anxious to defend himself. The agreement, which De Noia had scribbled on a cocktail napkin, specified that De Noia would control the rights to the tour and that the parties would divide any revenues from the tour 50/50 going forward. As the tour gained popularity, Banerjee grew sure that De Noia was robbing him, so he engaged Ray Colon, a former cop and nightclub singer, to assist him in bringing De Noia to justice. De Noia was fatally shot on April 7, 1987, while seated at his desk in his New York office.
What Happened to Somen “Steve” Banerjee?
De Noia’s murder remained unsolved for many years, which appeared to give Banerjee more confidence after she had repurchased the touring rights after the choreographer’s passing. In 1990, he attempted to kill Michael Fullington, a former dancer and choreographer for the Chippendales, as well as two other former Chippendales dancers who had joined a competing group called Adonis: Men of Hollywood.
Although the hitman Colon recruited didn’t complete the task, he did let the FBI know about the murderous scheme. According to 20/20, when the FBI examined Colon’s flat, they discovered enough cyanide to kill 230 people. Colon agreed to assist the FBI in assembling a difficult case against Banerjee after serving seven months in prison.
Banerjee refused to speak out loud when Colon confronted him in June 1992 in an attempt to elicit a confession from him. He responded with Post-Its instead, which he then flushed down the toilet afterwards. The FBI got a recording of Banerjee confessing to handling Colon $500 to purchase the firearms used in De Noia’s murder after Colon met with him in Zurich, Switzerland, the following year.
Banerjee was accused of working with Colon to kill De Noia and attempt to kill three former Chippendales dancers in September 1993. He agreed to a plea agreement, agreeing to serve 26 years in prison and forfeit his half of the Chippendales, after pleading guilty to attempted arson, racketeering, murder for hire, and other charges. Banerjee committed suicide on October 23, 1994, only hours before he was supposed to be sentenced for the murder of De Noia.
There would be no hearing since Steve had committed suicide in jail the previous evening, someone announced as Mayeron and two of her dancers stood on the courthouse steps. “I felt seriously duped.” Banerjee’s intended victim, Scot, concurred, stating to 20/20, “[Banerjee] didn’t get the penalty he deserved. He didn’t receive the punishment Nick De Noia received for taking his life and attempting to kill people. He received a pass. He lacked courage.
Did Chippendales Survive the Scandal?
According to Time, Banerjee’s ex-wife Irene Banerjee, who passed away in 2001, received the Chippendales after Banerjee’s passing. However, Banerjee’s son, Christian, launched his own male revue, Strippendales, in 2020. The Banerjee family is no longer associated with Chippendales. He told the New York Post, “It wasn’t like I saw Magic Mike and wanted to imitate what I’ve seen. This was something that came from much deeper within me.
The Chippendales have maintained their unique status in culture. Forty years after Banerjee founded the initial club, the travelling production is still active, and Las Vegas remains a popular vacation spot for visitors attending the residency there. When questioned how the Chippendales survived the incident, Petrzela responded to Los Angeles Magazine, “People aren’t only watching for sexual titillation.” They’re taking their girlfriends out for a social encounter. It is a secure location for ladies.
