‘Real life Magic Mike’ shares dark side of career despite making millions

Tearing your clothes off on stage and leaving thousands of fans swooning might sound like a hoot, but being a world-renowned male stripper comes with some downsides too.

That's according to this Channing Tatum lookalike, who became a real life Magic Mike and now tours the globe with his dance troupe who thrive off of being in a near-constant state of undress.

Just like Tatum in the hit 2012 film, Will Parfitt swapped his mundane job for the spotlight - and he claims his stripping has made him a multimillionaire.

The 35-year-old, from Croydon, went from stacking shelves in a UK supermarket to performing for fans in various countries around the world and enjoying a luxury lifestyle.

Which all sounds very glamorous, but according to Will, there has also been a 'crazy' consequence that came with his lucrative new gig.

Will Parfitt's stripper origin story is eerily similar to the plot of Magic Mike (Warner Bros)

The Brit first dipped his toe into the stripping world back in 2012 when he left the UK to head off on an Australian adventure with his best mate Danny, who recently appeared on Married At First Sight Australia.

The pair were out on the town in Melbourne when a random reveller first pointed out that Will bore an uncanny resemblance to 21 Jump Street star Tatum.

Speaking to The Sun, he recalled how the bloke 'kept shouting Channing', explaining: "I was like, ‘What?’ I turned around, and he was like ‘You look like Channing Tatum’.

“And then he was introducing me to all his friends as the English Channing Tatum because he was Aussie. He was saying I was Channing’s English cousin as a joke."

Bare in mind, Will doesn't see the likeness between him and the actor - but he does 'take it as a compliment' when people suggest they look similar and acknowledges its 'good for business'.

The resemblance between him and Channing Tatum is uncanny to most, but Will doesn't see it himself (Instagram/@will_parfitt)

Shortly after this nightclub exchange, he ended up applying for a role as a topless waiter in another Aussie club which his new mate from the bar put him onto.

Although he thought it felt 'quite seedy' at first, Will said saw a lot of potential in the arena of male stripping.

After meeting his future business partner at the club, the pair decided to launch their own dance troupe, Magic Men.

"Now we do stadium tours, and we’re selling out to six thousand people in Scandinavia," Will went on, while claiming he has raked in millions, which has allowed him to invest in various properties in Australia.

Discussing how his life path is eerily similar to that of Tatum's character Michael 'Magic Mike' Lane, he said: "I just happen to be in that same line of work. I didn’t mean to get into it. I didn’t go looking for it, I just stumbled into it."

Although his career hasn't hit the heights of Tatum's just yet, Will says he is 'doing very well for a male stripper' - however, it's not all been fun and games.

The 35-year-old said that scammers have been taking advantage of the fact that he's a well known figure on both social media and the stripping circuit.

The business owner said his admirers have been scammed out of thousands by online crooks posing as him (Instagram/@will_parfitt)

Will claimed that fans of his have been repeatedly targeted by online crooks who have rinsed his admirers out of thousands.

"It gets worse and worse," he said. "And now with AI, it’s actually scary how good the fakes are getting. Sometimes I’m looking at it like, 'I swear I didn’t say this...'

"They take the live videos that I do or any video of me talking on social media, and then they AI it over the top. They’ve actually scammed so many people; so many have lost money to these people.

"And the thing is, I’m not an ultra celebrity like Justin Bieber where everyone’s going to be like, 'No, it’s obviously fake'."

He reckons that people fall for it because he is 'still approachable' and interacts with fans in real life, so his supporters apparently think it is plausible that he'd message them.

Discussing the fallout he's dealt with at the hands of scammers behind the fake accounts, Will added: "We’ve had people come to the show crying, and they’ve literally spent thousands of dollars on these people. It’s crazy."

So, if any attractive strippers message you off a dodgy-looking account, make sure you do your due diligence.