Fitness club nude video pumps up controversy

Fitness club nude video pumps up controversy

A video clip showing naked women entertaining a group of men in a Bangkok fitness centre has ignited the latest uproar among Thai netizens, but the club’s owner said it was a private customer party and that he had nothing to do with it.

Ebi Sauna & Fitness in Soi Rojanamin in Bangkok's Wang Thonglang district was the site of a nude-fitness party now under investigation by police. (Photos by Patipat Janthong)

Police, however, are investigating after the 68-second video, which began circulating on the Internet over the weekend, showed four naked women dancing and tantalising at least six men - some wearing white towels and some workout shorts - with loud dance music in the background. Some of the men were filmed squeezing the women's breasts. 

Another man wearing proper workout clothes seemed impervious to temptation, running normally on a treadmill ignoring the shenanigans playing behind him. At the end of the clip, a man in a white towel ordered the cameraman to stop filming with his mobile phone, saying video-recording was not allowed.

The gym was identified as "Ebi Sauna & Fitness" in Soi Rojanamin in Bangkok's Wang Thonglang district, according to police spokesman Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri.

A clip from a viral video taken at Ebi Sauna & Fitness" in Soi Rojanamin in Bangkok's Wang Thonglang district.

Surapan Surawattanapong, 57, the sauna's owner, said the incident caught on video took place about 8pm on Dec 5 when a group of customers rented his club to organise a private New Year party. He insisted his business had nothing to do with supplying women to customers and he was not at the gym during the party.

Ebi Sauna & Fitness opened four years ago and customers can use the facility by buying either a 200-baht coupon per entry or applying for membership. Its customers include politicians, businesspeople and celebrities.

Before questioning Mr Surapan, Pol Lt Gen Prawut said police would consider pressing charges of arranging obscene acts for sexual pleasure against the club's owner. The offence carries a prison sentence of one to 10 years and/or a fine of  2,000-20,000 baht.

The naked women would also be charged with committing obscene acts and police would summon everyone appearing in the clip for inquiry, he added. 

Maverick politician Chuvit Kamolvisit told Thairath Online that those running sex businesses have resorted to using spas and fitness clubs as a front for offering sex services, as massage parlours have become old-hat. A change, he said, was needed to keep up with changing times.

Mr Chuvit, leader of the Rak Thailand Party, and former massage-parlour tycoon, said using health clubs that provide food and drinks is a new type of sex business that originated in Macau and can now be found in the Town in Town area of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

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