01.14 am, Tuesday May 22 2012

Inside Jodi Gordon's seedy stripper world

12:00 AEDT Wed Jul 8 2009
By Sean Cusick, ninemsn
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Jodi Gordon reportedly frequented strip club Bada Bing, located in Sydney's Kings Cross. (ninemsn)
Jodi Gordon reportedly frequented strip club Bada Bing, located in Sydney's Kings Cross. (ninemsn)

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If you think there must be something special about the Sydney strip club Home and Away star Jodi Gordon reportedly frequents, think again.

It's the same uncomfortable mix of pseudonyms, stylised obscenity and hidden menace found in red light districts the world over.

Bada Bing, located in the heart of the notorious Kings Cross, was empty last night - a Tuesday, the same night Gordon visited the evening before her brush with police.

That night reportedly ended up in a bizarre cocaine-fuelled episode in which police found the starlet cowering from imaginary armed men in the bedroom of a suspected bikie. (Read more: Jodi Gordon 'a regular at strip club')

In typical strip club style, Bada Bing - where Gordon is reported to be a Tuesday regular - is highly opportunistic in milking cash from its customers.

After walking past the club, ninemsn was immediately encouraged to enter by a bouncer.

The heavy-set man refused to reveal the cost of entry, instead shepherding us up the steps to another security guard waiting halfway up the staircase.

The second man also declined to state the admission price, $20, until we had safely reached the first floor.

The interior itself is surprisingly small - about 30m long and 4m wide with long mirrors covering the red walls.

It is also uncomfortably empty. One dancer performs on the main stage despite receiving no attention, moving back and forth between two poles reaching to the low roof.

Two bartenders pace up and down the bar attempting to look occupied while waitresses repeatedly ask the four patrons if they would like to buy $5 "dance tokens".

Waitresses busy themselves moving boxes of champagne flutes to the storeroom. One sits in the corner texting on her phone.

The dancers collect the majority of their earnings in the four private booths which resemble department store changing rooms.

Each has a bench that can sit three people, as well as a platform where the dancer performs on a rug.

All dancers explain that no touching is allowed - either of yourself or them - but the fee of $80 for 15 minutes typically features the dancer's breasts and buttocks rubbed across the patron's face, chest and lap.

An extended half-hour performance costs $160, while a full-hour show is exactly double that.

One patron expressed shock when he discovered that in the darkened hallway he had unknowingly signed an $88 credit card receipt for a dance show - $8 more than the agreed amount.

The ruse seems typical of the place - dodgy, but not so bad that you would call the police.

Gordon used the booths for up to four hours at a time, Woman's Day magazine reported this week.

Dancers are adamant that hourly discounts are not offered for longer performances, making the cost of this show $1280.

PHOTOS: Jodi Gordon before the controversies

Each stripper typically works a six-to-seven-hour shift. They feature up to four public performances on the main stage lasting about 20 minutes. They move between the patrons, gradually removing items of clothing to music for each $5 token.

The rest of their time is spent trawling the bar trying to coax customers into private booths.

One dancer admits that there is often "chaos" backstage as the women bustle for space in front of the mirror and fight over cans of spray tan.

By 11pm, the venue is still mostly vacant with just nine paying customers. As the dancers rotate shifts on the centre platform they wipe down the silver steel pole with a cloth.

The strippers, who spend much of their night sitting at the bar waiting for business, assure us that Tuesday evenings can be busy. It's hard to believe but the staff maintain that the club will stay open until as late as 6am.

The wall features a mounted Sopranos poster, signed by five of the acclaimed gangster drama's actors. The club's name is actually taken from the fictional crime organisation's New Jersey strip club.

The reference is an attempt to borrow a bit of gangster glamour - but it's clear, as we leave the club shortly before midnight with staff almost outnumbering customers, that there is very little glamour about Gordon's alleged haven.

It's a functional strip joint, doing what strip joints do best - separating fools from their money.

 

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