Give it up for Magic Mickey: The second year stripper stealing your heart
He earns hundreds for just a few minutes’ work
The instant Magic Mickey struts onto the stage, the women in the audience go wild and scream for him to get his kit off –– which he does to the tune of White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic.
England’s answer to Channing Tatum is a 21-year-old stud from Sevenoaks whose favourite routine is stripping down from a geek outfit. The glasses stay on.
As the new Magic Mike hits the screens this week, bursting with oiled six-packs and flying knickers, we chatted to the real deal –– he even does the umbrella routine. He’s been a stripper since he was 18 and was even convinced to start because of the original Magic Mike film.
Enter Mike Measter, a second year at Hertfordshire doing Sports and Exercise Science, who lays his toned body on the line for hundreds of pounds a night.
He began stripping at uni to earn some extra cash and can clear over £400 for a 20 minute solo routine and a 10 minute group dance at the Adonis Cabaret.
Magic Mickey, who works for the Adonis Cabaret, said: “You get paid loads but you would do it for free, because you love doing it. When I started as an 18-year-old, I was earning hundreds for just two or three nights a week.
“You do have to be in really good shape but the company I work for recruit on personality so it’s all about energy and enthusiasm. If you’re having having fun and smiling and enjoying yourself up on Cloud Nine, the audience will love it and you’ll get positive attention.”
Mickey’s worst experience with a member of the audience came in the form of a one-legged woman who was a bit too hands-on.
“It can be absolutely nuts. The women go berserk, they throw things and shout stuff like ‘get your cock out’.
“One example is when I saw an old woman with one leg in a wheelchair at a show. I thought, ‘what a nice, sweet woman’ and went over. She put one hand on my crotch and one on my bum and didn’t let go. She said: ‘I may not be a whole woman but I’ll show you what a real woman is like if you take me home’.
“If we went to a female strip club and behaved like that, we’d get chucked out and make front page news. When we’re up there we don’t appear as guys in their eyes, something psychologically makes them think we don’t really exist, so they let their hair down and go nuts.”
Mickey can find himself performing in pubs in front of a dozen women gathered for a hen do or on stage in front of thousands. At any occasion he tries to be a professional, even if something goes wrong.
“Once I slipped on some baby oil on the floor left over from the previous act and I woke up what seemed like 30 seconds later. The show must go on so I had to get on with it.
“You do get nervous before you go on, especially when I first started –– I was 18 and had barely been in nightclubs before. It’s just you on stage, so it makes you motivated to improve in the gym and in customer service.
“You talk to the women and want them to have a good experience, it feeds your ego. It goes without saying it’s good for your confidence. Look at the guys up there and you’ll see they’re really confident and happy. They’re best friends –– the better you all get on, the better you are as a show.”
Mickey explains the strippers’ camaraderie was what pushed him to join, along with the release of the first Magic Mike film in 2012 and a break-up with his girlfriend at the time.
“I was thinking about the best way I could use my time now I was single and I had started working as a personal trainer. The Magic Mike film came out and I thought, ‘great, let’s go for it’. I went along to an Adonis show and saw these monsters: the guys were so in shape.
“You idolise these giants and are really taken in by the show. The women were just screaming at the guys as well, I’d never experienced that before. They took me up on stage and I had to take my shirt off as they rated me while I sat on a chair. Luckily for me, they didn’t all boo. And then the strippers took me in. I went round to an Adonis guy’s house and learned a routine in his living room.
“I got to learn certain bits and made it my own –– my mum and dad were brilliant, they kept coming back to find me practicing in weird outfits. The money I earned definitely save them a buck or two for uni.
“I started going back to Tristan’s house [the founder of Adonis] and learned how to play piano in his kitchen. That’s a piano played by my member –– Jingle Bells at Christmas time, Happy Birthday most of the time.”
Mickey recently moved to Sweden to finish his degree via correspondence and live with his new girlfriend. But while he was at uni, he had a huge reputation and strangers would know where Magic Mickey the stripper lived.
“Everyone knew at university. I had a friend who came over from my hometown to visit but I forgot to tell him what flat I was in. My mate knocked on someone else’s door in a different building and the stranger who opened knew where I lived.
“You get people who are envious but they just don’t understand. All the way through we preach positivity and good nature but if you’re a prude you’re not going to get it.”
Boss and former stripper Tristan, 42, once insured his penis for £1 million at the peak of his career.
Would Magic Mickey ever think about it?
“Definitely, I would consider it. You get properly scratched by these women so I’d insure every inch of me.”