Zara McDermott's Thailand documentary 'full of lies' as star hits out

Zara McDermott's Thailand documentary has been slammed as being 'full of lies'. The former Strictly Come Dancingstar, 28, heads up the BBC doc Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise, in which she visits Thailand and Pattaya and visits sex workers, although it has come under fire from some viewers.

Whilst some have claimed that it will have "devastating consequences" for Thailand's tourism, YouTube star Mac, who runs the channel Mac TV Travel Learn Inspire, appeared in the documentary but has taken particular aim at the way producers treated him after he agreed to take part.

In a recent YouTube video, he claimed: "I listed out a bunch of things that I wasn't going to talk about and I made it very clear to all the producers that there's certain things I don't wanna talk about. I've got a reputation to uphold, and it's my duty to take care of myself. I wasn't gonna let them try and ruin it in any way.

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"They tried, but they did fail. I made it very clear what I was going to say and what I wasn't going to say. And they said, 'Okay, don't worry, it's fine, we won't ask you.'

"That was complete lies, they asked me everything under the sun, but I didn't give them the answers they wanted, and they started to get very frustrated and flustered."

The social media star then alleged that Zara, who has carved out a career as a documentary presenter since finding fame on Love Island, had "no opinions" of her own, and that all of her questions and points of discussion were fed to her by a producer.

He went on to claim: "And while I was walking down the street, and talking to Zara, there was different points where they took my conversation from over here and took my conversation from over there, from different parts of the night, and they chopped up my voice and made me say things in sentences that I didn't actually say. I thought that was really sneaky and deceiving that they did that."

He claimed to his 66,000 subscribers that various events were 'staged' during filming, and suspected other scenes were 'all fake' too before labelling Zara as a 'puppet' for the broadcaster.

In the description for the programme, the BBC says: "Zara McDermott travels to Thailand to discover an exotic paradise with two conflicting sides.

"Beyond the golden beaches and bustling cities lie wild parties, drugs and cheap sex!" The BBC has since claimed that Mac was actually "fully briefed" on what he would be asked when the cameras were rolling, and refuted any claims of 'fabrication' in the documentary.

A spokesperson for the programme said: "We refute any suggestion that this contributor was misrepresented and that any sequences were fabricated. He was fully briefed before participating, fully consented and understood the nature of his contribution and the series as a whole.

"Zara McDermott has explored a range of sensitive issues in multiple documentaries for BBC Three over the past five years." However, viewers were quick to hit out at the documentary as well. One wrote on social media: "I don’t usually comment on these things, but I feel this documentary is quite misleading. It seems to exaggerate and sensationalise issues just to create drama.

"The truth is, every country has a so-called dark side,' but in my 12+ years of living in Thailand, I’ve found it to be one of the safest and friendliest places I’ve ever been.

"The vast majority of people here are warm, welcoming, and kind, and my daily experience is nothing like what this program suggests." Another said: "It’s a shame such a narrow lens was allied to this documentary."

"Statements such as 'one wrong move here can have devastating consequences on one’s life' are true everywhere!"

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