The concerning allegations regarding Stefan Wilhelmy’s community celebrating plus-size women will be covered in Investigative Discovery’s docuseries Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise, and Us Weekly has an exclusive first look into the home and dynamics of the “Pearadise” community.
The clip begins with Wilhelmy describing himself as “just a normal guy.” However, one thing that makes him stand out is his role as the founder of Pearadise, an online and real life plus size community that claims to celebrate body positivity. Many of the members uprooted their lives to stay with Wilhelmy and others in the community at a spacious home in Las Vegas.
“My ideal type has always been very tall and very big,” Wilhelmy said in the clip. “She will be 6-foot or taller and she would definitely be 500 plus.”
As clips showed the women spending time in the extravagant home, Wilhelmy explained that “part of [his] mission with Pearadise is to teach people it is completely normal and completely acceptable to have an attraction to plus-size women.”
Viewers continued to get a glimpse of the home as the women were shown in the large backyard and kitchen, while Wilhelmy was seen looking at the women on the ground as he stood on a balcony and asked, “You guys ready for a swimsuit check?”
Wilhelmy then instructed the women on where to stand for their “swimsuit check” and they appeared happy to follow, strutting around to show off their curves in their bathing suits.
“Pearadise is a place of acceptance and love for plus-size people to visit,” he said in a voiceover as he took a video of the women strutting around in his backyard.
While Wilhelmy claims to have created a safe space for the women, he has been accused of misconduct including manipulation, coercion and exploitative dynamics.
In the docuseries’ trailer, the women claimed that their experience in Pearadise took a downward turn as Wilhelmy allegedly fetishized them and pressured them to gain weight.
“He’s selling a fantasy. You’ll be loved here, worshipped like a goddess, but they don’t tell you the price that you pay,” one woman said in the trailer, while another added, “He says, ‘This is just a body positive space, and I just love fat women, and it’s totally innocent,’ when it’s totally not.”
Several women previously accused Wilhelmy of manipulation, victimization, coercion and sexual assault while part of the community.
After they shared their allegations on social media, he sued four of the women for defamation and related claims. However, the court sided with the women and dismissed all of Wilhelmy and Pearadise’s claims and instructed him to pay attorney’s fees, according to the Randazza legal group’s website.
Viewers can get to know more about Pearadise and the claims made against Wilhelmy when Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise premieres on ID on Wednesday, June 10, at 8 p.m. The three-part series will also be available to stream on HBO Max.
