Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends

Gary, what happened in there? Did you just pick her up?

No, I asked her to the party.

Seems like a very nice lady.

- Yeah. - Very attractive too.

- Yeah. - Beautiful, yeah.

Were you thinking about maybe?

Cos a lot of people would think you were picking her up.

No, I'm not, not really.

They would think that.

I think she'd have a great time at the party.

Yeah. With you, at the party?

- I... don't know. - Maybe.

Would that be 0K with Margaret?

I think so, yeah.

- You think so? - Yeah, sure.

- You think so? - Yeah.

But you're not sure?

Ripped By mstoll

Southern California, a land of unlimited possibilities.

Home to a subculture of middle-class couples

who embrace all the core values of America except one -

monogamy.

They call themselves "members of the lifestyle" or "swingers".

My mission - to go to a swing party.

My first contact, Gary and Margaret.

He works for a large corporation that will remain nameless.

She's a homemaker.

Together they run a regular swing party, right out of their suburban home.

Are you Margaret?

- Yeah. - No! Are you?

- Yeah. - I'm Louis.

- Hi, Louis. - From BBC 2. How you doing?

- Fine, real good. - Where's Gary?

- Are you Gary? - Yeah.

- I'm Louis. It's good to meet you. - Hi.

I'm interested in finding out what it means to be a swinger.

Sure, whatever I can tell you, that'd be great.

What I'd like to do is take a look around the premises,

cos I understand you've done quite a lot with it.

Yeah, we've added a lot of stuff.

In fact, a great deal of the stuff in our house and outside

is stuff that we got from what we call yard sales.

This room is our indoor group room...

Wow!

...for group activities and multiple couples and that kinda stuff

and they can use this whole area as a play room.

- People come and go through here. - So, this is like the orgy room?

Yeah. Yeah, technically speaking.

Do you keep this pretty clean?

0h, yeah. We leave out... We put out a lot of towels for people.

If there's any kind of fluid, it's polite not to get the mattress... wet.

It seems like you've got kind of a space-age theme going on on the walls.

Yeah. When I get around to it, this whole room is gonna be redone

into a kind of a Star Wars, outer space type of theme.

So, if I were at a Gary and Margaret party

and I saw a young woman who I was maybe interested in,

I could say "I'll meet you in the Star Wars room"?

- Yeah. - "For a group sex session"?

Yeah, sort of.

So, let's say I come in here and I'm interested in what's going on, can I just dive in?

No, not specifically, no.

First you'd say, "Would anybody mind if I join in a little bit?"

You'd say something like that. You don't have to but it's polite if you do.

So, let's say I'm stroking your hair and your thigh,

and then I want to go to the next level

and involve one of the primary erogenous zones.

Right.

- Can I just sort of take it there? - Yeah.

Does that basically mean you have carte blanche

to investigate everyone else who's in the group room?

No, just that particular person.

If they take your hand and put it off themselves

or give you a signal that they don't want any other person involved right now,

then you have to go with that.

Through here is another more interesting room.

Wow!

This is one of our other bedrooms. This is where I keep all my...

I'm looking at... I'm looking at swimming masks, snorkels.

This is sort of a what - underwater scuba room?

Yeah, this is where I keep all my fetish stuff.

I have a big collection of rubber and fetish stuff

and I keep it in this room,

which a lot of the guests we have here like to use.

So, what's the thing about rubber - what is the appeal?

It's more of a psychological than a physical thing.

- That's your cup of tea, is it? - That's one of the things I like a lot.

So I decided when we got our own place, that I'd have a place to store all my stuff

and have access to it and to use and for other people to use.

I'm being drawn towards this item here.

Yeah. In fact, at the last party, a lady wore that. She was a lot of fun.

- She wore that? - Yeah, yeah, she really did.

A lot of people come here always looking for something new.

Different and new to try out because they've been married for 25, 30 years,

and they've kinda gone around the block a few times, you know?

They like to pull into a different driveway every once in a while.

This is what we call a pony chair. That's one of our specialty items.

It's a table with a foam mattress on top.

- You made this? - Yeah, made it myself.

Matter of fact, we made three of 'em.

Then it has these little... braces here on the corners.

I feel like one of us should demonstrate.

Why don't you demonstrate?

- Does it have to be me? - Yes, I own the place.

We have a lot of ladies who might be a little overweight

and sometimes it's hard for them to keep their legs up in the air,

and this allows them to relax more and to still have access,

but it's much more comfortable for them and they use it a lot.

It is comfortable.

I feel vulnerable, though.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right.

I could go for this, I guess, if I relaxed and...

And let your mind wander.

I'm curious to know if your parents or your friends who don't know you're into swinging,

if they come round, they come into this room...

I keep this room locked. This is the only room that I keep locked

when we have people over who aren't into the scene.

What about the room with all the mattresses on the floor?

I just close the door and if someone goes in there

and says "What are all the mattresses for?"

We have a lot of friends and that's where they can sleep if they wanna stay over.

And they believe it?

0h, sure. Plus we have regular parties and we have a lot of my relatives over.

- And they do sleep in there. - Yes.

And if it's an afternoon barbecue or something and they want to take a nap,

they go in the room, they take a nap.

Little knowing what went on there the Saturday before.

Exactly.

There are a lot of TVs in the house. Why is that?

0ne of the things that you have to have at swing parties is adult movies playing.

People love to watch adult movies.

They love to sit and watch 'em and it just kinda helps put them in the mood.

So, give me an example - "That guy's attractive" or something.

Well, I wouldn't say that. You could say, "Boy, those are enormous breasts"

and she goes "Yes, they are" and you take the conversation from there

and it actually gives you something to talk about that you can both look at,

and then you try to get an idea of what might be going though her mind.

Yeah, that's good. Good conversation starter.

This is a unit that we, er... had... built.

There are spaces on each side and in the back

that have single beds and another group area in the back.

What if you're in here and you see an attractive couple or three or four people in here,

and you're thinking, "I wanna jump in there."

So you would ask, but what would you say - it's such an embarrassing question.

Well, embarrassing is something that you'll have to deal with and get over,

because it is embarrassing somewhat, but how else are you gonna get anything done?

0K, this is nice. This is really nice!

This is kinda what we're known for, is our back yard and pool area.

This is fabulous.

It's a really warm pool. In fact, stick your hand in there,

and you can tell how nice and warm it is. It's like bathwater.

It's really relaxing and you get a lot of muscles sore

and you wanna get in here and relax.

And a lot of sexual activity does take place in the pool.

Is that hygienic?

I have a really good filter... on the pool.

How is it that neighbours aren't gonna see what's going on?

Look, Gary, I can see a window over there in a neighbouring house.

You're a little taller and they'd have to stand on a bench or a table

to be up enough to look in this way,

and what are they gonna see? They're gonna see the top of your head.

- Smiling. - Yeah.

Don't you get to pair off with someone?

I usually stay outside most of the evening and Margaret runs the inside of the house.

But I think tonight will be an excellent night.

I know several ladies who will be coming that are very nice

and I've had fun with in the past, so that makes it much easier.

- Easier for what? - Well, to do some sexual stuff.

So, where are we going, Margaret?

Vons supermarket.

Vons supermarket?

- Yes. - To get stuff for the party?

- Yes. - And do you know what we need to get?

- A lot of stuff. - Like what?

0h, we need cold drinks, thinks like that.

- Yeah. - We need, er...

Condoms?

Well, everybody does that part.

Everyone brings their own?

Yeah. Couldn't afford that.

And here's Vons!

How's your cart?

- 0K. - Is it a good one?

- Uh-huh. - That's important.

- What's on the list? - Beans, chips, paper goods...

Pick out a watermelon. That's a good one.

Pick out a lettuce.

- A lettuce? - Down there.

We're gonna save this section here for the sodas.

- 0K. - Yeah. So, we wanna put these up here.

- Sorry about that. - That's 0K.

How long have you been swinging, Margaret?

A long time - since the '70s.

Since the '70s?

So you're like one of the original swingers, cos the '70s were like known for swinging.

Yeah.

Do you ever get funny looks when you buy so much stuff?

Um... sometimes.

So if they ask, what's your cover story?

We're having a pool party.

- A pool party? - Yeah. That's not lying.