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Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On

Fittingly, “Take Me Private” is an intimate gem in Hot Girls Wanted’s anthology about sex and the internet. Whereas most of Turned On’s other episodes — much like the original documentary — use real life stories to explore a larger issue about the sex work industry, the docu-series’ fifth episode is quiet and private as it tells one couple’s story. When a cam girl travels to Australia to meet the man who has been paying to watch her for years, both walk away a little sadder but more self-aware than when they entered.

The episode follows the international adventure of one cam girl, a webcam model who performs on the internet through a live stream. A large amount of the time these live streams are sexual or have sexual elements, and many cam girls make the bulk of their live streaming money convincing viewers to participate in a private chat room. It could be easy for “Take Me Private” to achieve a cautionary tone. After all, don’t talk to strangers you meet on the internet is advice tech-savvy mothers have been giving their kids for years. Not only does camming directly violate that warning, flying to another country to meet an internet stranger who almost definitely wants to have sex with you seems sketchy at best. However, Alice and Tom come across as such genuinely kind people, Alice’s plan to visit her client in Australia never feels threatening. It feels sweet and optimistic, which is what makes the documentary’s ending so sad.

There are red flags from the beginning, alluding to the episode’s conclusion. As Alice assures her friend and husband that Tom is a really nice guy with whom she shares a deep but fun connection, Tom confesses that he’s in love with Alice to his friends. It’s clear to an outsider watching the relationship — both as a viewer of the documentary and as a member of Alice and Tom’s respective support systems — that this couple doesn’t share the same expectations for each other. Once Alice arrives in Melbourne, that reality becomes increasingly clear.

Most of Turned On’s episodes contain an element of sadness and regret, but “Take Me Private” feels like the most vulnerable of the series. It’s odd that a documentary about two nice people meeting can achieve this in a docu-series that often explores sexual abuse and substance overdose. However, the episode spends such a long time with this couple and, more importantly, this relationship, it feels raw when Alice and Tom finally realize that whatever they may have shouldn’t continue. He’s built her up to be something she can never achieve, and she is an actual person, someone who is far removed from the constantly peppy cam girl he spent a large amount of money watching. They started this relationship under false pretenses, and the light of reality makes it clear this can’t continue.

“Take Me Private” doesn’t expose the hidden secrets of the camming community. What it instead does is inject a note of humanity into narratives about sex work. Watching Alice and Tom walk away from each other is sad. You know what their expectations were, and you know the exact ways the other person has been a source of disappointment. However, there’s a sense that each subject is walking away with a better sense of themselves. It’s a surprisingly sweet conclusion that embodies the deeply intimate and confusing relationships that can come from sex work.