If you're a purist about love, the sugar baby life may not be for you. PIX 11 was invited into the world of sugar babies, scoring an invite to an exclusive party, where attractive, young sugar babies were on the prowl and looking to land a man with some cash.
The party was held at a swanky Manhattan hotpot, sponsored by the website, www.seekingarrangement.com, one of the most successful sugar daddy dating sites in the country. The site's CEO, Brandon Wade, says more and more young women are looking for cash for college. And the most heavily represented school among sugar baby students is NYU.
About 400 men and women came to hunt and be hunted. The ratio is 1 to 10 in favor of the daddies. The dress code for babies - tight, short, sparkly and lots of skin. For men? Just bring your wallet. The party also represents the perfect marketing opportunity for things babies and daddies like – cigars for one, plastic surgery for the other. We quickly met Samantha, a recent grad from Montclair State. She told us, "I was trying to see what was out there and see if there's anybody I was interested in."
The 20-something says - on the site and at the party - people are more upfront than on other dating sites. She explains why she feels it works better, "Women here want someone with financial stability and men want women of higher, you know, stature, social status or whatnot."
We asked Wade if the real tradeoff here is sex for money. The entrepreneur replied, "Well, people only feel obligated in a certain sense but nobody is required to do a certain thing. "
The site boasts that it offers babies and daddies the opportunity to form "mutually beneficial relationships", where men with cash meet women who can offer "companionship and intimacy." Samantha sees nothing wrong with that, "Especially with the economy the way it is right now, getting a job is nearly impossible and if you get a job, it's not usually what you studied so I feel this is a good way to ride the economy and ride the wave until you get back up."
Now, it's time to meet a sugar daddy. We talked with actor/singer Gianni Russo, a self-described romantic. Russo says he's been married 10 times, and is an actual daddy to 11 kids. He, too, sees it in a positive light, "I think it's a unique idea in this economy and I know a lot of people that spend a lot of money for no reason so I like the idea that it's for education, at least you're doing something positive rather than buy a Louis Vuitton bag for five thousand."
We asked what if his daughters wanted to do this? Russo's reply, "My daughters wouldn't have to do this, thank God."
We invited three local ladies, roughly the same age, and educational background as the sugar babies to watch some footage of the party and share their thoughts. Each is either working to pay her way through school or to pay off her recent diploma.
Ari Botsford, a 20-something nanny, said she wouldn't do it, even though it would be easy money, "There's totally something else going on here. You have the freedom, you're a woman, you have those rights. But at the same time, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought so hard for us to have equal rights and now we're doing this?"
Writer Eleni Crush says it's not for her, but she has friends who've used the site, "I talked to them the entire time that they did it because I thought it was totally fascinating and I could never do it myself, just because it's not who I am." She says one friend scored a Macbook Pro from it and another made some cash.
Janine Block is a marketing representative. She also said it wasn't for her, "I think they probably have to sell themselves very short."
So, our non-representative sample of struggling 20-somethings shunned the idea. I asked sugar-baby-to-be Samantha what she would say to people who knock it. Her reply? "Flip off."
The party was held at a swanky Manhattan hotpot, sponsored by the website, www.seekingarrangement.com, one of the most successful sugar daddy dating sites in the country. The site's CEO, Brandon Wade, says more and more young women are looking for cash for college. And the most heavily represented school among sugar baby students is NYU.
About 400 men and women came to hunt and be hunted. The ratio is 1 to 10 in favor of the daddies. The dress code for babies - tight, short, sparkly and lots of skin. For men? Just bring your wallet. The party also represents the perfect marketing opportunity for things babies and daddies like – cigars for one, plastic surgery for the other. We quickly met Samantha, a recent grad from Montclair State. She told us, "I was trying to see what was out there and see if there's anybody I was interested in."
The 20-something says - on the site and at the party - people are more upfront than on other dating sites. She explains why she feels it works better, "Women here want someone with financial stability and men want women of higher, you know, stature, social status or whatnot."
We asked Wade if the real tradeoff here is sex for money. The entrepreneur replied, "Well, people only feel obligated in a certain sense but nobody is required to do a certain thing. "
The site boasts that it offers babies and daddies the opportunity to form "mutually beneficial relationships", where men with cash meet women who can offer "companionship and intimacy." Samantha sees nothing wrong with that, "Especially with the economy the way it is right now, getting a job is nearly impossible and if you get a job, it's not usually what you studied so I feel this is a good way to ride the economy and ride the wave until you get back up."
Now, it's time to meet a sugar daddy. We talked with actor/singer Gianni Russo, a self-described romantic. Russo says he's been married 10 times, and is an actual daddy to 11 kids. He, too, sees it in a positive light, "I think it's a unique idea in this economy and I know a lot of people that spend a lot of money for no reason so I like the idea that it's for education, at least you're doing something positive rather than buy a Louis Vuitton bag for five thousand."
We asked what if his daughters wanted to do this? Russo's reply, "My daughters wouldn't have to do this, thank God."
We invited three local ladies, roughly the same age, and educational background as the sugar babies to watch some footage of the party and share their thoughts. Each is either working to pay her way through school or to pay off her recent diploma.
Ari Botsford, a 20-something nanny, said she wouldn't do it, even though it would be easy money, "There's totally something else going on here. You have the freedom, you're a woman, you have those rights. But at the same time, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought so hard for us to have equal rights and now we're doing this?"
Writer Eleni Crush says it's not for her, but she has friends who've used the site, "I talked to them the entire time that they did it because I thought it was totally fascinating and I could never do it myself, just because it's not who I am." She says one friend scored a Macbook Pro from it and another made some cash.
Janine Block is a marketing representative. She also said it wasn't for her, "I think they probably have to sell themselves very short."
So, our non-representative sample of struggling 20-somethings shunned the idea. I asked sugar-baby-to-be Samantha what she would say to people who knock it. Her reply? "Flip off."
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