Adult Creators Get A Close Up With New Reality TV Show

Adult content creators and platforms like OnlyFans have continued to make the news with their wild “competitions”, record profitability and tasteful trolling of those opposed to their lifestyle. Now, TLC is giving everyone a closer look at the creators of OnlyFans through their new series:  . 

The series follows six St. Louis couples (though it centers on the ladies) as they negotiate the good, the bad and the intricacies of life as adult content creators. 

One thing the series appears to address is the stigma surrounding adult work. When employers discover their employee’s OnlyFans page, the employee is often quickly dismissed. This exact thing happened to Megan, one of the six wives the series takes a look at. “I was a teacher. I was struggling,” says Megan. Eventually, her adult account was exposed and she was fired. Megan says she misses teaching, but the financial windfall she’s seen as an adult creator is hard to ignore.  

Brianna, another one of the series’ stars, says she was also fired (conspicuously) from her education job, but now has more money than any of the other couples the show examines. Though she and her husband Phillip are going through a rocky patch in their marriage, they became rich almost overnight after publishing their adult content online. 

The main draw of adult content creation today is the ratio of time spent to money earned, something this series clearly acknowledges. Most of the couples featured on Suburban Wives have children and have lamented what little time they were able to spend together as a family when they held more traditional jobs. Macy and Jim, one of the show’s couples, say they can earn $4,000 to $5,000 for just one short video of Macy in the shower. 

Heather and Shawn, another couple featured on the show, say they’re able to make “the most money” while spending “the most time with [their] families.” And there’s data to back this up. Sophie Rain, one of OnlyFans’ wealthiest creators, has claimed to make $100 million in her first year on the app. Now, the only screenshot Rain shared as proof has shown earnings in the $40 million range, but, still, hard to argue with millions of dollars in profit. 

OnlyFans manages to sustain itself by taking a 20% cut of each transaction made on the platform, a decision that’s earned them a nearly $8 billion valuation. 

A central focus of the series is each couple’s relationship with their family. Adult work has begun to weigh on their conscience and a big piece of the drama is whether or not to inform their loved ones of their secret life. Unlike some creators, who’ve said it was their parents’ idea, Shawn worries what his mother (who lives with his co-star wife Heather) might think. 

While these couples are all close friends, in typical reality show fashion, there’s always tension and chaos brewing around every corner. But, going beyond that, the series takes a necessary look at what everyday people deal with when they choose to share their intimate moments online. They’re judged (often harshly) and are constantly juggling their changing lifestyle with appearing outwardly normal. While one could argue that it isn’t necessary to hide this double life, it definitely makes for interesting television, and different families hold different ideals. What’s more, further enlightening people to the lucrativeness and relative ease of adult content creation may actually detract from the humiliation that most currently associate with the profession. The adult content creation industry continues to expand and fight the stigma, and it’s about time a show brought a magnifying glass to this lifestyle that’s growing in popularity day by day.