By Luke Voogt
Being a Channing Tatum doppelganger can get someone a long way, as British expat Will Parfitt discovered two years ago.
‘Channing’ is one of the Magic Men who will get their gear off at the Sphinx next weekend.
It was a random meeting which led Channing down the unexpected career path of male dancing.
“I was on a night out and this club promoter kept calling me Channing,” the former South London chef said.
“He introduced me to Carlos, who owns Magic Men, and I just fell into it like that.”
Channing had been travelling to Australia for three years before he took on his first gig as a topless waiter.
“It’s how most of the boys start there,” the 26-year-old said.
“I sort of learnt the dancing from watching the boys.”
He said his fellow strippers had become “family” to him.
“I thought maybe the guys would be arrogant or cocky because that’s what you hear about strippers,” he said.
“But the reality was they’re just guys that like to have fun.”
Channing said he was living the dream with the “money, girls and the lifestyle”.
“It never feels like a job,” he said.
“Groups of guys go out and spend hundreds of dollars.”
“We’re going out on nights that guys want to go on – surrounded by girls – and we’re getting paid for it.”
Channing said his stage-name namesake had influenced his style.
“I seem to be copying more and more of his traits now that people are saying I look like him. It’s not really a bad compliment to say I look like him because he’s pretty popular with the girls.”
He got a mixed reaction from his parents back home when he told them of his new gig.
“My mum wasn’t too happy but my dad didn’t mind – I just told her it was a bit more dancing then stripping.”
Channing was with the Magic Men when they came to the Sphinx last year. He said the group often did private shows in Geelong.
“It’s always good fun in Geelong – the girls down there get really crazy.”
Magic Men’s Girls Night Out comes to the Sphinx next Friday (24 February).
