‘Dark underbelly’ of the world’s most famous legal brothel exposed in horrifying new documentary

A shocking new A&E documentary exposes what it claims is the seedy underbelly of legal brothel the Moonlite BunnyRanch under its late owner Dennis Hof, who is accused of raping his employees, creating a fictionalized TV series to lure them in, and trapping them in the brothel with debt.

Opening its doors in 1955, the brothel in Nevada came to national attention under Hof, who served as its owner it from 1992 until his death in 2018.

During his ownership, he worked with HBO to create the reality series, Cathouse, which set out to shine a light on the inner workings of the business. 

Airing between 2005 and 2014, the series fast became the most watched documentaries in the history of the network.

However, there are allegations that all was not what it seemed under Hof’s management, and now the six-part A&E documentary series, Secrets of the BunnyRanch, is exposing the dark inner workings of the brothel. 

Here, Daily Mail delves into the shocking first two episodes of the docuseries – including the abuse sex workers suffered at the hands of Hof, how they would become indebted to him and his business, and how the HBO show he created was not reality.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1946, Hof was a businessman and politician who owned many legal brothels in his lifetime, but Moonlite BunnyRanch was the most notorious.

Although it could be illegal to advertise brothels in the state of Nevada, Hof kept up a high profile in the media and regularly made appearances promoting the business on huge shows, including Oprah Winfrey, The Today Show and The View.

And in 2002, Hof would further promote Moonlite BunnyRanch in the HBO series Cathouse, which ran for 12 years.

Hof was an alleged predator

Hof’s creepy behavior is laid bare in Secrets of the BunnyRanch by his former employees, who described him as a ‘predator’ and someone who groomed, controlled, and manipulated them.

Former BunnyRanch worker and Cathouse star Shelly Dushell recalled how Hof propositioned her for sex on her first day at work and she was afraid to turn him down. She also claimed that he didn’t wear a condom.

Recounting how she ended up at the ranch, she said: ‘I had no idea that prostitution was legal anywhere in the United States, so I sent a picture of myself to the Moonlight BunnyRanch and Dennis Hof himself called me back in two hours and said I want you out here.’

After flying out to Nevada, Shelly said she was picked up at the airport by Hof, who told her he wanted her to star in the HBO show, Cathouse.

‘He walked me in and there were cameramen there filming for the HBO show,’ she continued.

‘Dennis took me out to the bungalow behind the building and wanted sex. And I had just met this man.

‘I had flown there to work. He was the boss. He was the owner, and he wanted to have sex the very first day I got there – and he didn’t want to wear a condom. So, I was absolutely horrified.

‘That was my first day at the ranch. I was afraid to tell Dennis no. I had no idea what I was getting into.

‘Nobody seems to care if a prostitute gets raped. I saw the ugly side of Dennis, but the world on Cathouse only saw the fun side of him because they didn’t know the real Dennis. Dennis was all about being violent.’

There were rules that the women had to follow at BunnyRanch, but these were often flouted by Hof.

Whenever a new group arrived at the ranch they were introduced to the Bunny Bible, which outlined that no client touching was allowed in the parlor, clients had to wear condoms, and that the women would have the final say on who they have sex with.

The rules didn’t apply to Hof, Shelly claimed.

‘Dennis preyed on the women who were the most easily victimized,’ Shelly said. ‘I was afraid to not go along with what he wanted. I learned a long time ago to not fight back.’

Trapped at the BunnyRanch

Besides living in fear of Hof’s alleged abuse, the women also revealed how one could easily become trapped at his brothels because of his ludicrously high fees.

Women said they would constantly be trying to pay off their tab, which was known as debt bondage, and couldn’t get away until they had paid off what they owed to the house.

The brothel had a 50/50 split, meaning the house would get 50 percent and the women would get 50 percent of their fee. However, the women would also have to pay for their supplies – so their earnings were even lower.

Dolly Hart, who worked at the Kit Kat ranch, revealed that Hof would even take half of their tips and gifts.

Deanne Holliday, who worked as Hof’s publicist and personal assistant, explained how little money the girls were left with at the end of the day.

‘They’re given a card, showing all the money that was deducted,’ she said, explaining that it cost the women $45 a day to stay at the ranch.

‘You have to pay if you want to do your laundry,’ she continued. ‘You need to tip the housekeeper, you need to tip the staff, the cashier expects a tip.

‘Everybody has got their hands on that money, and that was the norm.’

Deanne added that she would repeatedly hear women ask the cashier ‘is that all I’ve got?’ after their debts were deducted.

Bekah Charleston, who worked at the BunnyRanch, added: ‘They don’t explain that your room and board is coming out of your 50 percent of the money, so is all your supplies. 

‘They take as much money as possible. Your little 50 percent basically dwindles down.’

‘There are many girls there who are falling into debt and that’s a position you don’t ever want to be in at the brothel,’ she continued.

‘That means that when a customer finally does pick them, they have to do whatever he wants no matter if they want to or not.’

Shedding light on the additional products that they had to pay for, Shelly added: ‘We had to buy our clothing, we had to buy our condoms, we had to buy the lube, we had to buy the sex toys.’

‘If you do owe money to the brothel, you cant just walk away,’ Bekah added. ‘You can’t just say, you know what I’m going to call a cab and leave. That’s not possible.

‘People tried to say it was a regular job, who doesn’t leave their job?’

‘You’re literally there 24/7, that’s not normal,’ she continued. ‘It’s like they’re being kept in captivity.’

Cathouse did not expose the dark side of the brothel 

During the rise of the Moonlite BunnyRanch, Hof helped orchestrate the HBO reality television series, Cathouse.

Directed and executive produced by Patti Kaplan, the 11 episodes of the first season were originally broadcast in 2005.

While the show had initially set out to show how the women would negotiate with their clients, it took an increasingly sinister turn – and on one occasion the crew found themselves filming a bunny having sex.

Many of the former sex workers have claimed that the popular HBO series Cathouse was a complete fabrication and that Hof took control of the narrative to paint the brothel in a fun light.

They claimed the reality at the brothel was much worse – that they were subjected to rape, coercion, overdoses, abuse, and control.

Tom Hurwitz, a cinematographer on Cathouse, said that the series ‘never really wanted to dip further than just below this first public relations level.’

‘Dennis groping people, that was a daily occurrence, and they were supposed to like it, and they pretended to like it,’ he continued.

‘Nobody asked, “Do you not want Dennis to touch you when he’s touching people?” That was not part of the remit of Cathouse.’

Shelly explained that making a series that truly explored what the brothel was like was not in Hof’s interest – and Hof himself didn’t shy away from the notion that he was ‘projecting an image’ with Cathouse.

He wanted to keep his business as attractive as possible.

‘They wanted to sell a show, they wanted to make money off of that show and they wanted to make money off the girls having a great time,’ Shelly said. ‘They just didn’t want to show the ugly side of it.’

Shelly recalled how she was once expected to sleep with a clown. ‘They thought that would be interesting for the show,’ she said.

Several of the women attest that Cathouse was not a documentary as they were told what to do.

Shelly said she was humiliated by her job on Cathouse and that she was ‘victimized’ by Hof.

‘The fact I was a softcore porn actress was humiliating, but Dennis told me that I was going to be a star, that I needed to be on the show, that I’d make tonnes of money, I would be famous, it would make everyone rich,’ she said.

‘It didn’t make me rich. I was victimized. And Dennis Hof was the main victimizer.’

Shelly alleged that she was not properly compensated for her time on Cathouse and only got paid when she slept with a customer.

‘I was recognized everywhere I went after the show came out,’ she said. ‘It would have been nice to have a little bit of money to show for it.

‘I was actually losing money when I was on HBO because I wasn’t working when I was doing the filming for the show.’

It wasn’t just the sex workers who were uncomfortable with the Cathouse project.

Robin Lance, a sound recordist on the series, recalled how she was in a room when one of the women started having sex with her client.

‘At one point, we were in the room when Isabella Soprano was having sex with the client,’ she said.

‘This should have been the point where we scooted out of that room. I was like I didn’t sign up for this. I’m not here to shoot porn, I’m here to shoot a documentary.

‘This is not what I would normally be doing at work. I was expecting softcore photo stuff, not full-on pornography.’

According to Shelly, Hof took charge of the direction of Cathouse and would instruct the women to touch each other and make out with each other in the parlor.

‘Dennis wanted to make it so it looked like we were always waiting for sex and we were nymphos, so Dennis somewhat became the director because he was coordinating what he wanted to see in the scenes – and I didn’t always see Patti Kaplan around,’ she said.

‘It’s kind of hard to say it’s a documentary when you have a pimp directing scenes in his own brothel.

‘Watching the show, HBO definitely wanted it to look like the fun place to be and so I can see how it would be tempting for a young girl to watch the Cathouse show and think it would be something fun, [but] they don’t understand the reality of it.

‘They aren’t seeing what it’s really like behind closed doors.’

Dolly Hart started working at the Kit Kat ranch after having watched Cathouse. Speaking in episode two, she said she was attracted to the job on false pretenses after having seen the HBO series.

‘I would definitely tell little me that not everything you see on TV is a reality,’ she said.

Dennis kept the place on a cheerful, glitzy… so the darker side was kept very private and very much away from the cameras the women said.

‘The girls looked like they were having fun.’

The Moonlite BunnyRanch told Daily Mail in a statement: ‘We note that allegations against Mr. Hof are not new.

‘During his lifetime, Mr. Hof publicly addressed and denied similar accusations through official statements and media responses, including detailed rebuttals available on his website.

‘We find it particularly concerning that these matters are being revisited now, when Mr. Hof is no longer alive to personally respond to or defend himself against any claims.

‘The timing raises serious questions about fairness, as the accused party cannot provide their perspective or defense.’

They added: ‘The Moonlite BunnyRanch has always operated in compliance with Nevada state regulations governing legal brothels, and we remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of operation and worker safety.’

Daily Mail contacted HBO for comment and has not yet had a response. 

This isn’t the first time that former employees have spoken out about Hof. Following his death, former sex worker Theresa Lowe claimed she was raped by him – and he didn’t wear a condom.

In an interview with DailyMail.com in June 2018, she claimed that Hof attacked her within days of her arrival at the Love Ranch North but says she felt unable to go to the police for fear of not being believed.

‘I had just flown in [to Carson City], I was going to see the doctor the next day,’ she said. ‘You get your results 24 hours later then you see the Sheriff and get your card.’

A car took Theresa through the mountains to the ranch, where she met Hof.

‘I walked in the house. He said let’s go upstairs. And he raped me,’ Lowe claimed. ‘It was violent, choking me, grabbing me by the hair. Suck my d*** you b***h. We had sex, no condom.’

According to Theresa, Hof went on to attack her on 10 further occasions and says she finally walked out after an incident in which he allegedly choked her in the kitchen of Love Ranch North.

Theresa, who worked for Hof between 2006 and 2012, said: ‘I remember we were in the kitchen and he grabbed me by the throat, and said, “Where the f*** have you been?” I’d had enough.

‘I’d had enough of girls crying, coming into my room and saying this isn’t fair. I believe he rapes and intimidates and tells the new girls, welcome to my ranch but this is how it’s going to be.

‘This is what you will do. You will service my customers, and you will service me as well. For free. With no condom.’ 

Secrets of the Bunny Ranch premieres with back-to-back episodes Thursday, June 12 at 9pm ET/PT on A&E.