On March 20, 2022, I published an article at Curious Chaser about the movie “British Bareback Vacation”, which has been referred to as the source of multiple models being infected with HIV during the filming of the production. I have been approached by one of the models who appeared in this movie and was infected with HIV by another model and he has offered to share the facts regarding this issue and as you’re about to find out, there’s some inaccuracies surrounding what has been reported previously.
John Gadsby is the model who approached me and I would like to thank John for offering to provide us with the facts relating to what happened in 2007. The original article I wrote was based on research from various sources, but you can’t find a better source than one of the people who was involved. John has kindly agreed to provide us with the insight about what happened and is in the unique position to share firsthand knowledge about what happened in 2007.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) segment from Newsnight covered this story in 2008. The only model involved who has ever come forward and identified himself is John Gadsby and John provided an honest response to the questions asked in the interview, which was admirable. The Newsnight segment was hypocritical, by alluding that it was acceptable for straight porn to remain condom-free, but not gay porn. Hypocrisy also came from Chi Chi LaRue, with Chi Chi stating in the segment that he would never produce bareback porn, so if you want to believe this, then don’t visit Chi Chi LaRaw Dot Com or watch his 2018 bareback directing debut with Falcon Studios.
John revealed that this whole situation was caused by a hospital mixup, which is a situation that led to 3 models being infected by a 4th model. As with many gay porn and bareback porn studios, regular HIV testing is conducted to ensure models are paired with other models who have the same HIV status, which is a process known as serosorting. This process is only effective if the test results are accurate and the problem with HIV testing is the window period. The window period can vary from 10 days to 90 days, depending on the type of test performed.
To further compound the issue, PrEP was not available when “British Bareback Vacation” was filmed in 2007, with PrEP only becoming available in the United States in 2012 and in England in 2021. This is why the importance of regular HIV testing is needed, even more so at a time when the models did not have the protection offered by PrEP to prevent the transmission of HIV and doxy-PEP to prevent the transmission of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, meaning models took risks when they made the decision to appear in bareback porn.
John stated that one of the models had undergone his monthly HIV test at the hospital, with the result coming back as undetermined, so the model went back to the hospital and took another test, which also came back negative. This resulted in the model being given the paperwork to say that he could work with other models. The model was tested again the following month, with this test coming back negative. Due to these negative test results, it’s possible that the model had been recently infected with HIV at the time of testing, with the window period causing inaccuracies with the test results, which in this case provided a false-negative result.
The models involved in the filming of “British Bareback Vacation” traveled to France for the filming of this movie, where they also filmed “Bareback Authority” at the same time. The other films mentioned in my original article were reportedly compiled using borrowed footage to create other titles, which John revealed is a common practice in the industry. This is why studying the footage made it appear that these films were involved in the same production with a different title.
John revealed that when the models were in France filming “British Bareback Vacation” and “Bareback Authority”, the models were barebacking off camera and because they thought they were all HIV-negative, they were barebacking and they were also shooting cum inside each other as well. These guys were young and horny, so fucking raw and dumping their loads inside each other was a perfectly natural thing to do, especially since they all thought it was safe to do this based on their HIV test results all indicating a negative result.
Due to the barebacking that was taking place off camera and involving the swapping of bodily fluids between each other, John believes that the HIV transmission took place off camera and not during the filming of either “British Bareback Vacation” or “Bareback Authority”. So for those of us who originally thought we were watching guys getting pozzed on screen, this may not actually be the case. It’s more likely that the pozzing took place off camera when the guys were barebacking and breeding, as more bodily fluids were being swapped off camera than on camera.
A few weeks after the filming of “British Bareback Vacation” and “Bareback Authority” took place, the models were filming “Caught and Fucked 2” in the United Kingdom on a farm, which is when the news broke about the model who had originally tested HIV-negative multiple times having his latest test come back positive for HIV. Panic then set in and due to the rural filming location and lack of mobile phone signals, voicemails were left and the news started spreading between the models and the director about the situation.
The 5 models involved were then quickly tested, with 2 test results coming back negative and 3 test results coming back positive. John has said that models are tested every month and without a certificate, they couldn’t work and added that the models did not get to see the certificates of other models for privacy reasons. John stated that poz and neg models were never on set on the same day and sex between sero-discordant models would never have knowingly taken place. John said that he refused PEP when it was offered to him, as he knew it was too late, which is true, but the other models all started taking it that night.
The hospital mixup was most likely caused by the model who was the source of the transmissions being recently infected with the virus, which may have caused the false-negative result. When someone is first infected with HIV, their viral load is extremely high for a few weeks, which may have been why 3 models were infected so easily, because the amount of HIV made the transmission more successful. This is not the only case of gay porn models being infected with HIV, there was also a case in the United States that took place in 2014, which may have also been due to an issue with the window period and the HIV test results.
What happened to the models is unfortunate, as they thought they were doing everything right, they were getting tested every month and they couldn’t work with other models unless they had a certificate to prove their HIV status was negative, yet they still became infected with HIV, which would have altered their lives in various ways. As we only know one of the models who was infected with HIV, please do not speculate about who the other models might have been, as they have not come forward, so we need to respect their privacy regarding this.
John has agreed to an interview with me, so if you have any questions you would like to ask, please leave your question/s in the comments below or email me directly at jason @ curiouschaser . com (join everything together). Please remain respectful and know that John cannot reveal any more information than what I have shared with you here. I am very grateful for John coming forward to provide these facts, as there were some unintended inaccuracies in the original article due to much of the information not being made available by the studio or models at the time, so being given an opportunity to rectify this is greatly appreciated. Thank you John, I wish you all the best and I am looking forward to our interview soon.
Video: Watch The BBC Newsnight Segment
Featured Photo: Image by Geralt from Pixabay.
Article ID: CC080
Version Control: 1.0 – January 25, 2025: Original article published.
Serosorting of course is a separate thing to consider. Those of us who have tested poz will always be poz. (I just read a BZ post this morning which declared “if you are “u=u” you are “not poz”. Which in no form can ever be an accurate statement. But from a serosorting perspective U=U is the only true predictable bareback risk perspective. We know the u guys aren’t going to infect you. So if getting infected is the point of your sex, those guys aren’t an option that will fulfill your intention.
Serosorting simply improves your odds; although now that u=u is somewhat widely accepted, that is less true today than it was 20 years ago.
Were I not poz, and if my goal was to enjoy raw sex but also not take PrEP choosing u=u guys would be ones best choice. But that choice is not a guarantee by any means. Even PrEP doesn’t come with a guarantee. Just a likelihood you won’t seroconvert.
Thanks Jason. The other thing this exposes, although perhaps not obvious to those reading this, is that no one, no one ever “tests negative”. That has been a misconception from the first HIV test done and remains the case today. And perhaps the difference between Test Positive, test negative; vs Test positive or not test positive seems too esoteric a point. But it definitely when one is attempting to serosort.
The home/clinic tests are looking for antigens and antibodies. When one is newly HIV infected it takes time, read that weeks, for them to develop. Most of the time antigens will appear before antibodies. But most of the quick tests out there look for both. The boxes are clearly marked, so if it says “antibody test” and never mentions antigen, it probably just looks for antibodies. Relevant because as they show up later the increases the window period you bring up.
If the reader can come away from this understanding that there isn’t a test to “test negative”. The options are 1. Test positive and 2. Might be positive.
Thanks for the follow-up on the earlier story, always love your stories, Jason. Hope John is doing well.
You’re welcome Steve and I really appreciated John reaching out so I could put this article together, because facts are important and John was able to provide us with these facts based on his firsthand experience. Very soon John’s interview will be published here, which provides even more insights about John and I do believe he’s doing well, but I’ll publish the interview so John can reveal more using his own words. I’m back to publishing articles again more regularly, so stay tuned for more soon Steve.
Wow for this new update. So unfortunately, at that time, everyone got ahead of themselves to have fun and that’s how it was spread. Ouch. At least now, we’ve got PrEP for sure, but it truly shows how any form of progress unfortunately takes time when those that aren’t chasing somehow gets hit when they’ll need it the most. Hopefully with everyone that’s been involved with the screw up are doing better after the events, and major thanks to John for coming in to give us the actual word of what’s happened.
Thanks for your comment Esteban. I was very grateful for John sharing more and at the time, serosorting and regular testing were used in the bareback porn industry, although PrEP is now providing a high level of protection for those wanting to remain negative. John has agreed to an interview with me and I’ll be posting this here shortly, so very soon you can learn more about how John felt at the time and how he’s doing now.
I’ve always loved this movie and I still love it! Sorry to hear about what happened to you John and I hope you’re doing alright now. It’s actually cool to hear from someone who was in it and you’re sexy too! It’s hot knowing you were all fucking raw off camera and cumming inside each other, that makes me hard hearing that!
Thank you for your comment Ayden and I hope you liked this article. I was very happy when John reached out to us and I’m excited that he’s willing to be interviewed as well.
If you have any questions you would like me to ask, please send me a private message or an email and I’ll be happy to do so. Thanks.
well, after reading this article, I really have some questions. but not sure, if I should ask THAT questions, although this is a chasing site
Yup, ask your questions Marc
John agreed to answer every question I asked him during our interview and he did, including the question I think you’re referring to. John has invited more questions, so I’ll be presenting those to him soon so we can get even better insights, so very soon you’ll be able to find out more, including the answer to your question.
thanks Jason for the follow-up! How is John doing now? He seems to be OK with the result?
It’s my pleasure Van and I do believe John is doing well now. John happily answered all the questions I asked him (27 of them) and he has agreed to answer more questions, so I’ll be asking him additional questions on the weekend. Then I’ll publish the article here, which will hopefully be in the next week or two (maybe three, as I want to write up a nice introduction as well).