Boomer Banks, Max Konnor and Joey Mills tease ‘wild’ Ultimate Boys Trip final season and Drake Von fallout (EXCLUSIVE)

What happens when three of porn’s most recognisable stars are let loose in a gay hotel with a bathhouse, a bar and cameras on standby?

According to Boomer Banks, Max Konnor and Joey Mills, Ultimate Boys Trip – the new OUTflix spin-off of X-Rated: NYC – is “wild”, and far more dramatic than anything they’ve done before.

For the uninitiated, X-Rated: NYC pulled back the curtain on the lives of male adult performers navigating sex, friendship and fame in New York, blurring the line between work and real life. Ultimate Boys Trip takes that formula out of the city and drops it into a sun-soaked Miami getaway – where the boundaries between reality and performance get even messier.

As the trio return for their final season together, they promise bigger emotions, rawer conflict and a level of honesty that pushes beyond the usual “scripted reality” format. That includes the arrival of newcomer Drake Von, whose presence quickly sparks tension…

Attitude: You’ve already let cameras into your lives on X-Rated: NYC. How is Ultimate Boys Trip different?

Boomer Banks: It is wild. It’s not in the dead of winter – we get to show you amazing fashion and a lot of fucking drama.

Joey Mills: It’s definitely a lot more dramatic this year. I think the biggest difference this season, other than it being in Miami and warm, is the fact that we knew it was gonna be our last season. So kind of breaking that wall and letting people know, like, parts are played up for the camera, parts are not. Some parts weren’t planned for the camera and the cameras came out because it was too good not to film.

Also having the cameramen on site and just available to jump in whenever they saw something…

Banks: We were in a hotel that’s like an apartment building, a boutique gay hotel in Miami, so it kind of felt like a sitcom. The camera people were always around and there was a bathhouse downstairs. There was a bar in the lobby, a little club. The reason why I invite everybody out is because I get a residency DJing at this boutique hotel in Miami. They host game nights, drag race nights, Sunday fun days – it’s such an amazing hotel, the Hôtel Gaythering. When they allowed us to film there, it was perfect because the camera person was literally right next to us. If something happened, they’d jump straight in. You know how reality TV works – it’s scripted reality. We get put in scenarios, but this was a lot more real. It was our last season, and I know how much I care about Joey, I know how much I care about Max. It got very emotional at the end. This might not be the end of us, but it’s the end of this situation that we’ve created that people really loved.

Max Konnor: One of the coolest things is that even though it is scripted reality TV, there are sometimes really true emotions that come out of it. That’s the fun part – getting to be honest without judgement.

You can still hang out without the show though, right?

Banks: Oh yeah. I run into Joey all over the country, I run into Max all over the country. I text them randomly – we definitely still keep in touch and care about each other. We’re the foundation.

I love the other guys that have been on the show, but we’re the OG three. From the first season – me yelling at Joey, Joey yelling at me, Max just sitting there – none of us were all friends at the same time. But now it’s all good.

Mills: We’re much nicer to each other off camera.

You’re all used to being in control of your image online. How does it feel handing that over to producers?

Konnor: For me, it’s not really that big of a change because I started as a studio model, so I started with that whole concept of not really having control over what photos are put out of me and how the video looks. Then I started content creation, which gave me a little more control.

So going into stuff like this, I’m used to the fact that, OK, this will look really good or this will look really crazy or really wild – I don’t know, we’ll wait and see. That’s the fun of it. If it’s good, we have a joke. If it’s bad, we have a lot of jokes.

Mills: I would agree with Max. I also started in studio, so you hear a lot about like, “To get famous you have to go through a humiliation ritual.” The humiliation ritual is handing over your image to producers.

When you shoot porn, there’s never a time everything is exactly how you want it. Even with OnlyFans content I edit myself. So you just kind of have to submit to that.

But I signed on to the show knowing I was going to be painted as the villain, so I’m kind of excited to see how mean they can make me look each season.

Banks: Being honest, Joey thinks he’s the nicest person in the world. Stop – you did not think you were gonna be a villain!

Banks: That’s a lie.

Mills: I knew what I was coming on the show to do. I can’t fake cry, but I can fake…

Banks: He can yell – and it turns into real cussing somebody out. But, you don’t really have control. You kind of feed into it, you have to read the room. With content creation you read social media, you read what people want.

Even though I know Max and Joey are some of the most authentic creators out there, we still give into that system. And we all started in studio porn, so we understood that world.

Porn isn’t what people think – it’s out of order. Someone says, “I’m about to come,” then that scene might be filmed first. There’s lunch breaks in the middle. It’s all constructed. That’s kind of how the show is.

My first season, I didn’t think I was doing anything right. Then I found out people loved it, and the editor was like, “You’re so funny”. I didn’t believe it and, by this final season, I was completely myself. It was exciting, it was fun. And we’ve grown up together over five years. Joey’s no longer a twink, me and Max are the elders – gracefully.

Mills: It’s exciting, but also sad that this is the last season, because this is when we really came into ourselves.

Max, you’ve spoken about wanting to change how people view performers of colour. Does a show like this help?

Konnor: I think every piece of media about that subject helps break stereotypes. The only way to change something is to change it – if people see more of it, talk about it, embrace it.

It’s always going to be an uphill battle, and you need people willing to fight it.

There was a moment – I think in season one or two – where me and Boomer were in my kitchen talking about things you don’t usually get to express on a big platform. It was a short conversation, but it was powerful, and a lot of people came to me about it.

If we have people brave enough to keep spreading that message, it makes a difference.

What can you tell us about newcomer Drake Von?

Banks: I don’t know her.

Mills: Expect a boy that has no idea what’s going on and thinks the world revolves around him.

Banks: Was he in the show? I thought that was a cameraman.

Mills: That was one situation where we didn’t really have to fake any animosity. I think the issue is he’s a gay-for-pay boy. When you think of the worst version of an influencer, that’s kind of what you get out of Drake. I mean, I always held some sort of animosity towards the gay-for-pay people.

Is that because it feels like they might not have had the lived experiences we have?

Mills: For me, it’s not even just about not living the experience – it’s that the porn isn’t real. You’re faking penetration shots, you’re pretending to make porn and selling it as porn. That pisses me off.

Konnor: I’ve been doing this a long time, and I try to give advice. Sometimes people don’t take it. This industry has a way of changing people. People will sell their souls to get where they want to be.

Banks: What’s crazy is when you already have clout and still chase it – especially for negative energy. When a community is telling you that you don’t belong and you dig your heels in, that’s mind-blowing. I thought he was a cameraman, I didn’t know he was on the show.

Did anyone form any surprising bonds? Who did you feel closest to by the end?

Banks: I felt closer to both of them than I ever have. I think it was that looming thought that this is it.

I also brought my close friend Sassy Devine onto the show. We’ve been friends for years, but having her there was so important. She brought so much energy, the looks were stunning, and having a trans individual on the show – everyone is going to be stunned by her. She deserves to be on television.

But yeah, I definitely got closer to Max and Joey. We’re all growing up, and this felt like a really nice bookend.

Konnor: I grew closer to almost everyone. This season was very emotional. I think back to the first season, when people said horrible things about the show and said it wouldn’t succeed. And now we can look at each other and just know – we did this.

I don’t think anything like this has been done before. I feel honoured to have been part of it and to work with some of the biggest names in the industry.

Even now, the editor texts me saying, “this season, wow.” That’s exciting. I don’t even watch my own porn – I’ve never watched one from beginning to end. So seeing how this all comes together is always surprising.

Mills: Honestly, I got closest with the camera crew. I’ve already been close with these two. I definitely didn’t get close with Drake.

And Angel [Rivera, supporting cast member]… I’ve been fucking him for eight years. You can’t really get much closer than that.

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Ultimate Boys Trip premieres 28 April on OUTflix.