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New film ‘Tickled’ goes inside the weird world of competitive tickling

By Rhys Matthews

The trailer for HBO’s Tickled, a documentary about the apparent craze of ‘competitive tickling’ has been released. And we won’t lie to you: it gets weird.

The documentary begins by following the light-hearted story of an apparently harmless company which makes videos of young men tickling each other, with no sexual implications.

Jane O’Brien Media claims to offer “fit, 18-25 year old guys the chance to compete in Endurance Tickling Reality Competitions”, with the disclaimer: “Very high pay, no adult content ever.”

However when journalist David Farrier, who specialises in ‘bizarre’ news, contacts the company to do an interview, they respond by saying: “Association with a homosexual journalist is not something we will embrace.”

A shocked Farrier says “it was hard to take the insults seriously considering the sport did seem slightly gay,” and decides to delve deeper into the what really lies behind the phenomenon.

Tickled – which has been winning wide-spread critical acclaim since it debuted at a Missourit Film Festival earlier this year – explores what happens next, as Farrier uncovers a dark and disturbing empire of fetish porn, intimidation, and even criminality.

Watch the trailer for Tickled and see what you make of it below:

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