Brandon Wade is behind Seeking Arrangement, the first and arguably the biggest Sugar Baby website. Photo / Channel 9
Brandon Wade is behind Seeking Arrangement, the first and arguably the biggest Sugar Baby website. Photo / Channel 9
A young woman who was locked in a car by a sugar daddy and briefly abducted has a warning for other young girls looking to earn some extra money through the notorious dating arrangement.
Lila was barely 18 when she went on her second sugar daddy date with a man who expected a lot from her.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, Lila said the pair had arranged to go to a restaurant and the botanical gardens but as Lila sat in the car with the older man and watched him drive past the restaurant, she began to worry.
"We went straight past that place, the restaurant and then I asked what was going on, and he looked and he locked his doors, he was like, 'Yeah, well, you're coming home with me,'" Lila told the program.
The sugar daddy demanded sex and threatened Lila, telling her that's what he was expecting for the money he paid.
Lila was left terrified after a sugar daddy date gone wrong. Photo / Channel 9
"If you're not sexually ready to have sex with older men, then don't go on the website because you're pretty much putting yourself in that situation," Lila said.
"I ended up not asking for any money... he dropped me to the station because I just wanted to leave. Spending his money would make me sick."
Lila had met the sugar daddy on the website Sugar Daddy Meet.
It was later revealed the man had been briefly banned from the site — after nine women made complaints against him — but he was allowed back on.
Bob, 60, regularly uses the controversial app Sugar Daddy Meet to find and date younger women.
His reasoning behind it is "simple", Bob told 60 Minutes.
"It's really very simple. I like sexy women," he told the current affairs program.
"Sexy young women with whom I can have a rapport."
Bob has conditions for his sugar babies — sex must be part of the package, he isn't just in it to spend money.
"It's not a charity. No I have a philosophy in life. I sometimes explain it to young women, and they don't always get it," he told the program.
"When a woman says to me, 'Well, I kind of like the money but not give anything in return.' I say, 'Well you're not really a good object of my philanthropy. I prefer to give it to a starving kid in Africa rather than to you.'"
Brandon Wade is behind Seeking Arrangement, the first and arguably the biggest Sugar Baby website. Photo / Channel 9
Alex, a junior executive from Melbourne, went on a date with Bob.
In a good month, Alex can earn up to $NZD2,600 in gifts and money from sugar daddies.
She's also open about her motivations behind the dates.
"You'd be lying if you said that you're looking for a sugar daddy, but it didn't matter about the money," Alex said.
Brandon Wade, 48, is behind Seeking Arrangement, the first and arguably the biggest Sugar Baby website.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, Mr Wade explained his reasoning behind starting the website.
"I'm saying that if you have the money to attract women by all means, use it," Mr Wade said. "Much like the guy that has the big muscles or the guy that has the suave looks. Use any means you can to attract the opposite sex."
In March, more than 170,000 student sugar babies were using Seeking Arrangement in Australia earning an average monthly allowance of $NZD3,150.
"If you are poor and you are constantly hanging out with the poor people, you're never going to find opportunities in life," Wade told 60 Minutes.
Thousands upon thousands of young girls use Wade's site to help support themselves through university.
And Wade himself has his own "sugar baby", a 22-year-old woman named Zoe. Their age gap is 26 years.
Zoe lives with Wade in his adopted home town of Las Vegas, where the website founder uses the fortune he made from Seeking Arrangement on the 22-year-old.
"She's going to school and she's looking at launching a business for herself so she's constantly thinking about what does she want to do for her own future as well," Wade said.
The Seeking Arrangement founder maintains he's "selling happiness", not a fantasy.
"What happens in most romantic relationships? People beat around the bush. They lie. They project themselves as somebody else that they're not," Wade said.
"I'm not selling a fantasy. I think at the end of the day I'm selling happiness. I'm selling the fact that life is really short, and we're all on Earth for a reason. We want to be happy.
"For some, it's about finding love and romance in a way that makes them happy. For others, it's to be surrounded by three, or five, or ten beautiful women, and, and live a really loud life that everyone is envious of.
"Let's stop the bulls**t. Let's cut the crap. Let's focus on what this really is. This really is somebody that's wealthy, and he just wants to find love. And that's what it is."
A large number of women working as sugar babies in Australia admit they do it to help them pay bills.
Melbourne university student Monica said the arrangement helps her "survive through uni".
"I've learnt that what I was making in two weeks working in hospitality, I can make it about three to four hours on a date," she said.
In March, Seeking Arrangement released its list of "Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools".
Monash University came out on top with 209 new sign-ups last year, followed by RMIT with 184, University of Sydney with 170 and University of Melbourne with 128.
With the list, the site also claimed more than 177,000 of its 20 million members are Australian university students.
"Students who want to explore bigger cities and the better educations offered in them can't, even with the educational loan program offered in Australia," Seeking Arrangement founder Brandon Wade said in a statement at the time.
