It is the exclusive Caribbean playground of the ultra-wealthy — a real-life fantasy island where nothing is too much trouble for its elite guests.
Richard Branson’s idyllic Necker Island promises A-listers privacy and discretion, as well as the sort of unparalleled luxury that £40,000 (Dh224,192) a night buys. But now some of the secrets of the Virgin Islands paradise hideaway can be revealed, including the bizarre lengths staff go to in ensuring that their moneyed guests’ every whim is satisfied.
One employee — an accountant — has told how she allowed guests to eat sushi off her naked midriff. Other visitors are encouraged to hit golf balls at a human target; while male serving staff have been asked to perform their duties “shirtless”.
Branson says staff are free to drink with guests and even have relationships with them, as part of the carefree atmosphere.
“Necker is a place where people can draw up the drawbridge, let their hair down and relax,” the Virgin mogul says.
The approach seems to work, since the island’s guests have ranged from Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela to Kate Moss and One Direction’s Harry Styles.
In a new BBC documentary, offering a rare glimpse at how the rich and powerful spend their holidays, one member of Necker Island’s accounts team, Milli, speaks of how she let guests eat sushi off her body for a birthday party.
She originally suggested “eating sushi off a hot girl” to some guests — not intending to be the human plate herself. But that is exactly what happened, causing some discomfort in the Caribbean sun.
Milli, originally from Luton, said: “The sushi got really, really quite warm and stuck to me, so that was interesting. But it was fun. I love that I get to be an accountant and do this stuff and then go and lie on a table and have people suck soya sauce out of my belly button. It’s brilliant. Who else gets to do that?”
According to Necker’s French chef, Clement Baris, it’s vital that the staff serving the food are as “sexy” as the dish.
A waiter explains to the BBC: “My role today is to look after the kayak in the pool — being sexy in the pool. About ten minutes before the guests come we will fill the kayak with palms and flowers and chopsticks and then we add the sushi to it. Then I’ll jump in the water, float about and people will jump in the pool and have fun, have drinks and eat the sushi. I might have a cocktail or two, sneaky ones, as well.”
Sir Richard, who bought Necker for just £180,000 in 1978, says: “We once had a new management team that came and they brought in two rules. The first was that staff cannot drink with the guests and staff may not have relationships with the guests. That management couple lasted one weekend. That is not the way this island would work or run very well.”
One member of Branson’s team tells the programme that the tycoon is a “matchmaker” who makes it a mission to look after the girls who are “gorgeous and single”.
Necker accommodates only 30 guests at a time but these VIPs have access to more than 100 staff. Regular visitors say the attractiveness and attentiveness of the staff are reasons they keep coming back.
British-born property developer Penny, who was on her 21st visit to the island, said: “None of them are bad on the eyes. They are all pretty good-looking. We have favourites.”
Another British guest, called Patch, is shown enjoying a game of “sumo golf”, in which he and other guests shoot golf balls at a member of staff who bounces up and down on an offshore trampoline, while wearing protective clothing.
Patch, from Birmingham, said the game uses balls made from soluble fish food rather than the real thing. But it was boiling hot inside the human target’s costume, and he later has to apply an ice pack to his neck.
In other scenes, a couple ask for a massage on the trampoline in the sea, while a group who are sharing a hot tub ask if the waiter can serve their pina coladas “shirtless”.
Sir Richard’s mansion on the island was hit by a lightning strike in 2011 and burnt down, but it has since been rebuilt at a cost of £9 million.
— Daily Mail
