Zara McDermott unmasks strange arrests and mystery deaths in shocking new Thailand series

TV star and documentary maker Zara McDermott has previously looked at revenge porn, eating disorders and drug dealing in Ibiza. For her latest in-depth project she has travelled to Thailand to look into an exotic paradise which has two very conflicting sides. As well as the golden beaches, parties and bustling cities lie drugs, cheap sex and for some Brits, trouble. Zara told us: “It just takes one Google search to see that there are many unexplained deaths that happen, or happen as a result of, parties or drug use or whatever it is.

“There is something definitely more sinister in the air over there. And I'm not saying that deaths don't happen everywhere, because, of course, they do. But a place that's supposed to be so free and radiant and beautiful, for it to have that really scary underbelly, it's unnerving.” Here are some of the more shocking things that emerge from her new three part series...

* Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise is on BBC iPlayer from Monday September 8.

READ MORE: Doctor's chilling codename for sexual fantasies with teen patient he 'fell in love' with

READ MORE: Loose Women star Olivia Attwood's job shock as she's caught on camera

SEX WORKER SAYS BRITISH DADS PAY FOR THEIR SON’S TO HAVE SEX

Zara speaks to two sex workers in the series. One tells her she is doing the job for the money but also that it is common for British men to pay for their virgin sons to have sex with her.

Zara recalls: "I think it's important to kind of get different perspectives and speak to different women. But overall, I definitely came away from both of those interviews feeling really saddened, and you know where there's so little opportunity in the you know, that country to, especially as a woman, to make a living.

“I think they have to make the best of the situation. And the first sex worker I spoke to, she definitely came across as she'd accepted what it was. She felt empowered in what she was doing. And I remember her saying I could earn, earn five times less as a chef working all day as I could could earn in one night. So you can see why these women feel that this is their only option to provide for their families.

“A lot of these women, they come from the northern parts of Thailand, and they travel down to those specific areas to join the sex industry. But it just it did make me sad that there's such a lack of opportunity, and there's also ample demand for that industry in Thailand as well.

“And yeah men are bringing their sons over for their first experiences with a sex worker. That's um, something that you didn't think would actually happen, and you don't believe it until you kind of see it and you hear it firsthand.”

MYSTERY AROUND REGAN KELLY DEATH

Regan Kelly, 28, was found dead off Patong Beach in January of this year. CCTV shows him running to the beach alone and his family suspect foul play.

Sister Laurie Blackall flew to Phuket to try and piece together what happened to her brother, who went out to celebrate New Year and planned to spend a month travelling the country.

She tells the documentary: “Regan was seen outside the hostel having a conversation and he gets up and leaves. I’m thinking he wants to go in the sea or for a walk on the beach.

“What happens on that beach, I’m not sure. I’ve had lots of messages saying it can be quite violent at night.

“I believe my brother was murdered, it wasn’t an accident. When he was found he had a sock on his foot, and he would never had entered the sea with the sock on.

“I feel like I came back from Thailand and it changed me as a person, I don’t know how I will ever get my head around it.”

Reflecting on the interview, Zara said: “I felt really emotional during, and for a long time after filming. It broke my heart to see a family with no real answers. That raw emotion has really stuck with me, and I hope the family get the answers they so desperately need one day.”

Laurie has now engaged a Thai Lawyer to try to help her get more information on Regan’s death.

JAILED FOR BUYING DRUGS AT CHEMIST

Zara speaks to a girl called Shakira who bought Xanax from an chemist over the counter.

She went into a nightclub afterwards and bouncers found the drug but put it back into her bag and waved her in.

After leaving a club though, her taxi was pulled over and police searched her bag and found it, arresting her saying it was illegal in Thailand. She spent three nights in prison before spending thousands in legal costs to get released to await trial.

Shakira said: “I could get from two to ten years in jail. People do need to know that these drugs are illegal. So don’t be looking for something your friends told you that you can get.

“The conditions in jail were really really bad. Just on a cell floor.”

After spending even more money in legal fees, she was eventually fined £113 and allowed to leave the country weeks later. She has not plans to return to Thailand.

STABBED BUT NO PUNISHMENT

Hugo is 27 and originally from Brighton but has been living in Koh Phangan for four years.

He loves life there but admits things went wrong a year ago when he complained about a man’s behaviour in a bar after he was annoying some girls.

Hugo recalls: “He smashed a bottle and then stabbed me in the neck. I did lose a lot of blood

“If he hit the jugular I would have died in 20 minutes. There was a doctor just on holiday there, without him, I don't think I'd be here.”

The attacker was arrested but released a few days later and given a one year suspended sentence and a 50 pound fine.

Hugo claims he had been offered money by the man’s friend to drop the case anyway. Hugo tells Zara: “Money is power here, for sure. I am still a guest here, and I have to stay on my toes. If I start going against the Thai authorities, I don't know what repercussions I might get from it.”

ZARA ALMOST ARRESTED

Within less than a day of being in Bangkok, Zara and the crew were almost arrested for trying to film bars and girls working in them. They had permission to film after months of negotiations but on arrival the bar owners seem less keen and they were held by Police for hours.

Zara recalls: “The whole, the whole kind of sequence gets cut down. But that was over the span of a few hours of filming there, the tensions were starting to increase with the police.

“We nearly got arrested because of the filming that we were doing, but, the interesting thing about that is that we'd got all the permissions in advance. We'd been okay to film there.

They were telling us to move, and they didn't want us filming here, and then we'd move, and then they didn't want us filming there. And it was they were making it more and more tricky. And the bar owners were definitely, definitely kind of trying to throw their weight around a bit, and wanted us to get out of the area completely.

In the end, the bar owners kind of, you know, they won in that sense, and we had to leave.

“They'd asked us several times through that process to wipe the cards(storing camera footage), and we were going to lose everything that we'd shot over the last day or two. So that was also a really, really scary moment of not only, you know, us potentially being arrested, but us losing what we were there to do.” Zara also accompanies police as they carry out drugs search of premises. But the police walk down the street in full uniform before entering the bars, giving them ample time to prepare, and no arrests are made. At the time of filming cannabis was legal in Thailand.

THE FUN SIDE OF THAILAND

It isn’t all complete doom and gloom as Zara does go to a full moon party and has a night out drinking shots in Bangkok.

She says: “It may made me wish that I had done that when I was younger, and I wish I'd gone backpacking and had that experience, because it's something that I definitely missed out on. I went straight into work at 18. But I feel like I've got a little taste of it. It was good fun.

“I loved Koh Phangan. It was just beautiful. The island was incredible. I think it's a much slower pace of life going from Bangkok and Pattaya straight to the island. That was, yeah, it was, it was a special and I remember that moment being like, Oh, this is just relaxing. Now, obviously we had the full moon party coming up, so I knew, always knew that was kind of pending. But it was nice to be there and with some tranquility.

“I can see why people go to Thailand and never want to go back to the UK: the prices, the freedom, the people, the lifestyle and the beauty of the place. It really does have it all. But that can come with other costs.”

* Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise is on BBC iPlayer from Monday September 8.