Zara McDermott, the former Love Island contestant turned BBC presenter, appears in a new three-part documentary filmed in Thailand in which she takes part in a female empowerment workshop that saw attendees remove their tops and perform body-centred exercises.
In the second episode of the series, McDermott, 28, travels to Thailand to explore what draws British visitors to the country and to investigate aspects of its tourist economy. Arriving for the empowerment class, she said she was apprehensive, telling the programme: "I don't know quite how I am going to feel, I am a bit scared. I'm not sure if this is something that I would have ever done at home but I am on a journey of self discovery here." The teacher explained a central object in the room as "the vulva or a yoni", adding that a yoni is a Sanskrit word referring to the whole female genital area and that "these are jade eggs" used in practice to "build a better connection with our vagina." McDermott reacted with surprise as she learned more about the exercises, asking, "Do you hold the egg? The egg goes inside the vagina? Wow."
The filmed session included breath work followed by participants lying down and stroking their chests and bodies; some women chose to be topless. The instructor encouraged participants to "feel the connection energetically with your breasts and the female body," and McDermott was shown gradually embracing the practice. Afterward she said the experience had opened her eyes to "a new way to connect to myself" and described the class as "pretty wonderful," adding: "That was an experience and a half, there aren't many places in this world that you can go and be topless and rub your boobs. It felt quite nice." She also framed the session as part of a wider aim to "connect to yourself and be empowered as a woman."
The documentary does not focus solely on wellness practices. McDermott and her crew encountered tensions while filming in Bangkok, when local authorities and bar owners objected to their presence. She told the programme that, despite having filming permissions for the bars they were covering, the team was threatened by police and came close to being arrested. "We nearly got arrested because of the filming that we were doing," McDermott said, noting that permissions had been granted in advance. She described bar owners as "trying to throw their weight around a bit" and said the crew ultimately left the area after several hours of escalating tensions.
The series, produced by South Shore Productions for the BBC, examines why thousands of young Britons travel to Thailand each year and seeks to unearth elements of the country that draw visitors, from backpackers to those seeking longer stays. It also looks at what the production describes as darker aspects of the Thai tourist landscape, including access to drugs and the sex work industry.
McDermott, who has presented other documentaries for the BBC, filmed the episodes as part of a wider project to understand motivations behind modern British travel to Southeast Asia. The programme interweaves on-the-ground reporting, interviews and first-person experience, with the presenter placing herself in a range of settings to explore cultural attitudes, legal frameworks and tourism dynamics. The second episode's workshop sequence is one of several scenes intended to show the varied experiences available to visitors, from wellness tourism to nightlife and the informal economies that cater to foreigners.
Broadcast dates and further details about the series' schedule were not provided in the documentary clips made available in advance. The BBC has aired a number of documentary series in recent years that probe aspects of British travel and tourism; this production aims to add to that coverage by examining individual stories and institutional factors that influence how and why people travel to Thailand.