JP "Daddy" Pelletier always found himself uncomfortable as cleaning services worked inside his New York City apartment: Do you make eye contact, do you chit-chat? Worse yet, he found the process boring, an emotion that seems to offend the spirited entrepreneur.
So, as a side hustle ("everyone in New York has a side hustle"), the white-collar worker launched Tidy Whities in 2018. The premise is simple: Your living space gets cleaned by a semi-nude hunk who exudes lap-dancey overtones. In NYC, Tidy Whities quickly expanded to 13 "Brief Boys" servicing around 150 clients. The work became more lucrative than Pelletier's day job at a nonprofit.
“Clients loved them,” he says, noting that only one disrespectful customer had to be blacklisted. “As much as it’s a cleaning service, it’s an entertainment service. It provides a VIP element.”
Pelletier relocated to Minnesota last year after an ex-partner’s grandmother entered hospice care. He stuck around, “selling his soul to Satan himself” to score a “real money job” as a senior I.T. project manager. Pelletier’s bio is remarkable: A high-school dropout, he became homeless after coming out as gay to his family, only to later graduate from college in his 30s and dabble in fine art photography, playwriting, and burlesque performance.
And, of course, there's Tidy Whities. In terms of gay-geared erotic cleaning services, is his company the only game in town?
“Absolutely,” Pelletier says. “I was the only one in New York City, too.”
But Tidy Whities isn't the only kinky cleaning service in Minnesota. Minneapolis Maidens offers professional housecleaning by sexy maids "dressed in all things risqué"; MN Nude Cleaning, whose website appears about half completed, promises "entertainment during a normally boring experience"; Fantasy Maids brought "topless cleaning to Mankato area" in 2018, as the Mankato Free Press reported. Among the options in the marketplace, Tidy Whities appears to be the most playful, campy, and fully realized in terms of marketing. It also delivers a legit cleaning performance, according to Pelletier.
“I’ve found that with the sexy maid cleaning thing… they pull out a duster and barely touch anything,” he says with a chuckle. “We actually clean.”
Cleaning and painting services start at $60 per hour, while packing/assembly services run $120 per hour since two Brief Boys are included. Various up-sells are kinky and numerous. The Scrub-A-Dub option ($25 per tub) means your Brief Boy will clean the shower… with the water on. Dust Ruffle ($25 per room) means your Brief Boy will dust… with the underwear they were just wearing. Daddy's Home ($50 flat fee) features a surprise visit from Daddy where he'll inspect work and "punish or reward accordingly." For a fee, Brief Boys will teach you yoga, read you stories, or twerk to your favorite song. Brief Boys get to keep the majority of the hourly rate, Pelletier says, as well as every penny of the add-ons minus a $5 "Daddy tax" that goes toward lap-dance training.
Pelletier is adamant about the fact Tidy Whities is not an escort service. If a Brief Boy gets touched, feels uncomfortable, or even catches “a bad vibe,” they’re instructed to bail ASAP. “I am pro sex work, but that’s not what this is,” he says.
Customers choose their preferred Brief Boy based on bios and availability, though the website hasn't yet been updated to reflect the new Minnesota-based roster of Brief Boys. "Brief Boys ARE available" now the website promises. (Aspirational Brief Boys can apply here.)
The NYC Brief Boys were “almost exclusively” actors, while others worked in retail, and one worked as a kindergarten teacher/bodybuilder. Clients are “mostly” gay men, Pelletier says, adding, “The demographics of who hired whom are always interesting to me." Most of the Brief Boys are startup entrepreneurs themselves, he says, so their relationships often take on a mentor-mentee dynamic.
"The mentorship opportunity is really important," Daddy says. "My goal for these guys is that they don't have to work for me."
In the meantime, they're happy to work—asses bare and tongues firmly in cheek—at cleaning your house.
