The story of so-called “Dubai porta potty” parties has been floating around social media for years, often framed as rumors or sensationalist gossip about women being paid vast sums of money to degrade themselves in disturbing ways. But a new BBC Eye Investigations documentary, Death in Dubai: #Dubaiportapotty, digs beneath the headlines and hashtags to reveal that the reality is far darker than many people imagined.
The term “porta potty” in this context refers to the disturbing fetish acts involving human waste that women are allegedly coerced into performing at secretive gatherings in Dubai. For years, the label has been thrown around as a way to mock or discredit influencers who frequently travel to the luxury city, with accusations that their lavish lifestyles were secretly funded by such parties. Recently, the term resurfaced in connection with Ukrainian model Maria Kovalchuk, but the BBC investigation revealed that behind the viral gossip lie harrowing stories of trafficking, coercion, and abuse.
Filmmaker Runako Celina embarked on a journey to uncover the truth. Her investigation took her from Uganda to Dubai as she traced the stories of two young Ugandan women, Monic Karungi and Kayla Birungi, both of whom tragically died after falling from high-rise buildings in the Emirati city.
Authorities ruled both deaths as suicides, but Celina’s findings suggest a much more sinister backdrop. Evidence revealed a disturbing pipeline in which young women are recruited from Uganda with promises of lucrative jobs in Dubai, only to find themselves trapped in prostitution and abuse upon arrival.
Among the testimonies featured in the documentary was that of a woman known only as “Lexi,” who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. Lexi’s story was both shocking and heartbreaking. She explained that after being trafficked to Dubai, she was subjected to repeated humiliation and abuse. “Something that constantly popped up was being asked to be peed in the face,” she told the BBC, adding that she was even pressured into acts as extreme as eating human waste. One client, she recalled, proposed to defecate into ice cream cones before filming her as she consumed them.
Lexi said that the offers weren’t just horrifying—they were also brutal and violent. She remembered being propositioned with a deal: 15,000 AED (around £3,000) to endure a gang assault, physical beatings, and being urinated on, with an additional 5,000 AED (£1,000) offered if she agreed to eat feces while being recorded. What made the abuse even more perverse was the way clients appeared to revel in her discomfort.
“Every time I said I wouldn’t want to do that, it seemed to get them more interested,” she explained. According to her, many of these men deliberately sought out women who would cry, scream, or resist—especially targeting Black women, whom they subjected to racist insults during the abuse.
The situation worsened when Lexi tried to seek help from the authorities. Instead of being offered protection, she faced discrimination. She claimed that when she approached police, she was told dismissively, “You Africans cause problems,” and was effectively denied assistance. Her testimony painted a grim picture of systemic neglect and racism, leaving many of these trafficked women without any support or recourse.
The tragic deaths of Monic and Kayla were further complicated by the online narratives that emerged after they died. Monic, in particular, became posthumously linked to “porta potty” rumors, though there has never been concrete evidence she participated in such parties. What does seem clear, however, is that both she and Kayla were caught up in the same network of traffickers.
Their names appeared alongside those of several men, as well as a woman known only as “Keira,” who told investigators that young women are “promised the world” before being transported to Dubai. Once there, however, the women found themselves confined to poor living conditions and forced into sex work. Keira also identified a man called “Abbey” as being central to the operation.
The BBC’s team pursued this lead and eventually managed to contact Charles “Abbey” Mwesigwa. Posing as party promoters, undercover operatives arranged a meeting with him, during which Abbey laughed and casually described the women he controlled as “open minded.” He even hinted that they would agree to degrading acts commonly associated with the porta potty rumors. Later confronted by Celina, Abbey admitted to knowing both Monic and Kayla but dismissed all other allegations against him as “false.”
He claimed that Monic had died with her passport still in her possession, implying that no one was withholding her money or trapping her. According to him, both women were living with separate landlords, and since none of those landlords were arrested, he suggested that there was no crime. Abbey insisted that Dubai police had already investigated the deaths and encouraged Celina to seek answers from them instead.
Despite his dismissals, the documentary left little doubt that there is a pattern of exploitation at play. The silence from Dubai’s authorities only deepened suspicions. The BBC reached out for comment but received no response. Without accountability from those in power, the cycle of abuse appears destined to continue.
The documentary ultimately paints a grim portrait of how vulnerable women are preyed upon by trafficking networks that lure them with false promises. Behind the viral hashtag and social media gossip is a harrowing reality: young women tricked into leaving their homes, stripped of dignity, subjected to inhumane abuse, and in some cases losing their lives under suspicious circumstances. Far from being mere rumors or online jokes, the stories emerging from Dubai point to a hidden crisis of exploitation that demands urgent attention.
