Bad Host: Catching the Couchsurfing Predator
- Sky Documentaries
Synopsis
Bad Host follows the story of how a group of young women, unbeknownst to each other, were all victims of a predator who lured them to stay with him using Couchsurfing. The young women united and battled for six years, to bring him to justice.
This is the story of young women, unbeknownst to each other, who were all victims of a serving Italian police officer who lured them to stay with him using Couchsurfing, a website where travellers can find trustworthy hosts to put them up in their homes for free. Tracing each other through the internet, the women united and battled for six years, often in the face of indifference in their home countries, to bring him to justice.
Credits
Director of Photography: Jon Sayers
Sound: Lucy Pickering, Giacomo Verrando
Editor: Tom Dixon-Spain (Ep1, Ep2) & Jane Hodge (Ep3)
Composer: Mat Davidson
Producer: Holly Fathi
Production Co-ordinator: Lucia Brutovska
Line Producer: Samantha Tilyard
Series Producers: Lydia Delmonte, Joseph John
Reviews
‘Confident, well sourced account of the story that’s clear-headed when it needs to be but also packs an emotional punch’
★★★★
- Daily Mail
‘Horrific but compelling series’
- Radio Times
‘Moving, troubling tale’
- Guardian
‘Tinder Swindler but even darker’
- Evening Standard
Featured in the Guardian:
The couchsurfing predator: how a group of women were drugged and assaulted – then fought back
Featured in the Telegraph:
How the Couchsurfing rapist’s victims sought justice