Fyre Festival 2: ‘Scam’ party held by fraudster Billy McFarland is RETURNING – with £400 tickets selling out in hours
TICKETS to Fyre Festival 2 have sold out in hours after convicted fraudster Billy McFarland decided to resurrect the “scam” party.
The original botched festival was scheduled to run over two weekends on a private beach in the Bahamas six years ago.
Partygoers paid up to £9,200 a head and were promised opulent accommodation in luxury villas and decadent dishes cooked by the world’s finest chefs.
But punters were left gobsmacked upon arrival as they were greeted with chaotic scenes that some branded as “a post-apocalyptic nightmare”.
Shocked attendees were housed in emergency FEMA tents and served cold cheese sandwiches in foam containers instead of world-class cuisine.
Fresh off the heels of his four-year prison stretch, McFarland has now set the wheels in motion for another exclusive party island experience.
The 31-year-old claims the first one hundred $499 (£400) pre-sale tickets took a day to sell out on the website for the revamped event.
And McFarland said that his unnamed partners are “targeting Fyre Festival 2 for the end of next year.”
However, the event’s website doesn’t list a line-up and details are vague as to where the party is actually being held.
The revamped festival is touted to be held in on December 6 next year with the event’s location listed simply as the “Caribbean Sea”.
In a video shared on social media, McFarland – who was ordered to pay £23m back to investors in 2018 – said he devised the plan for a redo during a stint in solitary confinement.
He told his 22.6k Instagram followers: “We are targeting Fyre Festival 2 for the end of next year.
“It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here and it really all started during the seven-month stint in solitary confinement.
“I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre, and how it would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen, how I would find the best partners in the world to allow me to be me while executing Fyre’s vision to the highest level.”
McFarland added: “In the meantime, we’ll be doing pop-ups and events across the world. Guys, this is your chance to get in.
“This is everything I’ve been working towards. Let’s f***ing go.”
Future tickets, which are yet to be released, will cost between $799 (£626) and $7,999 (£6,267), according to the pricelist.
McFarland’s latest post has not shared any information about what guests can expect for their money, apart from the chance to “get in”.
A disclaimer on the website says: “FII date is subject to change. Pre-events and pop-ups to be announced, but FYRE will host a minimum of 4 events prior to FFII.”
‘HUNGER GAMES’
Guests previously compared the failed Fyre Festival to the Hunger Games.
It was co-organised by rapper Ja Rule – who apologised at the time – and promoted by influencers including Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid.
Artists such as Disclosure, Migos and Blink-182 were on the bill for the event but the entire festival fell apart when at least 18 acts pulled out, days before it was scheduled to start.
It meant partygoers were left stuck on the island with the debacle captured in the now-iconic Netflix documentary FYRE.
McFarland was convicted of fraud in 2018 after selling 8000 tickets to the original scam event.
One year later, McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to six years in prison, in addition to being ordered to pay back millions towards investors.
He was released two years early in March 2022.