HOW HOTTIES IGNITED FYRE
Fest bigs' 250G for models
Fyre Festival organizers blew as much as $250,000 for just one promotional photo of bikini-clad models like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid — as they fudged the important logistical details that ultimately led to the event’s embarrassing demise.
Fyre mastermind Billy McFarland and his team squandered millions of dollars on the flashy promotions for the ultra-posh Bahamas getaway, dropping no less than $20,000 a pop for lesser-name “influencers,” according to Vice News.
Sources told The Post the models were offered $35,000, free tickets and a chartered flight to Great Exuma island in exchange for publicizing Fyre, which touted other mannequins like Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Baldwin and Alessandra Ambrosio as reps. Jenner received the hefty payday for a now-deleted Instagram post showing her and another model in bikinis with palm fronds in their faces.
Fyre’s outrageous spending began a month after McFarland first dreamed up Fyre in October.
It got to the point where there was no cash left to pay Fyre employees — or any of the vendors or musicians needed to make the event happen.
“We started getting paid [in] wires from Billy’s account, and one time [in January], we got paid in a wad of cash,” a former Fyre employee told Vice. “They didn’t have any money. They kept paying the influencers and the models.”
The festival was scheduled over two weekends in late April and early May — but real planning didn’t begin until late February or early March.
McFarland, a 25-year-old entrepreneur, flew down to the Baha- mas “every other weekend for lavish vacations” on nearby islands but failed to take his latest business venture seriously.
Around March, McFarland and team members tried to secure a second round of investments, hinting that Fyre had already blown millions on its celebrity endorsements.
Many of the luxe amenities Fyre promised ticketholders were bogus — which guests realized shortly after they began pouring into the island on April 27.
The fancy “rustic lodge” villas some rented were really created as a joke — because organizers never thought anyone would rent them, Vice said. The “gourmet” fare that was promised was nixed, too, due to lack of funds.
A former Fyre employee told Vice that McFarland sold the failed festival to rapper and cofounder Ja Rule as a “pipe dream.”
Now, the two and other organizers are facing at least three lawsuits filed this week that claim the event was a scam from the start.
A Fyre spokesman didn’t immediately comment.