Andrew Tate gives Channel 4 ‘full access’ to never-seen-before footage for new documentary

Social media influencer Andrew Tate has given Channel 4 ‘full access’ to never-before-seen footage for a documentary chronicling his rise to fame, as well as unpicking the aftermath of his arrest in Romania.

The former kickboxing world champion, who amassed millions of followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok for his toxic content, is facing allegations of human trafficking and being part of an organised crime gang along with his brother Tristan.

Both siblings will remain in detention until late February after a judge granted a request to extend their detention by 30 days for a second time.

Today, Channel 4 announced it had commissioned a 60-minute documentary from the production company Amos Pictures asking how the 36-year-old became so famous. It will seek out figures from his personal life, gather ‘extensive footage’ of him over the past decade and speak to his legions of supporters, the broadcaster said.

The documentary will be directed by Maggie Gaudin and executive-produced by Dan Reed, who directed the Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland.

Reed said: ‘How Andrew Tate became the most viral influencer on the planet, and what forces and experiences shaped Tate the man (as opposed to the controversy-seeking media icon) is what we’re trying to find out.

‘This sits at the sweet spot between a tabloid subject and an in-depth, highly-wrought documentary where Amos Pictures is at its strongest in its partnership with Channel 4.

‘Tate has given us full access and we’re looking forward to carrying on filming if he gets out of jail in the coming weeks.’

Commissioning editor Anna Miralis said: ‘As we await the outcome of the Romanian investigation there are so many questions that surround Andrew Tate, not least how he amassed infamy and fortune in a relatively short period of time, and why it is his anti-feminist agenda resonates so powerfully with his followers.

‘With incredible access, Dan Reed and Maggie Gaudin are poised to unpick this fascinating and fast-evolving story.’

Tate, who has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. He was reinstated to Twitter last month, and has 4.8million followers. 

Last week, a Romanian judge pointed to the ‘particular dangerousness’ of Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan in their capacity to target and exploit women to justify extending their detention amid rape and human trafficking investigations.

A written statement from a Bucharest court highlighted the Tate brothers’ ‘capacity and effort to exercise permanent psychological control over the victims… including by resorting to constant acts of violence’, according to Romanian media.

The pair are now being held behind bars for an extra 30 days until February 27, following the judge’s ruling which would ‘manage tensions’ around the case and safeguard the investigation, the statement said.

The brothers are being held alongside Luana Radu, 32 – a former police officer in Bucharest – and Georgiana Naghel, 28 – a model believed to have been dating Tate for almost a year.

Both women are facing human trafficking charges and are accused of being Tate’s closest lieutenants, helping to ‘coerce’ and ‘control’ at least six women to create social media porn content under house arrest.

Tate has claimed a woman accusing him of rape followed him to Romania and made up the allegation when he refused to buy her sister a €200,000 house.

He also told judges in Bucharest that ‘it’s time for this circus to end’ as he argued that prosecutors had only considered ‘small snippets’ of information relevant to the case.

He said the rape allegation against him lacked ‘concrete evidence’ at the Court of Appeal in the Romanian capital earlier this month. 

His brother Tristan meanwhile was seen yesterday protesting his innocence to journalists outside the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in Romania, where they were moved for questioning.

Romanian news outlet Gandul reported that the woman asked to move to Romania with him and filed a rape allegation nearly six months later when he refused to give her money to buy a house and become a TikTok star. 

The woman reportedly had a drug addiction when they met at the strip club she worked at in London.

Tate said he allowed the woman to move to Romania with him on her own. 

Due to her drug problem, the woman was told to stay with Tate’s assistant and alleged girlfriend Naghel, who was also arrested as part of the investigation.

Police claim Naghel and ex-police worker Radu acted as the brothers’ lieutenants, helping to keep six women like prisoners and forcing them to make online porn videos. They deny the allegations.

Tate claims, however, that his accuser raised a complaint after he refused to give her money to ‘open a bar on the beach, to play in a television show and to become famous on TikTok’.

He alleges that the woman asked for €200,000 to buy a house for her sister in Chisinau, the capital of neighbouring Moldova.

Andrew and his brother moved into a converted warehouse in Romania, which they staffed with armed guards, in 2017.

At their safehouse on the outskirts of Bucharest, the Tate brothers had a video chat studio where several women were found during a police raid in April 2022.

Prosecutors claim the brothers lured women into the studio where they were sexually exploited through ‘acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant supervision, control and invocation of alleged debts)’, and made to produce and share pornographic material.

Andrew had boasted in a YouTube video before his arrest that the women who stayed with him were not allowed to leave; he said, ‘you don’t go nowhere’. 

Tate is also accused of raping the Moldovan woman – who he alleges followed him from London in March 2022 – which he categorically denies. 

On Thursday, brother Tristan, also a former professional kickboxer, said to journalists: ‘What evidence is there against Tristan Tate? There is none. That should be the news of the day.’

Andrew was not seen speaking to cameras.  

On a podcast prior to his arrest, when asked why he moved to Romania initially, Tate said ‘being able to evade rape allegations’ was his motivation. 

He added: ‘I am not a rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free.’ 

The brothers’ alleged sex trafficking victims claimed they would call them ‘slaves’ and duped them into becoming webcam porn workers with promises of marriage. 

The brothers’ head of security told the BBC that some of the women who spent time with the brothers at their compound in Romania ‘misunderstood the reality and believed [they would] be [Andrew Tate’s] next wife.

‘When they realised the reality, it’s easy to transform from a friend into an enemy, and make a statement to the police.’

The brothers have denied the allegations made against them.

Asked if he had hurt any women, Tate said: ‘Of course not… They know we have done nothing wrong.

‘This file is completely empty. Of course it’s unjust. There is no justice in Romania.’