As she zipped up her floor-length ballgown and looked over at her husband, Gage, in his tuxedo, Olivia Masterson knew it was going to be a good night. Like many others up and down the country, the pair were ready for an evening filled with food, fizz and plenty of festive frivolity.
On the surface, their winter ball seemed like any other work party or family function, but the guestlist told a story that was a little more unusual. Rather than being surrounded by colleagues or relatives, the pair were about to be joined by 250 other swingers. “People like to celebrate Christmas. You don’t often get to dress up in tuxedos and ballgowns unless you’re going to a work event at Christmas. It’s a nice way to celebrate the end of the year, to get dressed up, have a really good time and socialise with like-minded people. It’s a great way to end the year with a bang,” says Olivia, 32.
After first locking eyes 15 years ago while on a night out in Leeds, Olivia and Gage have been a couple ever since. “I was in the army and I wasn’t supposed to come home that weekend, but I did. A friend popped up on Facebook and invited me out,” says Gage, also 32. “As I was ready to go home, he said, ‘Hang on for a few minutes, I’ve got some friends coming,’ and then Olivia walked around the corner. She had this beaming white smile, came across as really friendly and even laughed at my bad jokes.”
The duo swapped numbers and began a relationship, eventually getting married on 31 July 2012. Despite having always had an “adventurous” sex life, it wasn’t until eight years ago they adopted a swinging lifestyle.
Playing away
“It was just after we’d had sex. We were having some pillow talk and Gage asked if I’d ever get with a girl. I replied that I already had,” says Olivia. “That conversation sparked another desire for each other. It made us want to reconnect and explore more together. Gage asked if I wanted to play with girls and if we’d do it together. I said I didn’t want to do it on my own – I needed my little wingman.”
With no one they knew to turn to, they searched the internet to find another, more experienced couple in the area to get intimate with. After six weeks of talking via messages and FaceTime, the group met up in person and one thing led to another – although that wasn’t the initial plan.
“It was supposed to be just a drink. They’d invited us to their house, but there was no pressure. They were experienced in this lifestyle, so it was just to get to know each other and it went really well,” recalls Olivia. “It was really awkward for me though,” adds Gage. “The girls went upstairs and the guy was taking me through things that I never thought I’d be speaking about, like whether he could do certain things with Olivia. I could hear the girls and all I wanted to do was join them. He had to keep telling me to relax. When I finally went upstairs, it was the first time I’d seen her with someone else. It was amazing.”
Following the initial awkwardness, the pair left on a high they’d never experienced before. As they made the short car journey back to their house, they felt so rejuvenated that they were bursting for some one-on-one time. “It was such an emotional rollercoaster. We couldn’t wait to go home to reconnect. I was like, ‘I need you now,’” says Olivia, as Gage adds, “We pulled over in a country lane about half a mile from our home.”
For the couple, “playing” isn’t something that happens every week. With Olivia working as cabin crew and Gage the CEO of the app SwingHub, they says it’s a “hobby” for when they have a weekend spare. In fact, finding people who they both like adds another layer of complication to the process.
“It’s so tough to find someone we’re mutually attracted to,” says Gage. “I can send a few text messages and get that natural vibe, whereas Olivia needs to meet that person in person. That’s really hard if someone lives in Essex and we’re two hours away.”
That’s where club nights can come in handy. But while the pair may have nailed the art of approaching other couples, they were like “deer in headlights” at their first event. “We walked into this old pub and took a big gulp as we knew why everyone was there,” Gage says. “We went into one of the rooms towards the back and saw people having sex. Everyone was laughing, giggling and living their best lives. In the corner, there was this older couple in their seventies or eighties. You could tell they’ve done this their whole life. It was liberating because most people that age are stuck in the house. I want to be like them when I’m that age.”
The pair also enjoy weekends away with swinger friends, including ones of a festive nature. “Everything’s a social first. Every event that you go to, 11pm seems to be the golden hour. It’s canapés, drinks, chats, dance or circus performances and then at 11pm everybody is in lingerie,” says Olivia.
This year, they’d been planning to head to a mansion in Essex for Christmas, but an offer to go to Cancún meant they had to decline. However, the pair are celebrating with a winter ball that they are hosting. “I emailed 40 hotels but, because of the nature of the event, a lot of them didn’t get back to me. There’s a stigma around it – people won’t give you a chance, so it’s really hard to find suitable venues,” explains Olivia.
“People think you’re going to get naked on the dance floor, but that’s not the case. Everybody’s so well-behaved. We run our events very professionally. We only host up to 250 people. For our winter ball we’ve got a 50-person waiting list. ”
And while the ball itself isn’t a play event, Olivia’s sure there’ll be some fun to be had. “Our guests have booked up all the rooms in the hotels on either side of the venue, so I suspect people will be going back to their hotel rooms at night,” she says, laughing.
Global impact
Since sharing their experiences three years ago, Olivia has amassed more than 325,000 followers on TikTok and the couple have also appeared on Channel 4’s sex experiment documentary series Open House. They say their families have been very supportive. “We thought we needed to tell our friends and family before anybody had the discussion behind our backs. Gage’s mum actually said, ‘I’ve been watching your TikTok videos and I didn’t want to say anything,’” says Olivia.
To date, the pair have been recognised internationally, including at a nightclub 4,700 miles away from home, with people across the world thanking them for opening their eyes to the lifestyle. “We have imposter syndrome,” says Olivia. “I was speaking to my friend and she was like, ‘You don’t realise how many people’s lives you changed.’ I’m gobsmacked by the impact we’ve made.”
For information, visit swinghub.com
