Fyre Festival: Island used to promote disastrous event on sale for £9 million
Saddleback Cay was site of infamous promotional video
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Your support makes all the difference.Saddleback Cay, the backdrop to the infamous Fyre Festival promotional video, is on sale for a cool $11.8m (£9.4m).
The private island in the Bahamas served as the perfect playground to market the doomed event, with models including Bella Hadid and Hayley Bieber seen swimming in clear waters and running along the beach in the advert.
Although the festival went south, with event-goers scammed out of thousands of dollars when the event was cancelled the day it was scheduled to begin, Saddleback Cay is the real deal.
The 35-acre island is positioned in the northernmost section of the Exuma Cays and has a protected bay, seven beaches plus has one of the highest points in the Exumas, at more than 90ft, for exceptional 360-degree views.
Access is fairly straightforward via boat or plane from New Providence, the most-populated island in the Bahamas – neighbouring Normans’ Cay has an operational airstrip.
The island is thought to be ripe for development, although it already comes with a 500sq-ft house with two bathrooms and several smaller cottages.
HG Christie, the Bahamas estate agent responsible for selling the property, says the bad publicity surrounding Fyre Festival hasn’t rubbed off on Saddleback Cay.
This, despite two documentaries being released in quick succession that charted the event’s failure.
“I actually had a buyer the next day after it aired," listing agent John Christie told Forbes of Netflix’s Fyre. “They came down to check it out but it ended up not being right for them.”
He added: “No such thing as bad publicity, right?”
Potential buyers will also have to factor in buying a company – the current owners have bound the sale of the land up with the sale of their private business.
The festival, founded by rapper Ja Rule and entrepreneur Billy McFarland, was touted as “the biggest event of the decade”, but quickly unravelled after inadequate preparation meant guests arrived to find the promised high-end amenities, food, accommodation and entertainment were nowhere in sight.
McFarland has since been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $26m (£21m).
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