The Rise & Fall Of Billy McFarland: The Fyre Festival Flop

In January of this year, a video featuring the bikini-clad likes of Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, and other gorgeous supermodels frolicking on a beach promoted the upcoming Fyre Festival. Packages for the two-weekend event began at around $1200, though luxe extras like private cabanas brought the prices soaring above six figures.

But we all know what happened when hopeful attendees arrived on that fateful day in April; there was no music festival, there were no celebs, and there was barely even proof that there was ever supposed to be. In fact, just a day before the much-hyped fest, headliner Blink-182 took to Twitter to publicly pull out of the lineup. In an email we received, STARR Catering, which was to provide the high-end culinary part of the Fyre experience, confirmed that their contract was terminated on April 2nd. So those cheese sandwiches were not their doing, FYI.

In a statement following the disaster, organizers said, "due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfill on that vision safely and enjoyably for our guests." According to McFarland, "[he] definitely underestimated the challenges and the manpower we needed."

[Photo via @WNFIV]