The sexsomniac builder who forces himself on his wife in his sleep

By Daily Mail Reporter

During his waking hours Tim Draper, 33, is a loving and devoted husband to his wife Amanda, 34.

But as soon as he falls asleep he turns into an aggressive sex-crazed 'monster' who gropes his partner before holding her down and ripping off her nightdress.

Builder Tim - who wakes up every morning with no memory of what he has done - suffers from a rare sleep disorder called sexsomnia.

Devoted wife Amanda Draper with her husband and sexsomniac Tim Draper

The Drapers, who live in Ontario, Canada, have been together 14 years and married for four. A night-vision camera was placed in the Draper's bedroom to record Tim's actions for a TV documentary. It shows Tim forcefully fondling his wife while she continually pushes his hand away.

Experts believe sufferers are driven by subconscious primeval instincts to mate.

Amanda - who frequently has to leave the marital bed in the middle of the night - explained: 'It happens about every other night and is really bad once a week.

'He has ripped my nightgown to the point where buttons have come right off and he has torn big holes in my under-clothing.

'He uses force to keep me down. It's scary. He doesn't hit me but I do get marks on my arms from him holding me down.

Devoted wife Amanda Draper with her husband and sexsomniac Tim Draper, who wakes up every morning with no memory of what he has done

'At first it was terrifying but I know it is not really Tim doing it. I'm almost used to it by now but I always wonder whether I'm going to get a good night's sleep.

'All the experts we have seen just shake their heads because they don't understand what is causing it.'

On being shown footage for the first time what he does in his sleep a shocked Tim said: 'It's painful. To me, that's just a monster. It's very extreme.

Enlarge

Tim Draper has a rare sleep disorder that means he tries to force his wife to have sex while he is asleep

'I feel bad that it happens. I have no idea what goes on. My body is doing what it wants without me having any control over it.

'It's like Jekyll and Hyde. I wake up without any notion of what I've done. I feel guilty about it but I also have no control over it. I really wish I did.'

Tim talks to a documentary crew about his experiences

Tim believes he has suffered from sexsomnia since his teens but was only diagnosed with the condition this year.

He cannot remember anything that happens during his sleep and only knows he has misbehaved if he wakes up to find Amanda asleep on the sofa in the lounge.

After watching the footage the following day, Amanda - who never lets Tim have sex with her in his sleep - says: 'I know it's not his fault and it's not him because I would not have married the person he is when he's sleeping.'

Doctors have prescribed Tim with a sedative called clonazepam, which is used to treat anxiety and insomnia and keeps him in a deeper state of sleep.

However, the drug has only made a slight improvement to curbing his nocturnal sexual activities.

Sleep Walkers: Secrets of the Night is on ITV1 at 9pm tonight

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Last Night: Muppet (of Burlesque) Show at Monday Night Tease!

by Erin Broadley

All photos by Shannon Cottrell. Click images for entire Muppet (of Burlesque) slideshow.)

It's official; last night I saw my last burlesque show. Why the last? Well, because after enjoying a front row seat for a Muppets-themed striptease, nothing else compares. I'm talking an hour and a half of feisty, Botticelli-bodied women gussied up in glittered, Gonzo the Great glory. Produced by Lili VonSchtupp and Scarlett Letter, the weekly Monday Night Tease! at 3 of Clubs off Santa Monica and Vine is Los Angeles' longest running burlesque show and last night I saw why. The Muppet (of Burlesque) Show was everything good burlesque should be: an exaggerated and, at times, subtle and flirty seduction paired with a healthy dose of parody, flipping Jim Henson's classic Muppet Show head over heels over sequined, Fozzie Bear pasties.

The program began promptly at 10 p.m., introduced by none other than Kermit the Frog. First up was Kimberlee Rose, the "Muppet of Burlesque" herself (and also the birthday girl), followed by a chorus line introduction to all the dancers in character: Scooter (Lili VonSchtupp), Fozzie Bear (Vixen Violette), Sam the Eagle (Scarlett Letter), Swedish Chef (Anastasia Von Teaserhausen), Miss Piggy (Isabella Star), Rizzo the Rat (Lux La Croix), Gonzo the Great (Dizzy Von Damn!), plus Jewel of Denial, Red Snapper and Vixen Magdalene. Then, under a giant disco ball, the ladies took the stage one by one to perform solo sets as their Muppet alter-ego.

Vixen Violette as Fozzie Bear stepped on stage wearing a brown, terrycloth hoop dress and matching knee-high boots, dancing to Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear"; Scarlett Letter as Sam the Eagle took to a podium to rant about the topic of nudity ("Outrageous!"); Anastasia Von Teaserhausen as the Swedish Chef hand-crafted a giant hamburger consisting of the various meats and cheeses that made up her skirt (plus the heads of lettuce she wore as a bra); Red Snapper did her best Elton John to "Crocodile Rock" and was attacked by a giant stuffed crocodile; a corseted and velvet gloved Vixen Magdalene gothed things up a bit with her Dr. Steel Show; Isabella Star as Miss Piggy auditioned to be an Opera star; Lux La Croix as Rizzo the Rat kicked off her heels, got gangster and bumped her tail to Dr. Dre's "Rat Tat Tat"; Jewel of Denial rocked out and stripped down to Emmet Otter's Riverbottom Nightmare Band; and Dizzy Von Damn! as Gonzo the Great closed out the night with excellent pasty twirling technique and a Muppet version of Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way."

Other highlights included the night's emcees Mike Schmidt and David H. Lawrence XVII who used the breaks in between sets to make raunchy, knee slapping cracks about the performers like, "Wonder if I could get her to waka waka waka me off" (about Fozzie Bear), "I want to know if that eagle is bald all over" (about Sam the Eagle), and "Normally when I see a dancer pull cheese out of her skirt it's not a good idea" (about Swedish Chef).

The Muppet (of Burlesque) Show was the most fun I've had watching tassel twirling, well, ever. So yeah, it probably won't be my last burlesque show after all; you never know what these ladies are going to come up with next. Stay tuned.

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Boston author Ben Mezrich pens tale of Facebook’s founders

By Frank Quaratiello

Photo by Angela Rowlings

SITE TO BEHOLD: Hub writer Ben Mezrich says his next book will tell the story of the Harvard undergrads who founded Facebook.

Ben Mezrich, whose best-seller “Bringing Down the House” about MIT math geeks who outsmart Las Vegas casinos inspired the hit film “21,” is returning to the revenge-of-the-nerds genre with a vengeance.

“My next big book is about the kids who founded Facebook,” said Mezrich, who added that he’ll be working long hours through the holidays to get the book to his publisher, Doubleday, which is planning a big release next fall.

Facebook’s controversial beginnings in early 2004 at Harvard University - when several students were working on social networking sites simultaneously - have sparked news articles and a few lawsuits, but with Mezrich’s help the story may make it to the mainstream. Plus, veteran screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is already signed on to adapt the book into a movie, Mezrich confirmed.

Mezrich, who doesn’t want to give too much away, says his story will be “about entrepreneurship at Harvard and about Mark Zuckerberg,”the Facebook founder who so far won’t talk to him.

It will also be “about Harvard’s Final Clubs,” which are similar to secret societies or exclusive clubs at other Ivy League schools such as Princeton or Yale, “but more open and social,” according to Mezrich, a Harvard graduate.

In May, the Web site Gawker.com reported a tip that Mezrich had “signed a million-dollar-plus book deal for his memoir about Mark Zuckerberg and the other Facebook founders.” It also published excerpts from a book proposal, titled “Face Off.” The proposal paints a picture of Facebook founders Zuckerberg and his roommate Eduardo Saverin as computer geeks trying to get into Harvard’s Final Clubs, meet hot women and get laid.

According to the proposal, Zuckerberg the hacker and Saverin the master of meteorological algorithms (not kidding) come up with a program called FaceSmash to rate Harvard women based on their “hotness.” (According to a Rolling Stone article published in June, Zuckerberg creates the program, Facemash, after being rejected by a girl. His idea is to hack into the Harvard computer system, download female students pictures and get online users to vote on whether they look more attractive than farm animals.)

According to the book proposal on Gawker, the program catches fire, venture capitalists start wooing the pair, hard partying with Victoria’s Secret models ensues and then friendships are destroyed by fights over money, etc.

Mezrich’s response: “What was in Gawker - that was not all truth. That’s not what the book is about.” “What is Gawker even doing writing something about me?” he says.

All the attention does still seem to come as a bit of a shock to Mezrich, who since meeting actor Kevin Spacey in 2002 has been living, as he put it, “a writer’s dream come true.”

The Facebook story will be Mezrichs 11th book, but Hollywood interest in his work didn’t really take off until Spacey read an article Mezrich had written for Wired magazine just prior to the release of “Bringing Down the House” in 2002. Spacey asked his business partner, Dana Brunetti, to contact the author.

“Two days later, I was meeting Kevin Spacey at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” said Mezrich, who adds that he was a big fan of Spacey’s work. “ ‘L.A. Confidential’ was my favorite book and movie for a while.”

The admiration appears to be mutual because Spacey’s Trigger Street Productions is attached to many of Mezrichs books, including the upcoming Facebook project.

In addition to “Bringing Down the House,” which became the filmed-in-Boston movie “21,” Mezrich has sold movie rights to his 2004 book “Ugly Americans” and an as-yet-unpublished manuscript “Q” to embattled Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s 2929 Entertainment. Mezrich has also sold the movie rights to his current best-seller “Rigged” to Summit Entertainment, which produced the hit teen vampire flick, “Twilight.”

Like Dennis Lehane, whose Hub-based books have led to big screen successes for Clint Eastwood (Mystic River) and Ben Affleck (Gone, Baby, Gone), Mezrich has found a powerful movie-star partner in Spacey.

“He’s very smart and it’s always good to hear from someone with an eye toward whether something would make a good movie,” Mezrich said. “I think about that early on. He’s one of my first readers, from a very early stage, even when I just have a book proposal.”

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