Crush on YouTube Star Wonderhussy

Sarah Jane Woodall is a sexy, sassy YouTube adventuress.

So many of today’s YouTube stars seem to make their marks posting videos of inane things like makeup tips, squeezing zits, or simply blathering about themselves ad nauseam. But there’s one special lady who caught our attention, not just because she’s a gorgeous badass, but also because she’s doing something cool. Meet Sarah Jane Woodall, aka Wonderhussy, the Las Vegas-based nude model/writer turned YouTuber who spends her days cruising the desert in her Toyota 4Runner, camping, sampling hot springs, and exploring abandoned mining camps, ghost towns, and derelict brothels.

We caught up with Woodall on the phone in New Mexico, where she was helping one of her online followers collect rare acorns; afterward she’s headed back to Nevada to check out a Facebook-formed Area 51 raid “to see them aliens,” for which over two million people have signed up. “It’s gonna be a shitshow,” Sarah tells us. Be sure to check out her YouTube channel, Wonderhussy Adventures, to see for yourself.

Where did the moniker “Wonderhussy” come from?

I used to write a column for a local paper, which had started a website that was an “adult” guide to Vegas — what’s it like to go to a brothel or a strip club, etc. But the paper was so conservative, I couldn’t post photos with nudity, I couldn’t say anything interesting. So I started writing my own blog so I could say whatever I wanted, and I came up with the name “Wonderhussy” because it’s sort of emblematic of, “Fuck this — I’m gonna say what I want to say and be who I want to be! People think I’m a shameless hussy? Well, I’m gonna be the best damn hussy there is.”

How did you transition from writing to YouTubing?

I couldn’t monetize my blog using Google AdSense, because it was considered an “adult” website. I guess because I posted nude photos, or maybe the keywords I used? But I was driving back from Burning Man and I passed this abandoned building. I pulled over and went in, and as I was shooting, I was describing what I was seeing and figuring out in real time that it was an old brothel. I put the video up on YouTube and it got a really good response. People started emailing me, saying, “That’s called URBEX [urban exploration]. You should do more videos like that.” And right around that time, I discovered I had all this money waiting for me in my YouTube account from the ads that were appearing in the videos I’d posted over the years.

So now you do this full-time?

Yeah, man, I do YouTube full-time! But it’s not very lucrative, and it’s kind of an idiot’s game. They know everyone wants to be a star, so they own all your content. They can shut you down at any time, and you’re basically busting your hump just so they can make money, and then they throw you a few crumbs.

That said, I’m enjoying it.

Has there been anything you’ve shot that you couldn’t post?

Yeah, I got busted by the ranger at Lake Mead and had to take some videos down. Lake Mead is this huge reservoir outside Vegas that’s evaporating rapidly because there’s not meant to be that many people living in the desert, sucking up the water. There are a couple of abandoned marinas that are totally dried up, and I made a video of one that had some park service housing — the homes were almost brand-new, just sitting there with the doors swinging open. The video got a couple hundred thousand views, and that got the attention of law enforcement out there, and so I got this phone call from them, telling me to take it down. Ever since then, I’ve been super cautious about the kinds of places I go in, and what I post online.

It still seems like a pretty great way to make a living.

It is, but you’re completely owned by YouTube, so Google basically has you by the balls. There’s this whole thing now called the “Adpocalypse.” You get all your advertising revenue from the commercials they run on your videos. But then these ads were appearing on some pretty sketchy videos, like crazy right-winger, racist bullshit. So now they’re very cautious about the content being “advertiser-friendly.” They give you a red, yellow, or green light on your video. If it’s red, it doesn’t comply with YouTube’s terms and it’s not allowed to be posted at all, and you get a strike on your account; green light, you’re good to go and you can make money; yellow light means they’ll run your video but they won’t post any ads on it — they deem it unsuitable for most advertisers. One time I got a yellow light on a video, which couldn’t have been more G-rated. So they told me to look at the keywords in the description, which was “Ghost town 45 minutes from Vegas strip” — and the word “strip” had triggered their algorithm. So I took out the word and it got a green light.

How do you find the abandoned places you visit?

As a nude model, I was working for these amateur photographers who had these ideas of photographing a naked chick in an old busted building. So I was constantly scouting for new abandoned places, and I ended up getting more into the scouting than the modeling. I find a lot of places through Google Maps, and by driving around randomly. Now it’s gotten to the point where people email me tips of places to check out.

You seem to like exploring sites connected to conspiracy theories.

I’m not a natural-born conspiracy theorist, I’m just more interested in the idea of conspiracy theories. I don’t know, conspiracy theories used to be so much more fun. Now they’re getting creepy, like Pizzagate and “deep state.” I recently got into Bigfoot — that’s my kind of urban legend. It’s old-school, it’s fun. I went up to Oregon in June and decided to look for Bigfoot while I was there. It started out as a joke, but then I got up there and I was reading about it and watching all these Bigfoot videos, and I started thinking, Geez, maybe there’s something to this.