After stumbling upon a “competitive endurance tickling” video online, wherein young men are paid to be tied up and tickled, reporter David Farrier is met with resistance when trying to find out more. The more he investigates, the stranger it gets, discovering secret identities and criminal activity.

Led by an initially whimsical interest in the world of competitive tickling, David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s engrossing documentary unveils a shocking web of coercion, blackmail, and cyberbullying. An online sensation upon its release, Tickled unties the knotty commodification of niche fetishes.