A 28-year-old barman from Essex has spoken out about his love of dressing up as a living doll - donning a full rubber bodysuit and facemask to appear as his alter-ego 'Jessie'.
Joel, who spent 15 years hiding his pastime from his family and neighbours, has appeared along with other men who identify as 'maskers', or 'rubber dollers' on TLC's My Strange Addiction.
The Essex man has spent almost £10,000 on his hobby since he discovered it aged 15, and says he does it for enjoyment and escapism.
And although his live-in girlfriend Mel is fully supportive of his choice to dress up, Joel said he wouldn't walk down he street dressed as his alter-ego, for fear of how other people would react.
'I wouldn't walk 20 steps down the road dressed as a doll because I know general society in the area we live in would be very, very against it,' he explained. 'Who knows what could happen?', the Daily Mail reported.
In the show, which aired on Wednesday (January 7), Joel travelled to the United States to meet other maskers, attending the Rubber Doll World Rendezvous in Minneapolis.
There, he met a 70-year-old who dressed as alter-ego 'Sherry', as well as a host of other men who shared his hobby, many of them married with children.
