‘I earn £10k a month having sex with balloons’

When Oxana Efremova’s husband told her he had a kinky secret, she’d have been forgiven for “bursting” out laughing when he revealed what it was. But when 33-year- old Valentin explained how he gets turned on by balloons, she refused to feel deflated. Instead, she’s embraced the unusual fetish and now their sex life always goes with a bang.

The couple have been “looners” – the name for balloon fetishists – for the past eight years. And it’s also helped them “inflate” their income as they are making up to £10,000 a month by filming Oxana frolicking with the balloons and selling the content online.

Oxana, 33, who also works as a radiologist and comes from Eastern Europe, explains, “We play with any balloons, from ones you can buy for a few pence to really elaborate ones that I can climb into and then inflate around me.

“I love everything about them, from the touch to the sound they make when they pop. They take on your body heat and move with you – it’s the best sex in the world!”

Oxana discovered balloon sex over 10 years ago when Valentin, an art director, confessed his fetish. The couple started dating when they were 16 and married eight years ago after Valentin popped the question.

She says, “One day we were lying in bed after having sex, and he told me he had a kinky secret, explaining that he had a thing for balloons. At first I thought he was joking – I’d never heard of anything like it before. But I’m sexually curious and open to new ideas. I watched some videos and was certainly enlightened!”

“Looners” are divided into different categories. Some are known as “blow-to-pop”, who enjoy the taste of a balloon and the sensation on the lips, watching it expanding with every breath until it pops. Others prefer “sit-to-pop”, lowering their bodies onto balloons to feel resistance and hear the squeaking sounds when the latex rubs on the skin, bouncing on it until it pops. And “non-poppers” enjoy games that don’t involve popping.

Oxana says, “Valentin is a semi-popper. He loves watching me popping balloons but doesn’t fancy doing that himself. He thinks that, as with most fetishes, it came from an event in his childhood, though he can’t remember what it was. But during puberty he realised that while he was afraid of popping balloons, he also got turned on by them. He researched it on the internet and found a whole community of looners.

But it took a while for him to pluck up the courage to tell me as he was scared I wouldn’t understand.”

Fortunately, Oxana didn’t let him down and embraced his fetish.

She says, “It feels good to do something that your partner loves and to watch their enjoyment. But also I loved the novelty and different ways of exploring. We love both being on a huge balloon, it moves with you, leading to explosive sex.

“Balloons for me are associated with joy, celebration and fun! They carry a positive vibe, and I always feel sexy when we play with them. There are a lot of international online balloons stores for looners that are mostly run by others from the scene. They can cost up to £9 for one.

“At first, we did it all the time, experimenting a lot, but now we probably do it about once a week. Balloons can also be used as a sex toy which enhances the pleasure. But party balloons are boring – too small and too ordinary. So we often take a couple of big helium-filled balloons to parties – they always attract a lot of attention. If there are any balloon-popping challenges, I always win.”

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Seven years ago, the couple decided to turn their fetish into a money spinner. Oxana explains, “We both loved doing it and knew there was a whole community out there who could appreciate it. We mostly film me playing with balloons and then put it online for people to enjoy for a fee.

“In our first year or so we probably earned around £400 a month, but we became more and more popular and now it’s around £10,000 a month, along with the balloon products we sell. The other day someone bought a balloon I’d used in a video for nearly £320! “Sometimes we film with other girls from the community, or other times together or just me on my own. One of my favourite games is a ‘climb in’ balloon, where you get inside a specially made giant balloon – about two metres round – and then stay in it until it pops.”

But she admits there have been some mishaps while they’ve been indulging in balloon play. Oxana says, “I’ve had bits of broken balloon hit me hard on some occasions and it can feel like a whip and really hurt, especially if it’s in my face or eyes. I’m not into BDSM but some looners are, so they quite enjoy that aspect!

“Another time I fell off a huge balloon ball that I was sitting astride and hurt my knee. It took an operation and three months of rehabilitation before I recovered!”

But other than the risk of injury, the couple see no downside to their fetish. Their friends are supportive, though their families don’t know about it – yet. Oxana says, “Most of my work colleagues don’t either, though one saw my balloon Facebook page open and asked me about it, she was so fascinated!”

Meanwhile the couple are happier than ever and plan to carry on with their “hobby”. Oxana says, “We enjoy it sexually and we make money from it, so of course we will keep doing it. We just feel lucky to have found each other and that we are both so open to adventure – there’s no way our relationship will fizzle out while we’ve got balloons involved.”