Fyre Festival Netflix documentary: Did Billy McFarland commit fraud? Which celebrities promoted the music festival?

From sad cheese sandwiches to dishevelled tents, it's safe to say that those who paid thousands of dollars to attend 2017's Fyre Festival did not get what they paid for.

Two years and two documentaries later, just in case you don't remember exactly what went down, we're issuing a quick refresher course on the music festival failure of the century.

From founder Billy McFarland's shady ventures (he asked staff to work for free) to the exorbitant ticket costs (for "elevated amenities," including private yachts and elaborate villas) here's everything you need to know about Fyre Festival.

What was Fyre Festival?

Fyre Festival was meant to be an elaborate music festival running on Pablo Escobar’s private island in the Bahamas for two weekends in a row in April and May 2017 - instead, it was a disaster.

The musical lineup was going to be provided by Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label, with acts including Tyga, Desiigner, Migos, and Lil Yachty. Blink 182 was set to be the headliner - until the band canceled last minute when guests started boarding planes home early.

The festival also promised wellness activities, including luxury catamaran excursions, seaplane tours, snorkeling, art, sea bobbing, paddle boarding, sound baths, massages, and yoga. Guests were also guaranteed a $1 million scavenger hunt - but they ended up scavenging for tents, mattresses, and their lost luggage.

How much did Fyre Festival tickets cost?

Prices started at $1,500, which covered the flight from Miami to Fyre Cay, festival tickets, meals and accommodation.

Fashionista documented the package options - there was “The Retreat,” with two twin beds, “The Duo,” with two tickets, two twin beds, and “elevated amenities,” and “The Next" with two tickets and a Queen bed.

For $8,999, guests could stay at “The Lodge" which had four King beds. The VIP packages cost up to $12,780, including complimentary flights, a villa, and yacht access. There was even an exclusive $250,000 package.

But instead of Instagram-worthy villas and an all-star musical lineup, guests were met with FEMA bubble tents, their luggage was tossed into the sand, and the meals (meant to be provided by celebrity chef Stephen Starr in a luxury food court) were replaced with sad cheese sandwiches.

The ticket packages were far more expensive than ones for similar luxury festivals, including Panorama and Governor’s Ball, which are organized by enormous booking companies like AEG Live and Live Nation.

Instead, Fyre Fest had just one inexperienced organizer behind it, Billy McFarland, who worked in partnership with American rapper Ja Rule.

Ja Rule eventually issued an apology for his part in the disaster - even though he never actually made it to the island.

How did Fyre Festival go wrong?

Fyre Fest founders Billy McFarland and Ja Rule said they didn’t realize the music festival wasn’t going to be successful until the bitter end - even though leaked audio tells a far bleaker story.

Vice News shared a phone call where McFarland can be heard asking his employees to work for free. “We’re not firing anyone, we’re just letting you know that there will be no payroll in the short term,” McFarland said on the call.

“Its organizers missed a series of deadlines to make advance payments to performers. Last week, some artists still hadn’t been paid what they were owed based on the terms of their contracts, according to people familiar with the matter, but the event’s promoters in recent days made progress in catching up with payments, and in some cases have paid acts in full,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Right before weekend one began, Twitter account Fyre Fraud began reporting that the festival had run out of money and the “private island” guests were promised was a fiction.

Did Billy McFarland commit fraud?

McFarland was arrested and charged with fraud in June 2017. While out on bail, he created another fraudulent company that offered people who had purchased Fyre Fest tickets Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show tickets (hopefully, no one indulged). He faced a decade in federal prison but was sentenced to six years in prison, instead. He's currently teaching a course on entrepreneurship to fellow inmates. His girlfriend, a model/influencer, is waiting for him on the outside.

McFarland’s accomplice, Grant Margolin, was fined $30,000 by the SEC.

Which celebrities promoted Fyre Festival?

Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid, Alessandra Ambrosio, Elsa Hosk, Hailey Baldwin (now Bieber) and Kendall Jenner all promoted the festival in an elaborate Instagram video shoot that tempted many people scrolling through their feeds to buy tickets.

Kendall Jenner was paid $250,000 for her one Instagram post. Models Paulina Vega, Lais Ribeiro, Rose Bertram, Gizele Oliveira and Hannah Ferguson were also part of the promotion.

The models were flown on a private plane to a private island (not where the festival took place) to play with wild pigs and pose in bikinis. They did not attend the actual festival. According to Page Six, someone “called all the A-list names and the modeling agencies and told them not to come.” They told them to come next weekend “when all the kinks have been worked out” - but by then the festival had been cancelled.

Which Fyre Festival documentaries are out on Netflix and Hulu?

The Hulu documentary Fyre Fraud dropped on Monday, days before the Netflix film about the festival is set to premiere. The Hulu documentary paid McFarland to make an appearance - it was rumored he received $250,000, but Hulu's director told The Ringer it was much less.

The Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened airs this Saturday. The Netflix doc is in partnership with Jerry Media, the social media agency which promoted the festival online.