Beauty in Black: Is Delinda's Dolls and Dudes a real place? Details from the Netflix series explored

Beauty in Black
Beauty in Black (Image via Netflix)

Created and directed by Tyler Perry, Netflix's Beauty in Black was released in late October 2024. The show delves into the twisted and dark crossovers of a glamorous beauty empire and the tainted underbelly of a shady trafficking operation with family secrets, power dynamics, and treachery woven in.

The first part of season 2 came out on September 11, 2025. It marks the continuation of the lives of the interesting characters, especially the career-driven dancer Kimmie, as the drama unfolds with shocking twists and increasing conflicts. This complicated storyline has entertained both new and old viewers as they await the launch of the second part of Season 2, set for a 2026 release.

Among the several factors driving the suspense is the enigmatic locale of Delinda's Dolls and Dudes, a strip club at a front for trafficking and the center of the ensuing drama. The club is central in the fictional world of Beauty in Black; it does not exist outside the show.


Beauty in Black: More about Delinda's Dolls and Dudes

Beauty in Black (Image via Netflix)
Beauty in Black (Image via Netflix)

Delinda's Dolls and Dudes, the strip club that forms the basis of the narrative of Netflix's Beauty in Black, is an entirely fictional club designed specifically for the show.

Showmakers reportedly created it as a set at Tyler Perry Studios down in Atlanta, since that’s where most of the production took place. While the series is dramatized, the stories riff off the events that actually happen out in the world.

Now, Delinda’s Dolls and Dudes is the show’s way of peeking into the seriously grimy world of s*x trafficking, through Kimmie, a character who’s drowning in debt to the shady club owner, Jules. She has got her back against the wall, trying to get out, but the system just keeps grinding her down.

Even though the club is just made up for the screen, the nightmare it shows is a reality. Traffickers have been known to corner people using emotional games and sketchy legal threats, trapping them in the business.

In a similar case, in 2023, three Cuban nationals ended up in court in Houston for s*x trafficking. They lured women over with fake dreams, then put them with bogus debt, forcing them into strip club work. The show is obviously dramatized, but stories like that are not as fictional as you would hope.

Instead, Delinda's Dolls and Dudes exists as a metaphorical and narrative device drawing attention to these system abuses without being modeled on any known club or scenario.


About the show Beauty in Black

A still from Beauty in Black (Image via Netflix)
A still from Beauty in Black (Image via Netflix)

Beauty in Black revolves around the lives of two women from different socioeconomic circumstances whose lives intersect in surprising ways. The series primarily revolves around Kimmie (Taylor Polidore Williams), an exotic dancer battling debts that bind her to Delinda's Dolls and Dudes and trying to rebuild her life.

Her path crosses with Mallory Bellarie (Crystle Stewart), who leads a prosperous hair care business, Beauty in Black, belonging to the wealthy Bellarie family in Chicago.

Beauty in Black Season 1 welcomes audiences to the Bellarie family's glossy facade that covers up greed, secrets, and a criminal trafficking operation camouflaged in their business activities. As Kimmie is drawn into this world, the series touches on family loyalty, betrayal, and survival under deception and threat.

The show has received much praise for exploring the lanes that we rarely see on mainstream TV. In addition to the impressive performances, Beauty in Black has a classic Tyler Perry narration, too.

Additionally, part one of season 2 dropped in September 2025. Kimmie dives even deeper into the Bellarie empire drama. The show is getting tons of love for its twists and how the characters keep surprising you, even though a few stories do lean a bit too much into cliches.

This season is divided into two parts. Netflix has announced that the second part will air in early 2026, but there’s no official date yet.

Edited by Priscillah Mueni