Panic is growing that the legendary Burning Man festival, famous for drugs and orgies, is on the verge of collapse after the floppy 2023 event

There are fears that the legendary Burning Man festival will soon die out, with demand for tickets at an all-time low just a week before the event begins.

Last year, fed-up revelers fled Nevada's Black Rock Desert after torrential rains turned the event into a mudslide – and now the magic seems to have been lost.

Tickets for the Burning Man festival are usually in high demand, but in an unprecedented move, the festival has released last-minute tickets.

As organizers of the week-long festival, known for its drug use and massive orgies, desperately try to sell tickets, a Facebook group is teeming with people trying to get rid of their tickets.

Prices start at $575 before taxes and fees, with vehicle passes costing about $150 extra. This time, people are willing to sell them for below face value or at the “best deal” for the August 25 festival.

Last year, there was a mass exodus as annoyed revellers fled Nevada's Black Rock Desert after torrential rains turned the drug- and orgy-fuelled experience into a mud desert. (Image: A massive traffic jam as people tried to leave the festival)

People like Graham Chapman had an extra ticket after his partner could no longer make it to the festival, but he had no idea that someone would only offer him $300 for the ticket he had paid full price for.

“It sucks because I don't have that much disposable income left,” Chapman told the San Francisco Standard.

“This is literally usury, and it's on the buyer's side. I just got the offer and I just thought, 'Ugh, this is disgusting and sleazy and opportunistic,'” he added.

Burning Man is known as an anti-capitalist festival – but many of its long-time visitors are now complaining that they were ripped off for tickets they paid full price.

Someone even offered him $200 for the ticket, to which he replied in frustration: “Decommercialization goes both ways.”

According to the “10 Principles of Burning Man,” or the festival’s principles, decommercialization “protects the Burning Man culture from being misused to promote, endorse, or market any person, product, company, or any type of commercial enterprise.”

Like Chapman, a mother and 20-year Burning Man veteran lost about $800 after turning to the Facebook group Burning Man Tickets and Vehicle Pass Exchange to sell her tickets.

The festival took its name from its climax, the burning of a large 40-foot wooden sculpture called “The Man” (pictured) on the penultimate night.

The Facebook group “Burning Man Tickets and Vehicle Pass Exchange” is full of people trying to get rid of their expensive tickets at lower prices.

Attendees were initially ordered not to leave the festival after exit roads were rendered impassable following half an inch of rain. (Image: A reveler walks through the thick mud at the festival last year)

“Burning Man tickets are always a shitshow,” Tess C. said of her mother’s sales experience.

“Normally it's stressful to make sure we have tickets. This year it was stressful to get rid of them,” she added.

An anonymous user posted in the online group that he was selling a general admission ticket for $575 and was immediately criticized by another member.

“You’ll have to swallow the ticket if you sell it for twice the price of everyone else,” they replied.

Martin Rauchbauer said he was happy to sell his extra ticket for $300 as long as someone else could enjoy the festival.

“Of course it sucks to lose money,” Rauchbauer said. But Burning Man has been criticized for being elitist and unaffordable.

“Whatever the reason for the lower demand this year, I think it's good that people who might not have come otherwise now have the opportunity to go for the first time.”

Tens of thousands travel to the remote area in northwest Nevada each year and gather in the temporary city to make art, dance and enjoy the sense of community. (Image: Molly from Salt Lake City poses for a photo at Burning Man)

Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley, a spokesperson for the Burning Man Project, told The San Francisco Standard that the organization is “adjusting ticket sales for 2024 to reflect recent global trends indicating last-minute ticket purchases.”

DailyMail.com has contacted the Burning Man Project for comment.

At last year's festival, partygoers exchanged insults after organizers asked those trying to leave the filthy camp to be patient as panic broke out over water and food shortages.

Participants were initially ordered not to leave the site after exit roads were left impassable following about a half-inch of rain.

Those who decided to leave before the “burn,” in which the eponymous doll is set on fire, had to wait in line for five hours before reaching the open road.

People were asked not to try to leave the festival on foot; prominent visitors such as Chris Rock, actor Austin Butler and DJ Diplo made their escape.

The festival also made headlines last year when 32-year-old visitor Leon Reece died after being found unconscious at the event.

In October last year, People reported that his death was an accident after taking cocaine and ecstasy.

People were urged not to try to leave the festival on foot, and celebrity attendees including Chris Rock, actor Austin Butler and DJ Diplo made a getaway. (Pictured: A long line of attendees wait for a bus leaving Burning Man)

Burning Man is meant to be an indefinable event, somewhere between a counter-culture celebration and a spiritual retreat.

Heavy rain and muddy conditions caused delays in staff responding to an emergency call for Reece, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The festival had to contend with an intense heatwave and strong winds in 2022, making the experience difficult for the “Burners,” as the festival-goers are called.

While a dust storm forced organizers to temporarily close the entrances in 2018, the event was canceled entirely during the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of people travel to the remote area in northwest Nevada each year and meet in the temporary city to make art, dance and enjoy the sense of community.

Burning Man is meant to be an indefinable event, somewhere between a counter-culture celebration and a spiritual retreat.

The name of the festival goes back to its climax: on the penultimate night, a large, 12-meter-high wooden sculpture called “The Man” is burned.

The gathering, which began as a small event on a San Francisco beach in 1986, has a budget of $45 million and is attended by celebrities and social media influencers.

There are no financial transactions, guests are encouraged to barter to get what they need. Long-time Burning Man attendees complained that the festival had been gentrified and ruined in recent years, before the collapse in demand in 2024.