Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan has revealed that she was raped during production of the ITV show in 2012.
In her new memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through, Spraggan describes being attacked by a hotel porter with the incident occurring after a night out celebrating fellow contestant Rylan Clark’s 25th birthday.
The musician has also spoken with The Guardian about the real reason for her departure from the ITV show – which was originally attributed to illness – saying she feels ‘let down’ by ITV.
“It was inappropriate for anybody – including contestants – to be drunk. How can you fulfil your duty of care when free alcohol is involved?”
During the night out, Spraggan passed out and was taken back to the hotel by a member of the show’s production team. A porter then assisted Spraggan to her room, later returning to carry out the assault. He accessed the room using a traceable key card, which led to his arrest and conviction.
Spraggan told The Guardian:
“I woke up the next day with this sense of sheer dread. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that level of confusion since. I knew that I’d been raped, but I could not process that. So I put my clothes on and went into autopilot.”
Spraggan said that, while the production team called the police in response to her complaint, she felt they were “unprepared” for the situation with support waning after a while.
“No one called or emailed when the trial was over and he was convicted. No one offered me rehabilitation or ongoing mental health treatment. I was on my own.”
A spokesperson for Fremantle, who produced X Factor for ITV, said the event was “without precedent” in the industry and apologised for any shortcomings in aftercare.
“While we believed throughout that we were doing our best to support Lucy in the aftermath of the ordeal, as Lucy thinks we could have done more, we must therefore recognise this. For everything Lucy has suffered, we are extremely sorry.”
ITV said it has the ‘deepest compassion’ for Lucy commending her ‘resilience and bravery’ but pointed out that the duty of care for X Factor contestants would have fallen to Thames and Syco.
Speaking to The Guardian, Simon Cowell, who created the show, called the incident “horrific and heart-breaking”.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk.
