America's Next Top Model star says alleged sex assault was filmed with no intervention
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
America’s Next Top Model is the latest reality show to be put back under the spotlight after years off TV, with a new documentary revealing some of the shocking things that went on.
Netflix has released the doc, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, which features sit-down interviews with multiple former contestants, producers, and even the show's celebrity host, former model and creator Tyra Banks.
One of the most uncomfortable interviews, however, comes from cycle two contestant Shandi Sullivan.
Advert
Shandi alleges that she was sexually assaulted in the documentary, stating that this assault was then turned into a storyline in which she ‘cheated’ on her boyfriend.
The young American model featured in one of the show's most viral storylines, with her 'cheating' on her boyfriend, was among the early ones that really drove ratings.
Shandi, however, alleges that she was filmed having sex despite having 'blacked out' from drinking alcohol, with no one in production stepping in to stop it.
The now 43-year-old was emotional in the interviews, stating that she was told that some local Italian male models who had acted as their Vespa drivers during a trip to Milan would be invited to the contestant's house for wine and dinner.
She states that she had 'two bottles of wine by herself' and very little to eat, and the last thing she remembers clearly is getting into the hot tub with the guys and some of the other girls.
"I remember getting in the hot tub. I remember April, Mercedes getting in the hot tub. And then I just remember the guy looking at me and I looked at him. And I was pretty drunk at that point. Everything kind of after that is just a blur," she said.
Speaking in the Netflix documentary, she further claimed that she has vague memories of kissing him, with her stating she has ‘flashes’ of someone pulling her off the shower floor and him having sex with her.
Shandi added: “I remember him on top of me. I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it. And it all got filmed, all of it."
The storyline became that she had drunkenly slept with the model, with Shandi’s pleas to leave the show allegedly being refused by production.
She claims that her other big priority was calling her then-boyfriend, and said she was told this was possible, but only if it could be filmed. This phone call involved her telling her boyfriend she’d slept with someone, leading him to call her a 'b***h' and her to curl up in a ball and cry.
Shandi said that, after cameras were cut, the cameraman came up and apologised for the fact that they ‘had to film that’.
When asked whether production should have stopped the incident, Shandi said that anything that happened after the hot tub should have seen production step in.
Executive producer Ken Mok spoke about the incident and why they decided to keep filming, saying: “We treated Top Model as a documentary. And we told the girls that. We would go over the rules.
"There's going to be cameras with you 24/7, day in and day out, and they're going to cover everything — the good, the bad, and everything in between.
“No matter what happens while you're on camera, we're going to document all of that.”
Mok also claimed that more happened that wasn't aired.
Jay Manuel said he remembered what happened with Shandi, as he said 'the rule on Top Model was, if you went into a bathroom alone, a camera could not follow you in', adding: "But of course, when she went into the shower, she was technically not alone. So, the cameras went in, and they captured it.
"I don't know whose decision it was, but as producers do, this was a story point now and we're going to see it all the way through."
Meanwhile, Banks said of Shandi's story: "I do remember her story. It's a little difficult for me to talk about production because that's not my territory."
However, Shandi pointed to her appearance on an episode of Tyra's talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, where she said she'd never watched clips of the incident. She was asked to watch a clip of it shortly after this, but she turned her eyes away so she wouldn't see it.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Shandi said: “My whole feeling for a long, long time was ‘I did this. I let this happen to me.’
“But there were people watching the whole time, and someone should have intervened. Someone should have said ‘We need to put the cameras down and just go get her’.
“They facilitated that whole situation with the hopes that something would happen. And thankfully for them, it made amazing television, right?”
LADbible Group have contacted Paramount for comment.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Topics: TV and Film, TV, Celebrity, Netflix, Documentaries
Michael Slavin