Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan has revealed that she was raped during the production of the ITV competition series in 2012.
Spraggan, 31, writes about being attacked by a hotel porter in her new memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through.
She said she was raped after a night out for fellow contestant and friend Rylan Clark’s 25th birthday.
The celebration, at the Mahiki nightclub in London’s Mayfair, was attended by members of the X Factor crew.
Spraggan, who was 20 when the incident happened, said she passed out on the night out and was taken back to the hotel by a member of the show’s production team. A hotel porter offered to help get Spraggan to her room, flipping the security latch on her door to prevent it locking behind them when they left.
Clark, who was staying in the same hotel, went to check on an unconscious Spraggan some time later and made sure to lock the door behind him when he left. When the porter later returned to Spraggan’s room to assault her, he had to open the door using a traceable keycard. This was an instrumental factor in his arrest and conviction.
“I woke up the next day with this sense of sheer dread,” Spraggan told The Guardian in a new interview. “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.”
She also talked about how she felt let down by ITV. “It was inappropriate for anybody – including contestants – to be drunk,” she said. “How can you fulfil your duty of care when free alcohol is involved?”
Though the production team called the police when she told them what had happened, Spraggan said she believed they were “unprepared” to deal with the situation.
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Rylan Clark and Lucy Spraggan in 2021— (Getty Images)
She received both financial and medical support after the rape, but claims she wasn’t given any support after the trial.
“No one ever contacted me to ask if I was OK,” she wrote in her book. “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.”
Spraggan was the first ever contestant on The X Factor to perform her own songs and play an instrument. In her audition she sang a song called “Last Night”, which became the fourth most-watched YouTube video in the world that year.
At the time, Lily Allen tweeted: “Lucy Spraggan really reminds me of a young me.”
Spraggan left the show early after the assault, with viewers being told she had pulled out due to illness.
Clark, who has gone on to become a successful TV presenter, was the first person Spraggan told about her rape. The pair remain friends to this day.
A spokesperson for Fremantle, the show’s producers, gave a statement to The Independent calling the assault “horrific”, adding: “Anyone should feel safe when they are sleeping in a hotel room – and it is abhorrent to think that a hotel porter abused that trust in such a vile way.”
The statement continued: “To our knowledge, the assault was an event without precedent in the UK television industry. 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.
“Since then, we have done our very best to learn lessons from these events and improve our aftercare processes.
“While we have worked hard to try and protect Lucy’s lifetime right to anonymity, we applaud her strength and bravery now that she has chosen to waive that right.”
A spokesperson for ITV told The Independent: “We have the deepest compassion for Lucy and everything she has endured as a result of this horrific ordeal. We commend her resilience and bravery.
“The X Factor was produced by Thames and Syco, who were primarily responsible for duty of care towards all of its programme contributors. ITV as a commissioning broadcaster is committed to having in place suitable and robust oversight procedures, with a view to ensuring that independent producers employ the correct processes to protect the mental health and welfare of participants.
“We have evolved and improved these oversight procedures since the events in question and we are encouraged to hear that Thames recognises the importance of continuous review and improvement of their own processes. We continue to evolve our own duty-of-care processes on programmes we produce to ensure that there are appropriate measures in place to support contributors before, during and after filming.
“In an event of such a distressing nature, welfare and support towards the victim would always be of the utmost priority.”
Simon Cowell, the creator of The X Factor, called the incident “horrific and heartbreaking” in a statement to The Guardian, adding: “When I was given the opportunity to speak to Lucy, I was able to personally tell her how sorry I was about everything she has been through.
“Although we met under tragic circumstances, a genuine friendship and a mutual respect has developed between us. Lucy is one of the most authentic, talented and brave people I have ever met. I have always supported her wish to tell her story as well as her efforts to bring about positive change.”
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.
If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)
