Rylan recalls the ‘horrific’ aftermath of Lucy Spraggan’s rape during The X Factor

Rylan has shared some insight into the horrific ordeal of Lucy Spraggan, who was sexually assaulted during her season. The x factor.

The presenter and media personality finished fifth in the 2012 season of the now-defunct ITV singing competition alongside 20-year-old singer-songwriter Spraggan.

Spraggan, now 32, revealed last year that she was raped by a hotel porter who broke into her room after a night out celebrating Rylan’s 24th birthday, and subsequently quit the competition while she recovered from treatment. The porter was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Since sharing her story with the public, Spraggan has credited Rylan, 35, as someone who offered her vital support at the time and was one of the few people who understood what she was struggling with.

In a new interview with The guardthe occasional This morning The presenter reflected on the “horrific” experience, explaining that he had never spoken about it before because “it’s not my story to tell, even though I was part of it.”

Spraggan praised Rylan for his conduct on the night of the attack and said she believed his handling of the situation was crucial to her attacker’s conviction.

Rylan said he surprised himself with how he handled the situation. “As a 24-year-old – it was the night of my birthday – you wake up and your girlfriend says, ‘I was raped last night’, while you’re on the biggest show in the country and the press is following you everywhere… I don’t know how I managed that,” he noted.

“I don’t know what happened. Lucy calls me Jessica Fletcher because I sound like Angela Lansbury.”

Clark began by saying he had given investigators strict instructions to contact higher-up, then described how he secured the crime scene by asking Spraggan to refuse to clean a hotel room that day.

“If someone goes into the room and it’s clean, we’re done for: that was my first thought. I became a kind of detective and I don’t know why that was.”

Clark and Spraggan were staying in a different hotel than their fellow competitors, including eventual winner James Arthur and runner-up Jahméne Douglas, apparently as punishment for their unrest.

“I don’t think that should have happened,” Rylan noted. “We didn’t have as much security as we were used to. Lucy and I have been having this conversation for years because we’re the only ones who can talk to each other about it.”

In a statement, a spokesman for The x factor said: “To our knowledge, the assault was an unprecedented event in the British television industry. While we have always been confident that we were doing our best to support Lucy after this ordeal, we must acknowledge this as Lucy feels we could have done more. We are very sorry for what Lucy had to endure and we have since done our best to learn from these events and improve our aftercare processes.”

If you are The Independent in 2022, Rylan seemed to reference Spraggan’s experience, but also noted that his own experience as X Factor Candidate came with difficulties.

“When I was a candidate, a lot of things happened that wouldn’t happen to me today,” he explained. “It’s not my story to tell, but I’m sure people will eventually find out what happened.”

“I just know I did everything right. All I can say from the other side is that on all the shows I work on, I make sure that people are taken care of, and maybe that comes from being in situations where I felt that wasn’t the case.

“When I used to Big BrotherI visited all the roommates after they moved in and always made sure they were OK. I fucking married one, for God’s sake,” he noted, referring to his ex-husband and former Big Brother Candidate Dan Neal.

A X Factor A spokesperson said: “The duty of care to our participants is of paramount importance to us. We take the welfare of everyone involved in our programmes extremely seriously and have put in place thorough and robust measures to ensure everyone feels supported. These measures are continually reviewed and can be adapted to the individual needs of each series.”

Rape Crisis provides support for victims of 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 at 800-656-HOPE (4673).