Rylan Clark opens up about ‘horrendous’ interval after fellow X Factor star Lucy Spraggan was raped by lodge porter

Rylan Clark has opened up about how he helped his fellow X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan after she was raped throughout the time they appeared on the programme.

The two grew to become associates once they competed on the present in 2012, till she abruptly stop throughout its reside rounds – with programme-makers saying her departure was as a result of “illness”.

Last yr, Spraggan revealed in a memoir that she was attacked by a hotel porter after an evening out celebrating Clark’s birthday at a Mayfair nightclub, which was attended by members of The X Factor manufacturing staff.

In a brand new interview, Clark, now a broadcaster and media persona, stated it was a “horrendous” interval and that he had saved the main points “quiet” for 11 years.

“That was a really, really tough time,” he told The Guardian. “It was horrendous and I’ve nonetheless not spoken about it as a result of it is not my story to inform, though I used to be a part of it.

“As a 24-year-old, it was the night of my birthday, to wake up to your friend saying, ‘I was raped last night’, while being on the biggest show in the country while being followed by the press wherever you go… I don’t know how I did it.”

Clark, now 35, stated Spraggan dubbed him Jessica Fletcher – Dame Angela Lansbury’s character in Murder, She Wrote – as a result of he leapt into motion, telling TV researchers to “go and get the bosses” and ensuring the lodge bed room was not cleaned by workers, to protect the crime scene.

“I became like a crime detective and I don’t know why that was,” he stated.

Read extra:
Lucy Spraggan interview: ‘We need an industry shift’

In her memoir, titled Process: Finding My Way Through, Spraggan stated she needed to take a drug used to stop HIV, which made her too unwell to proceed on the programme.

She additionally stated the TV manufacturing staff referred to as the police and an arrest was rapidly made, however she believed they had been “unprepared” to take care of the scenario.

Asked about it, Clark stated: “There was a lot that could have been improved. I think everyone learned loads from those kind of mistakes, but I don’t think it was anyone’s fault other than the man who raped Lucy.”

He added: “I’ve worked on reality shows for 12 years now, and I’ve seen the change in duty of care. It’s everyone’s priority now.”

James Arthur was topped the winner of The X Factor that yr. Spraggan went on to have two top-10 albums within the UK charts, with Join The Club reaching seven in 2013 and Choices peaking at 5 in 2021.

A spokesperson for Fremantle, the British TV firm that produced The X Factor for ITV underneath its Thames TV leisure arm, beforehand described the assault on Spraggan as “a truly horrific criminal act for which the perpetrator, who was not connected with the programme, was rightfully prosecuted and imprisoned”.

The spokesperson stated: “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.

“To our information, the assault was an occasion with out precedent within the UK tv business. Whilst we believed all through that we had been doing our greatest to assist Lucy within the aftermath of the ordeal, as Lucy thinks we might have executed extra, we should due to this fact 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.

“Whilst we have now labored exhausting to try to shield Lucy’s lifetime proper to anonymity, we applaud her power and bravado now that she has chosen to waive that proper.”