A former contestant from America’s Next Top Model has shared her harrowing experience of being filmed during a sexual encounter while she was blackout drunk, as detailed in a recent documentary.
Shandi Sullivan was involved in one of the show’s most talked-about episodes, which captured a moment with an Italian model while she was still committed to her then-boyfriend, Eric.
In the Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, Shandi recounts the events that unfolded when a group of men who had previously given the models Vespa rides visited the reality show’s apartment later that day.
Filming for the series, hosted by Tyra Banks, had moved to Milan, and upon arrival, the drinks began to flow.
Shandi claims that during this time, she was sexually assaulted while blackout drunk and has only fragmentary memories of the incident.
The show captured the heart-wrenching phone conversation where she informed Eric about the incident, visibly distressed and sobbing.
In the documentary, Shandi explained that she consumed ‘two bottles of wine by myself’ and had little to eat.
“I remember getting in the hot tub. I remember April, Mercedes getting in the hot tub,” Shandi recalled. “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 further explained: “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.”
Jay Manuel, the show’s creative director, noted: “The rule on Top Model was, if you went into a bathroom alone, a camera could not follow you in. 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.”
This isn’t the first time Shandi has discussed the incident.
In 2023, Shandi accused the production team of ‘manipulating’ the situation by inviting the models and providing alcohol.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, she stated: “I was really drunk, falling down. If I would’ve seen me out with that dude in [public], I would’ve been like, ‘Okay, grab [her], you’re way too drunk to even know what’s going on.'”
“They ended up [filming] me talking to the guy, like, ‘Do you have STDs? When was the last time you were tested?'”
She added: “Thinking about that now, it’s so bizarre. Like, this is my life, it’s not a scripted thing.”
Sullivan shared that the crew felt uneasy about filming her emotional call to her boyfriend, during which he yelled and insulted her.
This led to a rare break from the show’s protocol.
“They weren’t supposed to talk to us,” she mentioned. “But after, they were like, ‘We’re so sorry we had to film that.'”
A representative for Banks previously told EW that she was not involved in the events that transpired that night, stating: “Everyone, including production, was surprised to find out what had transpired.”