Lucy Spraggan was 20 when she appeared on X Factor. She was raped during production.

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of sexual assault/ domestic violence that may be distressing to some readers.

In 2012 in the UK, The X Factor was the biggest thing in the world, having just put together One Direction and Little Mix in the previous two seasons.

And 20-year-old gigging musician Lucy Spraggan had dreams of being its next big thing.

Spraggan was scouted by producers to compete on the show's ninth season and immediately made an impact as the first contestant to perform her own songs and became the bookies' odds-on favourite to win.

She made it through the first three live shows with the help of audience votes, before viewers were told she had left the competition due to 'illness'.

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But 11 years later, ahead of the release of her memoir Process: Finding My Way Through, Spraggan has shared the truth behind her exit: she was raped during production of the series.

Spraggan shared her story for the first time in a long-form interview with The Guardian.

"My working title for the book was Are You That Girl? Because for years I was terrified of being known as the girl that that happened to. I was deeply, chronically ashamed. Now I understand that what happened wasn't my decision, it was out of my hands. And in order for me to rebuild myself and move on, I needed to tell the truth."

Spraggan said that on a night of birthday celebrations for fellow contestant Rylan Clark, she passed out and was escorted back to her hotel by a member of the production team.

A hotel porter offered to help take Spraggan back to her room, and as they left they flipped the security latch on her door to prevent it locking behind them. 

Later, Clark visited Spraggan's room to check on her and locked the door on the way out. This meant that later in the night, when the porter returned to her room, he had to use a traceable keycard.

"I woke up the next day with this sense of sheer dread," Spraggan told The Guardian. "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."

Although the production team called police and an arrest was quickly made, Spraggan said she believed the X Factor team was "unprepared" to deal with what had happened.

She initially wanted her reason for exiting to be known publicly but was advised against it. Instead, during her attackers trial and conviction, she was referred to only as a "television star".

He plead guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"No one ever contacted me to ask if I was okay," she recalled. "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."

In 2021, she wrote to the companies behind the series: ITV, Fremantle and Simon Cowell's company, Syco. 

Soon afterwards, a representative for Cowell contacted her to arrange a phone call with him. He had not been on The X Factor during her season, but had known what happened to her.

She was initially hesitant but said she found the call to be exactly what she needed.

"I have thought about you many, many times over the years, about what happened to you, about how I should've been there for you," he reportedly told her. "I want you to know that I am truly, truly sorry."

Spraggan is now signed to his music publishing company. 

She was compelled to speak out about her experience after the death of Caroline Flack in 2020. Spraggan expected sweeping change in the reality TV industry following this, but was dismayed when it did not happen.

"Rebuilding myself taught me that the most powerful thing you can do is build. My goal is for the introduction of an industry standard where reality-production companies take a percentage of their budget and deposit that into a mental health pension scheme that production staff, presenters and contestants can access for the rest of their lives," she said.

"Let's put some more preventive measures in place to stop this happening. Let’s stop people dying, let’s stop people being raped. I’m an expert in being a reality TV contestant and having a shit time. So if anybody would like to have a conversation about positive change based on my negative experience - let's do it."

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

Feature image: Getty + ITV.