Shandi Says America’s Next Top Model Framed Her Sexual Assault As A ‘Cheating Scandal’
Shandi Sullivan is one of the contestants reflecting back on their America’s Next Top Model journey in the new Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
Shandi was a Walgreens clerk when she was cast on the show’s second season. She infamously broke down on TV after “cheating” on her boyfriend in Italy. However, time has given her the perspective that what happened wasn’t her fault. Shandi says producers watched and did nothing as a vespa driver had sex with her while she was blacked out.
The next morning, cameras captured Shandi saying “I just want to die” as she realized what happened and called her boyfriend. While two of the camera operators apologized to Shandi, she says they should have stopped the night earlier, “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.”
She says that after returned to Kansas City, MO, her hometown, people would call her a sl*t while walking down the street.
Do you think reality TV producers have a duty to step in if one of their contestants becomes too drunk to consent to sex?