RYLAN Clark has spoken for the first time about the horrific rape of his friend Lucy Spraggan.
The pair both competed on the ninth series of The X Factor together back in 2013.
Lucy was just 20-years-old at the time she appeared on the hit singing competition.
At the time she departed the contest due to 'illness,' but the singer later revealed that she was raped by a hotel porter during production of the show.
She opened up about her experience of the traumatic attack in her book, Process: Finding My Way Through.
Rylan, 35, has stayed quiet about the horrific incident for over a decade, but for the first time he has decided to speak up.
He told : "I’m getting emotional. That was a really, really tough time. It was horrendous and I’ve still not spoken about it because it’s not my story to tell, even though I was 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. I don’t know what happened. Lucy calls me Jessica Fletcher because I came over all Angela Lansbury.
"The first thing I did was say to one of the researchers, ‘Go and get the bosses,’ and they said, ‘They’re busy,’ and I was like, ‘Go and f****** get them!’ I think it’s the only time I’ve ever spoken to somebody like that."
The former Celebrity Big Brother star also detailed the actions he took to preserve the crime scene which helped get a desired outcome when the case went to trial.
Lucy said the rape took place after a night celebrating Rylan’s 25th birthday at the swanky Mahiki nightclub in Mayfair.
She admitted she passed out and was escorted back to the hotel by a member of the production team.
This was before the hotel porter offered to escort her to her room, flipped the security latch on her door to prevent it locking behind them as the production member left.
Some time later, Rylan checked in on an unconscious Lucy and made sure her door was locked when he left.
This meant when the porter later returned to Lucy’s room in order to attack her, he had to use a traceable keycard.
He said: "I said, ‘You need to call the hotel and tell them you don’t want the room cleaned.’ And they were like, ‘What d’you mean?’ and I was, ‘Don’t … f****** … tell them … what’s happened.
"Just tell them you don’t want the room cleaned – you’re working in there. Say that.’ If someone goes in that room and it’s cleaned, we’re f****: that was my first thought.
"I became like a crime detective and I don’t know why that was.";
He also admitted that bosses offered him a week off the show to deal with the trauma of the incident.
But the TV star knew he had to power through the competition and he even managed to get through recording sessions with superstar Robbie Williams immediately afterwards.
“I knew I had to carry on," he admitted. "That Saturday Lucy was having a week off for ‘illness’ and they said to me, ‘If you want we’ll give you this Saturday off too.’
"I don’t know how I did it. I don’t know what happened."
Rylan Clark
"I said, ‘I can’t because if we both take this Saturday off, the two 'wild childs' of X Factor, she’s going to get s*** and she can’t have that right now.’
"I went out and during that performance if you watch it back, halfway through I go, ‘This one’s for you, Spraggan.’
"I knew she was watching back at the apartment. She then had to quit because she had to go for treatment, and I had to carry on."
The outlet also reported that the TV presenter checked in with his former X Factor co-star after his meeting.
He also later took to X - formerly known as Twitter - to insist that he had the blessing of his BFF to speak out the experience being on the show.
"I did an interview with the Guardian. We spoke about something I’ve never spoken about properly, With my friends blessing. I want to thank @shattenstone for being incredibly sensitive surrounding it. Remember you never know what goes on off screen. Be decent. Love you @lspraggan x."
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