While Netflix’s America’s Next Top Model docuseries reexamined Shandi Sullivan‘s onscreen sexual assault — including what had to be cut out from the final edit — executive producer Tyra Banks refused to discuss the incident.
During the three-part special, released on Monday, February 16, Sullivan recalled nearly winning season 2 before a group trip to Italy.
“When we first got there, they said, you’re gonna go to a bunch of go-sees,” she said of the 2004 episode. “That was all day long. It took all day long. And then we went back to our little house that we were staying at.”
The locals who drove the aspiring models around in Vespas joined the cast for dinner. But Shandi, now 43, who had not “eaten anything” that day, remembered drinking “two bottles of wine” by herself before one of the guys took advantage of the situation.
“I remember him on top of me. I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it,” she claimed. “And it all got filmed, all of it.”
Tyra, 52, an executive producer and host of the show, declined to expand on the sexual assault that took place on screen, saying, “I do remember her story. It’s a little difficult for me to talk about production because that’s not my territory.”
Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model offered Shandi a platform to share her unfiltered account of the situation. There was also insight from creative director Jay Manuel and executive producer Ken Mok about what took place behind the scenes.
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations:
Shandi Sullivan Shares a Harrowing Recollection of the Sexual Assault
Before joining America’s Next Top Model in 2004, Shandi Sullivan worked at her local Walgreens in Missouri. She was part of the second season of the then-UPN series, where she made it to the final 3 before a group trip to Milan.
“I don’t remember who said it, but somebody was like, ‘How would you guys feel about having, like, the guys that were on the mopeds come by and have dinner with you guys? And we’ll have some wine and stuff,’” she recalled. “I’m just excited to just have a night. We were just talking, drinking. I don’t think I’d eaten anything at all or had any sleep.”
Shandi didn’t remember much of the night from there.
“I remember getting in the hot tub. I remember April [Wilkner], Mercedes [Scelba-Shorte] getting in the hot tub. 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 continued. “I was hammered.”
While Shandi was allegedly barely conscious, the cameras kept rolling. ”I just remember little bits and pieces. He threw me in the shower and then just sitting in the shower,” she noted. ”And then we’re in the bed. I was blacked out for a lot of it. I didn’t even feel sex happening. I just knew it was happening. And then I passed out.”
She concluded: “The next day, I woke up. I was, like, ‘Holy s***, what the f*** happened last night?’ It all f***king hit me. It just flooded over me. I just sat there and cried.”
Shandi Sullivan Addresses the Aftermath of the Sexual Assault
Despite Shandi Sullivan being too impaired to consent to sex, the incident was introduced as a cheating story line on America’s Next Top Model.
“I think after getting out of the hot tub and whatever happened after that, I think [production] should have been like, ‘All right, this has gone too far. We have to pull her out of this,’” Shandi told the docuseries producers while executive producer Tyra Banks had a different response, saying, “It’s a little difficult for me to talk about production because that’s not my territory.”
Fellow executive producer Ken Mok defended the decision to keep filming. “We treated Top Model as a documentary. We told the girls that on the first day when they would show up. We would go over the rules with them like, ‘There’s going be cameras with you 24/7 – day in and day out — and they’re gonna cover everything,’” he recalled. “‘It will cover the good, the bad and everything in between. No matter what happens – while you’re on camera – we’re going to document all of that.’”
What Was the Crew Told About Shandi Sullivan’s Assault Behind the Scenes?
Creative director Jay Manuel said they “got word” that Shandi Sullivan was “having sex in the shower with a guy,” adding, “The rule on Top Model was that if you went into a bathroom alone, a camera could not follow you in. But 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.”
Tyra Banks, a producer and creator of America’s Next Top Model, subsequently spoke with Shandi about the infidelity since the contestant was in a relationship with her then-boyfriend Eric.
“Everybody has messed up, Shandi. I’m not judging you. But I think that we have to fight against our carnal desires,” she told Shandi at the time. “I understand that people do become attracted to other people. It’s all about your relationship and how open your relationship is and how honest you can be with one another.”
Shandi Sullivan’s Infamous Call to Eric on ‘America’s Next Top Model’
Shandi Sullivan said in the Netflix docuseries that she asked to call Eric, but was denied. She then requested to leave, which producers tried to talk her out of doing by then providing her with a phone to contact Eric — a conversation they then subsequently filmed.
“After I talked to Eric again on the phone, they actually filmed me talking to the guy and asking him myself, ‘Did you wear any protection? Do you have any STDs?’” she recalled. “Why can’t you just ask them yourself? Why do you have to film this? You already got me on the phone with Eric calling me a f***king bitch.”
What Didn’t Make It Into the Final Cut After Shandi Sullivan’s Sexual Assault?
Jay Manuel recalled Shandi Sullivan being sent to the doctor after the encounter, which was also filmed. Shandi, meanwhile, was told by the cameramen that they felt terrible about having to record her call with Eric, who broke up with her at the time.
Tyra Banks, meanwhile, addressed the version that aired.
“I will tell you this. When I went into postproduction and saw the footage, we scaled back that scene in a significant way … That was – for good or bad — one of the most memorable moments in Top Model,” executive producer Ken Mok said before Tyra clarified in her own confessional, “I’m not head of story. That is Ken Mok. But I did become a master editor. It’s important for people to know that we didn’t put everything on TV.”
According to Jay Manuel, the censorship was related to the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show when Justin Timberlake briefly exposed Janet Jackson’s breast on live TV and FCC investigations fined CBS $550,000 for the wardrobe malfunction.
“When that happened, regulations clamped down on what you could show,” Jay noted. “So then they had to rush and re-edit that scene.”
Shandi Sullivan’s Reunion With Tyra Banks on Her Daytime Talk Show
Three years after season 2 aired, Shandi Sullivan appeared on Tyra Banks’ daytime talk show, sharing in the Netflix doc, “I told her I’d never seen [that episode in Milan]. It just brought up too many things and then I was like, ‘I can’t watch this show anymore.’ Then she just puts it on the screen in front of me. I don’t look at it and she’s like, ‘I noticed you weren’t looking.’ I literally told you behind the scenes that I’ve never seen it and I don’t want to see it.”
Shandi called Tyra out for not respecting her wishes. “That was awful. That was miserable. That behavior doesn’t stop. Her behavior doesn’t change.” (Tyra didn’t address The Tyra Banks Show moment between her and Shandi.)
Where Is Shandi Sullivan Now?
After leaving America’s Next Top Model, Shandi Sullivan briefly reconciled with Eric, saying, “We tried – he really tried. He moved with me to New York after the show. But it would suck when I’d be walking with Eric down the street and somebody would recognized me and called me a s*** to my face. Or [called me] a cheating whore with Eric standing right next to me. It was fun. It made me hate myself.”
Shandi ended up returning to her pre-ANTM job at Walgreens. She now takes care of animals for a living, sharing at the end of the special. “I want to live on a farm and have a sanctuary for animals. I’ve always loved animals,” she added.
Tyra Banks, for her part, expressed hope of doing another season of America’s Next Top Model.
“After the show, I had so many different ideas for my life. I’m obsessed with pivoting. And I live in Australia now,” Banks said in the doc. “I feel like my work is not done. You have no idea what we have planned for cycle 25.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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