Lucy Spraggan has spoken out about a ‘life-altering trauma’ during her time as a contestant on the X Factor, describing how she was raped by a hotel porter.
The singer, who grew up in Buxton and now lives in Manchester, has waived her legal right to anonymity to speak out about the incident.
The 31-year-old has detailed in her new memoir Process: Finding My Way Through, that she had been at Rylan Clark’s birthday party (he was also a contestant on the ninth series of the hit ITV singing contest) when she fell unconscious and was taken back to her hotel.
There, a porter at the hotel offered to help a member of the production get Lucy to her room safely.
Rylan checked on her and made sure the door was locked – but the hotel porter returned later that night, letting himself in with a keycard and assaulting Lucy.
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The staff member in question was jailed.
At the time, fans of the show noticed that Lucy had abruptly withdrawn from the X Factor contest, with the official line being that she’d stepped back due to illness.
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Lucy Spraggan speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning. Credit: BBC
The star has now confirmed that she left because the HIV medication she was advised to take made her ill.
Lucy Spraggan has now made the decision to step back from social media ahead of her memoir being released, saying she ‘needs to protect my mental health and my head space’.
She wrote on Instagram: “Even though I won’t be active online, please continue sharing your love and positivity. Every word you send will be cherished.
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“I’ve entrusted my dedicated team to gather and pass along your messages, ensuring that I feel your presence and encouragement throughout this time.
“Your unwavering support has been a true source of strength and I know, for a fact, that without it I would not be embarking on this next era. Thank you for understanding and standing by me through it all.”
Lucy also said in another interview that Simon Cowell – who was absent from her series of the X Factor – was the ‘only person’ to apologise for what she’d been through.
Simon said in a statement: “What happened to Lucy was horrific and heartbreaking.
“When I was given the opportunity to speak to Lucy, I was able to personally tell her how sorry I was about everything she has been through.
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“Although we met under tragic circumstances, a genuine friendship and a mutual respect has developed between us. Lucy is one of the most authentic, talented, and brave people I have ever met.
“Since we connected, I have had the honour to work with Lucy and I have always supported her wish to tell her story, as well as her efforts to bring about positive change.”
She said of her exchanges with Simon Cowell: “It makes me emotional because no-one else said sorry. And all it took was this one man to treat me like a human being, 11 years later.”
ITV said in a statement: “We have the deepest compassion for Lucy and everything she has endured as a result of this horrific ordeal. We commend her resilience and bravery.
“The X Factor was produced by Thames and Syco, who were primarily responsible for duty of care towards all of its programme contributors.
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“ITV as a commissioning broadcaster is committed to having in place suitable and robust oversight procedures, with a view to ensuring that independent producers employ the correct processes to protect the mental health and welfare of participants.”
Fremantle, the company that produces the X Factor, added: “To our knowledge, the assault was an event without precedent in the UK television industry.
“Whilst we believed throughout that we were doing our best to support Lucy in the aftermath of the ordeal, as Lucy thinks we could have done more, we must therefore recognise this. For everything Lucy has suffered, we are extremely sorry.”
Rape and Sexual Assault Support Centres in Greater Manchester
St. Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre Manchester – Provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. They offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by calling 0161 276 6515.
Greater Manchester Rape Crisis – A confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call on 0161 273 4500 or email [email protected]
Survivors Manchester – Provides specialist trauma informed support to male victims in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape, or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.
Legendary Bury Black Pudding reveals secrets – including powdered blood
Daisy Jackson
Bury Black Pudding is one of Greater Manchester’s most famous and excellent exports, creating a breakfast staple that puts the borough on the culinary map.
This familiar sight on a full English breakfast has been being made using a traditional time-honoured recipe for generations.
And while this delicious blood sausage might not be to everyone’s tastes, Bury Black Pudding is the king of them all.
It’s the leading brand in the UK, with a gold medal-winning recipe dating back more than 100 years, and has a whole variety of flavours including chilli, gluten free, vegetarian and white pudding varieties.
Recently, Bury Black Pudding revealed some of its secrets, allowing the BBC unprecedented access into its factory in Bury for an episode of Inside the Factory.
The series, hosted by Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey, went beneath the surface of this heritage brand, from production all the way through to packaging.
Viewers have been stunned to learn what goes into Bury Black Pudding, and it really isn’t as much of a bloody mess as your imagination might’ve led you to believe.
In fact, most of the ingredients are cereals – only 5% of it is blood.
And the blood in the blood sausage? It’s powdered.
Bury Black Pudding on BBC’s Inside the Factory. Credit: BBC
In the episode, production director Richard Morris (who has worked for Bury Black Pudding his whole life, following in his grandfather’s footsteps), said: “There’s no big tubs of blood.
“To actually transport it, it needs to be dry. And there’s also no bacteria in it, so we can use this over a 12 month period.”
Inside every delicious slice you’ll also find oatmeal, pearl barley, rusk, onions and pork fat.
Another surprising thing is the sheer size and volume of the black puddings before they’re portioned and packaged for our homes.
A 600kg batch will make about 3,000 black puddings, with the mixture added to a vacuum filler before being pumped under high pressure into recyclable plastic casings.
Hundreds of these tubes are cooked into a steam oven for an hour and 20 minutes, then sliced into the black pudding we recognise in an ultrasonic slicer.
3,000 sticks a day, five days a week, are sliced up for the shelves into around 120,000 slices.
Speaking of the opportunity to appear on Inside the Factory, brand and marketing manager Matthew McDermid said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the heritage and passion that goes into making our black pudding.
“We are incredibly proud of our history and our role in bringing this traditional product to consumers, we can’t wait for the nation to see how the UK’s leading brand of black pudding is made.”
Manchester streaming platform StreamGM unveils four-part creative industry careers podcast
Thomas Melia
A new four-partpodcast by StreamGM featuring some of Greater Manchester’s top creatives has launched with the aim of powering creative careers.
Produced by Rebecca Swarray, a.k.a. ‘RebeccaNeverBecky’ – the founder of the Manchester events and arts collective – this podcast is designed to “ignite and elevate creative careers in music.”
Swarray deep dives into the current Manc music scene and beyond with the help of fellow insiders who vary upon each episode.
There are four parts in this latest series and there’s lots to cover, especially in an industry that’s ever-changing and ever-challenging.
Some of the guests and speakers you can expect to listen to on ‘ICAM’ (In Conversations and Masterclasses)Credit: StreamGM/The Manc Group
Listeners can expect to learn all about ‘Women Behind The Music’ as part of the In Conversations and Masterclasses series with Sophie Bee, Sara Garvey and Kat Brown.
The next episode delves into another key music industry area, ‘Promoters, Venues And Events’, which is broken down by Baz Plug One, Strutty, Tashadean Wood and Liv McCafferty.
‘Artist Development And Management’ features Karen Boardman, Karen Gabay, Damian Morgan, and Via Culpan deep in discussion.
The final episode in this four-part series is ‘Videography And Photography In The Creative Industries’, which sees Johan Reitan, Alice Kanako and Ahmani Vidal talking all things visual.
These four features will be an incredible resource for any creative talents as it put together by professionals for upcoming professionals of any age from any background, race, gender and walk of life.
After all, that’s what is all about, right?
Abbreviated to ‘ICAM’, the podcast is certainly one to check out, with for aspiring artist managers, producers, photographers, promoters—anyone driven to make their mark in music and events.
These podcast sessions understand industry challenges, explore career journeys, creative influences, crisis management and lots more creative field concerns.
You can find the first episode in full down below:
The first episode of the new limited StreamGM podcast.
This run of shows is the second instalment by StreamGM: Greater Manchester’s phenomenal streaming platform dedicated to all things music, nightlife and culture.
Whether you’re a budding creative arts talent or just curious to find out insights into this wonderful innovative industry, you can listen to all the episodes from the series directly on StreamGM HERE.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester music news, another very special event is kicking off very soon:
Daisy Jackson -
17th July 2023 
