TV Producers Made Woman Watch Her Own Rape Because People are Monsters

In November 2017, Big Brother Spain contestant Carlota Prado was summoned to the Diary Room, and told by “The Voice” that she needed to watch some video footage.

What Ms. Prado didn’t know, was that she was about to learn she had been raped the night before.

That night, Ms. Prado became drunk during a party in the Big Brother House. Fellow contestant Jose Maria Lopez, whom Ms. Prado had begun a relationship with at the time, enters her bedroom. According to footage of the incident, obtained by the Spanish digital newspaper El Confidencial, Ms. Prado told Mr. Lopez “no, I can’t”.

Mr. Lopez got into bed with Ms. Prado, at which point he is accused of raping her as she slept for several minutes before he was interrupted when the show’s production team spoke to him over a speaker.

Mr. Lopez was removed from the show later that day and Ms. Prado was sent to the diary room.

The footage is gut-wrenching. As she is forced to watch her own sexual assault, she cries, she hyperventilates and she begs the producers to stop the footage and let her out of the room.

Each time, “The Voice” denies her request and tells her to stay put.

It’s torture. It’s inhumane. But according to Big Brother Spain producers, it apparently was great television.

While the footage never aired, it was leaked to Spanish media this week.

Since then, the show, as well as the companies involved (Zepplin and Endemol Shine Group) have apologized and admitted the way the crime was handled “was a mistake”. But the fallout has begun with sponsors quickly leaving the show. José María López has also denied the allegations.

Obviously, this is awful. With reality television’s never-wavering popularity and the race for ratings, we’re seeing more and more sensitive issues being broadcast on these shows. However, it’s rare to see TV producers do something like this.

While I’d like to believe that all theatre companies and professionals would act differently when sexual assault happens in their houses, I’ve seen plenty of instances where they have not. Crimes are swept under the rug, names are protected and abuses continue. I’m hoping this incident will serve as another reminder of how not to handle sexual assault in the entertainment industry.