The Daily Beast said they spoke with five other season five cast members, including Tyranny Todd and Hayden Weaver, which corroborated parts of Gianna’s story.
Tyranny claims she heard that Gianna was trying to push away the male co-star’s advances, and at one point she found himself sitting on top of Gianna.
“I’m like, what the f – k?” Todd recalled. “We went there to try and get him off her because we thought, ‘This is weird.’ I remember always being very, very angry because we knew Gianna was being abused. I can remember as a day he sat on top of her and turned, like, ‘What the hell is it? Not cool.’ “
Hayden, who dated Gianna two years after the show and shares a son with her, told the outlet that he saw Gianna go into the bedroom to lie down. Although he went outside, he claimed to have an unobstructed view of the bedroom.
“I remember looking at the room at one point and a camera pointed where Gianna was lying,” he recalled. “I couldn’t see what exactly they were filming. I just assumed they were taking some pictures of sleeping people that they can edit into stuff for the show. [the male cast member] in fact started to touch her and they filmed it like it was a hookup. “
After trying to put the pieces together, Gianna explained that her feelings for the male contestant are complex.
“I didn’t know how to feel about it and there is still a part of me that I still don’t know how to feel about,” she said. “I have anger for him, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel like he had malicious intent. I don’t think he intended to do this. “
Gianna hopes sharing her story will help others with experiences similar to hers.
“I didn’t say anything all these years while it was on air and while it was still fresh in my mind because I was scared,” she said. ‘I might as well come out with it and share my experience. [It’s] lifted a lot off my shoulders. I felt like it’s not something I should secretly carry on my back or feel ashamed it happened. “
She later added, “At the end of the day, I hope anyone interested in reality TV can hear this and just know it’s important to stand up for yourself.”