Angelea Preston has finally revealed her alleged big secret.
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America's Next Top Model All-Stars, the show's seventeenth season, crowned Lisa D'Amato its winner -- but only after Preston was originally named the winner before a sudden and largely unexplained disqualification.
Now that almost three years have gone by, Preston -- who had previously called her disqualification "hypocrisy" -- is ready to talk and what she has to say isn't pretty.
Preston is filing a lawsuit against America's Next Top Model saying producers stole her title and gave it to D'Amato in 2011 after discovering she had worked as an escort, TMZ reported.
Preston is reportedly claiming she had told producers of her unflattering past career choice in confidence before filming ever began. News reportedly circulated quickly and her year-long position as an escort -- which she insists was legal and not prostitution -- came under fire after the finale taped and she was already crowned the season's winner.
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According to TMZ, a casting director questioned Preston about her escort business and deemed her history a violation of her contract, therefore stripping her of the "America's Next Top Model" title. Preston is reportedly claiming she was honest about the situation and stopped serving as an escort long before entering the All-Stars competition.
Because Preston believes there was no violation on her part and her prior job as an escort should've been irrelevant by the start of her show participation, she is reportedly suing producers, networks and studios for breach of contract and asking for more than $3 million in damages.
D'Amato ended up winning the prize package Preston would've received: A $100,000 contract with CoverGirl Cosmetics, a fashion spread in Vogue Italia, a cover and spread in Vogue Italia's beauty magazine Beauty in Vogue, a blog on Vogue.IT, a celebrity guest correspondent role with Extra, the chance to be featured in a national ad campaign for Express, and the opportunity to be the face of America's Next Top Model's fragrance "Dream Come True."
In December 2011, The CW had released a statement to Reality TV World, confirming America's Next Top Model had shot "new scenes" for the conclusion of its All-Stars edition.
"After production wrapped on the current cycle of America's Next Top Model, we learned information that made Angelea ineligible and she was subsequently disqualified from the competition. As a result, new scenes were filmed to address this for the audience during last night's finale," the network said.
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The CW had declined further comment on whether the new scenes for the ending of the finale broadcast altered the competition's results or D'Amato had originally been declared the competition's winner and they just wanted to edit Preston out.
Preston is also reportedly suing because of the terrible work conditions the models endured during their time on the show. Preston is claiming they were denied food and water for 10 hours.
For viewers, America's Next Top Model's seventeenth season ended with the competition's three remaining finalists -- Preston, D'Amato and Allison Harvard -- competing in a final runway show challenge in Greece.
The All-Stars' finale broadcast then transitioned to footage of a Los Angeles-based final judging panel in which Preston was suddenly absent and her disqualification for undisclosed reasons was announced.
"It turns out that after shooting was wrapped, our production and the network learned information from Angelea that disqualifies her from the competition," former Top Model judge Nigel Barker was shown telling his fellow judges as the panel session began.
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"So what does that mean?" former judge Andre Leon Talley asked.
"Well, it means we're now going to do our final judging with the remaining two girls and in the interest of fairness, the producers and the network thought it best to evaluate Allison and Lisa on their own without the added competition of Angelea," Barker replied.
"Well you know what guys? We wish Angelea the best in all her future endeavors," former photo shoot director Jay Manuel said.
"Oh absolutely, absolutely," Talley agreed.
Tyra Banks was shown adding little to the Preston discussion, despite her status as Top Model's creator, executive producer and lead judge.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski