In 2011, Angelea Preston got to be on top. For about three weeks.
“When they called me to do All-Stars, I just wanted another chance,” the Buffalo, N.Y., native explains in the E! special Dirty Rotten Scandals: America’s Next Top Model, premiering March 11 at 9 p.m. “Then I won the show, couldn’t believe it, like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to be able to take this opportunity and live out my dreams.'”
Instead, as she details in the two-part docuseries, which explores ANTM‘s checkered legacy, she was informed several weeks after being crowned the winner of Cycle 17 that the episode would not air. Because, Preston recalls being told, she had been disqualified for “engaging in sex work,” a violation of the morality clause in her contract.
The finale was reshot, with Lisa D’Amato named the winner over runner-up Allison Harvard.
“At the time, it hurt like hell,” Angelea told E! News in an exclusive interview ahead of the Dirty Rotten Scandals premiere, recalling her “very, very painful” experience. But, “I’m on a path now where, in a sense, thank God y’all took it from me.”
Now a broadcast journalist and mother of a 13-year-old son, she explained that she wanted to share her story—”really put it out there”—in case it could help anyone who might need to hear it.
