ABC pulls 'The Proposal' episode following sexual assault allegation

Sara M Moniuszko | USA TODAY

ABC has pulled the second episode of new reality show "The Proposal" following a sexual assault allegation involving one of the show’s contestants.

The network and Warner Horizon announced the news in a joint statement obtained by USA TODAY Friday.

“An allegation has been made against a contestant on next week’s episode of ‘The Proposal,'" the statement read. "While the accusation was not related to the contestant’s appearance on the program, we take it very seriously. ABC and the producers of ‘The Proposal’ are pulling the episode while this matter is under review.”

The allegation was posted on Facebook Thursday by a woman named Erica Denae Meshke, who says a contestant on the show was responsible for facilitating other men in raping her her.

Meshke says she met with the contestant at a lobby of an apartment complex after meeting him online. She arrived to see him and two other, older men, she says, who he described as his friends before he left and didn't return. She continued in the post, saying she was served drinks which she claims were spiked.

"I was taken to an apartment upstairs by one of the older men, and the things I endured for the next 5 hours were unspeakable," she wrote. "I was threatened afterwards, and told that he was very 'powerful' and would 'find me' if I told anyone what he did."

Variety reports Meshke posted a photo of contestant Michael J. Friday (who was eliminated in the first round) with her allegation, but it has since been removed.

ABC's decision comes little more than a week after news that a contestant on another one of the network's reality dating shows was convicted of assault.

A contestant on"The Bachelorette" was convicted of indecent assault and battery on May 21, USA TODAY confirmed earlier this month.

Lincoln Adim, 26, was charged after a 2016 incident involving an woman on a harbor cruise ship in Boston Harbor, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Adim was convicted one week before "The Bachelorette" returned.

"The judge ordered him to stay away from the victim and attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week during those two years," says a statement sent to USA TODAY by Jake Wark, a spokesman for the country's district attorney.

Contributing: Andrea Mandell

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