Zara McDermott left in tears as she confronts harrowing stalking cases

Daily Mirror

9 hours ago

Love Island alum Zara McDermott could be seen choking back her tears on her new BBC docuseries as she told a stalking victim she 'did not deserve' to be treated that way
Zara McDermott became visibly emotional while exploring the devastating impact of stalking in her new BBC Three documentary series, To Catch A Stalker.
At one point in the programme, the former Love Island star can be seen fighting back tears as she hears the traumatic story of a woman whose ex-partner subjected her to relentless stalking and harassment. Over the course of To Catch A Stalker, Zara meets up with victims of stalking and domestic abuse in an effort to shed light on how crimes like this affect the lives of people across the UK.
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Zara also does a deep dive into people who have decided to report their experiences to the police, and tracks how their cases move through the legal system.
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In the second episode of the show, which will air on Tuesday evening at 9pm on BBC Three, Zara sits down for a chat with an anonymous woman who opens up about how she started to see the sinister side of her ex after breaking up with him.
She looked back wistfully on the early days of their romance, saying he was "very charming, caring, I didn't even imagine there was another side to him". But once they got to know each other better, things took a turn for the worse.
The stalking victim told Zara he forced her to video call him "24 hours a day, every day, morning until night". After the relationship ended, the stalking escalated further.
The woman shared: "The continuous harassment, being outside of my house every other day, he would cry his eyes out and make me feel bad."
Zara asked: "Was he calling you and texting you?" The woman then revealed the extreme lengths her ex went to in a bid to get ahold of her, saying: "He would call me more than 500 times a day and I would literally chuck my phone in some corner of my house."
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She became emotional as she described how he "made me hate myself for being in that situation" and drew a line across her neck to demonstrate the way he would threaten her with violence from outside her window. She added: "He didn't leave outside of my house for another five, six hours. I was terrified."
"That breaks my heart, hearing that," Zara responded. The woman then explained that she had provided video evidence of her ex's behaviour as well as calls and text messages she received from him to the police and would be giving a witness statement in court.
Zara gently asked, "How are you feeling through this?" She held the woman's hand as she sadly replied, "Like I'm rubbish." Zara could be seen choking back tears as she told her: "You did not deserve any of that, you know that?"
Over the past few years, Zara has developed a reputation for tackling difficult topics in BBC documentaries. She has previously addressed issues such as revenge porn, sexism, rape culture in UK schools, and eating disorders among young people.
After she finished filming To Catch A Stalker in March, Zara described it as one of her "most emotional" projects yet. She told fans: "It's our final week of filming for my documentary about stalking, and honestly it's been one of the most eye opening, emotional films I've ever made. I've learnt so much about the strength of victims / survivors through this process… some of these women are the strongest I've ever met."