The Ultimatum‘s Vanessa Hattaway revealed why she abruptly quit filming just one week into the season, claiming fellow constant Nick Tramontin‘s behavior was to blame in a TikTok video she posted on Wednesday, December 18.
Vanessa, 30, began the show with her original partner, boyfriend Dave Adams. She ended up in a trial marriage with Nick, 38, but moved out of their apartment without warning.
She captioned the video, “This is why I left The Ultimatum early. I wasn’t going to air his ‘dirty laundry,’ but I continue to get attacked so I’ve decided to tell my truth. I don’t owe him anything and am done being the nice guy and protecting someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Vanessa explained that she and Nick “had a pretty solid friendship” until moving in together, and then it “was a total 180.”
Revealing that the bedrooms didn’t have cameras or audio, Vanessa said that on the “very first day that we were living together,” Nick pulled her into the bedroom and “he shared some things with me that made me super concerned and frankly just uncomfortable.”
“He shared with me that he had, has substance abuse issues. I found out later through a birdie that he was still abusing while filming, which was very apparent to me,” she continued. “[He] also has issues with alcohol. That was also very apparent to me. That was a pretty big deal.”
Vanessa went on to allege that Nick “admitted that he omitted this information whenever he went through his psych evaluation, which is a big part of the process before you get on this type of experience,” referring to the Netflix reality show.
The Instagram model claimed that Nick understandably “started to spiral” when he found out about his girlfriend, Sandy Gallagher, sharing a kiss with her trial marriage partner, J.R Warren.
“I wanted to show up as best I could for him as a friend,” Vanessa claimed. “It was hard, I could see he was struggling. I was very much there for him, consoling him, providing a safe space for him to confide in me and cry on my shoulder.”
She alleged that hours later when cameras crews arrived in the afternoon to begin filming, Nick started to “spin a fake story that I wasn’t there for him earlier.”
Vanessa said that upset her, making her feel like Nick was trying to “play the victim card” and turn her into a “villain for no reason.”
She added that Nick went to stay in a hotel for the night.
Vanessa said when she returned from the grocery store the next morning, Nick was already in the parking deck and “reeked of alcohol.” They made their way up to the apartment, where Vanessa said Nick had cocktails already made for them, a disco ball and EDM music “blasting.”
“This extreme opposite of what I just experienced the night before was really odd. I asked him why he was putting on this show and facade, and he was literally just so out of touch with reality,” she explained, saying he wanted to have a “dance party.”
“That was a very small part of what was going on that viewers didn’t get to see, paired with the substance abuse issues and a lot of behavior that I can only best describe as manic,” Vanessa concluded. “That’s my truth. That’s what happened and so I’m not speculating on anything. These are the facts that just happened.”
On the episode, Nick lamented, “I came back to the apartment, and I’m alone. Vanessa packed up her things and left. There was no goodbye.”
He added, “I had a really great connection with Vanessa, I think I tapped into something that she’s been wanting to feel in her relationship with Dave. I really wanted to build on that. This entire experience is provided for us to be in difficult situations. It’s challenging. Dave, he may have been threatened, I don’t know. But, Vanessa got her stuff out, and she’s gone.”
Dave, 34, was in a trial marriage with Chanel Watkins, who left the show the same week with boyfriend Micah Hardman after admitting she was having a “hard” time with the experiment. Dave ended up leaving the show along with Vanessa following her trial marriage experience with Nick.
Nick responded to Vanessa’s claims in a statement to Buzzfeed on Wednesday, December 18.
“I unfortunately started drinking, and I was pretty emotional in that state. And I was kind of cold and dismissive toward Vanessa. I would say that I was not the best version of myself. I’ve heard people say that I was using drugs. I have used drugs in my life. I was not using drugs on the show whatsoever,” he admitted.
“Especially [during] the time I was spending alone, I think there’s no question that I was drinking too much,” Nick continued, although he said he was not untruthful during the show’s intake process. “I was not drinking in excess with the crew. They had drink limits, at social events they were like, ‘Okay, guys, two drink minimum limit.’ They were being pretty cautious about it. I’m my own person. [I was] living in an apartment by myself and had access to whatever I wanted.”
Nick told the outlet that following the show, he’s now sober after partaking in an inpatient program.
