'Pull a pig' prank victim says she felt 'petrified' after humiliating ordeal

The plot thickens

The victim of the recent alleged ‘pull a pig’ prank has spoken publicly to say that she felt embarrassed, humiliated and sick after her ordeal.

The story has gone viral across the world, with 24-year-old Sophie Stevenson’s recollection of events being denied by 21-year-old Dutchman Jesse Mateman’s.

With mother Julie by her side, Stevenson appeared on ITV’s This Morning to tell her side of the story.

She explained that she was staying at the same hotel as Mateman in Barcelona which was under lockdown due to the terror attack in August.

Stevenson claims she and Mateman hung out in the city for the rest of their holidays and bonded due to their shared fear of attack in the aftermath of the terror.

Upon returning to the UK, Stevenson says she and Mateman would message all day every day, they’d speak on the phone, she told all her friends about him and thought the pair could have a long-distance relationship.

“He felt like he was part of my family already,” said Julie. “He was in contact with her every day.”

Stevenson said that their original plan was for Mateman to meet her in Manchester at the end of October, but they could see each other sooner if she went to Amsterdam, so they decided she would go.

They were messaging up until she boarded the plane and straight after she landed, Stevenson claims. “He said he’d be at arrivals when she got there,” Julie added.

After about 20 minutes, she started panicking, and Mateman never came.

Stevenson says she waited at the airport for two and a half hours trying to call and message Mateman, but she couldn’t get through. “He’d blocked me already which I thought was weird,” she said.

Sophie Stevenson and her mother Julie

With her phone battery dying, she eventually took a shuttle bus to the hotel.

By about 11.30pm, Stevenson had changed her flight to return the next morning and had spoken to her family to say he hadn’t come. “I was a mess, I was absolutely petrified, I was crying my eyes out, I just wanted to go home,” she said.

But Mateman finally messaged back, Stevenson claims - when her phone buzzed, she thought: “He’s going to tell me something’s happened and he’s on his way or something.”

Sadly, Stevenson says that she opened the message from Mateman to read: “You’ve been pigged, it’s all been a joke.”

“I paused for a minute and was just like what,” Stevenson said. She replied asking how he could be so cruel, and he just blocked her. Stevenson says that’s the last contact they’ve had.

“It instantly made me feel sick,” she went on, with Julie adding that the whole ordeal has affected her daughter greatly and she hasn’t wanted to leave the house.

However, Mateman has for his part spoken out to say that Stevenson’s story is “fantasist rubbish and it’s ruining my life.”

Talking to Dutch press, he yesterday claimed that he “never had a romance with her,” they never slept together, and he denies messaging or speaking on the phone to Stevenson.

But today, Mateman admitted to a one night stand but “no romance and no contact after they left Barcelona.”

Mateman and Stevenson in Barcelona (This Morning)

Stevenson says Mateman’s reaction “upsets [her] more.”

“It’s embarrassing, it’s humiliating - the only reason I’ve done this is because I don’t want this to happen to other girls,” she said.

Mateman’s lawyers have released a statement saying he denies playing the “pull a pig” game (where men try and “pull” the least attractive woman they can find), calling Stevenson or sending messages.

However, Stevenson showed This Morning the messages, and when they called the number, a voice picked up and said: “Speak to my lawyers.”

A JustGiving page has now been set up in support of Stevenson, to help pay her back for her flights.

We may never know the truth, but hopefully the alleged story may put an end to a cruel, grotesque “game.”