A Traitors US star has said she might have contracted a sexually transmitted ringworm from an ex-boyfriend who worked in pornography.
Brandi Glanville, 53, who was a contestant on season 1 of the reality show, has been dealing with health issues for several years tied to a parasite that developed from ruptured breast implants.
Now, however, doctors appear to have finally discovered the culprit behind her years-long facial disfigurement.
Speaking to author and former adult film star Lisa Ann on her Brandi Unfiltered podcast, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star said: ‘Have you heard about sexually transmitted ringworm? I feel like I have it… in my throat.’
A ringworm is a fungal infection that can affect your skin, nails or hair.
But, new forms of the disease have recently begun to emerge, including one that is linked to sexual contact.
The reality star and model then explained how he would finish in her mouth, adding: ‘He would only, you know, my face because he didn’t want to get me pregnant.
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‘He didn’t know that ship had sailed. I’m like, “OK, whatever, I’m not going to correct you”‘.
However, after doctors ruled out more common sexually transmitted infections, she began doing some research herself.
‘My friend told me about it [the infection] yesterday. I knew nothing about it.’
Talking about the parasite, she said: ‘They can apparently burrow in if it’s in your throat. They can burrow deep into your ears and all that.’
The US spin-off of the BBC version saw Cirie Fields win the first season and take home the entire $250,000 grand prize (£186,000) after being the only original Traitor remaining at the end of the game.
Brandi competed as a Faithful on the show but was the second person to be banished from the castle after her loud gameplay made her a primary target for the Traitors.
For the last couple of years, Brandi – who appeared on Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2018 – has used social media to document the costly search for the cause of swelling on the right side of her face.
In 2024, she showed fans in a selfie the devastating reality of the stress-provoked angioedema, a skin condition she was diagnosed with last year.
Speaking to TMZ in February, she said that she ‘definitely had a parasite’ which led to her disfigurement.
After further tests, she then learned it was caused by a rupture of her decades-old breast implants.
She told the outlet: ‘I was shocked, because they’re implants that I’ve had for almost 20 years, they looked fine, they felt fine, the mammogram said they were fine, it wasn’t until I had a sonogram.
‘I was like, “Maybe just check that too, why not?”‘
She also claimed: ‘You really should change your breast implants every ten years, and I just didn’t. I learned a really, really hard lesson.’
The Traitors US is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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