A photo shoot spiraled into a fiery nightmare for a 22-year-old model in Canada.
Robyn-Lee Jansen was left with second-degree burns across about 25% of her body after a photographer attempted to set a fire during a shoot in an abandoned warehouse, CNN affiliate CTV Vancouver reported.
The two connected through an ad seeking a model for a June 13 shoot, Jansen explained. Based on positive online reviews from people who worked with the photographer, she believed that she had no reason to doubt him.
She told CTV that she did not want to name the photographer because she plans to take legal action.
It wasn’t until she responded to the ad that he mentioned he wanted to incorporate fire, telling Jansen he envisioned her as a “fire queen,” a concept he’d successfully shot before.
“I was like, that’s cool, like that’s a cool concept,” she told CTV Vancouver. “It doesn’t look dangerous.”
But at some point during the two-hour shoot, the photographer began to rush, she said, growing frustrated when he couldn’t get the shot he wanted.
Jansen said he grabbed a bottle of what might have been tiki torch fuel and told her to remain still as he squeezed it onto the ground to create a blaze behind her. “And the next thing, I’m in flames.”
Jansen dropped and rolled into a puddle in the warehouse. The photographer didn’t call 911 but drove her to the hospital after packing up his equipment, she said; he suggested that she tell physicians she was burned in a barbecue accident.
“I didn’t reply to that, because he did say ‘at the end, it’s up to you,’ ” she told CTV Vancouver.
The backs of her legs were severely burned, with first-degree burns up her back, hip and right arm, according to a GoFundMe page set up to cover her medical expenses and lost wages.
Jansen said she’s been unable to walk and has canceled all gigs for the next two to three months, and she said she may need skin grafts if her wounds don’t fully heal
Jansen has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. It’s not known whether she filed a police report.
She said she plans to take legal action against the photographer for lacking the proper safety equipment that could’ve prevented her injuries.
Her advice to models seeking contract work? “If you have any doubts, don’t do it.”