Earlier this month, a Russian model was on the receiving end of a lot of negative comments due to her death-defying stunt which went viral on social media. This week, the model was told by police not to repeat what she did, and she was ordered to sign a written statement promising not to do it again.
According to The Sun (via Business Insider), Viktoria Odintcova was told by the police not to repeat her dangerous stunt. In a photo which was posted on the 22-year-old’s Instagram account, the model is holding on to the hand of a male assistant while dangling over the edge of the 73-storey Cayan Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In a video which was also posted on the app, Odintcova can be seen leaning backward over the edge of the building while holding onto the arm of the assistant. The model and did not take any precautions or use any safety mechanisms while doing both stunts, and it was reported that she and her team did not ask permission for the photo shoot.
Major General Halil Ibragim Al-Mansuri of the Dubai Police told The Sun, “The actions of the Russian woman put her life at risk.”
Over the weekend, it was reported that Odintcova is facing a lawsuit from the Cayan Group, who said (via The National) that it would file “immediate legal action” against the model and the production team who helped her orchestrate the dangerous stunt.
Gizel Daher, the company’s director of marketing and communications, said, “An immediate legal action is running against this condemned incident and the sentence will cover the breachers at all levels.”
Odintcova responded to the news of the lawsuit, and in an email to The National, the model said she has no plans to repeat the stunt, but she should be rewarded for revealing the weaknesses of the building’s security.
“We were at the rooftop of that building without any evil intentions, however, someone else could have come out there to commit suicide or an act of terrorism,” she said. Odintcova added that she doesn’t know if she’ll be traveling to Dubai again and apologized “for the inconvenience in connection with my act.”
“I didn’t want to hurt the reputation of the city,” she continued. “I hope we can resolve this misunderstanding.”
For more, check out Jobs & Hire’s report on what former models experienced during their time working with Trump Model Management.
