Kidnapped model Chloe Ayling has said she still remembers the ‘exact moment’ she woke up after being drugged and bundled into a suitcase – ahead of a new BBC drama which she hopes will help people understand her story.

Chloe was lured to Italy for a photoshoot in 2017 by Polish brothers Lukasz and Michal Herba with the promise of modelling work – only to be drugged and kidnapped.

After being injected with the horse tranquilliser ketamine and bundled into a suitcase at a Milan photo studio, she was taken to a farmhouse near Turin and told she would be sold as a sex slave in an online auction.

Her horrific story has been retold in a new TV series, Kidnapped, which follows her terrifying kidnap, her bravery in captivity and the court case that put her kidnappers behind bars.

Speaking about the traumatic incident on BBC Breakfast, Chloe said: ‘I can still remember some parts of it so visually. I was so heavily drugged but waking up I can still remember the feeling of “was I on a boat or was I on a ship”, like It was a crazy dream.

‘I still remember that exact moment, but I tend not to think about it. Especially because back then I talked about it so much. But I kept it out of my mind in my own time.’

Despite her kidnappers being jailed for 16 years, Chloe said online trolls still attack her story seven years after the incident.

She now hopes the new BBC series will help more people understand her story.

She said: ‘I want it to be understood. All I wanted at the time was for the facts to be laid out and for people to understand the case. What happened in court and the evidence against him.

‘I just feel that was never shown at the time. It was so focused on me and that’s not what I wanted. I wanted everyone to see facts and that’s what the drama shows and people will gain a lot of knowledge from this drama.’

When asked about the accusations that she made the story up, Chloe said: ‘A lot of people don’t understand it. When I see comments, they don’t know the facts and they say things that are not true.

‘This is what the drama shows. Things that no one knew at the time because they were misled by the media. Hopefully they can get more knowledge from the show and of the case. So with future victims they don’t get misled by the media and not just jump to conclusions because it’s not fair on future victims.’

Chloe, who has since appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, was released after six days in captivity at a remote farmhouse in northern Italy. She previously gave her first full account of the ordeal to The Mail on Sunday in 2017. 

Lukasz Herba handed her over to the British consulate after she tricked him that she would be his girlfriend if he let her go. Lukasz was later jailed for 16 years in Italy – he is due for release next year. 

His brother Michal was also jailed for 16 years, later reduced to five on appeal. He was freed in 2022.

Speaking to The Times about the series, Chloe said: ‘Seeing it gave me chills because it’s such a relief. People will see all the evidence against [the Herbas] laid out word for word, without bias.

‘At the time everything was so focused on me and no one was interested in how the brothers were changing their story every second to completely contradictory ones.’

She told the newspaper that reliving the experience was not traumatic as she was focused on making sure it did justice to what she went through.

MailOnline previously reported it is unclear if the Herba brothers have been paid for the series, but strict editorial guideline prevents licence fee payers’ money going to convicted criminals as it would be seen as profiteering from their illegal activities.

The BBC has since confirmed the Herba brothers were not involved in any way. 

The original trial of the two brothers in Milan raised eyebrows as they claimed it had been a ‘publicity stunt’ cooked up by Chloe in order to raise her profile.

Defence lawyer Katia Kolakowska described to the court how the kidnap had mirrored the plot of a 2016 film called By Any Means starring Booke Burfitt.

The plot revolves around a model who arranges her own kidnap to raise her profile and Lukasz claimed Chloe had been inspired by it.

During his trial Lukasz said he and Chloe met in 2015 and started a relationship and a few months later she suggested a ‘fake kidnap’ to help her bid for stardom.

Mum of one Chloe later went on to star in Celebrity Big Brother, gave dozens of interviews and wrote a book about her ordeal which saw her kept in an isolated farmhouse near Turin for six days.

She was eventually released after Lukasz drove her to the British consulate in Milan where he bizarrely waited for twenty minutes while Chloe told officials she had been kidnapped and police were called.

Michal had his sentence reduced after appeal court judges ruled, he was not involved in ‘extortion’ and should have the word removed from his original conviction. 

Chloe, a model from Coulsdon, south London, had told the court in Milan that she was drugged, gagged, bound, stuffed in the holdall and warned she would be sold as a sex slave if a £265,000 ransom wasn’t met.

Chloe has always denied playing any part in the kidnap in order to boost her career and said she had faced ‘lies and public scrutiny’ telling the court she hadn’t profited from her ordeal.

She told the court a man wearing a balaclava grabbed and drugged her during the ordeal.

And the model said rumours of her involvement had ‘completely ruined’ her reputation and said it was ‘not my choice all this would go public’.

Suspicions of Chloe’s alleged involvement in the kidnapping were raised when CCTV footage emerged of her holding hands with Lukasz shortly after her release.

When asked why she was shopping hand-in-hand with Lukasz instead of trying to escape, Chloe said she was ‘completely brainwashed’ into believing her life was in danger from the Black Death group.

In her evidence, Chloe said she knew he had feelings for her and claimed he was ‘sexually frustrated’ while sharing a bed with her in a remote farmhouse where she was held captive.

In his 2021 appeal judges ruled that ‘in the light of evidence it cannot be adequately demonstrated that Michal Herba was aware the kidnapping had extortion as a motive.’

Lukasz is currently serving his sentence at Pavia prison near Milan and he has a parole hearing scheduled for later this year.

The BBC series brings her ordeal and court case together by drawing on legal documents, Chloe’s diary and interviews with lawyers, police and prosecutors.

Kidnapped, which was written by Killing Eve and Skins creator Georgia Lester, also stars Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Lindsay, Olive Gray and Eleonora Romandini.

Also in the cast are Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Lindsay, Julian Swiezewski and Olive Gray.

Nadia, 28, has previously starred in The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, The Spanish Princess and Domina.

Kidnapped will launch on Wednesday on BBC Three at 9pm.