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'I lost everything': Teacher reveals how she lost her job, her home and even considered suicide after she was fired over notorious video of her performing a 'joke' lap dance with a male teacher during school pep rally

A former high school teacher in Canada who made international headlines in 2010 when cellphone video of her participating in a mock lap da...

A former high school teacher in Canada who made international headlines in 2010 when cellphone video of her participating in a mock lap dance with a fellow teacher during a school assembly went viral is sharing her story for the first time eight years on.  
Chrystie Fitchner's name became synonymous with the video 'two teachers, one chair' as her sexually explicit routine gained millions of internet views, drawing the attention of nearly every news outlet, talk show and concerned parent across the US. 
Fitchner was ultimately fired from her job as a gym/health teacher and volleyball coach at Churchill High School in Winnipeg, where she had worked for two years. 
Soon after she lost her apartment and found herself living out of her car and sleeping on friends' couches. 
Speaking out for the first time since everything went down, Fitchner says she believes she's paid more than enough of a price.   
'I feel like people thought: "Oh, she’ll just pick up and carry on and get a new job." It does not happen,' the now-41-year-old told The Canadian Press. 
'I lost everything. I really, really did.'
The frequent slut-shaming by strangers took its toll on Fitchner, who revealed that she had contemplated suicide 'a few times'. 
'I just wanted to be able to escape everything that was going on,' she said.
Cellphone footage shows Fitchner (center in the chair), and colleague Adeil Ahmed (kneeling) performing a sexually explicit routine as part of a teacher dance-off at Churchill High School in February 2010. The incident sparked outrage in the community and Fitchner was fired
Cellphone footage shows Fitchner (center in the chair), and colleague Adeil Ahmed (kneeling) performing a sexually explicit routine as part of a teacher dance-off at Churchill High School in February 2010. The incident sparked outrage in the community and Fitchner was fired
Eight years later, Fitchner has managed to rebuild her life. She's now living outside Canada with her firefighter husband and two young daughters. 
She occasionally takes shifts as a substitute teacher, but says that she is forced to use her husband's last name so that she won't be recognized as the disgraced teacher from that fateful video. 
Fitchner fears that the lap dance will haunt her for the rest of her life. 
She told the Press that she is unlikely to ever find a full-time teaching job again, and that she feels like she can't return home to Manitoba, no matter how desperately she may want to.  
Fitchner, now 41 and living outside of Canada with her firefighter husband and two young daughters, opened up about how she 'lost everything' in an interview this week
Fitchner, now 41 and living outside of Canada with her firefighter husband and two young daughters, opened up about how she 'lost everything' in an interview this week
She said she was essentially blackballed in the education community and that doesn't expect to ever find another full-time teacher job. These days she find the occasional gig as a substitute teacher but has to use her husband's name to avoid be recognized for the video
She said she was essentially blackballed in the education community and that doesn't expect to ever find another full-time teacher job. These days she find the occasional gig as a substitute teacher but has to use her husband's name to avoid be recognized for the video
In this week's interview, Fitchner took the opportunity to share her side of the story behind the notorious dance routine, which took place during a school pep rally in February 2010. 
She said that she had been matched up with Adeil Ahmed, who had recently joined the school on a short-term contract, for a teacher dance-off. 
The pair donned football uniforms and arrived in the school gym without any actual routine planned. Fitchner said she was nervous about having to perform in front of an audience. 
She said it was Ahmed who suggested that she sit in a chair while he danced around her, and she agreed.  
When they took the stage, Ahmed straddled and grinded against Fitchner before pretending to perform oral sex on her as students cheered and laughed, egging them on. 
Fitchner said she got caught up in the moment and leaned into the role, gyrating on the chair and encouraging her partner with her hands. 
After the dance came to an end, the shame hit her. The video shows her shaking her head and cowering.  
'It’s in that moment I realized this wasn’t good. I was so embarrassed,' she said. 'And then my colleague stood up, with his hands raised up, as if this was the most glorious moment to be proud of.' 
Fitchner said she and Ahmed came up with their plan for the dance-off at the last minute, and that it was his idea to have her sit in the chair while he danced around her. In the video (above) they are both wearing football uniforms as Ahmed straddles and grinds up against Fitchner 
Fitchner said she and Ahmed came up with their plan for the dance-off at the last minute, and that it was his idea to have her sit in the chair while he danced around her. In the video (above) they are both wearing football uniforms as Ahmed straddles and grinds up against Fitchner 
As the routine goes on, Fitchner gets more into it and encourages Ahmed with her hands
As the routine goes on, Fitchner gets more into it and encourages Ahmed with her hands
At one point in the video, Ahmed puts his face between Fitchner's legs and pretends to perform oral sex on her as the students in the gym laugh and cheer
At one point in the video, Ahmed puts his face between Fitchner's legs and pretends to perform oral sex on her as the students in the gym laugh and cheer
The routine sparked outrage among parents and the Winnipeg community as both Fitchner and Ahmed were suspended. She said that she was forced to resign and Ahmed's contract wasn't renewed.  
Despite the fact that Ahmed's actions in the video appeared to be far more controversial, Fitchner said that most of the negative publicity was thrust upon her.  
'The way I was treated as a female in this ... there was so much inequality and so much shaming,' she said.
'I felt like I had done a dance by myself or like a pole dance or something.'
Fitchner said she hasn't spoken to Ahmed since that final day at Churchill High School, and that she last heard he was teaching somewhere in Ontario.  
She said that while she got support from some teachers and students who thought her punishment was too severe, she was essentially blackballed by the incident. 
To this day, Fitchner still harbors anger and resentment as she feels like a piece of her was ripped away by that one short moment. 
'I’m just a good person who made a mistake,' she said.
Fitchner hopes that one day she will be able to re-attain the professional side her herself that's been lost, and that for now she is happy about the family that she's built.      

4 comments

  1. For Fitchner to involve herself with "Ahmed" in the way she did in that video, proves she deserved to be fired.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steve the American - hang yourself. Religious US nuts need to be hanged.

    ReplyDelete
  3. First of all i'm not an American, as if that has anything to do with it, plus it has nothing to do with religion whatsoever.

    ReplyDelete