I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! star Nella Rose has been passionately defended by Janet Street-Porter after her explosive row with Fred Sirieix.
On Tuesday night’s episode of the reality series, influencer Nella clashed with First Dates’ Fred after a comment he made was deemed to be insensitive.
The French maitre d’hotel, 51, was called out by Nella, 26, after he made a throwaway remark that he was old enough to be her dad.
However, Nella, who lost both her mum and her dad at a young age, was massively hurt.
After giving him the silent treatment, Nella hit out at Fred the next morning and said she would ‘rather stay away from him’ in camp and refused to eat his food, despite his apologies.
Many viewers expressed their shock over the exchange, with many jumping in to defend Fred on social media.
Weighing in, Loose Women star Janet branded Fred a ‘weirdo’ and was full of sympathy for Nella.
‘In Nella’s defence, I found Fred incredibly patronising,’ she began.
‘I mean, he’s not serving food in a restaurant now, he’s not dealing with difficult customers.
‘I can see that what he said to her could’ve offended her and also, looking at her backstory, her parents came from the Congo, they went to Belgium, both of her parents died within a few months of each other…’
‘But that’s not Fred’s fault,’ Jane Moore argued.
‘It’s not Fred’s fault and he will not be aware of it, but that will inform how she reacts to him,’ Janet responded.
The outspoken TV star added that she would ‘hate to see, as a result of this, that she gets voted out of that camp’.
‘To me, the mix of people in the camp and to make the show work, we need people like her.
‘I’m not saying that in a patronising way, I think she has a voice that other people don’t have and I find that Fred is more of the same, frankly.’
Christine Lampard added that it was ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘awkward’ to watch.
Jane also defended Fred’s ‘innocent’ comment after it ‘blew up out of all proportion.’
‘Clearly, Nella has a lot of hurt around what happened with her mum and her dad and I get that completely, but I think that is the wrong place to put it in,’ she argued.
The panelist said she is just glad the moment was filmed for ‘evidence’ so viewers could see the context.
Someone else who has defended the YouTuber is Trish Balusa, who was in the Big Brother house.
The evicted housemate said, after she took a photo of her late father in for comfort and support, an unnamed housemate made a comment that stunned her.
‘As someone who’s lost their father, I know how sensitive grief is,’ Trish said. ‘Even though she may have overreacted, I still understand it.
‘Something similar happened to me in the house as well, but I was conscious that I was overreacting because of my own pain.
‘Someone had asked me, this is after we did the scene where I’d received my dad’s picture and I cried and I was so upset, it was clear to all the housemates that my father had died. A couple of days later, one individual, she was like, “Oh, so, Trish, are you close to your dad?”‘
Nella’s close friend and former Love Island star Indiyah Polack has spoken out too.
Appearing on Lorraine, Indiyah spoke about why she had concerns even before Nella entered the jungle that Fred would be someone she’d clash with.
‘I just feel like from first impressions Fred has a big personality and it can come across sometimes as being a little bit bossy, and Nella also has such a big personality, so I could see the two of them clashing over something,’ she explained.
‘I didn’t expect it to be this, but from what I know of Nella, she is a very bright and bubbly person who wears her heart on her sleeve and speaks her mind.
‘But I don’t think Fred had any malicious intent but again none of us are Nella and in a sweaty jungle, getting eaten by green ants and surviving on rice and beans, so I feel like in that environment it is very easy for things to be blown out or taken the wrong way.’
However, she added that she hoped her friend and Fred would be able to ‘get over it’.
‘I think they will probably talk about it, have a couple’s day rest and then be back to it,’ she said.
A poll of Lorraine viewers found that a whopping 97% of viewers were on Fred’s side while only 3% were on Nella’s side.
On the episode of I’m A Celebrity, Nella explained in the Bush Telegraph that Fred had made the joke after she had opened up to him ‘about the fact my dad’s passed away’.
‘I didn’t say anything about it last night because I was kind of just annoyed about it. So I slept on it… and I was just like, this is not the kind of person I want to be around,’ she said.
Fred didn’t realise the faux pas until the next morning, when he began calling to her to ask if she wanted food and she repeatedly ignored him, until she told him to ‘leave me alone.’
Bewildered, the TV star asked what he’d done wrong, with Nella hitting out: ‘You know that my mum’s dead, and you know that my dad’s dead. You know that, right? I’ve come to find out that every time I wanna get creative around the fire, or I want to have something my way, my own food that I am entitled to, my way, you tend to get an attitude, right?’
Nella went on to tell Fred what he said was ‘disrespectful’ and she no longer wanted to speak to or be around him.
‘I only allow people to disrespect me once. You hurt my feelings. I was very upset… you keep trying to speak to me when I don’t want to speak to you,’ she said.
‘I would rather stay away from you, I don’t want to eat your food, I don’t want to talk to you. We can just live, you live on that side, I live on this side.’
Apologising profusely, Fred insisted he didn’t know he offended her with the comment and ‘only said that because I am older than you, I am 51 and you’re 26.’
He added: ‘I made a mistake and I said something and I offended you, I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry you feel like this.’
Nella was having none of it, saying ‘you’re not going to little girl me.’
She said she would accept his apology but ‘I don’t want to eat no food that you’re cooking, don’t talk to me, you stay over there, I stay over here and we can live.’
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1.
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