Olivia Attwood has weighed in on Nella Rose’s tense clash with Fred Sirieix on Tuesday night’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
The influencer, 26, shocked viewers when she lashed out at Fred, 51, for saying he could ‘be her father’ because of their 25-year age gap, with Nella claiming it was disrespectful because hours earlier she had told the campmates that she had lost both her parents.
In reaction while appearing on Wednesday’s Loose Women former Love Island star Olivia, 32, said her reaction could be because the YouTuber’s job is to be controversial and impactful so that her videos go viral.
She said: ‘Obviously if I try and put myself in her shoes, when I did Love Island I was a similar age and the phrase that springs to my mind is ‘confidence is quiet, insecurity screams’ and she may be feeling out of her comfort zone.
‘She does a lot of YouTube and self-videoed stuff and that is all about going viral and having impact and being controversial.
Opinions: Olivia Attwood has weighed in on Nella Rose’s tense clash with Fred Sirieix on Tuesday night’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!
Tense: The influencer, 26, shocked viewers when she lashed out at Fred, 51, for saying he could ‘be her father’ because of their 25-year age gap, with Nella claiming it was disrespectful
‘I think maybe that it was a combination of not knowing how to handle the situation and the emotions, she is also a bit younger.
‘I think where it went wrong was that she was starting to call him a weirdo.’
The other panelists on the show offered their opinions too including Jane Moore who said she was ‘baffled’ watching the heated interaction.
She said: ‘The comment was a figure of speech and it blew up. Anyone watching it would say it was an innocent comment. And people watching it are baffled. Nella is obviously hurt though.’
Nella and Fred’s heated exchange was shown within minutes of Tuesday’s episode of I’m A Celebrity.
In the scenes, the campmates were complaining about the wet weather, with Fred saying: ‘It’s just rain, rain, rain, it’s chucking it down.’
Grace said: ‘Camp to me feels like about day 11 at Glastonbury. Really rainy Glastonbury. Instead of seeing Coldplay tonight, I’m just going to see Fred in his underpants again.’
Fred then tried to offer Nella rice, but she ignored his calls to her.
Thoughts: In reaction while appearing on Wednesday’s Loose Women former Love Island star Olivia, 32, said her reaction could be because the YouTuber’s job is to be controversial and impactful so that videos go viral
Weighing in: She said: ‘She does a lot of YouTube and self-videoed stuff and that is all about going viral and having impact and being controversial’
Tense scenes: I’m A Celeb viewers urged producers to step in after Nella’s ‘unacceptable’ outburst at Fred during Tuesday’s episode
In the Bush Telegraph Nella explained: ‘Last night after dinner Fred made a comment about him basically how he could be my dad.
‘I took offence to that because one of the first conversations we had together was me opening up about the fact that my dad’s passed away.’
Fred asked again: ‘Seriously Nella, you should eat, don’t you think? Nella? Nella? Nella?’ as she asked: ‘Right, so why does he keep calling me?’
Fred called again: ‘Nella?’ as the camera cut to Nella in the Bush Telegraph and she continued: ‘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 kind of thought about it and I was just like, this is not the kind of person I want to be around.’
Fred approached Nella and said: ‘Nella? Darling? You don’t want to eat?’ to which she replied: ‘Can you leave me alone?’ and Fred answered: ‘OK.’ He went on to ask: ‘What have I done to you?
Nella explained he’d made a comment the day before, saying: ‘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?
‘So yesterday, when I wanted to burn fat that you were going to throw away anyways, it’s not even something that we needed to survive in camp, you turned around to me, with an attitude and said, ”You know I could be your dad, right?” To me, I don’t care how you said it to me, it’s disrespectful and I don’t want to talk to you.
‘I don’t want to be around you. 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. 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.’
Fred replied: ‘I am so sorry. Can I just say? First of all, I am sorry I’ve offended you. I am unaware that you felt offended. I am unaware that what I said would lead to this conversation, I only said that in a way because I am older than you, I am 51 and you’re 26.’
Nella said: ‘I’m not stupid, you’re not going to little girl me, you’re not.’
Fred said: ‘Nella, it wasn’t like that at all.’
Fred added: ‘Either 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 said: ‘I accept your apology, but in order for us to live in this camp together, 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 good. Yeah. You stay over there. Look at your face, you’re smiling.’
Fred went on to ask: ‘You could have said straight away, ‘Excuse me Fred this is upsetting me.’
Nella said: ‘Can you not clock on the vibe?’
Fred replied: ‘No, because you’ve been sleeping quite a lot so I thought you were tired. If I made a faux pas, unwillingly, unconsciously, I am very sorry.
‘But this was all it was. That’s all it was. If you want to take it to the nth degree and not speak to me anymore, it’s your choice.’
Nella told Fred: ‘You only get one chance to disrespect me. I accept your apology but let’s not be friends. How about that?’
Viewers were quick to brand Nella’s attitude as ‘vile’ while ‘Poor Fred’ quickly began trending on X.
Other viewers have called on show bosses to intervene after Nella’s ‘unacceptable’ behaviour.
Heartbreaking: Nella’s father Kamango Paul Hollela tragically in 2020, four years after her mother died in her arms
Discussion: The other panelists on the show offered their opinions too including Jane Moore who said she was ‘baffled’ watching the heated interaction
Reaction: Viewers were quick to brand Nella’s attitude as ‘vile’ while ‘Poor Fred’ quickly began trending on X
Several fans compared the row to the infamous Celebrity Big Brother ‘punchgate’ when Roxanne Pallett accused fellow housemate Ryan Thomas of ‘repeatedly and deliberately punching’ her when he had in fact lightly tapped her arm while playfighting.
Fred’s partner – who he affectionately calls Fruitcake – weighed in on the argument as she re-posted an Instagram Story from Fred’s Instagram page that read: ‘Tough watch for some of the show tonight but Fred did us so proud – we know his intention would never be to upset anyone. Keep your head up Fred – we love you.’
An ITV spokesperson told MailOnline that producers have not spoken to Nella or Fred about the argument.
I’m A Celebrity airs daily at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX