Yahoo News Celebrity Big Brother's Levi Roots 'protected' Ekin-Su from 'micro-bullying'
Celebrity Big Brother star Levi Roots blames himself for Louis Walsh's scathing rants
Celebrity Big Brother's Levi Roots 'protected' Ekin-Su from 'micro-bullying'
What did you miss?
Dragons' Den star Levi Roots has claimed he felt like he had to protect Ekin-Su Culculoglu from "a little bit of micro-bullying" in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
The successful entrepreneur was the third person voted out of the Celebrity Big Brother house and straight after him, Culculoglu left the reality series in Friday's double eviction. The fourth star evicted had a hard time on the spin off show Late & Live where she blamed the edit of the show without watching any of it back. Then on Monday, Culculoglu cancelled her TV interview on Lorraine.
During an appearance on This Morning, Roots stood up for his fellow housemate and he expressed his own feelings that people were "unfair" and "picking on her" because of her reality TV background. Without naming anyone in the house, the Celebrity Big Brother star claimed he had to "protect" housemate Culculoglu from "a little bit of micro-bullying" and he had to take her under his wing like she was his own daughter.
What, how and why?
Full-time presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard questioned the TV star about his time in the Celebrity Big Brother house and why he felt like he had to be a father figure to Culculoglu. He elaborated: "I thought everyone was being unfair to Ekin-Su. I thought there was a little bit of micro-bullying going on, if you know what I mean."
He added: "I just thought people were picking on her for some reason. I thought people were looking at her for what she was in the house which was important we were concentrating in that bubble on how we were with each other.
"I didn't think fair that people were judging her for what she had done on other shows before. So I had to put a bit of an arm around her and told her that i felt like she was my daughter. When that moment comes you really have to protect that person. So we had a lot of conversations trying to cheer her up so she felt a little bit better.
"Those moments where her name kept being called and people were voting for her left right and centre, I really felt for her. I love Ekin-Su. She's a brilliant girl. Obviously, I don't watch the other shows she's been in. I was judging her and loving her for being in the house."
A Big Brother spokesperson told Yahoo: "All housemates undertake training in language and behaviour before entering the Big Brother house. All behaviour in the house is strictly monitored at all times."
Outside of the Celebrity Big Brother house, Culculoglu was the latest star to become a target of "physical threats". Ahead of her exit on Friday, her family released an emotional plea for Celebrity Big Brother viewers to be kind to her.
A Celebrity Big Brother spokesperson told Yahoo: "The welfare of all Housemates is of paramount importance to us and we have a robust welfare plan in place to support them before, during and after the show. This includes information and support in dealing with social media."
Levi Roots on Louis Walsh
Elsewhere, Roots discussed the controversy surrounding Louis Walsh's scathing attacks on celebrities. The Dragons' Den star admitted he could understand why people were angry but he said he felt he was partially to blame as some comments were born out of their honest conversations.
He said on This Morning: "I kind of blame myself because Louis and I formed such a great relationship with the guy. I absolutely love the guy. We had such musical things in common... He could really talk to me about music.
"A lot of those points people are angry about there were conversations with myself and we were talking about music, his love for music, who he had worked with and who he completely disliked. I made some bombs! It was about being honest. He was being honest. He was talking to me, I was being honest to him as well."
Roots said that Walsh was very aware of the comments he was making. He added: "He's a very clever man. He's not someone who is going to say something and doesn't know what he's saying. He's not senile or anything, he's very sharp in his mind. He just wanted to in those moments in the house to mention somebody who connects with him in music and to have a real conversation."
Plus, Dragons' Den star Roots has shared the sweet gesture Sharon Osbourne made to him in the Celebrity Big Brother house. He said he bonded with the first ever celebrity lodger and that she had gifted him a pack of toothpicks after noticing he was struggling without them in the house.
