Yahoo News 'Nella Rose is not to blame for I'm a Celebrity clash'
ITV has a duty of care to uphold and protect the YouTube star
Up until Tuesday night’s show, I think we were all agreed that it had been a fairly routine start to life in the I’m a Celebrity jungle.
The contestants had been happily enjoying the getting-to-know-you stage. The chores had been divided neatly and fairly, and been completed diligently.
Sam Thompson had stunned the nation by revealing himself to be the only person in the world who remembers the words to more than one JLS song. (And yes, I am including the members of JLS in that stat.)
And a gloriously in form Ant & Dec had been busy establishing this year’s running jokes. One of the campmates had even decided to bare some flesh in the shower.
Okay, so we — along with Josie Gibson, who wisely chose to Leave rather than Remain — could have probably done without seeing Nigel Farage’s backside in all its glory. Jungle traditions are important though, right?
Then Tuesday happened. Wow.
YouTuber Nella Rose suddenly decided to undo all her fine early work by having a Day 3 meltdown at Fred Sirieix — or Poor Fred, as it seems he must now be known for the foreseeable future.
Now, no one has the right to tell Nella what she can or cannot be triggered by.
However, her behaviour following the initial row/misunderstanding with Fred has left her open to criticism — and no doubt more trials.
She made Poor Fred feel about as welcome as Cliff Richard at the Elvis Presley Fan Club’s annual Weight Watchers meeting.
You have to ask who was really to blame for Nella’s response though. Nella for her lack of control and understanding?
Or ITV, for putting a young person who has lost both parents into the pressure-cooker environment of the nation’s most popular and most scrutinised reality show?
Let’s be honest, Nella is not a celebrity in the traditional sense of the word. She’s an online star with little or no experience of the showbiz world that nearly all of fellow campmates inhabit on a daily basis.
There is, I guess, a small chance that the YouTuber in her was simply playing the content game and ensuring she grabbed the most airtime. That would be a bit of a stretch though, not to mention a little weird.
So I’m still inclined to put her reaction down to her lack of experience and celebrity know-how.
Whether she can recover from it remains to be seen. ITV needs to play its part in that. Having put her in there in the first place and chosen to highlight her behaviour in front of a baying nation, ITV has a duty of care to uphold.
To be honest, were Nella to spend the next few days quietly pottering around in the background, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
There had been a danger of it turning into the Nella and Nigel show, so it would be nice to see some of the other campmates get a look in.
If the early ratings are anything to go by, the public appears to agree with me. Over two million viewers seem to have deserted the show.
It would, of course, be utterly unfair to lay all of the blame for that on Nigel Farage being a divisive turn-off. (Let’s be kind and say it’s only 52% his fault.)
However, ITV must be already questioning whether his reported £1.5m fee was money well spent.
Not that Farage will care. He’s too busy doing his daily log workout (man, I can’t wait for that fitness DVD to come out) while happily looking forward to depositing his big fat ITV cheque in the bank.
Once he’s found a bank that will have him, obviously.
PS. Danielle Harold to win.
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! airs every night ITV at 9pm, except Saturdays when it airs at 9:30pm.
