Rebekah Vardy has hit back and delivered the receipts after being accused of ‘bullying’ by a former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! campmate.
In 2017, stand-up comedian turned broadcaster Iain Lee appeared on the long-running ITV reality series, alongside Vardy – who has made her feelings on this year’s show heard loud and clear.
Iain’s time on the show was marred by run-ins with Vardy, who left him in tears and whom he’s since called a ‘liar and manipulator’.
The 51-year-old’s comments come as Vardy reignited her feud with Coleen Rooney, who is appearing on the current season, following their infamous Wagatha Christie defamation trial two years ago.
Reflecting on his experience in the jungle, Iain said he suffered a mental breakdown following his time on the series, in which Vardy made him ‘miserable’.
‘There are some people who love the notoriety of being outrageous and obnoxious because it keeps them in the spotlight. I think Rebekah Vardy is one of them,’ he told MailOnline this week.
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‘When I was on the show, she bullied me and led a clique that picked on me. There were two occasions when I wanted to get out, it was so toxic and dark in there. I thought: “I can’t be with these people.”.
Iain, who admitted he no longer watches the show, claimed the first words Vardy told him when he arrived in camp was how she thought he was a ‘f***ing t**t’.
She later allegedly ‘pointed and swore’ at him, which he said left him feeling ‘intimidated and unwelcome’.
Speaking about a time when he failed a challenge and burst into tears, Iain said she told him that ‘real men don’t cry’.
After leaving the show, Iain said he had to undertake extensive therapy after being sent ‘into a spiral of depression and anxiety’.
He eventually decided to quit his broadcasting career and retrain as a counsellor.
Despite his alleged shocking treatment at the hands of Vardy, Iain said he had now ‘made peace with it’.
Slamming the claims, Vardy shared the article on social media and responded with a foul-mouth statement.
‘Na I’m done with this bulls***. I’ve let this slide too many times now! 2017, 2022 but f*** this I’ve got receipts this man keeps constantly coming for me,’ she posted on Instagram.
She later said: ‘Wish this man would just leave me alone! There is only one bully here and it’s not me.’
Vardy also shared WhatsApp messages between the pair from 2017. In one of them Iain had sent: ‘I said constantly I had respect for you and your story and what you’d been through.’
She wrote: ‘I have no bad feelings towards you at all. I’m really sad it’s been portrayed the way it has. It’s hurt me.
‘You’ve been through an incredible deal in life.’
He replied: ‘I know it has. I’m upset like I say by what was said behind my back those few times but I don’t class it as bullying. And I have no had feelings towards you. You’re pretty amazing.’
Another message from August 2022 saw Vardy reach out to Iain on Instagram after her WhatsApp didn’t send.
She said: ‘You’ve obviously changed your number as I sent you a WhatsApp but this stops now or I’m just going to publish our WhatsApp exchanges I don’t know what sort of kick you are trying to get out of touting these lies but l ignored it in April yet you are continuing to incite bullying and hate towards me.
‘Funny how you accepted a Christmas hamper from me though isn’t it!’
The WhatsApp which didn’t send said: ‘lain why are you doing this? You know you are lying about things… you are inciting bullying this has to stop I have all the messages between us that completely contradict your ridiculous claims.
‘Remember the Christmas hamper you accepted from me… this is ridiculous and you are causing me unnecessary pain and upset.
‘Who was the one that kept talking to you all the time in the jungle, who was the one that kept making you eat […] Stop this b******* or I will.’
Another Instagram message read: ‘It seems your narrative about me is far more exciting than the actual truth.
‘I’ve also never threatened to sue you and never alluded to that so again that narrative is lies.’
Iain replied: ‘Ok I’m sorry about this. I thought I had deleted them. Let me double check.’
She replied: ‘Just explain to me why lain? Why attack me… maybe I would understand more if there was a genuine reason but the last message we had in 2017 was cool.’
He said: ‘Right. All my tweets have been deleted.
‘I am sorry for the distress caused. I don’t want to get into an argument about why. I was miserable in the jungle and several people played a part in that. I should have let it lie. Again, I am sorry. Want a twitter apology?’
Following Vardy’s Instagram post, Iain took to his podcast to speak about the reaction to his comments, and said on social media that he did not change his career as a result of her ‘bullying’ him.
He said: ‘I’m still scared of Rebekah Vardy. I’m scared of getting sued, scared of her shouting at me.’
‘I held back a lot of stuff,’ he added.
Vardy previously claimed she was ‘the most supportive’ of Iain on the show and she’d ‘never been a bully in my whole entire life’.
However, he said she had a ‘sense of entitlement’ and ‘doesn’t like it when people stand up to her’.
While Vardy was eliminated from the show third, Iain made it through to the end and was eventually named in third place.
Ahead of this season of I’m A Celebrity starting, Vardy didn’t miss her chance to take a series of swipes at Coleen, to whom she lost the infamous defamation trial.
When asked by The Sun what she would like to see Coleen chomp on during the ITV show, Vardy responded: ‘A penis. Or humble pie.’
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When asked whether that was the worst thing Coleen had ever had in her mouth, Vardy replied: ‘I don’t know. You have to look at her husband really, don’t you?’
Vardy went on so say Coleen ‘likes to be the victim’ and ‘think she always wanted my life’ adding she ‘didn’t say this to be nasty’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Iain Lee and representatives for Rebekah Vardy for comment.
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I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1.
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