Kelly Brook has addressed her past tensions with Ant and Dec stemming from her time as a Britain’s Got Talent judge
Kelly Brook was a judge on Britain’s Got Talent – briefly(Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
Former model and TV star Kelly Brook famously had a falling out with Britain’s Got Talent hosts ant and Dec after her very brief spell as judge on the ITV talent show.
However, it’s nothing compared to the latest controversy the Geordie pair have landed themselves in. Just a week ago, the duo presented what was arguably the most explosive conclusion to a reality TV programme ever, when the live finale of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa erupted into mayhem with warring celebrities and participants storming off set.
Several days after former Emmerdale actor Adam Thomas was declared champion of the ITV programme, Ant and Dec addressed the incident on their podcast, Hanging Out with Ant and Dec, with Ant calling it “a weird night of TV”.
While it was likely the most contentious series to date, the television presenters have been embroiled in numerous other controversies, including a dispute with Kelly, who participated in the original version of I’m A Celebrity last year and features as a guest on James Martin’s Saturday Morning on May 2.
The animosity between the threesome dates back to 2009 when Kelly was temporarily appointed as a judge on the ITV talent programme, Britain’s Got Talent, the current series of which continues tonight (May 2) at 7pm, reports the Mirror.
Ant and Dec mentioned Kelly in their memoir
Claims have persistently indicated that Ant and Dec were displeased that Kelly, 46, had been recruited for the programme without their approval. Throughout the years, the three have exchanged subtle digs at one another in interviews and autobiographies.
Last year, the trio were brought back together on ITV as Kelly joined I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! as a contestant and reopened the old feud in a fresh interview. In the interview, she tackled the root of the supposed row – which allegedly originated from her not knowing what Ant and Dec’s role was when she joined the BGT judging panel.
And while the lads have consistently maintained this is what occurred, Kelly has firmly disputed that this is simply not accurate. She summarised the situation in six words during her conversation with The Sun saying: “There was no awkwardness at all. “
Kelly on I’m A Celebrity(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
She continued: “Ant and Dec are the sweetest, and they were so excited that I was doing the show. I think they are really involved in the casting of it.”
She added: “They were really fun and supportive. I was so excited when I saw them for the first time – I was in a helicopter looking down at them. I actually got star-struck, even though I worked with them all those years ago. I’m a massive fan of the show, so it was surreal to suddenly be in there. Plus, Ant and Dec were the least of my worries – I was more concerned with snakes, spiders and the lack of food!”
Her version contradicts that of the Geordie pair. Back in 2010, the duo released their autobiography, Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story, in which they detailed their claims about Kelly.
Recalling Kelly’s first day joining them on the BGT set, they alleged: “Kelly looked nervous, so I told her it was going to be great fun and to just relax and enjoy it. She nodded, then looked at me and said, ‘And what do you do on the show?’
“I looked at Simon, who was sat next to me, he turned to Kelly and said, ‘Kelly, you have seen the show, haven’t you?’ To which she replied, ‘Yeah… well, bits’. I don’t want to sound like an egomaniac, but the last person who said, ‘And what do you do?’ was the Queen when I met her at the party for ITV’s fiftieth anniversary.”
Kelly was a judge on BGT for a very short spell(Image: Talkback Thames)
The autobiography also suggested that the duo were furious with show boss Simon Cowell for bringing Kelly on board without consulting them first. They wrote: “We had two questions: ‘Why is there a fourth judge?’ and ‘Why is it Kelly Brook?’ None of them could answer us.
“Obviously, as hosts of the show, we have to justify that kind of thing to the audience, and no one could give us a good reason why Kelly was on board. The simple answer was that Simon, without talking to anyone, had decided it was a good idea. We didn’t agree.”
Kelly previously dismissed the controversy, suggesting she wasn’t particularly bothered about Ant and Dec’s opinion of her. She said in a past interview: “There was nothing I could do in this country after Britain’s Got Talent. The people at ITV were telling me that I had upset Ant and Dec and that was it.
“I would love to have stayed on the show. I really felt it was working out. Ant and Dec had never been anything but pleasant to my face but, clearly, they didn’t want me on the show. Their egos are such that they were saying to themselves ‘How dare she think she can come on to our show?’, and since then they’ve been very vocal about their displeasure at me being there.”
Kelly Brook is on James Martin’s Saturday Morning on ITV1 on May 2 at 9.30am. Ant and Dec host Britain’s Got Talent on ITV1 on May 2 at 7pm
