Cici Coleman and Laura Tott, Fred Sirieix’s First Dates co-stars, have spoken out following his dramatic altercation with Nella Rose on I’m A Celebrity.
When Fred, 51, mentioned his age to Nella, 26, he said he was old enough to be her father.
The next morning, YouTube sensation Nella expressed her grief over the loss of both her mother and father at a young age.
She called Fred ‘disrespectful’ after accusing him of being’stupid’ following her mishap, while he sincerely apologised for the unaware error.
Since the row aired, his partner has come out, insisting that his purpose was ‘never to offend anyone,’ and now his co-stars have agreed.
Appearing on Thursday’s This Morning with Alison Hammond and Rylan Clark, who branded the row ‘so uncomfortable to watch’, Cici began: ‘I think, look you’re in a pressure cooker with 10 people constantly, you’re not sleeping or eating, there’s a lot going on, this type of behaviour is going to happen.
‘They are going to have moments where things are misconstrued, misunderstood and it’s normal, things will happen.’
‘It’s just a misunderstanding,’ Laura added. ‘It’s really sad how it happened, and it’s just so hard to watch.’
‘My heart broke for him,’ she went on, saying: ‘I know how personally he would have taken it, he’ll be so upset that he thinks he’s offended her.’
Fred didn’t know he’d made a mistake until Nella ignored him and urged him to ‘leave me alone’ the next morning.
The Fred, Gordon and Gino star, taken aback by her response, asked her what he’d done wrong, with Nella hitting out: ‘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?’
She said he had an ‘attitude’ about the fact he told her, ‘You know I could be your dad, right?’
‘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,’ Nella said. ‘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 apologised profusely, insisting he didn’t know he offended her with the comment and ‘only said that because I am older than you, I am 51 and you’re 26.’
He added: ‘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 was having none of it, saying ‘you’re not going to little girl me.’
She said she would accept his apology but ‘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.’
Tensions remain high in the camp, with two newcomers scheduled to join Jamie Lynn Spears and Nigel Farage soon.
I’m A Celebrity continues on ITV and ITVX tomorrow at 9pm.
