Television presenter Ant McPartlin found himself in hot water after an offhand comment about camp cooking unexpectedly reignited his long-standing feud with Kelly Brook during Thursday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity Unpacked.
The Unpacked Incident That Sparked Fresh Tensions
While discussing the celebrity campmates' culinary efforts with hosts Joel Dommett and Kemi Rogers, Ant didn't hold back his criticism of their cooking abilities. The 50-year-old presenter remarked, "What they've been given hasn't been awful, has it? Even octopus, if you cook it right, it's nice. They just cooked it badly."
He then added the comment that would come back to haunt him: "Every dinner they've made I've thought 'That looks rancid'." The observation immediately raised eyebrows given that Kelly Brook and Martin Kemp are currently serving as the camp's designated cooks.
Co-host Kemi Rogers, 30, was quick to point out the potential implications of Ant's remark, prompting Declan Donnelly to turn to his presenting partner and pointedly ask: "What's your problem with Kelly Brook?"
An exasperated Ant immediately responded: "Don't you start! I don't have a problem with Kelly Brook, thank you."
The Britain's Got Talent Feud That Started It All
The tension between Kelly Brook and the presenting duo dates back to 2009 when the model and actress joined the third series of Britain's Got Talent as the show's first ever fourth judge. She appeared alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan but was axed after just one week when producers decided the four-judge format was "too complicated".
However, Kelly has always maintained that Ant and Dec were behind her sudden departure from the show. In previous interviews, she claimed: "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."
She added: "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."
The Awkward Exchange That Fueled the Conflict
In their 2010 autobiography, Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story, Dec Donnelly provided his version of events that may have sparked the feud. He recalled an uncomfortable backstage encounter where Kelly appeared nervous before her first show.
"I told her it was going to be great fun and to just relax," Dec wrote. "She nodded, then looked at me and said, 'And what do you do on the show?'"
The question apparently stunned both presenters, with Simon Cowell intervening to ask Kelly if she had actually seen the programme before. According to Dec, she replied: "Yeah… well, bits."
Dec noted in the memoir: "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."
The presenting duo also confessed they were "annoyed" that they hadn't been consulted about Kelly joining the show. Dec 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."
Kelly later fired back at the pair for including her in their autobiography, stating: "As for Ant and Dec, good luck to them. They are rich and they are happy, but they won't be in my autobiography, even if I am in theirs!"
Viewers watching Thursday's Unpacked episode quickly picked up on the historical tension, with one social media user commenting: "Do people realise Kelly Brook & Ant and Dec have serious beef with each other?" proving that some rivalries never truly fade from public memory.
