Vanessa Feltz has admitted that she should have “learnt her lesson” on Celebrity Big Brother following a backlash to recent ‘rude’ comments she made on Celebs Go Dating.
The TV presenter is currently appearing on the E4 dating show following her highly publicised split from Phats & Small singer Ben Ofoedu, who was unfaithful to her, earlier this year.
However, Feltz, 61, came under fire from viewers following a recent episode in which she lashed out at the show’s dating expert Anna Williamson.
Writing in her column in The Daily Express, Feltz compared her experience on the show to her appearance on the first series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2001.
“My girls say that their mother originated a seemingly compulsory feature: the snivelling sobbing disintegration of a well-known personality with tears streaming, façade fractured,” Feltz wrote.
“It may not have been my finest hour… but with hours of such programming under my belt you’d think I’d have got the hang of it by now. Wrong! I’m currently doing my best to navigate E4’s Celebs Go Dating and making a right pig’s ear of it. I seem to have forgotten my own maxim: ‘If you don’t want them to show it, don’t do it.’
“The audience sees what it sees and takes this lighthearted puffery with intense seriousness,” she wrote. “Naturally, the broadcast is cut and edited to elicit maximum ratings – though if I’d been angelic throughout they’d have nothing negative to show, of course.
Feltz on a date— (E4)
“It’s my own fault and I take full responsibility for letting filaments of boredom and frustration show.”
Feltz continued: “Remember too that reality TV is all about the ‘journey’. That’s how it works. I can’t be seen to have found redemption and enlightenment if I don’t tread on a few toes.
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“Obviously, I can’t give the punchline away but have faith, suspend judgment and above all, be able to tell the difference between real life and reality TV.”
Feltz faced criticism after lashing out at dating expert Williamson in a recent episode of the show, which sees celebrities dating members of the public.
The former Vanessa host explained that, after her last relationship came to an end, she wanted to avoid falling for an “identikit” man and repeating the same patterns.
After being taken to one side by the show’s experts, Feltz explained: “So this is a gentleman, charming, handsome, who is in a band, who tours. So the last thing I want is some itinerant, horny musician. I’ve had that.”
But when Williamson asked Feltz if she was “closed off”, the presenter snapped back: “I am, and I don’t wish to be corrected on that.”
Williamson’s co-expert Paul Carrick Brunson then stepped in, telling Feltz: “We’re not here to convince you to go back on your feelings. We’re just trying to dissect what we heard.”
However, Feltz responded: “Well, it’s not hard to dissect as I’ve explained it clearly to you. You should understand me the first time I say it, because I’ve said it with the utmost clarity.”
Feltz is appearing on the current series of Celebs Go Dating alongside Love Island stars Adam Collard and Chloe Burrows, Made in Chelsea’s Mark-Francis Vandelli, model Lottie Moss, and comedian Spuddz.
Celebs Go Dating airs Sunday to Thursday at 9pm on E4.
