'Nella Rose's I'm A Celebrity public pile on is sad but not surprising'
If you're one of the people who watched last night's episode of the new I'm a Celeb, you were probably just as shocked as I was when watching the altercation between content creator Nella Rose, and First Dates star Fred Sirieix after a comment he made regarding him being old enough to be her dad.
Nella, who expressed previously to Fred that both her parents are no longer alive, quite matter of factly expressed her dislike for the comment and felt it was best to cut off all ties with him, including not speaking to him or eating anything he cooks.
I've been a fan of Nella, 26, and her personality since she came on the YouTube scene seven years ago. She is one of the main reasons I'm watching the show. But when I saw the altercation play out in my living room, I couldn't help but to sit on the edge of my seat uncomfortably, as if this was content that shouldn't be aired. This was all too personal.
Nella making it quite apparent that there would be no reconciliation between her and Fred has left a lot of viewers divided on the question. Did she overact? Are we being too insensitive? It does seem like Fred was sincerely apologetic, being 25 years older than her, and Nella being the youngest in camp this popular phrase is probably natural to him.
I'm 23 and can't even count the amount of times I've heard that comment. It can be quite dismissive but I don't think there was any ill intent behind it.
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But this situation has now sparked for an attack on Nella in every which way. The utter anger people have for this young girl is quite appalling, but unfortunately not surprising.
Does her reaction mean the public gets to be horrible to her? No.
Nella explains her problem with Fred's comment (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Naturally, I was a bit skeptical when I found out Nella was joining the show. It's no secret that the British public isn't welcoming to Black women on their screens. We've seen over the years with different reality TV shows that it is never fully a safe space for Black contestants, worried if the snide comments, the micro-aggressions that we face everyday will play out on screens.
Most of the viewers aren't even aware of Nella, making it easier for them to attack her. It's as the British public have been waiting for a reason to hate her and have found one, the amount of racism and micro-aggressions I've read is horrible and merely uncalled for.
Many viewers have called her reaction disproportionate to the comment, but it's been the same viewers who are now verbally abusing her. Isn't that a contradiction in itself?
Brands who have no reason to get involved in the altercation have deemed it necessary to tweet their opinion on the subject. Boohoo being one of them. In summer they made a now deleted tweet condemning Love Island contestant Catherine about her rage towards Scott tweeting, "Catherine byeeee." Last night they tweeted "Nella" with a thumbs down emoji.
Respectfully, we don't need a company whose focus should be on their clothes tweeting about TV shows. If brands who clearly have a large, and quite influential platform are not trying to uplift someone, they shouldn't tweet.
It's only day three, Nella has endured two challenges, her personality has definitely left a mark on the jungle and I want the public to know her as the comedic person I've seen her to be through her creative content. I want Nella to win the public over.
But, this situation and the unnecessary hurtful comments has once again proved that the UK still does have a race issue. It should be possible to criticise her without bringing race in it, and if your first thought is to attack someone you don't like through race, then there's a concerning and quite deeper problem here.
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