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David Haye is a bully and misogynist - ITV should have never let him back on I'm A Celeb
Reach Daily Express | April 21, 2026 3:48 PM CST

It takes a lot for Ant and Dec to wade in and air an opinion on something. The cheeky chappies have built a career out of being inoffensive and extremely neutral to the events going on around them. However even they felt compelled to voice their thoughts on an incident on I'm A Celebrity... South Africa, in which boxer David Haye berated actor Adam Thomas after he said he was too unwell to participate in the Bushtucker Trial Termite Terror.

The interaction led to accusations of bullying and the presenters agreed it was "not nice to watch". While it is only four little words, this is the equivalent of a full blown emotional outburst from the pair and they could easily be talking about any moment involving Haye since the show kicked off. The fact is, he has consistently bullied, belittled and berated his campmates and shown a massive misogynistic streak. Nothing he has done or said has been nice. Which begs the question why ITV signed him in the first place.

Every reality show relies on a healthy dose of controversy to keep it in the headlines. But this isn't controversy - it is completely toxic.

His latest incident followed on from vile and misogynistic remarks he made about his girlfriend and his women in general, which aired in the episode broadcast on Monday, April 13. He has also fat shamed Gemma Collins throughout the show. Not a day has gone by where he hasn't upset someone.

What makes the situation worse is that ITV hired him and then chose to broadcast this. Unlike the regular series, the All-Star offering currently airing is fully pre-recorded. There are no live moments or spontaneity. An editor has watched every interaction and listened to every statement. And they made a premeditated choice to leave all his foibles in.

Clearly they are loving it - even if no one else is. They could have cut any of this and removed him from camp but they obviously wanted the controversy. Clearly they have succeeded as here I am writing about it. But it is not true that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Haye is doing huge damage to the I'm A Celebrity brand, which has long been considered family entertainment.

It was generally inoffensive and the controversy was never worse than some smuggled in contraband - usually salt or flavourings for the bland food.

No parent wants to sit with their children and watch a grown man acting like Haye and speaking the way he does about women. They also don't want their children feeling this behaviour is normalised because they saw it on TV. Viewers will not forget this in a hurry and ITV may have headlines now, but I feel this will hit them where it hurts in the long term - the viewing figures.

It is 14 years since Haye last appeared on the show and I don't recall him being this awful first time around. However, people change and I would expect at the very least ITV did some sort of vetting with him.

Given that every time he opens his mouth something awful comes out, I refuse to believe there weren't any red flags. If the BBC broadcast this, people would call for the licence fee to be revoked. As it is, I think ITV's advertisers should seriously look at what they are being associated with.


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