I’m A Celebrity producers needed to step in to stop David Haye

Just when you thought David Haye couldn’t get any worse on I’m A Celebrity, he started discussing the so-called ‘ugly duckling syndrome’.

For anyone yet to be subjected to the boxer’s horrifying analysis of ‘pretty’ women versus their apparently less attractive friends, during last night’s episode he bragged that his model girlfriend has ‘the personality of a proper ugly bird’.

He clarified: ‘Most ugly girls realise they’ve got to have a personality and the banter to tell jokes and s**t, so people overlook the fact that they’re not aesthetically amazing straight away.’
At this point, it hardly needs spelling out what’s wrong with Haye’s remarks.

They’re plainly abhorrent to anyone who lives outside the manosphere.

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But what’s more disappointing than the comments themselves is the lack of serious response from both his campmates and I’m A Celebrity producers.

A cast member is casually throwing out deeply toxic views on a show watched by thousands of children, including impressionable young boys who could well look up to Haye.

In 2026, you would think ITV would be going to great lengths to prevent venomous ideology being spouted on our screens without being properly called out by producers.

There was clearly a lot of discomfort from some of the cast around Haye in last night’s episode, but that was also masked by belly laughs, unintentionally giving him a hall pass to be absolutely vile.

Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts looked visibly exasperated – perhaps too exhausted to challenge him.

After a week of enduring Haye’s nasty behaviour you can hardly blame her.

Scarlett Moffatt, meanwhile, howled laughing as she told him, ‘You can’t say that’ – part scolding, part amusement.

In the Bush Telegraph, she added: ‘Sometimes David says things and I know what he’s saying, but the way he says it goes down like a lead balloon.’
But this isn’t about the way he said it – not in the slightest.

It’s about what he said, which was completely ludicrous and drenched in sexism which isn’t remotely funny.

Actress Beverley Callard, already on the receiving end of Haye’s vicious behaviour, was visibly unimpressed, making it clear, pulling him up on it to an extent.

She wasn’t laughing, but with other campmates chuckling around her, the moment got lost in jest – even if that certainly wasn’t her intention.

But it shouldn’t have to fall to the women in camp to endure and challenge this kind of casual sexism, particularly when that man is built like a lorry and has built a career on exerting his strength and aggression.

Haye wasn’t seemingly given a warning by producers.

On Big Brother or similar reality shows, he’d likely be called into the Diary Room, reprimanded, and that moment would be aired to make it clear his views are unacceptable.

Granted, I’m A Celebrity has never been disguised as a ‘social experiment’ for the sake of entertainment.

It’s always been exactly as it says on the tin – a chance to watch unfiltered celebrities start to unravel in extreme conditions and see what unfolds.

This, however, is a test rarely seen on I’m A Celebrity.

Yes, they have had campmates who would clearly be insufferable to live with; they’ve had Nigel Farage and Matt Hancock pushing the patience of campmates and testing who is morally acceptable to be included on reality TV.

But it’s been a long time since they’ve had anyone spouting such hideous statements as Haye.

And at least then viewers could vote them off our screens.

From the get-go, he banished Callard as ‘dead weight’, then went on to sleep through a Bushtucker Trial while the 69-year-old soap icon was thrown out of a plane.

This was just a warning sign for the behaviour still to come.

I’m A Celebrity South Africa is unfortunately pre-recorded; Haye’s journey has already been determined.

Producers didn’t have the booming wave of complaints on social media to push them into taking action.

But I’d like to think, though, that 99% of the time they don’t need the public to call out disturbing conduct when they can see it themselves.

The public can’t take revenge by booting him out or signing him up for the worst Bushtucker Trials.

If we can’t hold the stars accountable, then someone from ITV surely should have by this point.

Unfortunately, Haye’s repeated actions paint a disappointing view of the production team.

This is actually a phenomenal series of I’m A Celebrity, possibly the best it’s been in years – and that’s coming off the back of two extremely strong series in Australia.

But Haye let the side down in a cast packed with so much fun and humour it didn’t need controversy to be entertaining.

With Gemma Collins in there, you could just stick a GoPro on her head and air 60 minutes of the footage day every night and you’d be onto a winner.

But the greatest let-down is how soft both the camp and production had been on Haye so far.

It’s unfair to judge the camp too harshly when they’re the ones who had to live with both his misogyny and the potential repercussions of really pulling him up on it.

However, ITV have a duty over the next two weeks to properly call Haye out if there is any more blatant sexism – either in front of or behind the camera.

But on current form, I’m not holding my breath.