Former Love Island star Olivia Attwood has hit out at the ‘misogynistic’ rumours behind her I’m A Celebrity exit after learning of them on social media once she was given her mobile phone back
Olivia Attwood has spoken out for the first time since her shock early exit from this year’s I’m A Celebrity, which left viewers confused and speculating over the reason for her departure.
The former Love Island star hit out at one such rumour – that she was pregnant – describing the false claim as ‘misogynistic’.
Within 24 hours of jumping out of a helicopter alongside radio DJ Chris Moyles and carrying out her first challenge in the jungle alongside Loose Women’s Charlene White, the 31-year old found herself being rushed to Aussie A&E by concerned doctors and ITV staff.
Speaking to Mail Online, Olivia said the drama came about as a result of a routine blood test, which all campmates undergo randomly throughout the course of the show.
And unfortunately for Olivia her test showed she was dangerously anaemic, as well as having low sodium and potassium levels, which sadly aren’t conducive to jungle life.
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A blood test showed the former Love Islander was ‘dangerously anaemic’ (
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ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“The results were really, really low when they put them into their reader and they consulted with another doctor off site,” she explained. “I had those bloods done in England before I left, and they were fine. I was confused and of course very, very worried.”
She added: “I was so scared, I was like “what the hell is wrong with me?’. ‘They couldn’t give me an answer, they just told me that they had to get me to the hospital immediately.”
Despite all of this Olivia said she was feeling ‘fine’.
What she wasn’t fine about, however, was the immediate aftermath in which several incorrect rumours began to circulate on social media.
One suggested Olivia’s ADHD – which she was diagnosed with several years ago – would affect her ability to live in camp.
Another suggested that by visiting hospital she had broken a Covid bubble and it wouldn’t be safe for her to reunite with her fellow contestants.
Rumours she was ‘too weak’ and pregnant infuriated Olivia (
Image:
James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock)
ITV bosses felt a return to camp could prove detrimental to her health and wellbeing if levels in her blood dropped again (
Image:
James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
But the star was really riled by rumours she described as ‘misogynistic’ that she’d realised she was too weak for the show or that she was pregnant.
After repeating her blood tests in Australia, results came back fine paving the way for her return – or so she thought.
Instead ITV bosses took her to a hotel to get some rest, leaving her confused whilst staff discussed what would happen next.
Unfortunately a knock on her room’s door the next morning by a producer led to the news that the broadcaster wasn’t willing to risk her return on the grounds that if her low levels dropped again ‘it could be detrimental to her health and wellbeing’. And as ITV wasn’t willing to authorise her return, she couldn’t be insured.
Distraught, Olivia flew back to England to be with family and her Blackburn Rovers footballer boyfriend Brad Dack. Prior to the flight she was given her phone back and she began to read about what the I’m A Celeb audience was speculating about her exit, much of which, she says, felt misogynistic.
“I mean, I saw on Twitter that I was pregnant. I’m not. There is an underlying misogynistic feel to the rhetoric,” she explained.
“They’re saying, ‘I bet she fainted’ or ‘I bet she was scared of sleeping outside’ or that ‘she didn’t fancy it because it was raining’. The reason it was so frustrating is because I am the complete opposite of that – and to make it more irritating, people could see on the show that I was absolutely loving it.
“There was nothing I would have said no to in the jungle. I loved it from the first hour and I was embracing every moment of it. I’m a nature geek, so I loved seeing all the bugs, and I even saw a kangaroo.”
