Rebekah Vardy's disastrous I'm A Celeb appearance which left her in tears

Rebekah Vardy appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2017, and now she's called her rival's appearance "hypocrisy" as she slams Coleen Rooney in a new interview

Rebekah Vardy broke down in tears following her stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Here, as she was branded a bully. Now, she has spoken out against her rival Coleen Rooney as she calls her appearance in the jungle "hypocrisy".

The WAG appeared on the ITV show back in 2017, but her stint in the jungle has been overshadowed by Coleen's appearance after she joined I'm A Celeb's 2024 line-up. Speaking to The Sun, the WAG said: "Coleen's legal team were very dismissive about my reality TV past. They mocked it.

"So for her to be doing the jungle now, it’s hypocrisy at its finest, isn’t it? I think there was always a plan for reinvention. She stayed out of the public eye for so long.

"There were so many stories, negative stories, about Wayne. And I think she wanted to turn things around for herself. We’ve gone from a person about whom her legal team stood up in court and said, ‘She’s such a private individual’, and now this so-called private individual is going on one of the biggest reality TV shows in the UK. I mean, it’s ironic really."

Five years ago, Coleen waged war on rival Becky after accusing her of leaking stories to The Sun, something she still vehemently denies. The resulting defamation case — brought by Becky — lasted for two-and-a-half months, with a judge deciding Coleen’s defence was "substantially true".

In last night's premiere of the new series, Ant and Dec poked fun at the famous dispute. While introducing the new contestants, it wasn't long before Dec quipped: "It will be nice for her to face trial that doesn't involve Rebekah Vardy."

Rebekah was accused of bullying in her appearance in 2017. Comedian Iain Lee's late arrival caused shockwaves through the camp, and viewers were gobsmacked when the comedian became isolated from the group over an incident dubbed Strawberrygate. Iain and boxer Amir had managed to successfully win a treat after completing a challenge, and both devoured the huge plate of strawberries and cream before going back to their campmates.

Amir later convinced his fellow celebrities that it was Iain’s idea to eat the strawberries, when in fact, it was the boxer who suggested it first and encouraged the comedian to join him in eating the treat. After the incident, Iain was treated poorly by some of his campmates, and Rebekah was one of the celebs who had an intense dislike for the comedian.

In one scene, viewers were astonished when she claimed Iain was using his mental health to gain sympathy with fans and win the show. “He is going in there to win and he is playing the sympathy card and he isolates himself from the rest of the camp and then as soon as the cameras are on he wants the limelight,” she fumed.

Viewers were stunned, and many called for her to be stripped of her role as a mental health ambassador for the charity YoungMinds. She was the fourth celeb to be voted off the show, and as she headed back to the hotel with her family, she was seen breaking down in tears after Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly confronted her over the bullying allegations live on TV. “You know what, I was the one that was being the most supportive of him. A bully? I’ve never been a bully in my whole entire life,” she sobbed as she was comforted by her dad.

However, Iain refused to let Rebekah get away with her cruel treatment, and in 2022, he blasted the WAG for making him “f***ing miserable” in the jungle. “She encouraged people not to talk to me and left me isolated (apart from two campmates who were not taken in by her). When she came out of the camp, she told lies about me. She bullied my sister who was staying in Australia and told her, ‘In my world, men don’t cry’,” he fired in a rant on Twitter.

Rebekah denied she was a bully, and she told The Sun that her scenes on the show had been “edited” to make her look bad. “Edited TV looks a certain way. I don’t have anything bad to say about him,” she insisted.