If you aren’t already skeptical of reality stars flogging diet supplements, then you will be now - as TOWIE’sLauren Goodger and Mike Hassini have been caught agreeing to sell a fake cyanide weight loss aid to followers. BBC3 documentary Blindboy Undestroys The World, which was released last week, saw Mike and Lauren and Love Island’s Zara Holland, asked to advertise ‘diet drink’ Cyanora. That's even though cyanide - which was used in concentration camps and as a chemical weapon in World Wars I and II - is lethal when ingested.
All the reality stars were told they wouldn’t be able to try the drink as it wasn’t ready yet. None of them said that this was a problem.
Lauren also admitted to never trying Skinny Coffee, a weight loss aid she previously advertised when she claimed it helped her lose two stone. On the documentary, she said, ‘I’ve even had my own friends message me, "Lol can you get me some of that Skinny Coffee, does it work?” ‘They’re actually going out and buying it, and I’m like “you know how this works?!”’
Mike, who works as a personal trainer, even said that the drink looked ‘pretty natural’.
Zara’s agent stepped in and said she wouldn’t be able to lie to followers. Metro reports that she later said in a statement, ‘Although I had read out the ingredients which included Hydrogen Cyanide, I did not immediately know what this was at the time. My agent did state that I would not promote a product without trying the product first, and we needed to be provided with more details. I would never deliberately mislead my followers or promote a product that was dangerous.’
Lauren's rep said in a statement, 'Lauren was asked to go to an audition by her old management to attend a meeting to appear in an advert for a new water. There was no mention of what the water contained before the meeting. The money on the table was quite a large sum which was offered.'
The TOWIE star added, 'I was asked to read a script which I did to screen test me for the job. This script was given to me at that precise moment. No deals were signed and it was an audition. As with any audition you people please and say what they want to hear. They asked me would I promote the drink without using it. In the heat of the moment I said yes and also said I hadn’t tried skinny coffee in the hope of getting the job.
'Of course I would never promote anything that contains poison and proper checks would have been made before any promotion. I also have never said I lost two stone using skinny coffee. That is a complete lie and I’m unsure where that has come from. I would never promote anything on my Instagram that I don’t feel is right for my followers and that I haven’t used. The sit down meeting after the audition was filmed undercover without my knowledge.'
Grazia Daily has also contacted Mike’s reps for comment.
Blindboy Undestroys The World is available now on BBC Three.
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