Grace Dent has become the first celebrity to leave I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! after being forced to exit the camp on medical grounds. The restaurant critic was pictured at Brisbane airport shortly after ITV announced she had left the reality show, with 50-year-old Dent leaving a letter behind for her campmates, apologising for her departure.
‘My dear camp mates, I’m so sorry to let you down,’ she said. ‘I have left the camp for medical reasons. My heart is broken, I have loved and enjoyed getting to know you all. You’ve held me up and it’s been a pleasure being your friend through this experience. Leaving you all at this stage will be one of the saddest things in my life. I love you all. Your friend, Miss Grace Dent.’
Now, speculation is rife about why Dent has left I’m A Celebrity – and the Google searches are particularly uncomfortable. ‘Grace Dent illness’ is a breakout search term up 130%. Grazia reached out to her team for comment, and we’re told she is doing well and is nearly back in the UK.
What is particularly concerning is the way tabloids and public commenters have used Grace’s medical exit from the jungle to indulge in invasive commentary about her appearance, character, and mental health. One tabloid headline speculated about her ‘gaunt’ appearance. Another claimed sources close to the star feared she must feel ‘defeated’ after noting that she didn’t get involved in controversial conversations around Brexit with the likes of Nigel Farage and Fred Sirieix, because, of course, how dare she not go to battle with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage on Brexit? Just as most of the other contestants are seemingly reserved about debating politics with Farage, the burden being on Dent to engage with him purely because she's a journalist for The Guardian hardly seems fair. Viewers seem to forget that this is not a one off interview slot where you can enter armed with evidence and statistics to challenge a politician's claims, Dent likely did not know she was entering the jungle with Farage nor is she obligated to take him to task when she will then be forced to live harmoniously with him in difficult conditions.
Beyond that, any person who challenges Farage is subject to horrendous abuse by his legions of followers online, as we've seen with takedowns of Fred after his Brexit-related disagreements, so is it fair to expect Dent, whose livelihood depends on her reputation as a journalist, to take that on when we know how horrendous online spaces are for women anyway?
Commentary online is similarly insidious, with viewers picking apart her appearance and sharing unsympathetic reactions to her departure – comments that are too rude and cruel to repeat.
The uncomfortable way Dent’s exit is being talked about warrants inspection. Not only is it entirely inappropriate to make pervasive claims about a person’s physical or mental health online, it’s also concerning that even after the public know she has suffered some kind of medical issue, that there is still so much horrendous trolling towards Dent.
We’ve truly moved past the era of #BeKind, it seems.