What I’m A Celebrity’s Kelly Brook has said about Ant & Dec as feud reports resurface

Kelly Brook is one of the stars I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here 2025but she has a rather awkward past with co-hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly.

The model previously worked with British TV presenters in the series. third series of Britain's Got Talent in 2009, and the experience was not one of the fondest memories for her, McPartlin and Donnelly. As a result, there have long been reports of a feud between the two, which resurfaced after Brooke came in to the I'm a Celebrity jungle.

Here's what you need to know about the alleged feud, as well as what both sides have said about each other in the years since.

What happened between Kelly Brook, Ant and Dec?

Kelly Brook has joined ITV Britain's Got Talent as the first fourth judge on the panel, alongside then judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan.

The model left the show after less than a week as it was said the four-judge format was “too difficult”. However, Brooke previously claimed she lost her position on the show after upsetting McPartlin and Donnelly.

McPartlin and Donnelly publicly recounted their first meeting with Brooke in their 2010 memoir, Oh! What a Lovely Couple: Our Story, which sheds light on their awkward interaction on BGT.

In the book, Donnelly wrote: “Kelly seemed nervous, so I told her it would be a lot of fun and just let her relax. She nodded, then looked at me and asked, “What do you do on the show?”

“I looked at Simon, who was sitting next to me, and he turned to Kelly and said, 'Kelly, you saw the show, didn't you?' To which she replied: “Yes… well, a little.”

He added: “I don't want to sound selfish, but the last person to say, 'What do you do?' was the queen when I met her at ITV's fiftieth anniversary party.”

The Britain's Got Talent panel has its fourth judge since 2012, when Alesha Dixon joined Cowell, Holden and David Walliams on the line-up. Bruno Tonioli replaced Walliams in the group in 2023, with KSI taking over the reins in 2025.

What did Kelly Brook say?

According to Standard In 2012, Brooke spoke about her experience on Britain's Got Talent, where she claimed she lost her position to McPartlin and Donnelly.

“ITV people told me I upset Ant and Dec, that's all,” she said. “I would really like to stay on the show. I really felt like everything was working out.

“Ant and Dec were always nice to me, but obviously they didn’t want me on the show.”

Brook also said, “Their egos are such that they said to themselves, 'How dare she think she can come on our show?' And they've been very vocal since then about their displeasure with my being there.”

At the time, Brooke also addressed the couple's decision to write about her in their memoir: “As for Ant and Dec, good luck to them. They are rich and happy, but they will not be in my autobiography, even if I am in their autobiography!”

Brooke previously said she would never appear on I'm a Celeb in 2018, and ahead of the 2025 series launch she revealed: Elizabeth Day Podcast “How to Fail” about why she finally changed her mind about going into the jungle.

She explained: “My friend was asked to meet the producers of I'm a Celebrity and I said, 'You should do it, I love watching it, what an incredible life experience… I thought why don't I give myself that advice?'

“I realized it was mostly out of fear, and I thought it was time for me to live my don’t-give-a-fuck era.”

Adding that she has achieved a lot in her career and wants to do something new, she continued: “It's the right time for I'm A Celebrity, it's like who cares. I've been in the theatre, I've had a great radio show, I've been to America, I've done so much that now I feel like I want to do something for myself.”

What did Ant and Dec say?

As mentioned, McPartlin and Donnelly primarily recounted their meeting with Brooke in their 2010 memoirs. In it, they explained how disappointed they were at not being included in any discussions about Brook's hiring on Britain's Got Talent.

McPartlin wrote: “Simon Cowell decided there would be a fourth judge and it was Kelly Brook. This happened completely unexpectedly for both of us, and for twenty seconds we sat in complete silence.

Donnelly added: “We had two questions: 'Why is there a fourth official?' and “Why is it Kelly Brook?” None of them could answer us.

“Obviously, as showrunners, we have to justify things like this to the public, and no one could give us a good reason why Kelly was on board. The simple answer was that Simon, without talking to anyone, decided it was a good idea. We didn't agree.”

He continued: “We were also annoyed that we weren't consulted – we've always had a good relationship with Simon and there's mutual respect between the three of us, so that was disappointing.”

Adding Brook to the cast took a lot more time into the filming schedule, and having a fourth judge was confusing because no one had a casting vote. Cowell realized something wasn't working, McPartlin said: “At the end of the first day, Simon called me and asked if we wanted to go up to his hotel room. Nothing funny happened, he just wanted to talk about the situation with the fourth official.

“When we arrived, the first thing he did was apologize – he said he knew he should have consulted us and he was sorry he didn't. He was already reconsidering his decision and it was a good, honest conversation and it cleared things up.”

Donnelly insisted that “there was nothing personal with Kelly; It's just that the four judges didn't work,” and added, “We both felt sorry for her because she got dragged into all this and it didn't work out.”

In 2013, Donnelly told Metro's Guilty pleasures that he and his presenting partner had not seen Brook since they performed together on Britain's Got Talent. When asked if Brooke could ever return to the ITV soap, he said he “can't see that happening.”

He added: “There is, of course, no hostility on our part.”

I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! airs every evening at 9pm on ITV1, STV, ITVX and STV Player.