Myleene Klass has accused Celebs Go Datingof gaslighting Vanessa Feltz after the presenter felt ‘carved up’ when she was matched with a date who was just like her cheating ex-fiancé Ben Ofoedu.
The television personality, 45, took to her Instagram stories on Thursday to defend Vanessa, 61, after she was shut down by dating experts Anna Williamson and Paul Carrick Brunson on last week’s show.
She had told them she felt ‘trapped and triggered’ by her date – who ‘looks just like my ex, sounds like my ex and is in the same business as my ex’, while they tried to persuade her to give her date a chance.
Vanessa signed up for Celebs Go Dating just months after splitting from Ben, 51 whom she was engaged since 2006, after he publicly admitted cheating on her while touring.
Posting a snap of the This Morning host looking uncomfortable on the show, Myleene said: ‘Gaslighting (noun); a form of emotional abuse that involves intentionally manipulating or distorting the truth to instill self-doubt in someone.’
Hitting out: Myleene Klass has accused Celebs Go Dating of gaslighting Vanessa Feltz after the presenter felt ‘carved up’ when she was matched with a date who was like her cheating ex
‘I am horrified’: Vanessa had told dating experts she felt ‘trapped and triggered’ by her date – who ‘looks just like my ex, sounds like my ex and is in the same business as my ex’
Furious: Myleene 45, took to her Instagram stories on Thursday to defend Vanessa, 61
She continued, ‘@vanessafeltzofficial is my dear friend. I’ve known this beautiful soul for years. I fully appreciate I’m playing straight into the shows intentions here, but if you remain silent you become part of the wider problem, so I stand by V.V is smart, kind and a legend of a woman both professionally and personally.
‘Many are intimidated in her presence, she is after all a wordsmith and refreshingly bright. She is also human. ‘The agency’ put her in a vulnerable position that NO person, famous or not, should intentionally be placed.
‘I think we can all agree with the wealth of experience, information, and psychologists to hand, they knew exactly what effect placing a SEEMINGLY near identical reminder of the person who had betrayed and abused her trust, heart and purse would have on her.
‘BTW the date was just as much their pawn as the quasi love Gods toyed with all involved. We’ve all been in positions where people have taken advantage of us but to see V misrepresented and gas lit in this way isn’t ok especially after she bravely picked herself up and is getting back out there giving hope to many.
‘V, many who have been blindsided stand behind you for your sheer bravery. Watching the agents gaslight you has made for uncomfortable viewing. What should be lighthearted fun has taken a rather machiavellian turn.
‘All may be fair in love and war after all but you will win in the end’, Myleene concluded.
Myleene was responding to last week’s programme where Vanessa was removed from the date and berated by agents Paul and Anna for being too ‘closed off’ after watching her becoming standoffish.
Bewildered, the broadcaster told them: ‘This is identical to the relationship I have just come out of.
‘So yes, I am absolutely closed off, and there is nothing wrong with that. That is how I am. I said it clearly that I don’t wish to go back there, and you should understand it the first time I say it.’
Date: Myleene was responding to last week’s programme where Vanessa was removed from the date and berated by agents Paul and Anna for being too ‘closed off’
Awkward date: Bewildered, the broadcaster told them: ‘This is identical to the relationship I have just come out of. So yes, I am absolutely closed off, and there is nothing wrong with that’
Split: Vanessa signed up for Celebs Go Dating just months after splitting from Ben whom she was engaged since 2006, for his public infidelities (pictured 2008)
Defensive: Paul said: ‘I feel like you’re coming for me, and I have been nothing but respectful to you’
Paul said: ‘I feel like you’re coming for me, and I have been nothing but respectful to you.’
Vanessa has now found an unlikely army of Generation Z supporters on TikTok who have accused the Channel 4 show’s matchmakers of ‘gaslighting her’ over her forthright behaviour.
One person on the platform said: ‘The agents are gaslighting her for good television, I admire Vanessa for speaking her mind, you go girl.’
Another wrote: ‘Older women know their own mind, they’ve had experience and she’s heartbroken. She specifically told them what type of person she needs right now and they’re definitely not listening to her.’
One more said: ‘Women at her age know what they want and there’s nothing wrong with that’.
Vanessa has been criticised for her performance on the Channel 4 show – where single celebrities join an exclusive dating agency – for her ‘closed-off’ approach to potential love matches and being ‘sulky.’
This week, the presenter accused the network’s bosses of ‘carving’ her up on the show and portraying her in a bad light.
She told The Mail: ‘I had no idea the editors were going to carve me up like that. I was always on my best behaviour for hours on end and then they always showed the bit where I’m looking so p****d off at the end.
‘If I hadn’t have been so sulky they wouldn’t have shown it. Dating at any hard but dating in front of thousands of people. I’ve learnt not to do anymore reality TV.’
She said: ‘There was such a complicated and convoluted tapestry of lies. I have no idea what really happened. I can’t bear to hear you utter his name.’
Generation Z members have also jumped to her defence over the split, with one writing on TikTok: ‘She’s not horrible by any means.
‘She still needs time to process the previous break-up. She’s clearly still heartbroken. We’re with you hun.’
MailOnline has contacted Channel 4, Lime Pictures and Anna and Paul’s representatives for comment.
