Iain Lee and Matthew Wright continued a heated debate on social media on Tuesday sparked by the radio host walking out on the presenter’s Channel 5 show.
This morning Iain, 44, told Matthew live on air, “I am so close to telling you to ‘f-off’ and walking off right now” as the TV host persisted on asking him questions about his private life.
Matthew suggested he had the “right” to ask his guest about his recent separation from his wife, as Iain had already opened up about the matter on his TalkRADIO show.
But Iain said he’d told producers before he went on TV that he was not happy to talk about his relationship with Helena on air, which he repeated when Matthew quizzed him about it.
As a result, he decided to prematurely end his appearance, leaving during an ad break.
Later on Twitter, Matthew wrote of the situation in response to viewers condemning his “shocking behaviour” : “It’s also my right to ask question and his to walk out. Shame tho as I like Iain dearly.”
Iain personally responded to this to tell Matthew, 52, again: “I had been assured at least 4 times over several days this would not be brought up. I was promised.
“You had details in your autocue that I had not revealed. I politely suggested you moved on. You didn’t. I felt very uncomfortable. I left quietly and politely.”
Matthew replied: “Tony Blair also asked to avoid certain questions when he appeared but I still asked. I don’t believe in limiting a free press. You left and good luck to you. I bear you no ill will and hope things go better for you in the future,” signing off with a kiss.
Iain retweeted the message to his followers writing: “State of this….”
The row started on this morning’s edition of The Wright Stuff when the I’m A Celeb star became uncomfortable as the host asked him about how he was feeling in light of his recent announcement that he was getting a divorce.
Iain told his talkRADIO show listeners recently that he had separated from his wife, Helena, with whom he has two sons but he said the matter was not up for discussion when he appeared on the Channel 5 show today.
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“Here’s the thing Matthew, I’ve said three times to your producers I am not talking about this so I am not talking about it, it’s private. It’s my life,” he said.
But Matthew wasn’t prepared to let the matter lie, telling him: “But it’s not private if you talk about it on the radio, you will accept that?”
Iain started to reply again before he was cut off by the host. He said: “I will accept that I told your producers three times I am not talking about my private life and they have assured me…”
Matthew said: “You’re not talking about your private life, I just want to know if you can call it private if you talk about it on the radio? Call it semantics but I would like to understand.”
Iain hit back: “I am so close to telling you to ‘f-off’ and walking off right now.”
This left Matthew to quickly try to move on by speaking to his other guests.
“Well, if that’s what you want to do… how are you Claire, what are you up to?” he said turning to actress Claire Sweeney.
Iain was then noticeably absent when the show returned from its next ad break as Iain appeared to stay true to his word of walking off.
He later tweeted: “My mental health is not entertainment. My personal life is not entertainment. I am fine. Better than I’ve been for a long time.”
He added: I’ll be donating today’s fee of £280 to @samaritans I didn’t earn that money and I certainly don’t want it. Let’s see some good come of something so unpleasant.”
Iain’s fans rallied around him, with many saying Matthew’s behaviour was unacceptable.
“Bang out order, Matthew! He gave you fair warning he didn’t want to talk about it. Say sorry!” one tweeted.
Another told Iain: “Watch @5WrightStuff often but today I don’t understand why it was acceptable to push @iainlee about his mental health. He can talk whenever or wherever he wants to. Or not.”
However, others thought Matthew had a point given Iain had already made his private life public when he’d talked about it on his radio show.
“Why go on a chat show if you don’t want to chat about something you have already chatted about?” one asked.
Iain previously told his TalkRADIO listeners he had moved out of his marital home, adding that he hadn’t had the easiest time following his appearance on I’m A Celebrity, where he finished in third place.
He said: “My marriage has ended. I’m getting divorced. It’s miserable and I feel weird after Australia. My head’s all over the place.”
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His tweet today said he’s feeling much better – but he obviously didn’t want to talk about it on TV.
Do you think Iain Lee was right to leave the interview? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!