Rebekah Vardy has some unsolicited praise for Coleen Rooney following the WAG’s performance on her first I’m A Celebrity Bushtucker trial.
Her comments mark a shift in gear. Since The Sun appointed her its I’m A Celebrity columnist, Rebekah has described Coleen as “dull” and told the paper she’d like to see her eat bull penis, or chomp on “humble pie”.
It comes years on from their court case battle, when Rebekah sued Coleen for libel. Coleen had accused Rebekah’s Instagram account of selling stories about her to the press. Coleen won the case in 2022.
Relations are frosty. At least, that’s the performance that’s playing out for the British public. But what is real in the world of celebrity?
Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney
Wayne Rooney had been looking forward to Coleen’s first swing of the hammer, it seems. He posted on his official social media channels that he and the boys “would love to see her doing a trial”.
They “know she’d want to put herself to the test,” he added, before encouraging everyone to “get voting”. When the votes came in and her name was called, he joked on X that he thought he “could be in trouble here”.
She really held her nerve as the mealworms, cockroaches and rats crawled all over her.
This is reportedly the longest Coleen and Wayne have have been apart since they were kids.
Coleen went in for her first Bushtucker trial on Sunday’s show alongside campmate Dean McCullough.
Gearing up for it, she said she was “excited” for her boys back home to “see me do something”.
“Hopefully, I’m gonna do well,” she said. “I’m gonna try my best.”
The Sun quotes an anonymous source as saying that Coleen “wants to get stuck into the trials and show what she’s made of”. She’s had “plenty of airtime to chat all things Wayne and Wagatha,” they added, but playtime’s over. Time to get down to it.
“Wayne knows that,” they went on, which is “why he encouraged all his followers to vote for her”.
And try she did! Coleen and Dean picked up nine stars in their trial, leading Rebekah Vardy to say a rare nice thing about Coleen.
“I’m applauding Coleen,” she told The Sun. “She really held her nerve as the mealworms, cockroaches and rats crawled all over her.”
Rebekah Vardy on I’m A Celebrity
“It’s blowing a gale at home but there’s definitely a rumble in the jungle,” Rebekah added.
She’s been writing I’m A Celeb columns for the paper since this season of ITV’s flagship reality TV show started on November 17.
Rebekah has been playing up to the media in recent days with her remarks in The Sun, leading to a re-emergence of interest in their legal trial.
Maura Higgins on Rebekah Vardy
Before she entered the jungle, new campmate Maura Higgins aired her thoughts on the Wagatha Christie scandal and subsequent trial, making it clear that she’s on Team Rooney. Coleen was nicknamed “Wagatha Christie” by social media users after she accused Rebekah.
“I’m excited to meet [Coleen],” she told MailOnline.
“I would do the exact same as what she did,” she added. Coleen has described the scheme she devised to pinpoint which account she thought was leaking her Instagram stories to the press.
In 2019, Coleen accused Rebekah’s Instagram account of selling stories about her personal life to the press. Rebekah denied the claims and sued Coleen for libel. A trial took place in 2022. But Rebekah lost.
Maura said: “Put up something on my Instagram Story and just have certain people view it to catch that person out. That is the way my brain would work. I want to talk to her about it. I’m bit nosey like that. Yes I am [team Coleen].”
I’m A Celebrity airs tonight from 9pm on ITV1 and is also available on ITVX.
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