“She’s going out of her way to embarrass me:” Deni Hines’ I’m A Celeb outing is causing such controversy, even a former winner is speaking out.
Controversial I’m A Celeb contestant Deni Hines is continuing to rub her campmates up the wrong way – and in tense scenes that aired in Monday night’s episode, her behaviour left comedian Nath Valvo in tears.
Hines’ outbursts are making for tense scenes at camp, and during Monday’s episode, she ordered former MAFS star Cyrelle to help her clean out the toilets – despite the fact they’d been cleaned only two hours earlier. Cyrelle said she suspected the task was in fact payback for an earlier clash.
But Hines’ clashes with comedian Nath Valvo were even more confusing: In one scene, she approached him as he sat on a camp stretcher and told him he was “lazy” in front of several other contestants.
Valvo, clearly upset, told Hines he felt she had been repeatedly trying to belittle him, and brushed off her attempts to hug it out.
Later on, Valvo broke down in tears as he spoke about Hines’ behaviour to some of his fellow campmates.
“I feel like she’s going out of her way to embarrass me in front of people, and I just don’t know what to do about it. There’s been so many things … there’s just been a lot of things,” he said.
“I want to be funny! I don’t want to cry near a creek. I’m here to be a comedian.”
Later in Monday’s episode, Hines approached New Zealand supermodel Rachel Hunter to complain that Valvo – who she’d previously declared “lazy” – was actually her least favourite campmate because he “doesn’t have an off switch” and “doesn’t stop for five minutes.”
Hunter tried an empathetic approach, suggesting Hines should examine why Valvo “triggers” her so much.
Hines said she was struggling having to live at camp with so many people, but Hunter countered that it was proving a challenge for everyone, and that they all knew the nature of the show they were signing up for.
“I didn’t, because I never watched the show before signing up,” Hines said. “I came in blind.”
Hunter advised her campmate to think about whether the toll on her mental health was worth it, or whether she might want to leave the show to protect her wellbeing.
Valvo said he thought Hines was “going out of her way” to embarrass him.
Hines has said she didn’t know what type of show she was signing up for.
Ten today teased that one celebrity will quit the show during tonight’s episode – and after that suggestion from Hunter, viewers are placing their bets on Deni.
Hines is weathering a strong public backlash at the moment, not just from viewers, but from former I’m A Celeb contestants.
Former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones, who appeared on the 2019 season of the show, wrote under a social media clip showing Valvo’s breakdown: “I’m really sorry you had to see her speaking about you like she did tonight. I hope you are ok and surrounded by loved ones.”
And entertainment reporter Richard Reid, who won the same season Yvie appeared on, wrote under another I’m A Celeb Instagram post showing Hines clashing with her campmates.
L-R: Jesinta Franklin, Julia Morris, Deni Hines, Polly Porter, Pauline Hanson and Lisa Curry-Kenny during filming of Celebrity Apprentice Australia, 2011.
“Even Blind Freddie could see this coming! Anyone remember her from Celebrity Apprentice? Some people just don’t belong in social situations – at least she knows herself,” he wrote.
Hines had a disastrous showing on the first season of Celebrity Apprentice Australia in 2011, crashing out after three episodes after repeated clashes with other contestants that saw viewers label her a “bully.”
Among those she butted heads with with on the show: Former beauty queen Jesinta Franklin, who appears not to have forgotten her former castmate’s behaviour, 15 years later (coincidentally, the celeb who went on to win that season is now the host of I’m A Celeb – Julia Morris).
“It’s giving Apprentice,” Franklin commented under an I’m A Celeb post about Deni yesterday.
