David Haye is reportedly planning to sue ITV for up to £10 million for “irreparable damage to his brand” following his appearance on I'm A Celebrity... South Africa.
The boxer, 45, was accused of “bullying” Adam Thomas in the jungle and was called out by viewers over his comments about women.
He is believed to have told his lawyers to send a letter to ITV and is demanding a full investigation into the show edit.
Haye is “incandescent with rage” over being made to look like the “pantomime villain” of the series through editing, sources claimed.
“David is absolutely gung-ho about all of this — he is incandescent with rage about how the whole series has been handled and feels he's being made a scapegoat by ITV,” an insider told The Sun.
“He can cite examples — such as the Gemma Collins fat-shaming moment, which used clever editing and snide eye-rolls, etc to make his remark look damning.”
The source went on: “He is going for damages as a result of the 'propaganda' aired against him to recover lost earnings, which lawyers believe could total up to £10million.”
They claimed Haye was previously in talks about a show with Netflix which has since fallen through. He is also thought to have lost brand opportunities.
Haye has reportedly hired £500-per-hour legal firm Gatehouse Chambers.
The Standard has contacted Haye’s representatives and ITV for comment.
The “fat-shaming” comment about Collins referred to an episode in which the campmates were talking about who would do a trial and Collins said, “We all need to eat tonight,” to which Haye replied: 'You need to eat tonight.'
Collins responded, “You know what I'm like without food,” and Haye said: “Where were you last night and where was I last night? What did I eat last night?”
Haye also left campmates Scarlett Moffatt and Ashley Roberts in shock when he said his girlfriend Sian Osborne has the personality of an “ugly bird”.
“She's lovely, she's got the personality of a proper ugly bird,” he said.
When asked what he meant, the retired athlete said: “Most ugly girls realise they've got to have a personality to banter, tell jokes and s**t. People overlook the fact they're not aesthetically amazing straight away.
“What's it called - Ugly Duckling Syndrome? When girls are ugly when they start off, then get pretty as they get older. But they've still got the personality of when they're ugly.”
Haye came under fire throughout the series for his comments towards campmate Thomas.
Thomas claimed Haye “broke” him and pushed him to his limits, while Haye accused him of being a “professional victim” and claimed he “played a sickness”.
The Emmerdale actor has the autoimmune condition psoriatic arthritis and struggled with fatigue and dehydration in the jungle.
Things escalated in the final, with Jimmy Bullard claiming Thomas dropped “c-bombs” during their argument in the jungle which were not aired, and asking Ant McPartlin and co-host Declan Donnelly for their opinion as they had “front row seats”.
McPartlin disagreed that the exchange was aggressive and said: “No it wasn’t, I was there.”
Thomas responded by saying he took “full responsibility” for his actions and has “nothing but love for Jimmy”, but Haye interrupted the exchange to say: “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”
He then claimed a lot of footage surrounding Thomas’ behaviour was cut, stating: “We all had banter back and forth, and a lot of it was cut out from their side.”
Haye and Bullard asked their fellow campmates to agree that Thomas had been “abusive, intimidating and aggressive” in his argument with Bullard.
Collins defended Thomas and eventually walked off set alongside Sinitta, with the TOWIE star branding Haye “disgusting”.
