David Haye has revealed he plans to sue ITV for allegedly editing I’m a Celebrity: South Africa to make him look bad – claiming it will be for “way more” than £10m.
The former WBA heavyweight world champion boxer is entering the ring with the channel in his “biggest battle” yet amid claims that the series, in which he made a series of controversial comments, was “heavily directed” and “manipulated” to cause “irreparable damage” to his brand.
On Instagram, Haye, 45, said that the experience had a “detrimental effect on him” and has left him “facing negative repercussions”. In the show, which aired last month, Haye faced criticism for saying that “ugly girls” have a personality whereas “super pretty girls are idiots”, while later in the series, his treatment of Adam Thomas in camp left many viewers feeling uncomfortable.
Haye addressed reports he was planning to take legal action against the company for £10m, but said this figure will be higher: “I’m hearing this 10 million number banded around. I don’t know where that came from, because the number I’m going to hit him with is way more than that.”
He said he doesn’t like “getting pushed around” or “people taking advantage”, adding that he’s “going to take it as far as it needs to go” and that he was “looking forward” to the legal battle. Haye expressed confidence that a judge would rule in his favour.
“Once the tapes have been viewed, once the evidence has been presented, and once they see what the public sees, they’ll realise that maybe this, this reality TV, might not be that real, maybe manipulated, heavily directed in a certain narrative for a specific reason,” he told his fans. “And I’m looking forward to a judge seeing exactly what went down so they can make their decision.”
However, media law experts have warned that Haye is in for a “notoriously difficult” challenge, telling The Independent that defamation cases based on reality TV show editing are very unlikely to succeed.
Kishan Pattni, a reputation management partner at Freeths LLP, told The Independent: “Claims arising out of reality TV editing are notoriously difficult to win in England. The law does not protect contestants from being shown in an unflattering or hostile light: it protects against false statements of fact that cause serious harm to reputation, as required by the Defamation Act 2013.”
“To succeed, Haye would need to establish that I’m A Celebrity: South Africa conveyed a genuinely false and defamatory meaning presented as fact, rather than a matter of impression, narrative or opinion. Only if that hurdle were cleared would the burden shift to ITV for proving the meaning was true.”
It’s also very likely that contestants will have signed contracts which give producers editorial control of “how footage is selected, edited and presented”.
Joseph McCaughley, a reputational management partner at Spencer West LLP, said: “This often restricts their ability to bring claims about how they are portrayed. A claim will only succeed if the programme crosses the threshold into a legal wrong – not simply because it creates a negative impression.”
The Independent has contacted ITV for comment
