It's Love Island versus Made in Chelsea as two reality TV stars clash over their views on horse racing during a heated online debate.
Chris Hughes, best known for offering to rap in order to lift the mood in the Love Island villa back in 2017, has taken aim at former Made in Chelsea star Lucy Watson, after the 31-year-old shared her thoughts about horse racing on social media.
Lucy - who used to own horses - slammed Royal Ascot attendees and fans of horse racing in general on Twitter over the weekend, expressing her disgust at the fact animals are whipped and raced for human entertainment in a lengthy statement.
But Chris, who presents live horse racing coverage with ITV Racing, took issue with Lucy's claims and urged his fellow reality TV star to take an "insightful and eye-opening" trip to "a racing yard, on National Racehorse Week" - a suggestion Lucy didn't take kindly to.
Their debate continued and saw Lucy accuse Chris of calling her uneducated, with the heated Twitter exchange making its way into savage quote-tweet territory.
The drama started when Lucy took to her page on Sunday and told her followers "f**k horse racing", following the five-day Flat racing extravaganza Royal Ascot that took place earlier in the week.
"I am so sick of seeing people dress up to go and watch horses risk their lives at the races… Being kicked and whipped; forced to do something they would – not – choose – to – do," Lucy began when sharing her thoughts in more detail.
"If you saw someone kicking and whipping a dog what would you do? Why is it okay to do it to horses?"
She continued: "Sport? Fashion event? Please think about the victims here. As hard as that may be for some. Horses die every year at the races. They get injured and put down. Horses deserve better,’ alongside the hashtag ‘#banhorseracing."
Lucy's tweet caught the eye of racing fan Chris, who hit back with: "The best looked after animals in the world. If racing stopped, then roughly 50000 horses in training in the UK and Ireland would have no home, no one to look after them, more would die in the wild than on the racecourse, and the horses you love, like we do, would never exist."
Not impressed with Chris' claims, Lucy fired back: "So well looked after that approx 250 horses die every year on British race courses.
"They’re bred into existence to be used as commodities & forcibly risk their lives for people like you to profit… unbiased opinions only please."
Horse Canute was killed after sustaining fatal injuries during the first day of the Royal Ascot last week. Since 2013, 29 horses have been pushed beyond breaking point and died in jumps and flat races at Ascot, according to PETA.
"It’s not simply a biased opinion, but it’s factual," Chris replied to Lucy's comeback. "There’s more to it than your initial statement, which is why people will respond in that sense. There are risks with everything in life. You should visit a racing yard, on National Racehorse Week, it’s insightful and eye-opening."
Lucy declined Chris' invite, causing the former Love Island star to quip: "There we go. You can’t educate people who don’t want to be educated. Not holding up very well is it."
"So I’m uneducated because I disagree with you?" Lucy fumed in her response.
Chris then decided it was time to take the debate over to the view of his followers, quote-tweeting Lucy as he replied: "You’re uneducated because you refuse to be educated. Like going to school and wearing headphones. Pointless."
Lucy had the final word on Sunday, wrapping up the exchange with: "Going to a yard isn’t going to change the fact that horses are unwillingly forced to risk their lives for humans like you to benefit. They’re exploited. They die. You support it. I don’t."
But the drama didn't end there.
On Monday morning, Lucy took to her Twitter page once again to address the fact she "used to support" racing events and even owned competitive race horses herself.
"I used to kick and whip the horses. I really loved according to my teacher's instructions. I didn't know any better. That needs to be said," the star admitted.
She went on to explain how she "learnt to view horses as individuals and recognise they are being used as commodities".
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that horses are risking their lives at the races for the sake of entertainment," Lucy penned in her latest update.
Chris once again quote-tweeted his reply to Lucy's original tweet, writing: "Lucy, if anything’s for sure, it’s not an achievement you now view horses as individuals, we always have.
"Every single racehorse in training is an ‘individual’, has their own care by a human individual day in, day out. A specific care tailored to each horse, we’re proud of that."
In the final tweet on the long-winded debate, Lucy shared an image of a horse collapsing during a race and asked Chris: "Would you want to be forced to run in 30-degree heat while being kicked, whipped and choked by a metal bit? Does this really look like “care” to you?"
Chris is yet to respond to Lucy's question.
* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter and Facebook .
