The 54-year-old took to The Sidebar podcast to discuss his thoughts on the Love Island winner’s Big Brother stint.
5
5
Speaking with hosts Anna Whitehouse and Lauren Layfield, Richard described Ekin-Su’s response to Marisha Wallace’s nomination as performative.
He said: “Obviously the face-to-face nominations with the kissing booth was gripping for telly.
“Marisha was very honest, she just said, ‘I’m voting for you because were you to get to the final, you would possibly win’, and of course Marisha’s in there to win, everyone’s ultimately in there to win because it is a game.
“Then it just exploded into the tears and the cuddling of the soft toy on the bed and it was like this was really going on and I think the word performance was used by Fern at some stage in the diary room.
“It did feel a little bit like a performance.
“I’m trying to be a bit gracious here, but, it was a little bit like ‘you need to let that go.'”
Questioning if he thinks he saw the real Ekin-Su on Celebrity Big Brother, Richard said: “There were a lot of faces in there I think.”
He added: “You’ve got to be transparent, you don’t have to open the books so far, we didn’t want a show like that but you’ve got to be genuine because people see through it.”
Ekin-Su withdrew from a TV appearance on Lorraine, just hours after her eviction.
It came after a “car crash” clash with Strictly Come Dancing’s Layton Williams and an audience of Big Brother fans on spin-off show Late and Live after she was evicted.
The 29-year-old didn’t show up to a tell-all interview with Lorraine Kelly on her own ITV breakfast show.
On Good Morning Britain, Susanna Reid threw to the daily handover with her fellow breakfast colleague.
Susanna said: “We thought you might have Ekin-Su on.”
However, a downhearted Lorraine replied: “So did I.. but alas no. I don’t know, we’re trying to find out. She was due to come in right, but no.”
5
5
5