Carol Vorderman may have left I’m a Celebrity…South Africa, but she has a long-standing quarrel with a well-known lingerie entrepreneur.
Carol Vorderman’s rivalry with lingerie magnate Michelle Mone
Carol Vorderman’s presence on I’m a Celebrity…South Africa gained her a slew of followers despite her failure to win the jungle crown.
Away from the renowned ITV reality show, the TV legend has had a public feud with a well-known entrepreneur.
Baroness Carol and Baroness Michelle Mone OBE, the founder of the lingerie firm Ultimo, once struck up a connection after an accidental meeting at a hotel, but it ended just under two years later. We took a closer look at their long-running dispute.
- Friendliness out of the blue
More than ten years ago, Carol and Michelle, a businesswoman, met at the Dorchester Hotel.
She went to the hotel bar one night and met Michelle, with whom she struck up a friendship.
They quickly became inseparable, as seen by their frequent public appearances together at major occasions.
Carol explained: “It lasted about, I’d say 18 months maybe – something like that. I won’t go into detail but I just realised, ‘Woah, I don’t want to be seen with this person.’”
- Complains on Twitter
Carol slammed Michelle and her husband on Twitter earlier this year, according to The Sun.
Carol tweeted after sharing an item from The Sunday Post on a lending company owned by Michelle’s husband: “MICHELLE MONE’S HUSBAND A new company based around his now infamous firm on the Isle of Man is giving loans of £1,000-£5,000 with APR of up to 92%.
“Both currently under police investigation, is there no moral bar too low for these two??”
Carol has targeted Michelle in a number of tweets in recent months, following her on-air rage about the Baroness on This Morning.
- On-air swiping
Carol took aim at Michelle during an episode of This Morning, just over a decade after their friendship ended.
According to Sky News, charges were made in 2020 that Michelle may have benefitted from contracts handed to a PPE business.
Michelle has disputed the allegations, and according to a statement issued by the Baroness’ office at the time of the allegations: “With immediate effect, Baroness Mone will be taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her.”
In a separate statement, Michelle also previously said: “I was asked to help at a time of national emergency. I declared all necessary interests and have done nothing wrong.”
During an episode of This Morning, Carol and Gyles Brandeth were discussing Sir Rod Stewart’s outburst regarding reports of “£15b of wastage” of PPE when Carol took aim at Michelle during a rant.
“I cannot talk about useless PPE without also talking about Michelle Mone, who was brought into the House of Lords, as a baroness, by David Cameron,” she said.
Alison Hammond, however, interrupted Carol and supported Michelle, claiming that the Baroness was not present to face the allegations against her.
Carol replied: “No she’s not here to defend herself but I’m repeating what has been said in the press.”
A source addressed the on-air swipe at the time, with Birmingham Mail reporting the source as saying: “Baroness Mone will not be commenting on this publicity-hungry person.”