Nigel Farage has today given hell to ITV boss Kevin Lygo and warned him not to ‘go to war’ with him, claiming he now knows there was a conspiracy at the top of the broadcaster to ‘stitch me up’ on I’m a Celebrity.
Mr Farage, 59, left the jungle after reaching Sunday’s final but claims he has now learned ‘people up at the top of ITV were doing their best to make life quite unpleasant for me’.
Mr Farage came third in the reality show as former Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson was crowned the winner and boxer Tony Bellew came second – defying critics and left-wingers who vowed to boycott the show.
As he returns to Britain he said he is fuming about a ‘stitch-up’ at ITV, including claims they deliberately censored him, reduced his air time as well as showing him naked multiple times. He also learned that Kevin Lygo made an obscene joke about him on stage while he was in the jungle.
The former UKIP leader has said that Director of Television Mr Lygo should ‘look what happened’ to Dame Alison Rose at NatWest – who was forced to quit after the Brexiteer was debanked because of his politics.
Speaking to GB News as he left he said: ‘It seems whilst I was in the Jungle, one or two people at the top of ITV were doing their best to make things unpleasant for me. What I will say to Kevin Lygo, the boss of ITV, it’s up to you mate. If you want to go to war with me, you really can. The last person to do that was Dame Alison Rose, from NatWest bank, and look what happened to her’.
Mr Farage also learned of claims that Mr Lygo allegedly joked aimed an offensive one- handed gesture at him at an event attended by stars Susanna Reid, Davina McCall and Lorraine Kelly in late November.
Joking about the sign language interpreter on stage next to him, Mr Lygo apparently said: ‘I don’t know any sign language, I just know the sign for Nigel Farage.’ He later said of the Brexiteer: ‘Don’t worry, he knows he has to come home from in a dinghy.’
Pictured: Nigel Farage speaking on GB News last night addressing ITV Boss Kevin Lygo
Pictured: Kevin Lygo, ITV’s Director of Television, has been blasted for reportedly making ‘life quite unpleasant’ for the politician
Pictured: Mr Farage urged Mr Lygo not to ‘go to war’ with him, warning ‘look what happened’ to Dame Alison Rose (right)
Hitting back, Mr Farage said last night: ‘I would suggest, Mr Lygo, that I am prepared to ignore your rude, one-handed gestures, the rude pathetic attempts from your staff to stitch me up.
‘I’m prepared to forget all of it if we can call a truce. But if you really, really want to go to war with me, I don’t think it will do ITV’s share price an awful lot of good’.
Around £840million was wiped off NatWest’s share value after Dame Alison admitted leaking false information about Mr Farage to the BBC.
The former chief executive of Natwest Dame Alison Rose was forced to quit her role amid the fallout over the de-banking row with Mr Farage.
Dame Alison Rose initially tried to cling on to her £5million-a-year post despite dramatically admitting she was behind the leaking of a customer’s financial details.
But she finally fell on her sword in July following an extraordinary intervention from the PM and Chancellor, who made clear their ‘significant concerns’.
Mr Farage is not the first controversial politician to enter into the n jungle, following Matt Hancock’s appearance last year.
They experienced almost the same trajectory in the programme, with the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also claiming third place.
During the final, Nigel faced his biggest fear yet as he took on the final Bushtucker Trial of the series during Sunday night’s episode.
The politician took part in Panic Pit in the hope to win the three finalists desserts, himself a drink and a treat.
Mr Farage also broke the show’s strict ban on nudity, arguing that he had a right to clean thoroughly.
Speaking on GB News last night, the former leader of UKIP said: ‘It seems whilst I was in there, one or two people up at the top of ITV were doing their best to make life quite unpleasant for me.
Pictured: Mr Farage took part in the final Bushtucker Trial of the series on ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
Pictured: Mr Farage during a Bushtucker eating trial on the ITV show
Pictured: Mr Lygo reportedly made a ‘rude, one-handed gesture’ about the politician at the channel’s Palooza event last month
Mr Lygo reportedly spoke in front of a host of ITV stars including Susanna Reid and Lorraine Kelly at the channel’s Palooza event last month, according to The Mirror.
He was accompanied on stage by a sign language interpreter when he apparently made a rude, one-handed gesture and joked: ‘Thank you to the signer I don’t know any sign language, I just know the sign for Nigel Farage.’
Speaking about the Brexit campaigner, Mr Lygo reportedly said: ‘Don’t worry, he knows he has to come home from in a dinghy,’ according to The Mirror.
Mr Lygo came under fire this week following ITV’s report into Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger colleague, which some staff have dubbed a ‘whitewash’.
The report, conducted by an independent lawyer Jane Mulcahy KC, found that ITV did not cover-up the relationship and that station bosses had made ‘considerable efforts’ to discover the truth in 2019 – four years before the affair broke.
However, staff at ITV have been left cross, accusing the report of being a ‘waste of time’.
One staff member told the Mail: ‘There’s a chasm between this report and reality. What’s clear is that ITV will need more than policies and procedures to address its culture of silence.’
Sources at ITV say that they have ‘full confidence’ in This Morning editor Martin Frizell and its head of daytime, Emma Gormley.
There have been calls for chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall and her number two Kevin Lygo to be sacked, though insiders now think that their jobs will also be safe.