Scarlett regrets ever getting skinny as she is branded a cheat
AS SHE’S CALLED A CHEAT
And she’s being sued over her fitness DVD…
Anyone who’s seen a DVD chart around Christmas time knows that the fitness industry is a money-gushing business for reality TV stars. With the possible exception of Scarlett Moffatt, who’s reportedly facing a £100k bill from the producers of her fitness video following accusations that she’s a “cheat”. And now Scarlett’s told friends she regrets ever getting involved with the weight-loss world.
“She’s said the fitness DVD is one of the biggest mistakes of her life,” an insider close to the star tells heat. “She wishes she’d never done it and, if she could turn back time, there’s no way she would again. It was something she signed up for reluctantly anyway, and as soon as she did, she says she felt under huge pressure from the producers to lose more than 3st in a really short space of time. She hated it, and regrets giving young girls the impression you have to be slim to succeed. She didn’t enjoy any of it, and now it’s coming back to haunt her in a big way.”
Scarlett released the video in December 2016, shortly after winning I’m A Celebrity… and it has sold an impressive 60,000 copies. But a recent exposé by The Sun On Sunday accused Scarlett of losing weight for her DVD by secretly attending a hard-core Swiss boot camp, instead of using her own exercise plan. The tabloid claimed the 27 year old – who went from 11st 4lbs to 8st in 2016 – was made to exercise all day long, and survive on a diet of just 700 calories a day. Their report claimed, “The DVD is a sham, really. There is no mention of the boot camp where she was climbing mountains and exercising for six hours a day. Scarlett is one of the most popular young women on TV — a real girl-next-door figure. The DVD gave fans an unrealistic portrayal of how she lost weight.”
The report also claimed that the whole thing was torturous for the Saturday Night Takeaway
presenter, saying, “She was really struggling and finding it hard to cope. She was on a starvation diet, exercising way too hard and not eating enough. She was being pushed to breaking point.” Text messages Scarlett reportedly sent to her friends while she was at the boot camp seem to confirm this.
One read, “It’s so hard losing weight anyway, without this pressure of having to persuade people you’re doing everything they’re telling you, even though I know it’s bad on my body only eating like 600/700 calories a day.” Another said, “I can’t do this any more – it’s too much and I’m having to almost persuade people to believe me. I wanted to make an honest DVD, this doesn’t feel right.” Scarlett’s representative confirmed she’d attended the boot camp, but denied she’d done anything more extreme, saying, “She did go to a boot camp and it was a horrid experience. She had to weigh herself every day and was put on a very low-calorie diet – but she categorically did not take any [diet] pills.”
To add insult to injury, Scarlett could now face a £100,000 bill – and a big legal battle – after the people behind the DVD, Big Shot Productions, accused the star of regaining the weight too quickly. Lawyers have reportedly been sending letters to Scarlett’s representatives for the past month, and a second source told The Sun, “It’s usually standard for any fitness DVD to have a clause to say the celebrity who made it must keep their weight to a certain level for a year after its release. Producers got in touch just before the contract was about to expire, saying they wanted their money back as they had seen photographs of Scarlett looking large. It’s a bit of a liberty, as they can’t just write and say this basing it on photographs, so legal letters have been going backwards and forwards. It’s really upset Scarlett because she went through such a lot for the DVD.” Scarlett’s Superslim Me Plan continues to sit in the top-selling fitness charts. In it, Scarlett tells viewers, “If I can do it – a professional couch potato – then you can, too.” She ends it by saying, “Trust us. I’ve done it myself. You’ll look and feel amazing. It’s well worth the sweat.” When it hit the charts, Scarlett told heat how proud she was to have lost 3st 4lbs, saying, “That’s roughly what my three-year-old cousin Noah weighs. It’s like I’ve been piggy-backing Noah for years and I’ve just dropped him off at school.” In another interview she encouraged fans to, “Do the exercise and just eat right — just don’t eat loads of crap, it’s literally that simple.”
As the story broke last week, fans were divided, with many calling Scarlett a “cheat” and a “con”, while others were sympathetic, commenting, “This boot camp and starvation was not her choice”. Meanwhile, Scarlett was at the Glamour Beauty Festival, where she spoke about her struggles with body confidence, saying, “When I first came out of the jungle, I went through a stage where I felt like I had to try and look a certain way… but I was really miserable.”
It follows a tough year for the star. Her super-relatable image was damaged in January when she was dragged into co-presenter Ant Mcpartlin’s divorce. Fans speculated on a possible romance between them, but after insisting she saw the 42 year old as a “brother” and going public with new boyfriend Lee Wilkinson, things seemed to be on the up. The pair have been dating since Christmas, and regularly share “date night” pictures on Instagram. But friends say this past week has thrown Scarlett back into a dark place. We’re told, “It feels like one thing after another right now. With this new DVD story, people think she’s fake.
“It’s really sad, and she hates being seen as a bad example to her young fans.”