Did Ant and Dec Really Feud With Kelly Brook? The Long Running Rumor Explained

Kelly Brook’s arrival on the 2025 season of I’m a Celebrity instantly sparked an old curiosity among reality TV viewers. People wondered whether her history with Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly would matter now that they were sharing the same show again.

Searches for the “Ant and Dec Kelly Brook feud rumor” jumped online almost immediately. It is a story with a strange staying power, even though the moment it came from was brief, awkward, and more than a decade old.

While the story is not new and has lived online for more than a decade, it continues to resurface whenever the three cross paths on screen. Let's take a look at how we got here.

Per The Independent, the rumor dates back to 2009, when Kelly joined Britain’s Got Talent as a fourth judge. She later suggested she felt the hosts were not thrilled about her arrival, which created tension during her brief two days on the panel.

Producers offered a very different explanation. They said adding a fourth judge disrupted the format and made the show harder to run. That statement was the official reason, but fans still speculated about what happened behind the scenes.

Fuel was added when Kelly spoke about the experience in later interviews. She has mentioned that she may have unintentionally annoyed the hosts on day one. That theory connected closely to a story Declan shared in his 2010 autobiography.

He wrote that Kelly turned to him during filming and asked, “And what do you do on the show?” He admitted the question irritated him because he and Ant had already been central figures for years. It became the moment fans treat as the origin of the rumored feud.

Even with that detail, neither host pushed the story further. They acknowledged the awkwardness but kept the tone light over the years, never framing it as a serious or lasting conflict.

Kelly’s return to ITV with I’m a Celebrity in 2025 revived the rumor. Viewers remembered the old story and wondered whether the reunion would feel tense or completely normal.

The hosts did not address the rumor directly on the main broadcast, but they made a playful comment on the aftershow, Unpacked. They joked about the camp meals prepared by Kelly and Martin Kemp, which reminded longtime fans of their earlier interactions.

Ant said during the conversation, “Don’t you start! I don’t have a problem with Kelly Brook, thank you.”

The tone fit the way they have handled the topic. They have acknowledged that the early exchange was uncomfortable but left it at that.

The story hangs on because reality TV fans love revisiting unresolved moments. What remains clear is that the rumored feud began with a short stint on Britain’s Got Talent and resurfaced during Kelly’s return to ITV. None of the three treats it as a serious conflict, and the moment continues to live on mostly as a bit of TV folklore.