Vanessa Feltz describes starvation on ITV's Celebrity Fit Club

Broadcaster Vanessa Feltz has described her experience on the ITV weight-loss program ‘Celebrity Fit Club’ as ‘horrific’. Reflecting on her participation in the 2004 series, the 64-year-old presenter revealed that the pressure of public weigh-ins led her to engage in extreme behaviors to manipulate the results.

Feltz stated that on the day before a scheduled weigh-in, she would consume nothing, including water, and participate in intense fitness classes to ensure the scales showed weight loss. She noted that this often resulted in her being ‘starving to death and totally dehydrated’, only to regain the weight immediately after consuming food.

Her comments come amid renewed scrutiny of early 2000s reality television for promoting toxic diet culture and treating body weight as a form of public entertainment. Feltz also mentioned that the experience contributed to her facing public heckling regarding her eating habits.