It’s fair to say that with fame comes both great responsibilities and plenty of public scrutiny – something which has certainly been true for I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star Noel Edmonds.
The star, who is best known for shows like Deal Or No Deal, Noel’s House Party and Top of the Pops, most recently faced outrage from fans when he suggested “negative attitudes” can cause cancer while appearing on This Morning.
Noel was also accused of fleeing to New Zealand in 2020 to avoid paying £1million of alleged debt to creditor Arron Banks, as well as being involved in a fraud case against Lloyds Bank.
To commemorate the anniversary of the airing of the last ever episode of Noel’s House Party, Daily Star takes a look back at the star’s biggest controversies across his incredible career.
Fraud case
In 2019, Noel had his Unique Group business “destroyed” as part of a fraud scam involving Lloyds Bank – and went on to agree a compensation deal with the banking giant.
The Reading branch of HBOS, which was subsequently purchased by Lloyds, saw corrupt staff members jailed in 2017 for a £245million loan scam between 2003 and 2007, which saw several businesses destroyed.
Lloyds rescued the failing HBOS during the financial crisis, with the fraud looming over them.
The case later revealed that workers spent profits on high-end sex workers and luxury holidays.
And Edmonds was one of the victims of the scam, and admitted he even considered taking his own life as a result of his tough financial situation.
Noel sought compensation of more than £60million in the case, which was later settled out of court, with Lloyds apologising for the “distress” he suffered while keeping details of the settlement private.
The Daily Mail estimated Noel received £5million in the settlement.
A statement from the case read: “Mr Edmonds and Lloyds Banking Group have reached an agreement in their dispute.”
‘Fleeing to New Zealand’
However, that wasn’t the end of the tale, as in 2020 businessman Aaron Banks – AKA the "Bad Boy of Brexit" – insisted Noel owed him £1.3million in debts, but had "fled to New Zealand" to avoid paying them.
Banks was the co-founder of Nigel Farage’s Leave.EU campaign in 2015.
Noel covered his legal costs in the Lloyds case using an insurance policy taken out from the Legal Protection Group, wholly owned by Banks – and a fee was due to be paid when he reached a settlement with the bank.
The star denied fleeing the country or being in hiding, and disputed that he was liable for the sum of money.
However, Banks told The Mail on Sunday that he had hired private investigators to track him down.
He explained: “I’m fuming. Mr Edmonds has run off to a lush part of New Zealand with my money, dishonestly trying to hide from his debtors.
“We backed him when no one else would in his fight with the banks, he won and then he headed for New Zealand without even acknowledging his debt to me and my company.
“No deal is not an option – cough up, or I will drag you back to the UK to face the music.”
Health conspiracies
When Noel was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016, he insisted that “negative energy” had been the source – and that he had “cured” it using electromagnetism.
Appearing on This Morning with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield that year, Noel explained: “I am absolutely sure the negative forces acting on me impacted on my health.
“There is a wealth of information from various clinical studies of a direct link between stress and cancer. I am absolutely certain there was a link in my case.”
He went on: “I was, I thought, very, very healthy. I know why I got my cancer… the definition of stress is negative energy. It didn’t just decide to manifest itself, there was cause.”
Things only got worse as he told the audience: “Thanks to electromagnetism, I’m now cancer-free.”
He later promoted an electromagnetic pulse device made by EMP Pad Ltd – and costing more than £2,000 – to his Twitter followers, touting it as a “simple box that slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer. Yep, tackles cancer".
Further outrage was caused when Noel replied to a man suffering from kidney cancer, lymph node metastases and psoriatic arthritis: “Scientific fact – disease is caused by negative energy. Is it possible your ill health is caused by your negative attitude? #explore.”
EMP Pad Ltd stated that it did not agree with Edmonds’ claim “in any way, shape or form” – and confirmed he received no money from them in exchange for promoting the product.
Noel later said: “I don't say cancer was caused by the stress, but that my health deteriorated to such an extent I got prostate cancer. I am absolutely sure the negative forces acting on me impacted on my health.”
Holly Willoughby feud
When Noel appeared on I’m A Celeb in 2018 – when This Morning host Holly Willoughby was standing in for Ant McPartlin – he was forced to deny that a feud existed between them after their on-air spat.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain after being evicted from the camp, he explained: “The truth of the matter is that I respect Holly as a broadcaster and Phil too.
"We had a spat on This Morning. I would love the opportunity to go on This Morning again and properly talk about the subject of the human body energy system.
"I never said electro-pulse therapy cured my cancer. I never said that. We got into one of those silly production squabbles. But there is no feud… I hugged Holly when I came out of camp.”
However, a source claimed to The Sun: “Holly and Noel do not like each other and their bad blood goes right back to the This Morning interview. Holly was angry with Noel at the time and thought he was callous.”
They added: “She finds him patronising and feels uncomfortable around him.”
Phil wasn’t happy with Noel’s comments at the time either, as he fired back on the show: "Obviously people are going to get a little bit sceptical when you’re banging on about this £2,300 box – and you know the people who make it!"
The host did, however, admit it was a “terrible shame” they “fell out” over the row.
Rachel Riley feud
Noel was left fuming with Countdown star Rachel Riley when she appeared in a Lloyds Bank advert to raise awareness for mental health issues.
He thus began a fiery Twitter feud, calling on the star to return the money to restore her “integrity”.
Noel tweeted back in 2018 – when he was still engaged in a case against the bank: “Apparently Rachel has been paid £20,000 to lend her name to the campaign.
“It’s possible that Rachel is not aware that Lloyds Bank is responsible for the destruction of lives and livelihoods on a military scale."
Noel then urged Rachel to “hand back the money and restore your integrity,” before adding: “You’re either with the victims or the perpetrators. Undo the damage, Rachel.”
Rachel, however, soon hit back to clarify: “I’m proud to have taken part in a diversity in advertising campaign with @channel4 & @AskLloydsBank to encourage conversations in mental health issues.
“For my involvement, a total of £8K was donated to my favourite charity @wwwalmtorg. I personally didn’t receive a penny."
She said: “I have supported and will continue to support MH campaigns I believe in. The response I received to this campaign’s 'get it out in the open' messaging was overwhelmingly positive from people affected by these issues and shows just how important discussing mental health issues is.”
Show guest death
In 1986, Noel experienced a huge career setback after he quit The Late, Late Breakfast Show following the tragic death of one of its guests.
Michael Lush, 24, was set to perform a bungee jump stunt from an exploding box on the programme, but plunged instead to his death due to a faulty clip that came loose.
He had hesitated for an entire two minutes before jumping – and the show’s production team failed to hire a trained stuntman to oversee the stunt.
It was later determined that the malfunctioning equipment wasn’t strong enough to hold even a bag of sugar, and a judicial inquiry determined the horrific accident could have been easily avoided.
The show was yanked off air three days after Lush’s death, with Noel quitting the BBC entirely for two years.
But Lush’s wasn’t the only injury in the show’s run, as stunt driver Richard Smith fractured his pelvis and suffered head injuries after crashing at 140 miles per hour in 1983.
Barbara Sleeman also broke her shoulder that year after being fired from a cannon, claiming: “The BBC don’t give a damn. They just want the viewers.”
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