Mel B blows up at Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas in heated row

Mel B and Shirley Ballas have clashed heads on Netflix’s new survival of the fittest reality series, Celebrity Bear Hunt.

The Spice Girls singer, 51, and Strictly Come Dancing judge, 64, are both contestants on the new show hosted by Holly Willoughby where our group must face ‘brutal’ challenges in the Costa Rican wilderness as Bear Grylls hunts them down.

But tensions reached a fiery peak in the jungle between Mel and Shirley after a steady build-up.

In episode three, Sink or Swim, Mel and rapper Big Zuu had an argument after Mel claimed Big Zuu said ‘women are not as strong as men’ which he firmly denied. Mel then quickly backtracked saying that she was ‘joking’ and that she was ‘just honest’.

In a to-camera interview, Shirley shared: ‘I understand that Mel can press a few buttons but by that time you can’t take anything back. Once it leaves your mouth you’ve got to think about what effect it has on people around.’

The situation escalated into a heated exchange in episode four when the team returned from a Walk the Plank challenge which had descended into chaos.

Shirley Ballas and Mel B had a furious clash in the new Netflix show Celebrity Bear Hunt (Picture: Tom Dymond/Netflix)

Tensions escalated after the Walk the Plank challenge (Picture: Tom Dymond/Netflix)

‘We all have to go in the pit sometimes Shirley,’ Mel proclaimed when they all returned to camp later that day.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ Shirley asked, and as Mel reiterated herself, Shirley continued: ‘Of course, I’m not here complaining, whining, or moaning. I’m not going to go in, so I don’t really know what your point is.’

At this point, both were talking over each other and looking visibly frustrated at one another.

‘I’m just talking to you,’ Mel replied to which Shirley defensively shot back: ‘Well, you don’t really talk, do you? You direct, you’re in somebody’s face.’

‘I know because I’m just who I am,’ Mel argued.

And in a final tete-a-tete, Shirley said: ‘You’re not exactly the most deliverable of messages, Mel,’ to which she quipped: ‘Neither are you.’

In a side interview, Shirley said somehow after an unsuccessful challenge ‘it’s always somebody else’s fault’ and that for some people instead of ‘taking it with grace and reflection, off go those mouths.’

In an interview with WhatToWatch, Shirley addressed the issue she had, saying: ‘I can let somebody be a diva for so long until I feel someone else is being picked on. I’ve dealt with divas in my industry all my life. There’s nothing that could shock me.’

Shirley said she doesn’t put up with ‘diva’ behaviour anymore (Picture: Ray Burmiston/Netflix)

The decorated dancer went on to say all she asks for is ‘mutual respect’ and she ‘didn’t like’ someone who keeps ‘pushing buttons just to get a reaction’.

Shirley added: ‘I think it’s completely unnecessary – though I know it makes great TV!’

Elsewhere in the show, the Wannabe hitmaker spilt all the tea on Tom Cruise’s ‘weird’ appearance at Victoria Beckham’s 50th birthday party in April 2024.

It was previously noted that he appeared the ‘most exuberant out of everyone’ and now Mel has revealed he took it to the next level during one dance break.

She recalled to her campmates: ‘We were at Victoria’s 50th birthday and her son, Cruz, started singing Mama on the guitar and David (Beckham) was like pushing us all up.

At another point in the show, she shared her strange experience watching Tom Cruise dance at Victoria Beckham’s 50th birthday (Picture: Tom Dymond/Netflix)

‘All five of us [the Spice Girls] were singing and then Tom Cruise made a circle and he did that dance from that movie, for some reason.

‘We were all like dancing away and he goes “Come on, man! Come on!” He starts getting together this circle.

‘So he goes in the circle first – Tom Cruise!- and starts doing all this…,’

She then imitated Tom gyrating. Mel said: I went “Oh my God!” and that’s why I left the circle. It was the weirdest dance.’

It seemed even this retelling was enough to spark some tension between Shirley and Mel as Shirley said: ‘I taught Tom how to dance’ and Mel said: ‘Well, it didn’t work because the dance he did in that circle was terrible,’ per The Sun.

The contestants faced life-and-death scenarios (Picture: Tom Dymond/Netflix)

Celebrity Bear Hunt – also featuring contestants like Lottie Moss, Boris Becker and Una Healy – has been praised by fans as ‘so, so brilliant’ and ‘awesome’ as it steadily climbs the Netflix charts.

The show has had suitably dramatic moments so far, with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen needing to be hooked up to oxygen at one point after falling into shark-infested waters.

In an interview with Metro, he reflected on nearly drowning: ‘I was struck by what a lovely shade my lips had gone, bluey grey. I might bring that out in a wallpaper.’

‘It was a really, really weird thing, because, yes, I could tell that I was quite close to not existing but I didn’t feel panicked about it.’

Celebrity Bear Hunt is now available to stream on Netflix.

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