MATT Richardson has claimed that he was “squared up to” by a fellow co-star during a stint on reality show Celebrity Coach Trip.
The TV and radio host appeared on the seventh series of the Channel 4 show, which aired back in 2022, and across the Christmas break has decided to open up about life as a presenter and comedian on TikTok.
When he was quizzed about life behind-the-scenes of Celebrity Coach Trip, he revealed one star took his vote against them a little too personally, ending in a square-up in a bar.
In a video praising coach host Brendan Sheerin, Matt said the jolly lead of the show stayed mostly to himself – but he was less glowing about fellow co-star Team GB Olympian and former Celeb Big Brother star, Ashley McKenzie.
“He [Brendan] was very nice, really pleasant, really fun, but, you know, got to the end of the day and he’d take himself away from us,” he said.
“He’d go to his hotel room and chill out, which is what I wish I could have done.”
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“But, you know, we were just in the thick of it, stood in the bar having a drink while someone who’s a judo Olympian comes up and squares up to you because you f**king voted for him,” he added.
“It was just mad and I don’t blame Brendan from staying away from it.”
When one fan wrote: “Ashley McKenzie squaring up to you” alongside crying emojis, Matt responded: “Yeahhh we didn’t see eye to eye.”
When approached for comment, a rep for Ashley said: “Ashley did not ‘square up’ to Matt. He made a comment in jest, which was clearly intended as a joke rather than anything confrontational.
“Given Matt is a comedian, it was very much taken in that spirit at the time.
“There was no aggression or issue beyond that, and it certainly wasn’t as serious as it’s being framed.”
Matt was partnered up with Will Best for an adventure across Europe alongside other celebrity pairings for the seventh and last series of the reality show.
Among them was Birds of a Feather co-stars Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Ginny Lemon and Sister Sister, Love Island then-couple Paige Turley and Finlay Tapp, and X Factor’s Honey G.
The aim of the game is to remain on the coach for as long as possible without getting voted off by fellow travellers – but one star took it personally during a round of eliminations, resulting in an awkward confrontation.
Matt had previously noted that there was trouble on set of the show, noting that things became a difficult among his fellow cast members – branding Honey G ‘awful’ to be around.
“I don’t know if I loved that experience,” he said of the series. “I found it really hard work, not because of the show, It was the other celebs.
“Not all of them. I will say there were some lovely people on but there were some people who made it weird because they cared about the vote at the end of the day, and would get annoyed if you voted for them, even though they’d voted for you because they wanted to stay on the show, even though you got paid the same no matter what.
“One person had said that if they won Coach Trip, they were hoping to get the Love Island hosting job. They were delusional and mad.”
During his stand-up special, he also claimed they were instructed by the team to vote off another unnamed player because their annual leave had run out and they needed to get home.
