A BEAUTY queen suffered horrific lip burns after shoving chocolate wands into her mouth for an ITV reality show.
Jen Atkin, 28, competed in CelebAbility, a game show in which members of the public compete against celebrities for cash prizes.
This game show, hosted by Iain Sterling, the voice of Love Island, pits a team of five celebrities against a team of friends in a series of physical and light-hearted challenges.
The former Miss GB agreed to appear on the show in 2018 and signed a waiver that barred her from suing ITV if she was injured.
But she had no idea that a chocolate-covered biscuit would cause her to suffer from severe burns, preventing her from eating for weeks.
As she competed against magician Ben Hanlin, the model believes there was a substance on the ends of the biscuits to help them look like a wand.
Her lips swelled and hurt for weeks, costing her a month’s pay after she had to cancel several modelling jobs due to the reaction.
“They gave us some ideas for what the categories would be, and I agreed to do the ‘big mouth’ challenge,” Jen told The Sun.
“They don’t warn you about anything, which makes sense given that they want everything for the cameras.”
“I understand that you sign agreements saying that if you get hurt, it’s your fault, but I think it’s wrong that they didn’t warn me that the substance on the chocolate fingers could cause a reaction.”
“I believe it was an attempt to get me to dribble, which makes sense given the nature of the challenge.”
“But even as it was happening I could feel my lips tingling and was a bit confused by what it was. It must have stayed on my lips because it was really bad.
‘COULDN’T LEAVE THE HOUSE’
“I couldn’t leave the house for two weeks because it was that bad, I may have won £1k on the show but it lost me more in work.
“The winnings were not worth it, and it made me really ill. I couldn’t eat or leave the house because I was so conscious about it.
“It was horrific, they claim that it has been trialled by someone else beforehand but I don’t think they really thought it through.
“I appreciate that I signed the forms, but they should have warned me what was on the chocolate fingers that would have been fairer.
“Everything was made so much worse when I lost the modelling jobs because of my lip, and then I had to explain to the doctor what had happened which was really embarrassing.
“I had a great time on the show, but the aftermath of it was awful. The pain was unbearable and I felt like they just wanted to shove it under the rug.
“I’ve got a bit of PTSD from it, I still can’t have sugary things like tangfastics with sugar near my face!”
An ITV spokesman said: “We have full health and safety checks in place, and briefings with all of our contributors ahead of any game participation during the show, as well as an onsite medic present throughout the record.
“We maintain dialogue with all of our contributors after the record to ensure they can feed back on their experience.”
An ITV spokesman said: “We have full health and safety checks in place, and briefings with all of our contributors ahead of any game participation during the show, as well as an onsite medic present throughout the record.
“We maintain dialogue with all of our contributors after the record to ensure they can feed back on their experience.”
