Vanessa Feltz reveals she starved herself before weigh-ins on 'horrific' ITV reality show

Vanessa Feltz has revealed that she starved herself while appearing on a “horrific” ITV weight loss programme.

Back in 2004, the presenter, now 64, was one of the contestants on Celebrity Fit Club, a show hosted by the late Dale Winton that ran for four series on ITV between 2002 and 2006.

Originally named “Fat Club”, the series saw groups of celebrities, including Alison Hammond and the late Ann Widdecombe, undergoing strict diet and exercise plans, with their weight loss being tracked each week.

Feltz in 2004

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“When I did Celebrity Fit Club in 2004 – popularly known as ”Celebrity Fat Club”, and why wouldn’t it be? – they would weigh you publicly on the show,” she recalled. “Dale Winton, of blessed memory, would weigh you and your weight would be announced to the waiting world.”

Feltz explained that the weigh-in was such an exposing part of the show, that she would refuse to consume anything the day previously in order for her weight to be as low as possible.

“For the day before, I would eat nothing and drink nothing, not even water. And then I would go to a really heavy fitness class, and then I would go and be weighed by Dale Winton.”

The presenter said that this would allow her to look like she was making progress on the show and losing weight, adding: “And then, of course, I’d be starving to death and totally dehydrated. So then I’d have a drink and a sandwich, and then I’d already put back on the two pounds that he was just celebrating with the nation that I’d lost.”

Feltz struggled with losing and gaining weight throughout her life, until she underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2019

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Feltz described the experience as “just horrific, absolutely horrific”, explaining that it led to a culture where she was heckled in public for eating so much as an apple: “You think, oh, it’s only an apple. And I haven’t eaten anything at all for days.”

Feltz ended up following in the footsteps of fellow ITV presenter Fern Britton and having a gastric band fitted in 2010, then undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2019, after which she lost five stone.

In 2024, however, Feltz admitted that she was “would not have had the surgery”, had injectable GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Mounjaro or Wegovy been so readily available when she was first struggling.

“I’d have bloody well injected it in the thigh for the rest of my life and I’d have been delighted to do it,” she told The Times. “Unfortunately I slightly predated it, which is a f***ing shame.”