Gemma Collins is reportedly set to sue the BBC, after she fell through a trap door on stage at Radio 1’s Teen Awards.
On Sunday, the TOWIE star went viral after she fell through a hole while presenting an award at London’s SSE Arena – but now, Gemma has told how the incident could have killed her.
The 36-year-old has revealed that she could have been crushed by a hydraulic platform that was raising Love Island stars Marcel Somerville, Amber Davies, and Jamie Jewitt.
Speaking to The Sun, Gemma said, “I’m in total shock. It is a miracle I am living to tell the tale. I could have died or at least been disabled at the end of it. I could have been legless. Legless!”
Can’t believe I got to witness the most iconic moment in teen awards history. Gemma Collins everybody. pic.twitter.com/VK4H1UySKs
— steph howlett (@enchantedsteph) October 22, 2017
“I’m not being funny, I didn’t even get a tenner for turning up. I didn’t even know there was a hole there. To be honest when it happened I didn’t know where I was, what day of the week it was. No joke, my life did flash before my eyes. I thought I was dead.
“People couldn’t see it, but underneath the stage there’s a lot of machinery and the Love Island people were coming up on a platform. When I actually went down into the pit, they were screaming, ‘Get her up because her legs are going to get crushed, her legs are going to get crushed’.
“If it wasn’t for the two Love Island guys — they had super strength. The video didn’t really show it, they pulled me up. I felt so sorry for Marcel because he obviously took my weight. I went straight on to him. The little girl got knocked down.”
Gemma went on to reveal that the BBC haven’t contacted her since, and accused them of negligence.
“I’ve got to consult a lawyer, yeah. The BBC, they’ve not been in touch with any compensation or anything — or even an apology. It’s very important this gets sorted out because really you know what it is — it’s negligence. Do you know what I find shocking? The BBC hasn’t sent any flowers. Nothing.”
“I am overwhelmed by everyone’s support but if we just take a minute and watch that clip back it could have been the end of The GC. I can’t back down from it.”
The reality star also explained how she wasn’t properly briefed by a floor manager before she went on stage.
“She went, ‘Right I’m going to take you up on the stage now Gemma and tell you where to stand.’ You can see her in the video pointing to the bit. She says, ‘Just stand there — there’s your mark.’
“Not at one point did she say, ‘If you move to the right you are going to fall.’ She didn’t even tell me they were coming up from below. She just said, ‘The guys are gonna walk onstage Gem, you need to present them with the award’.
“Afterwards she had tears in her eyes, I’ll never forget it, and she just went, ‘If you tell anyone I didn’t tell you to not move off your mark I’m going to get the sack and lose my job, I’m in the firing line.’ How can I do that to someone right on top of Christmas?”
“They didn’t sit me down. They didn’t even offer me a chair or get me water. Honestly, it’s so bad. They did nothing, they just ushered me through to the next segment.”
Gemma revealed the extent of her injuries, and said that she’s been left badly bruised.
“It’s the left side of my body that is coming out now with the bruising because I smacked down on to whatever material they had used for that raised platform.
“Literally my back on the lower left side is throbbing. Like, you know, it’s all starting to come up now.”
The TOWIE star’s mum has also been left devastated by the incident.
“She’s been crying her eyes out. I’m like, ‘Mum please pull yourself together.’ She went, ‘Look, it’s all well having a laugh and a joke about it. But if you watch the video back, Gemma, you could have broken your back. Anything could have happened.’”
Although the incident has left Gemma in a bad way, she’s glad that she’s no longer seen as a quitter, after she walked out of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! back in 2014.
“The public didn’t know what happened to me in the Jungle. I think they can see from yesterday that I went with a massive crash and tumble and still got up and finished my job.
“I didn’t go crying off the stage and, like, demand to be wafted down with a thousand lilies. As much as people call me a diva, at the end of the day I was very professional and I have to do my gig.
“Realistically do you think I wanted to do all them things with Rita Ora and Grimmy when I’ve just fallen off the stage and nearly killed myself? I’ve got back up so quick that no one really had time to digest it. They were just like, ‘Was it a gag or was it real?’ Well it was real and I’m lucky to be alive to tell the tale,” she added.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for BBC Radio 1 told The Sun, “The BBC takes the health and safety of everyone involved very seriously and we are awaiting a full report from Remedy, the production company who made the show, about the incident, but they have told us that Gemma did receive a full briefing before going on stage.”
