Who is Nella Rose, the influencer in the jungle?

23 November 2023

By Andre Rhoden-Paul

BBC News

Nella Rose has ditched home comforts for a life in the jungle. Let's take a look at the glamorous influencer who is the talk of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

Nella has a big following on social media

Nella started posting beauty reviews, debates and vlogs to YouTube when she was an 18-year-old sociology student at the University of Leicester.

After finding lots of fans she now focuses on Instagram and TikTok and has one million followers on each platform.

She was awarded best media personality at the Mobo Awards 2022.

She was the second person eliminated from the show

Nella was the second contestant to be booted off the show after receiving the fewest public votes. She spent 17 days in the jungle.

She is a presenter

Last year, Nella was announced as a new host of MTV's Catfish UK.

She's also presented from the Brit Awards red carpet and co-hosted BBC Radio 1Xtra podcast Pressed with Mariam Musa and Adeola Patronne before leaving for "personal reasons".

She was born in Belgium

Nella, real name Ornella Rose Hollela, moved from Belgium to the UK as a child and grew up in London. Talking about her African heritage, she tweeted: "I'm so proud to be Congolese."

She has apologised for 'terrible' tweets

The influencer said sorry for "unacceptable" tweets she posted as a teenager, including posts about black girls and Somali people.

"I used to hate black girls because I used to hate myself," she explained in an apology video after the tweets resurfaced in 2020.

"Those tweets were terrible especially to Somalian people."

She lost both her parents

She said seeing her dad suffer before he died in 2020 was "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life".

Nella's said her mum's death in 2016, aged 46, was "something you don't expect, it just happened. She literally died in my arms".

She said she was later evicted from her mother's council house.

Social media was divided over her argument with Fred

Nella's parents' death came up in the jungle, when First Dates star Fred Sirieix told Nella: "I'm 51. I'm not 26 anymore am I? I could be your dad".

They had been discussing his bad eyesight, but Nella said the comment made her feel "disrespected" and she no longer wanted to talk to him.

Viewers took to social media in support of Fred, but others were angry at online abuse directed at Nella.

She hates bushtucker trials

Nella has screamed her way through creepy-crawly and snake-infested bushtucker trials.

So far, she has stuck her head in a box with snakes, eaten pizza topped with scorpions and cow anus, and faced electric shocks while crawling through a tunnel.

Before coming into the jungle, she said: "I am scared of everything from red ants, tarantulas to rats or ostriches."

Image credits: ITV, Getty