Everyone’s talking about Nella Rose! YouTube star who’s gone head-to-head with Fred Sirieix and Nigel Farage exposes divide between her Gen Z fans and viewers who’ve been tuning into I’m a Celeb for 20 years

As cabin fever begins to set in among this year’s I’m a Celebrity campmates, one name in particular is on everyone’s lips – 26-year-old YouTuber and TikTok star Nella Rose.

The Belgian-British media personality who has more than 800,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than one million followers on TikTok has been trending on X, formerly Twitter, following her disagreements with Fred Sirieix and Nigel Farage.

The London-based YouTube star labelled the French maitre d’ offensive for claiming he’s ‘old enough to be her dad’ after she previously told him her father had passed away; and told the controversial former UKIP leader he was ‘hated’ by many people for his political views.

While many have blasted the YouTuber, whose full name is Ornella Rose Hollela, for being sensitive, Nella has also received plenty of support from viewers and appears to have split the ITV audience down the middle – but a pattern seems to be emerging in people’s opposing views.

Whereas younger viewers from Gen Z tend to be calling for more understanding around Nella’s behaviour, older viewers appear more likely to criticise her for being too sensitive – with some going one step further in criticising Gen Z overall.

Arguing in support of Nella Rose, younger audiences tend to draw attention to the fact that the YouTube star is grieving, having lost both of her parents in the last seven years.

Nella, who was born in Belgium and moved to the UK as a youngster, grew up in London. She has often spoken about her Congolese heritage, of which she is ‘proud’.

She studied at the University of Leicester before finding fame on YouTube with her lifestyle content. 

However, despite reaching dizzying heights of success in her career, Nella’s personal life has been blighted by heartache after her mother passed away in 2016 when she was just 46 years old. Nella was 19 at the time. Four years later, in 2020, her father died as well. 

The YouTuber has previously opened up on her channel about losing her parents. In 2018 she said it was ‘the worst thing that has happened to me in my life and I’m still not over it’.

Speaking to her audience, the influencer said: ‘I didn’t want this to be my life.’ 

In the episode of Hair Chat, where she prepares her hair while speaking about updates in her own life.

Nella said she often puts on a brave face as a media personality and doesn’t like people to see her vulnerability, but added: ‘All that glitters is not gold.’

She said: ‘A couple of weeks after I turned 19, my mum passed away. And it was something that you don’t expect; you don’t plan. 

‘It just happened, like, she literally died in my arms. I didn’t wake up that day thinking “oh my mum’s going to pass away”.’

She said she has ‘learnt to deal’ with the grief, but added: ‘I do not see myself healing from it any time soon.’

Nella added she was ‘not ready’ to talk about the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death because she didn’t want to ‘cry on camera’. 

Since entering the jungle, Nella has also opened up about her father’s death, after already losing her mother just four years earlier.

In a heartfelt conversation with food critic and columnist Grace Dent, Nella said: ‘After my dad passed, I locked myself in the house for two months, I just drank every single day and ate every single day.’

Before entering the jungle, Nella Rose posted regular vlogs on her YouTube channel covering fashion and shopping hauls, relationship content and comedy.

She has also had presenting stints on MTV’s Catfish UK, and has fronted online red-carpet streams for events including the Brit Awards.

However, since becoming an I’m a Celebrity campmate, Nella Rose has hit headlines for conflicts she has become involved in; including arguments with Fred Sirieix and Nigel Farage.

During a dinner conversation with Sirieix while he was cooking for the camp, Fred was joking about his bad eyesight with the YouTuber, and said: ‘I’m 51. I’m not 26 anymore am I? I could be your dad.’

In response, Nella took him to task over his comments the following morning, claiming she felt ‘disrespected’ and said she didn’t want to speak to him anymore.

The encounter bitterly divided viewers on social media, many of whom jumped to Fred’s defence. However, people took to X, formerly Twitter, in equal numbers to stick up for their favourite YouTube star and argued she hadn’t done anything wrong and is still grieving for her parents.

One 23-year-old viewer, who took Nella’s side, said: ‘I feel sorry for Nella. She’s still grieving and it’s hard to even hear the word “dad”. Hope they can resolve this.’

Another argued: ‘Has anyone actually thought that Nella still might be grieving her father why she’s reacted the way she has? Not saying I agree with her reaction however we all handle grief differently and no matter how ‘normal’ sayings are to you, they can still trigger someone.’ 

A third viewer, who claims to be 22-years-old in their X bio, said: ‘How are people coming for Nella Rose? She’s the one grieving… I’m confused by this. The logic has gone out the window.’

And another person who lists their age as 25 in their X bio also noted Nella had been ‘triggered’ by the exchange.

They wrote: ‘Ahh it’s clear that Nella still has some unresolved feelings about her parents dying so it being brought up in any way triggered her.

‘Fred 100% did not mean it in a mean way, hopefully this blows over.’

However, other people took to X to voice an opposing opinion – taking aim at both Nella and ‘woke-a** Gen Z.

One viewer said: ‘Nella is the product of a victimhood snowflake generation where everything causes offence.’

Another wrote: ‘Nella is the epitome of this uneducated, self-entitled, offended at everything, dim-witted generation!’

As a generational divide appears to emerge on either side of the argument over Nella’s reaction, a survey of shoppers in London that was filmed for the Daily Mail’s TikTok channel appeared to reflect a similar split by age.

One woman, who appeared to be from Gen X, said Nella’s reaction was ‘disgusting’, adding: ‘I really like her and I think she’s made a mountain out of a molehill.’

The woman added Nella Rose should apologise to Fred, and that the British public should vote her out of the jungle.

However, younger people questioned about the YouTuber seemed to echo the sympathy given to Nella by younger X users, noting the grief she is still going through following the deaths of her parents. 

One younger viewer told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s very disrespectful for people to tell her how to grieve.’

Another younger viewer said: ‘I think she’s grieving. That’s what it is.’ 

It appears that, since the disagreement between Nella Rose and Fred, any tension between the pair has now blown over – but the YouTuber also butted heads with controversial politician Nigel Farage in Wednesday night’s episode.

Taking him to task over his political views – in particular his campaign to remove the UK from the EU – the 26-year-old accused Farage of being ‘anti-immigrant’ and, referring to the fact she moved to the UK from an EU-member state as a baby, told him: ‘You want us gone, that’s all I understood.’