SHE was caught in one of Celebrity Big Brother’s most shocking love triangles that left fans fuming and her mum complaining she had been “mugged off”.
Former Page 3 girl Casey Batchelor was “devastated” when, less than 24 hours after love rat Lee Ryan smooched and snuggled up to her in bed, he kissed another housemate.
The Blue singer had spun a web of lies during his time in the CBB house in 2014, first feigning interest towards the busty star before moving on to US actress Jasmine Waltz.
It was TV gold but heartbreaking for Casey, who tells us she would lock herself in the bathroom for “ugly cries” and it was only her mum’s blunt words which finally woke her up.
In that famous outburst, Kim told her daughter: “When he's in the diary room, he says that you get on his t**s and you won't leave him alone. He’s mugged you off, darling.”
Later Lee would enrage CBB fans when he accused Casey of making “a big f***ing drama out of it” and “acting like a 12-year-old” after leading her on.
Speaking about the legendary love triangle drama, she tells The Sun: “Being in the CBB house makes things 1,000 times more intense, it’s like having 10 dates in a row in one day.
“You get to know someone so quickly and so intensely that in just a day that it feels like you’ve known them for a week.
“Then a week feels like a month, everything escalates at a much quicker pace than in the outside world. I don’t feel like people at home understand that.”
Upon entering the CBB house, 34GG-cup Casey was handcuffed to Lee and soon housemates, including Made In Chelsea’s Ollie Locke, noted they could “cut the sexual tension with a knife”.
The couple were seen cuddling in bed, where Lee was heard commenting on the model’s “huge boobs” and the pair regularly kissed while beneath the bedsheets.
But at the same time, the singer’s feelings were growing for Jasmine with him confessing: “I can see it ending wrong for me… She’s beautiful, she’s so pretty, she’s f***ing hilarious.”
It would lead to Lee and Jasmine sneaking off into the toilets multiple times, where the tap was left running to cover suspicious noises - amid claims they had sex.
“We kissed and made out and did stuff… Let’s just say we did everything we wanted to do in there,” Jasmine would later tell the Daily Star.
Understandably, the scenes left Casey distraught. In the house she admitted “it broke my heart” and “all of a sudden my best friend was gone”.
Reflecting, she told us: “It’s never nice when you see someone get with the person you’ve been with and are in a situation where you have to be there in the same room with them.
“It’s not like you can take yourself away or go out with your friends, everything in there’s a lot more intense.
“Because I knew there weren’t any cameras in the toilets, I took myself there because I didn’t want anyone to see me ugly cry.”
'Mugged off'
Casey was blindsided until the task ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, in housemates had to remain frozen while friends and family came into the room and spoke to them.
For the glamour model it was her mum Kim, who pleaded: “Keep away from Lee. Honestly, darling, he tells you one thing then behind your back he tells housemates other things.
“And when he's in the diary room, he says that you get on his t**s and you won't leave him alone. He's mugged you off, darling. He has mugged you off. But listen, I love you so much."
The clip would go viral and, even now regularly resurfaces on TikTok. But Casey is glad her mum put her straight as it helped her to finally realise Lee was stringing her along.
She tells us: “Mums always know best and tell you the right thing to do. It was only when Mum came in that it really sunk in for me.”
After that moment, Casey broke down telling co-star Luisa Zissman: “I really just wanna get out now. I can’t take it anymore in here. I literally can’t take it anymore.”
Meanwhile, Lee moaned in the diary room: “I’m being labelled some love rat when I’m f***ing single. I’m not with anybody… It takes two to tango, it’s not just me playing games.”
Whenever we left our hotel room we had a towel put over our heads and we weren’t allowed to look up so we couldn’t see anyone.
Casey Batchelor
While tensions were high at the time, Casey insists there are no hard feelings now - as she’s engaged to partner Dane Goodson and has three children.
She tells us: “Lee has got a good heart but just gets himself into a pickle at times. There’s no animosity. I’d say hello if I saw him. I’ve got three kids now and am happily in a relationship.”
Show twist
Casey’s conflicted when it comes to the show, wishing they showed more of her fun side and that she “kept my distance from Lee” after mum Kim spoke to her.
“Instead they showed the love triangle, which I completely get. People love to watch a love story unfold… or not in my case,” she says.
“It was the best CBB series to date and had some of the show’s highest ratings because of the love triangle. They even extended the show longer than it should have been because of it.”
In the final days of the show, Casey claims producers invited each housemate into the diary room and then to another hidden room for a ‘Top Secret chat’.
“They made us go through a back door, take off our microphones and head into this secret room with a producer,” she tells us.
“They said, ‘We can’t tell you what happened or why but we want to extend the show for an extra few days, are you happy to do this?’ As long as we all agreed they would go ahead.
“I think it went on for five days more and that was because of the ratings and it was so successful. But then we weren’t allowed to talk about it after because we were filming.”
'Secretive' scenes
It was an intense experience from the off, with Casey claiming prospective housemates were cut off from the outside world and held in a hotel for three or four days.
“It was really secretive,” she says. “Whenever we left our hotel room we had a towel put over our heads and we weren’t allowed to look up so we couldn’t see anyone."
She claims they weren’t allowed to watch TV or have internet access and only had their chaperone for company until it was their time to go on the show.
I’m being labelled some love rat when I’m f***ing single. I’m not with anybody… It takes two to tango, it’s not just me playing games
Lee Ryan
Casey says: “In the evening we went into the house, they picked us up in a car, put a blindfold and headphones on us and drove us there.
“It’s only just before you step out that you’re allowed to take them off with everyone staring at you. It was pretty overwhelming.”
Casey placed sixth in the series, which was won by controversial comedian Jim Davidson and saw N-Dubz rapper Dappy, Ollie and Luisa named as runners-up.
The star tells us she would be thrilled to be invited back on for an CBB All-Stars special - although this time believes she would be more of a mumsy figure in the house.
Speaking on this year’s CBB, Casey says she was “gutted” when ex-Tory MP Michael Fabricant was voted out and hopes actress Donna Preston “comes more out of her shell”.
When asked about romance in the house, she says: “My year was so popular because of the love triangle and they definitely hoped for a little romance this year too.
“I think they wanted something to happen between Ella Rae Wise and Chris Hughes but it hasn’t.
“It’s pot-luck at the end of the day, they put big personalities in there hoping for the best TV but you can’t force things to happen. Sometimes it just doesn’t work.”
Celebrity Big Brother airs at 9pm on weekdays and 10pm on Sundays on ITV1.
