David Haye has responded to comments labelling him as a "misogynist" following his claims about "ugly birds" on I'm a Celeb.
The second season of the all-stars version of popular ITV series 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' came to end with a dramatic conclusion filmed live on Friday night.
Throughout the season, former heavyweight boxing champion Haye regularly made headlines due to his ongoing spat with former Emmerdale actor Adam Thomas.
Haye and former Soccer AM host Jimmy Bullard were both accused of bullying the soap opera star, leading to several heated moments involving the trio.
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But it wasn't just his relationship with his fellow campmates that landed Haye in hot water during his time on the show, as the former boxer was also criticised for his comments about "ugly" women having to be funny to get attention.
The comments were met with major backlash online, with some labelling the 45-year-old as a misogynist.
But now, Haye has lashed out at the claims, criticising the backlash while doubling down on his views.
When asked if he was a misogynist by Kugan Cassius on iFL TV, Haye said: "No, it's a TV show, and I think they've cut it to get the most traction, to get the most people tonight voting in.
"Think about it as a pay-per-view business, they want the product to generate as much as possible, and the controversy has been great for the numbers, and I'm happy to be a part of it."
Addressing his "ugly bird" theory, Haye added: "Beautiful girls who have grown up beautiful, everyone gravitates towards them, everybody asks them if they need anything, they get the hot boyfriend, they get everything given to them.
"So they don't really have to go out there and graft, they don't have to learn some funny jokes or go out there and have to work to make these connections.
"Whereas ugly birds, women who are not physically attractive, have to work harder, they've got to do other things because they can't make up for the looks, and that's life, I don't know why people struggle to understand that."
Haye claimed that the outrage for his comments was for his choice of terminology, using the words "beautiful" and "ugly" to describe women, rather than his theory itself.
"It's just two ends of the scale," he claimed.
"You've got beauty on one end of the scale, what's on the other side of beauty? It's the opposite of beauty, which is like, ugh.
"Human beings go to one of those two extremes. Everyone has their own beautiful, we're talking about aesthetic beauty.
"If you're not attractive, you've got to bring something else to the table iyou want to get a partner.
"If you're not your'e not attractive and you've got a terrible personality, you're not funny, you're not going to have any friends. It's harder for people who aren't 10/10s to make those connections.
"It's how I've viewed the world through my eyeballs. I can only explain how I see the world. And if how I explain how I see the world offends somebody, should I not say what I feel and then just not say anything?"
Haye later explained his perspective on claims that he bullied Thomas during their time together on the show, suggesting that how it had been edited painted him out to be a villain.
He claimed: "The narrative of the show is he gets bullied, so what people saw was him getting bullied. From my point of view, and I think his point of view, it wasn't as bad but it made a good story for the TV show.
"Someone's got to be the villain, I'll be the villain, I don't really care to be honest."
Topics:Ā David Haye, Im a Celebrity
Ben McCrum