Angel Strawbridge breaks her silence on feud with Escape To The Chateau producer
Angel Strawbridge has broken her silence regarding the foul-mouthed rant that resulted in Channel 4 dropping their show, Escape to the Chateau.
The TV personality claimed she was set up and, while she regrets the incident, she stands by her actions and refuses to apologise.
The 45-year-old gained fame with her husband Dick documenting their challenging journey renovating and transforming the dilapidated 19th century Chateau de la Motte Husson in France into a family home and wedding venue, where they live with their children, Arthur and Dorothy.
In 2015, they traded their two-bedroom flat in Essex to move to France, paying £280,000 for the 45-room property and endless grounds, before turning it into a hugely successful enterprise.
However, a bullying scandal last year led Channel 4 to sever ties with the couple following an independent investigation after a leaked recording revealed Strawbridge branding a producer a “f***ed up little c**t”.
Speaking on Elizabeth Day's podcast How To Fail, Angel confessed in that moment she saw red: “I was the one in the wrong for losing my temper, but do you know what, I will not apologise - he was so disrespectful in our house, he was so upsetting to me, my family, and I stand by what I did.
“If I was to apologise and say, ‘I'm sorry for using bad language and chucking you out’, I would just be disingenuous to me.”
She added: “Would I like to erase that? Yeah, I'd love to. But I would also like to erase what he was doing because my rage just didn't pop out of nowhere.
“It grew over time and it was provoked and therefore I'm not ashamed of what happened in the end, I just wish it hadn't happened.”
Last May, the couple confirmed they “parted ways” with Channel 4 after seven years of their hugely popular television series.
Shortly after their social media, Channel 4 shared a statement about severing ties with the Strawbridges after an independent investigation into their behavior.
The network announced they would no longer collaborate with the couple on new projects “following a review” and said that it was taking an “active role in challenging unacceptable behaviour in our industry”.
Adding: “Following a review of our processes in 2021 we have made it easier to raise complaints both formally and informally.
“We require all our production partners to follow our Supplier Code of Conduct and when concerns are raised with us, they will be taken seriously and action will happen to ensure they are investigated and addressed appropriately.
“There is always more to do and alongside our suppliers we are committed to building safe, inclusive and professional working environments.”
Although the couple are currently featured in a new travel show, Secret France, airing on Channel 4, which was filmed prior to the network's decision to cut ties.
While they had previously avoided discussing the bullying allegations, she has now shared her perspective on the incident, a year after the controversial recording surfaced.
“The actual incident, it actually happened a long time ago - so it happened about six years ago,” she shared on the podcast.
“We had so many amazing people filming Escape to the Chateau, but in this particular quite small time frame, we had someone that wasn't particularly very nice.”
She continued: “His behaviour was completely unacceptable, but it didn't just happen in one little moment, it happened over lots of different occasions.
“It was a high point towards the end of filming a series. We set a lot of stories in parallel activity. We were particularly busy, and I think that's why we just didn't have the head space to address his behaviour.
Recalling the producer’s behaviour, she explained: “He was not very nice, he was doing these weird pictures of Dick killing animals and posting them on his Instagram. He was so horrible with the children.
“There was this one incident, and I actually truly believe that because he knew he was caught, I think in my heart that is why he set up this filming.
“Because the way that he was acting was how he'd never acted with me before. You don't accidentally film someone when you're not filming. Completely happened secretively and on purpose.
“He broke all of the kids' fishing rods and the next day I was upstairs and he came up in a really very out of character way for him and was really in my face, in a really angry like he'd lost it kind of way.
“I've not listened back, it makes me feel a little bit sick if I do. But obviously all of my friends have, and they're like, ‘I can hear you’ - he actually took out what he said - ‘I can here you gradually getting more angry, more angry, more angry’.
“And then I just say like, ‘Get out of my f***ing house’,” she concluded. “I can't even remember what I said. I think I said a really bad word beginning with c, I think that's how pissed off I must have been.”
