Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins contestant Saira Khan has spoken out to deny claims of a reported “legal battle with the show” after sustaining an injury during filming.
Over the weekend, Saira told The Sun she had suffered “life-long” physical scars during an undisclosed incident on the set of the Channel 4 reality show.
“Unfortunately legally I can’t go into much detail about it because it’s still ongoing,” the former Loose Women star explained. “I was left with life-long scars, physical ones. That’s very hard to cope with.
“I am a very fit individual and to go onto a show and then have experienced what I did, I was in real shock.”
Saira added: “The show was great in supporting, but it’s gone beyond that. It’s gone onto something a bit bigger than that.”
However, in the same article, The Sun reported that Saira had “launched legal action” over the incident, which she has branded “fake news”.
Posting on her Instagram, she insisted: “There is a story in the [The Sun] that I am suing or am in a legal battle with [prodution company Minnow Films] and [Channel 4] after filming [Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins]. This is NOT true.
“[Minnow Films and Channel 4] have supported me fully before and after the show.”
Sara continued: “When doing the press PR for the show, there were some legal matters I could not discuss, but that was not to be reported – so of course it gets reported and becomes a ‘clickbait’ story!!
“This show is the BEST show I have ever taken part in and it is disappointing that my role in it is being overshadowed by FAKE NEWS.”
She also said that if she were in “a legal battle with the show”, she wouldn’t be “promoting the show on my platform in such a positive light” or praising it in her newspaper column.
“If I was in a legal battle or suing I wouldn’t be doing my case any favours by saying what a great time I had on it!” she wrote. “They say all PR is good PR – yeah, but not when it’s fake news that hurts innocent people.”
A Minnow Films spokesperson previously told HuffPost UK: “Minnow Films and Saira Khan are happy to have resolved the concern raised.”
They also supplied a statement from Saira herself, which said: “I’m absolutely happy to have taken part in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. I had a life changing experience on the show, for the better, and if I was asked to do it again, I 100% would.”
Having finished as runner up in the first series of The Apprentice in 2005, Saira is now best known for her stint on the Loose Women panel, quitting the daytime show earlier this year, after wrapping filming on SAS: Who Dares Wins.
“I did take big drastic steps [after SAS: Who Dares Wins],” she told The Sun. “I left Loose Women and, interestingly, Andrea McLean left Loose Women after doing SAS.
“It changes your life. You realise you’ve got to cut through the shit and start living.”
Saira’s other reality TV credits include Celebrity Big Brother and Dancing On Ice.
The latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins launched on Channel 4 on Sunday night.
Other contestants being put through their paces this time around include chart-topping singer Alexandra Burke, Strictly Come Dancing winner Ore Oduba, reality star Kerry Katona and footballer Kieron Dyer.