Like any other 16-year-old girl, Kate* was excited to be sitting in the audience of Britain’s Got Talent (BGT).
asserted
Kate → sit → Talent
Her tickets had come from one of its celebrity judges!
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tickets → come → judges
The teenager had recently been approached by David Walliams, then 48, on Instagram, and the comedian got her seats for a live recording of the show in 2017 – and invited her and her mother to meet him backstage.
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comedian → approach → him
Nine years on, Kate, now 25, – who went on to become a reality TV star – says she realises ‘how creepy the full thing was’ and has opened up about the experience for the first time to the Daily Mail.
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thing → go → Mail
Kate and her mother spoke to us after Walliams was accused of preying on young teenagers and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl following an investigation by The Guardian and ITN.
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Walliams → speak → Guardian
He denies any wrongdoing.
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He → deny → wrongdoing
The comedian sought to prevent the publication of the allegations by seeking a High Court injunction – claiming being named would lead him to take his own life – which was denied on Tuesday.
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which → seek → Tuesday
So, why would such a famous celebrity in his late 40s even consider approaching a 16-year-old he’d never met?
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he → consider → old
Walliams first contacted Kate on Instagram in April 2017, following her ‘out of the blue’ and liking many of her photos, which included selfies taken at school and snaps of her with friends.
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which → contact → friends
David Walliams got a 16-year-old girl seats for a live recording of Britain's Got Talent in 2017
The comedian was a judge on the show and invited Kate and her mother to meet him backstage after contacting her on Instagram
Kate remembers she was at school on the day she first saw a notification from Walliams appear on her phone.
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notification → get → phone
Kate, then in year 11, says she was excited to be noticed by such a big star.
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she → say → star
But with the comedian’s reputation now in tatters following allegations of inappropriate relationships with young girls, Kate sees the interaction in a different light.
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Kate → follow → light
‘It was evidently clear on my social media that I was young and a school student,’ she told the Daily Mail.
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she → tell → Mail
‘David followed me out of the blue one day.
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David → follow → blue
I didn’t follow him and hadn’t ever interacted with his page.
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I → follow → page
‘When I saw the account follow me I remember thinking it was off and I noticed he followed quite a lot of young women.
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he → see → women
At the time Walliams was single, having separated from his wife Lara Stone in March 2015 after five years of marriage.
Walliams was accused of preying on young teenagers and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl following an investigation by The Guardian and ITN.
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Walliams → separate → Guardian
He denies any wrongdoing
BGT bosses launched a probe into Walliams’s conduct on the show after they were told he had been taking teenage girls into his dressing room
Walliams was at the height of his career despite several allegations of misconduct the previous year in 2016, including from a member of staff at his publisher, HarperCollins, who had claimed the best-selling children’s author had become known as a ‘creep’ for seeking the emails and phone numbers of female staff.
The Little Britain star went on to be awarded an OBE in 2017 for ‘services to the arts’ and continued to charm fans with his wit and extravagant personality, viewed by some as one of the most eligible bachelors in showbiz.
Despite her qualms and after Walliams liked a number of her Instagram snaps, she decided to ask him for tickets to BGT in May.
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she → deny → May
While tickets for the talent show are free, they’re difficult to secure because they’re in high demand.
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they → ’re → demand
Walliams asked his personal assistant to send two tickets to a live show for Kate’s mother’s birthday.
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Walliams → ask → birthday
When they arrived at Fountain Studios in Wembley, north-west London, Kate and her mother were seated in a section filled with Walliams’s guests.
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Kate → arrive → guests
It was an area she said was full of ‘young women’.
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she → say → women
Kate’s mother remembers speaking to another member of the audience, who said she was there to see Walliams, not the show itself.
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she → remember → Walliams
‘It was like a competition to the other girls, like they were bragging about being there for David,’ Kate’s mother said.
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mother → brag → David
Despite being assigned specific seats, Kate and her mother were moved to different seats in the front row by a producer before recording started as they ‘wanted [Kate] on camera’, leaving her allocated seat empty.
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they → assign → seat
Kate’s mother said: ‘I could see David kept looking for Kate.
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David → say → Kate
Walliams, who has won the National Television Award for Best TV Judge for his role on BGT four times, sat alongside long-serving judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon during filming.
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who → win → filming
Kate and her mother were invited to meet Walliams in his dressing room once recording had finished.
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recording → invite → room
But in a sinister turn, which suggests a wider awareness of Walliams’s alleged inappropriate relationships with young girls, Kate’s mother was advised not to attend the comedian’s ‘afterparty’ by a security guard working for the show.
‘Do not go there,’ the security guard told Kate’s mother firmly, shaking his head, when she told him of their plans.
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she → suggest → plans
While he didn’t give any explanation for the warning, Kate’s mother decided to take her daughter straight home.
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mother → give → daughter
‘Something I thought was so innocent just made me feel very weird,’ she told the Daily Mail.
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she → think → Mail
Just a few years later, BGT bosses launched a probe into Walliams’s conduct on the show after they were told that the star, now 55, had been taking teenage girls into his dressing room.
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star → launch → room
At the time, they were unable to find evidence of wrongdoing or verify how he was compiling his guestlist of young women.
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he → find → women
After the show, however, Kate thanked Walliams for the tickets, messaging him on Instagram: ‘Thanks so much for today … really enjoyed the show.
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Kate → thank → show
We were moved away from our original seats and to the front.
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We → move → front
Walliams replied: ‘My pleasure.
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Walliams → reply → pleasure
You were meant to come to my dressing room before.
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You → mean → room
I wanted to meet you properly.
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I → want → you
Kate responded: ‘Oh I’m so sad that didn’t happen!
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that → respond → ?
No one told me …
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one → tell → me
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
