Big Brother's Chanelle Hayes reveals horrific ordeal with 'dumping syndrome' after having gastric band surgery to control her weight after it fluctuated between 7 and 17st
The Big Brother star, 37, whose weight has yo-yoed between seven and 17 stone over the past four years, spoke for the first time about the side effects from overeating once a gastric band is fitted, which include being violently sick as your body rejects the excess food.
In an exclusive interview, the former model said the surgery, which she had in 2020, created a 'physical barrier' to prevent her from excessive consumption but she has been left 'terrified' after falling into old habits of eating too much chocolate or pizza, triggering the unpleasant condition.
'Dumping syndrome' is described as a medical disorder where food, particularly sugary food, moves too quickly from the stomach into the small intestine and causes bloating, nausea, cramps, dizziness and a rapid heartbeat among other symptoms including being physically sick.
It is often caused by gastric surgery and sufferers are advised to manage it by eating smaller more frequent meals and upping their intake of protein and fibre while limiting sugary foods.
And for Chanelle the symptoms are even harder to bare because she has emetophobia, a phobia of vomit, which she says has 'terrorised' her for most of her life.
The mother of three, who last year married husband Dan Bingham, told MailOnline that ahead of the couple's nuptials she dropped to an 'unhealthy' seven stone due to stress but she's now the happiest she has ever been with her body following years of battling against disordered eating.
She said: 'This physical barrier stops me from eating. I physically cannot, if I eat more than the capacity of my stomach I will vomit, if I eat things that are too bad for me then I could end up with dumping syndrome, diarrhoea, vomiting, sweats, it forces you to stay on the straight and narrow.
The Big Brother star, whose weight has yo-yoed between seven and 17 stone over the past four years, spoke about the side effects from overeating once a gastric band is fitted (pictured 2018)
'Don't get me wrong, I will still reach for a chocolate bar or milkshake or a slice of pizza, but I'll have more than what my stomach can fit in, and it does not end well.
'I have a huge phobia of vomit too, it's awful, it terrorises me... I can handle all the other bodily fluids, I can handle all the others from any area but not vomit, it terrifies me.
'The advice is to make sure you chew enough times whereas I can just ravage everything off the table, just shoving it in my mouth, so it's being mindful and recognising not to be on my phone while I'm eating or watching TV, just concentrate on what you're doing.'
Chanelle, who rose to fame on Channel 4's Big Brother in 2007, says she has struggled with harmful eating habits and body image since she was a teenager but having a gastric band fitted, she was given the opportunity to maintain a healthy size.
At her biggest, the former lads' mags model was a size 20, but after dropping to a six, she underwent several surgeries to remove excess skin plus a breast reduction and uplift, which saw her go from a G cup bra to a D.
The level that her weight has fluctuated over the years has resulted in Chanelle regularly buying an entirely new wardrobe to fit her changing body including her swimwear.
After being pictured wearing a slinky black bikini while on holiday last month in Tenerife, Chanelle said: 'I never ever wear the same bikini twice and I always leave them on holiday.
'I have fluctuated so much in weight over the years that I could have a bikini in one size and the following year it's two times too big or two times too small, so I wear my bikinis and then buy new ones every time I go away.
At her biggest, the former lads' mags model was a size 20, but after dropping to a six, she underwent several surgeries to remove excess skin plus a breast reduction and uplift
'I have to shop at Asda for my clothes, for vest tops and pyjamas because otherwise I would have thrown away a fortune.
'Luckily, it's stable now since I had my gastric sleeve but before it was just up, down, shake it all around, it was ridiculous. What can you do? There's no point in spending loads and loads of money on a wardrobe you might not fit into in six months' time.'
Chanelle credits the gastric sleeve surgery for her newfound confidence but admits there are still areas of her body which make her feel insecure.
The procedure, which has also helped the likes of Vanessa Feltz and James Argent, reduces the size of the stomach by 70-85 per cent to restrict food intake, which helped Chanelle to gain back control.
But once she dramatically lost the weight, she was left with excess, saggy skin, causing further distress.
She said: 'With my sleeve, they take about 70 per cent of your stomach out and leave you with, instead of it being like a round poach, it is more like a sausage shape, it's massively decreased compared to a normal stomach, which means that I can't eat or drink as much.
'It's perfect for me because it's always been such a psychological thing, I automatically reach for anything. It's been good to have that physical barrier there and from that I lost a lot of weight quite quickly.
'My breasts were droopy, my stomach was, well in fact, my stomach was ripped to bits.
'Half of my abs were on one side, and the other half were on the other but that was because of pregnancy.
After two breast surgeries, multiple rounds of liposuction, and several procedures to tighten her loose skin, Chanelle vows she is finally done with going under the knife
'When they did my skin removal, they put my muscles back together to help strengthen my core, so I've had that done as well.'
After two breast surgeries, multiple rounds of liposuction, and several procedures to tighten her loose skin, Chanelle vows she is finally done with going under the knife.
She said: 'On a regular day, I am feeling great, I am so happy that I had the sleeve done and then I had some skin removal surgery after that, and my breast implants changed.
'Although I feel much more confident I would still like my arms to be tighter, but I don't want to have the surgery.
'For me, I would rather feel 90 per cent with my body and not undergo another operation. There is always room for improvement but who looks in the mirror and thinks they're perfect.'
Chanelle, who famously modelled her image on Victoria Beckham, explained her complex relationship with food is triggered by how she feels in her everyday life, which was emphasised in the weeks leading up to her wedding last year.
In July 2024, Chanelle married accountant Dan in a ceremony attended by the star's two children, a 15-year-old son she shares with ex-footballer Matthew Bates, and Frankie, seven, from her relationship with PE teacher Ryan Oates.
She's also now a stepmother to Dan's daughter Amelia, 17, and the family lives together in Yorkshire, where Chanelle recently trained as a nurse.
Chanelle said: 'I have always been an emotional eater so when I was celebrating, I would go out for dinner, when I was commiserating, I would eat, if I was upset, happy, it's always been a thing... it didn't even just develop; it has always been there for me.
'At my lightest, I got really stressed last year before the wedding and I went down to seven stone, which was horrific. I looked ill. Now I am back up at about 50kg, which is around eight or nine stone. I was 17.8 stone during the Covid years, so I have lost a lot altogether.'
As an increasing number of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Amy Schumer have admitted to taking Ozempic, has Chanelle ever tried the weight-loss drug to achieve her body goals?
She said: 'I wouldn't be illegible try to Ozempic because of my BMI, I wouldn't be prescribed it, but I am all for people doing whatever makes them feel healthier.
'My husband for example, we are working with a company, and he's been doing the Mounjaro injections, and he's lost three stone, and he feels and looks amazing, he has cardiac issues, and it's made him much healthier overall including his heart. I am really behind it but it's individual to every patient.'
And after growing up fixated by Victoria and aspiring to have a figure which resembled the WAG's slim frame and previously surgically enhanced breasts, Chantelle is even more concerned for today's generation of Instagram and TikTok loving youngsters, saying there's no escape from the pressures of having to conform to beauty body standards.
She added: 'I've had these feelings since I was a teenager and more so when I left high school and started college. The magazines were all circling normal and healthy-looking women and it made me think if Kate Moss can't have cellulite, then how can I? Now that is amplified, everywhere you look.
'I have experienced trolling, God yes, but I don't read the comments anymore. I live in my own world and everyone's always going to have an opinion. It doesn't matter if there's 100 positive comments, if you see one negative, it's so easy to stick onto that. I would advise people to not look. It's just so much harder now because everything is online and bleeping through to their phones. The girls on Love Island get picked to shreds.'
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