Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett defends Molly Mae over controversial comments made on his podcast

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. You can literally go in any direction.” The 22-year-old continued: “I understand we all have different backgrounds and we’re raised in different ways and have different financial situations, but if you want something enough you can achieve it and it just depends to what lengths you want to go to get to where you want to be in the future.” After the clip went viral, the reality star – who has gone on to become a creative director of fashion brand Pretty Little Thing – was criticised as “out of touch” and “tone deaf”. On Friday, Bartlett – who has replaced Tej Lalvani on Dragon’s Den – defended Hague in a Twitter post, suggesting that she had been “crucified” over the remarks because she is a woman. “Molly Mae did an interview on my podcast, yesterday a soundbite from that interview went viral, she trended No.1 on Twitter, every newspaper covered it and MP’s weighed in,” wrote Bartlett. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free “If I interview a successful woman, she’s got to tip toe around her success and watch her words?” Bartlett concluded: “Gender issues aside, the standard we hold Molly Mae to as a 22-year-old that’s figuring out the world is absolutely outrageous.