‘I thought it was innocent’: Kate was 16 when she was invited to Britain’s Got Talent by David Walliams. Afterwards, she was asked to go to his dressing room… only for a security guard to stop her with this chilling warning

Like any other 16-year-old girl, Kate* was excited to be sitting in the audience of Britain’s Got Talent (BGT). Her tickets had come from one of its celebrity 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.

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.

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. He denies any 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.

So, why would such a famous celebrity in his late 40s even consider approaching a 16-year-old he’d never met?

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.

Kate remembers she was at school on the day she first saw a notification from Walliams appear on her phone. Kate, then in year 11, says she was excited to be noticed by such a big 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.

‘It was evidently clear on my social media that I was young and a school student,’ she told the Daily Mail.

‘David followed me out of the blue one day. I didn’t follow him and hadn’t ever interacted with his 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.’

At the time Walliams was single, having separated from his wife Lara Stone in March 2015 after five years of marriage.

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.

While tickets for the talent show are free, they’re difficult to secure because they’re in high demand. Walliams asked his personal assistant to send two tickets to a live show for Kate’s mother’s 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. It was an area she said was full of ‘young women’.

Kate’s mother remembers speaking to another member of the audience, who said she was there to see Walliams, not the show itself.

‘It was like a competition to the other girls, like they were bragging about being there for David,’ Kate’s mother said.

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.

Kate’s mother said: ‘I could see David kept looking for Kate. He was confused that her seat was empty. That was strange in itself.’

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.

Kate and her mother were invited to meet Walliams in his dressing room once recording had finished.

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.

While he didn’t give any explanation for the warning, Kate’s mother decided to take her daughter straight home.

‘Something I thought was so innocent just made me feel very weird,’ she told the Daily 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.

At the time, they were unable to find evidence of wrongdoing or verify how he was compiling his guestlist of young women.

After the show, however, Kate thanked Walliams for the tickets, messaging him on Instagram: ‘Thanks so much for today … really enjoyed the show. We were moved away from our original seats and to the front. Really loved it x.’

Walliams replied: ‘My pleasure. You were meant to come to my dressing room before. I wanted to meet you properly. Xxx.’

Kate responded: ‘Oh I’m so sad that didn’t happen! No one told me … I would’ve loved that!’

He replied: ‘So sorry. All the guests were meant to come backstage before.’

Since working in television herself, Kate says she’s been made aware that producers on BGT banned female runners [junior production staff on a film or TV set] from working with Walliams which became an open industry secret.

‘A runner that I previously worked alongside, who was freelance, also worked on Britain’s Got Talent. He made me aware that David wasn’t allowed female runners towards the end of working on the show because of the way he acted towards them,’ said Kate.

Walliams later unfollowed Kate on Instagram as she rose to fame through reality TV. To this day, the pair have never spoken in person.

Walliams left BGT in November 2022 after audio footage emerged of him making disparaging remarks about contestants off-camera.

Microphones picked up Walliams using misogynistic language, describing one female contestant as: ‘Like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t’.

Although Walliams publicly apologised for his comments, he sued the production company Fremantle for ‘misuse of private information’ and ‘breaching data laws’. The company apologised and Walliams is thought to have walked away with £5million in compensation.

Walliams denies the allegations made by The Guardian and ITN – and has not been charged with any criminal offences – but he will surely hope no other women come forward with allegations like Kate’s. 

*Names have been changed.