This Morning star Isla Traquair has clapped back after fans complained that she flew to Tenerife while police were hunting for Jay Slater.
The 19-year-old was last seen on Monday 17 June after attending a music festival. During the search for the missing teenager, reporters were flown out to the location where he vanished.
This included Isla, who boarded a plane to the island for a special report on Jay. She retraced his last known movements from the nightclub where he was last spotted to the bus stop where he inquired about the next bus schedule.
The 44-year-old then ventured into the mountains where search parties were scouring the terrain for any sign of the young man, with helicopters buzzing overhead.
However, Isla’s presence in Tenerife sparked outrage from fans, who criticised the decision. Isla has now spoken out following the backlash and explained why she travelled to the island.
In a TikTok video, Isla said: “I don’t normally respond to trolls and comments online and I personally don’t really care about some of the things that have been said about me.
“But what I would like to do is clarify some facts so I’m not having to respond to all the different comments. But first of all just to address the nonsense and attention that’s been brought on me.”
The Scottish star continued: “I’m a journalist, I have been a journalist since I was 16 years old. ‘I’m vastly experienced. I’ve won awards for what I do. And what do journalists do? We go to the location of a story and we report on them.
“I find it rather hilarious that it has become the focus of a story. The reason for me actually going out there was I had been asked to speak about it on This Morning and I did all the enquiries that I could while being based in London.”
Isla revealed that she ended up going to Tenerife after Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, had asked to speak with her. She also clarified queries about the case, including comments made about Jay and his family.
The TV host went on: “Thank you to all those lovely people who know who I am, who know my job, who know my integrity for writing nice things and I genuinely really don’t care about the stupid comments because they’re written by people who have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about.”
She signed off the video: “And they can go and just maybe spend their time doing something more useful.”
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