Ashley Cain, the former reality star turned BBC presenter, referred to women as “slags”, “sluts” and “b****es” in historic social media posts, it has been reported.
On Wednesday (17 June), it was reported that Cain, who hosts the BBC docuseries Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone and competed on Celebrity Masterchef, allegedly had a back catalogue of offensive, misogynistic and violent posts on X (formerly Twitter) directly aimed at or about women.
In the posts, which were shared between 2011 and 2015, the former Ex on the Beach star reportedly used sexist language, while also joking about hitting women and degrading sexual practices. The Guardian reported that Cain’s tweets remained public until this week, but appear to have been deleted, along with his entire account on X, ahead of their investigation being published.
According to the publication, these tweets (which The Independent was unable to independently verify) included comments that Cain, 35, “would have to choke slam” a contestant on the 2015 series of Love Island. In a separate tweet aimed at the same contestant, he reportedly posted that he would like to “d*** f*** her and her big mouth, spit in her face and then f*** her off”.
One year prior, Cain had reportedly tweeted: “A girl bangs 100 guys = Slag A guy bangs 100 girls = Ledge.” Another alleged tweet from the same year read: “I DO NOT.. I repeat I DO NOT think EVERY girl is a slag! There are some absolute PHENOMENAL women out there.. They’re just a rare commodity.”
A BBC spokesperson told The Independent: “We are very clear we expect the highest standards of behaviour from everyone who works with or for the BBC. When allegations are brought to our attention we take them seriously. We will consider this information carefully and do not intend to comment further at this stage.”
The Independent understands that the BBC was not aware that the remarks had been posted on social media and that it has asked independent production companies that worked with Cain to fully review the social media checks that were undertaken at the time.
The Independent has contacted Cain’s representatives for comment.
A former footballer, Cain rose to fame in 2014 as a contestant on the MTV dating reality show Ex on the Beach; while on the show, his on-screen girlfriend referred to him as “controlling”, and he was made to leave the show after separately attempting to assault two of the show’s male contestants. His other reality TV appearances include Five Star Hotel, The Challenge, and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
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Cain began working with the BBC in 2024 on docuseries Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone. The series sees the father-of-two travel to “some of the most brutal, intense places to be a young man”, and was released the following year.
Cain, who has 2.1 million followers on Instagram, was courted by the BBC for his ability to appeal to young male audiences. In a press release announcing Into the Danger Zone, BBC commissioning editor Ricky Cooper said Cain “connects with young men in a truly exceptional way”.
A second season of Into the Danger Zone was announced in March, but has not currently been scheduled for release for the BBC. The series is produced by True North Productions, in association with House of Panthera, Cain’s own production company.
Cain’s alleged tweets, which also saw the presenter joke about ejaculating into a woman without her consent, predate his work with the BBC.
So too does a 2015 report by the Daily Star, in which a woman alleged at the time that Cain had posted sexually explicit footage of her on Snapchat without her consent. “I definitely didn’t give him permission to take photos of me or film me at all. It’s an utter lie,” she told the publication at the time.
Speaking to The Guardian this month, Rachel Roftis claimed that she and Cain met on a night out and had consensual sex in a local hotel, only to discover Cain had taken nude photos and videos of her and uploaded them to the social media platform, both non-consensually.
At the time, Cain reportedly made light of the posts on Twitter, posting: “Some of the explicit Snapchats had to be removed ;(” and ”that’s why they call me the Snapchat king”.
Responding to the Daily Star story when it was released, Cain is said to have tagged Roftis on Twitter, writing that “she knew about it… she consented to it… & she f***ing loved it!”
After these allegations against Cain were published in 2015, he appeared on James O’Brien’s ITV talk show, where he claimed that he had sex with “15 girls a week, every week”. “The girls I’ve slept with know what they do. I openly sleep with girls on Snapchat,” he said.
