Sam Faiers has hit back at the public backlash after she complained how 'tough' it is flying business class with her children.
Last week the mum-of-three came under fire as fans accused her of failing to read the room and acknowledge her privilege, as millions of people struggle to cope with the ongoing cost of living crisis while Sam and her family enjoyed a lavish break to Abu Dhabi thanks to her career as an influencer.
"It's like, you kidding me?" Sam fumed on her podcast The Sam & Billie Show today.
"Like yes, I've flown business a few times, but not every time I fly is business.
"Like come on it's like once like once in a blue moon because that was part of the job."
Sam explained that she was gifted the trip by the Abu Dhabi tourist board and was expected to post on Instagram in return as part of the job.
"You just can't win, I had to post the flight because it was part of the job that we was there to do with the Tourism Board," ehs said.
"And then I didn't want to speak about it being business because I did think, I'm just not like that to boast about business class seats.
"So I thought oh, you know, I will speak about the fact that I didn't sit down for a second."
Sam thought her fans would find it "relatable" that she was struggling with her teething baby on the business class flight and that people would "like the honesty".
But her plan backfired and a huge backlash started and she was forced to turn off the comments.
"I really can't be bothered to explain myself but it was like you know some people commenting saying things like, 'Oh look at you showing off in your business class flight.'
"Which I wasn't by the way, and I was talking about Edward's teeth."
She added: "You just can't win."
Sam's sister Billie chipped in: "It is frustrating because it's like, I feel like I've worked really hard same as you to get what we've got and to do what we do, we've worked hard for it.
"We've not sat around twiddling our thumbs."
Sam added: "It's 24/7 work."
Billie insisted they're "just normal girls" and should be allowed to "celebrate" their success.
"We juggle and it is a juggle and sometimes a struggle," she said.
Instagram users accused the star of not being as relatable as she thinks she is, before Sam quickly edited her caption and removed the comments calling her out for not 'reading the room'.
"I thought I actually won't be able to sleep if I know this is continuing through the night so I just turned the comments off," she explained saying she "didn't lose sleep over it".
Billie added: "But also I do think we we do share everything the good and the bad. And I think unfortunately the world that we live in, everyone's opinionated and people just sometimes want to just be negative."
The mum-of-three and her long-term partner Paul recently jetted off to the United Arab Emirates with their three children Paul Jnr, 6, Rosie, 5, and six-month-old Edward - a gifted or supplemented holiday with the Abu Dhabi tourist board.
Also joining them on their luxury getaway was Sam's sister, Billie, her husband Greg Shepherd, and their three children, Nelly, 8, Arthur, 5, and their baby girl, Margot.
In the now-deleted caption, the Essex native wrote: "The truth is going on holiday with small children is tough, especially with a crawling, teething baby.
"We have had the most wonderful time in the sunshine, swimming every day, exploring, sightseeing and eating lots of ice cream but it's exhausting, remember nobody said it was easy.
"As for the flight home Edward slept maybe 1 hour out of 7.5 safe to say I was doing everything I could to keep him entertained without crying."
She went on to thank the "accommodating and kind" Etihad Airways staff who she said had helped her when she felt "self-conscious" about flying with a baby and her two other young children.
Sam's followers quickly flooded to the comment section to share their thoughts on the star's holiday woes.
One Instagram user wrote: "This post is wrong, you are very privileged to travel business/first class and I acknowledge you work hard, but to post this, saying how hard it is travelling with 3 children is not representative of all you lovely followers, who imagine as I am/are having travelled with young children in economy where until up to the 2 years of age don't even get their own seat."
Another added: "My heart bleeds. Read the room Sam. The rest of us are exhausted from living during a cost of living crisis."
Sam has since tweaked the caption to read: "Home sweet home @etihad @visitabudhabi #findyourpace #inabudhabi #ad."
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