Luisa Zissman in furious row with handyman who claims she 'wrecked' his reputation after accusing him of stealing her Christmas wreath

20 December 2019, 13:05

By Alice Dear

The Apprentice star has branded the man a “scumbag” after he told the press he was “disgusted” at being accused of theft.

Luisa Zissman has found herself in a furious row with handyman James Gibbs, 32, after he was ‘accused’ of stealing the businesswoman’s Christmas wreath.

Luisa, 31, took to Instagram this week after her wreath was taken, sharing a video with her 539,000 followers of a Land Rover parked outside the house of a man she had been tipped off was the thief.

After the Instagram story was published, James told The Sun he was “frightened” as “anyone could see her video” and that she was "wrecking his reputation”.

Luisa has said she made it clear to her followers following the video that he was not the wreath thief.

Talking to the publication, James said: “I watched the video and thought, ‘Hang on, I have had nothing to do with this’.

“Anyone could see her video. They could then target me or my car by driving into the side of me or anything. I am a bit frightened.

“It’s disgusting being accused of something that you haven’t done. She’s wrecking my reputation.”

He continued: “I haven’t got the money to take her to court. I’m just a normal bloke. I feel like I have been victimised. She can’t go around falsely accusing people of things.

“I think she fancies herself as a bit of a DIY detective, but she’s failing badly.”

View this post on Instagram

Let’s turn a negative into a positive. I was going to call my lawyers and stop this story but then thought why should I spend £1000 killing it when I’ve done nothing wrong. The man that’s selling the story obviously wants his 5 minutes of fame and wants everyone to know his name (I don’t even know his name or what house he lives in, so how he is claiming i’m accusing him of being THE wreath thief is absurd) anyway.... I’m raffling the last wreath to raise money for Outreach Moldova. Donate a minimum of £2 to www.justgiving.com/luisaandsam and comment “raffle my wreath, before the next thief” and your name. I’ll choose a winner at random tomorrow & post it to you!! . . . . I hope the scum bag selling the bullshit story for his 5 mins of fame will also donate his fee, but I highly doubt it!! I mean no one knows who he is. And as I cleared up on my stories when I knocked on the door of the peoples house who had the wreath that looked like mine it was not mine. . . . Anyway here’s to raising some money & giving the last wreath standing a good home!! #rafflemywreathbeforethenextthief . . PS does anyone else find it bizarre that a random bloke who no one knows wants his name printed all over a paper accusing himself of being a thief? It’s so weird 🤣🤣🙈🙈🙈😩😩😩 . . . PPs my jumper is Zara!

A post shared by Luisa Collins (Zissman) (@luisazissman) on Dec 19, 2019 at 6:11am PST

After seeing what James had said, the former Apprentice star took to Instagram again to tell him: “I don’t know who you f***ing are you k**b.”

She furiously explained to her followers, directing her comments at James: “I didn’t show your house. I didn’t show your car numberplate.

“I have no idea who you are. Your existence is completely insignificant to me. You complete joke.

“This guy is the lowest of the low trying to sell a story on me about how I’ve ruined his f***ing life. Get a grip you absolute scumbag.”

Following the drama, Luisa said she was going to call her lawyers, but instead decided to make a “negative into a positive”.

Instead, the star decided to raffle off one of her remaining wreaths, which has now raised thousands of pounds going to charity Outreach Moldova.