Georgia Toffolo finally free after 9 hours in 'immigration detention centre'
Georgia Toffolo is overjoyed to finally be free to enjoy Christmas in the Maldives, after she issued a teary plea to her followers when she found herself detained while trying to enter the country.
The former Made In Chelsea star took to Instagram and Twitter on Sunday to inform her followers she was denied entry due to a ‘damaged passport’, but also wasn’t allowed to return back to the UK.
She claimed she faced a ‘four-day’ wait for a plane that was willing to take her home, meaning she was to be holed up in a detention centre.
Obviously this frustrated and upset the reality star, who shared videos of her sobbing and asking for help.
Now, well, she’s a free woman after nine hours, after using her massive following to her benefit and being able to get in touch with officials.
‘I am typing this having just been released from immigration detention! I can’t quite believe it. I was genuinely trying to come to terms with spending the next… however long… in an immigration detention centre,’ Toff wrote on Sunday afternoon, around 7.30pm her time. ‘Thank you so much to everyone who helped me. If I hadn’t posted online I would 100% still be stuck without my passport!’
The star, who enjoys a following of 1.9million on Instagram alone, understood she was in a luckier position than many. Not everyone can call their followers into action to help at the drop of a hat, we suppose.
She continued, looking overjoyed in the picture she uploaded: ‘This scares me because it is such a privilege to have a following on social media – people can hear me. What if I didn’t have a social media following? I can’t bear to think of another girl in the situation I found myself in where no one can hear you.’
According to the star, the ‘British government worked with Maldivian representatives, pushed by the UK press too’ as she added an ‘epic thank you’ to the coverage her pleas received so early on.
‘Also thank you to Maldivian immigration for letting me in to your beautiful country!’ Toff said.
The I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! 2017 winner added: ‘In spite of me crying for 9 hours and scaring everyone at the airport, I made some lovely friends (the group of 7 airport guys that didn’t leave me while I was wailing) on reflection they couldn’t leave me, because I was being detained. But still they were kind.
‘They ran me through the best bits of the potential prison I was almost spending Christmas in, every cloud etc! I even had a laugh with the immigration officers in the end. Oddly excited for the reunion when I leave.’
She implored her followers to check their passports, insisting she didn’t realise two pages had fallen out of the centre, deeming it not a suitable document for proof of travel and identity.
Concluding her message, she wrote: ‘SO SO traumatised but grateful thank you thank you thank you. Toff’s Christmas is back on,’ as she mused on the outside: ‘On that note wonder what I would have got on Christmas Day in the detention centre? Trying to make light of it but it was a really horrible experience.’
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