Channel 5 Vine row explodes as Andrea Jenkyns fumes 'what rubbish' over Zack Polanski's 'ridiculous' Farage remark

Mr Vine was tasked with moderating the discussions between his guests on his eponymous talk show, although it's safe to say he struggled to maintain control throughout.

Among the clashes between Ms Jenkyns and Mr Polanski were disagreements over the Palestine Action hunger strikers, culture wars, Reform UK's policies under Nigel Farage, the threat of Russia, the proposed ban on petrol cars, and the doctors' strikes, to name a few.

One particularly heated exchange emerged when Ms Jenkyns defended Reform UK's policies amid their surge in popularity, while Mr Polanski accused the party of being "divisive".

"In 2019, the Conservative Party, in target marginal seats, did some polling — and they did some in my constituency," Ms Jenkyns began as she discussed her party.

"And more people dislike me, but they said they’d still vote for me. And so it depends on the questions, because you might dislike somebody, but you think they’re effective and they’ll stand up for you."

Mr Vine then chipped in to say to Mr Polanski that while the number of potential voters was "quite small", he was "doing well amongst those people who like you".

Mr Polanski said of the Greens' popularity: "It’s going incredibly well. I’ve only been leader for three months, but it’s not really about me versus Nigel Farage.

"It’s about his form of hate and division versus the politics of actually doing something about the broken system — about tackling inequality and offering hope to people."

An exasperated Ms Jenkyns muttered "what rubbish" as Mr Polanski continued: "And I know this is breaking through, because I can’t get anywhere without someone stopping me and saying, 'Even though I disagree with some of the things you’re saying, I know you believe it, and you’re giving me hope, because I’m finally seeing a politics that actually believes in something.'

"Now, I obviously have a huge job to do to get more people to agree with me. Nigel’s very, very toxic and divisive, though."

As Ms Jenkyns began to dismiss Mr Polanski's attack, Mr Vine cut in: "That’s the point about the numbers, Andrea. It may well be like Trump. It doesn’t matter if 49 percent of people hate Mr Farage, as long as the 51 percent vote for him."

"And who’s going to be the most effective leader — Nigel or Zack?" Ms Jenkyns rhetorically put to Mr Vine. "I want an effective leader who — I mean, Nigel’s got a business background.

"You’ve got a student activist background, with respect," Ms Jenkyns went on as she gestured to Mr Polanski. "He was out campaigning with Extinction Rebellion, etc.

"We want people with this business background, who say it as it is, and who are believable. You believe in the magic money tree, clearly, because your economics does not make sense."

Mr Polanski interjected as the pair began speaking over one another: "I think what we get from Nigel Farage is culture wars. And if culture wars were going to fix anything, we’d absolutely be thriving as a country."

"We’ve got far more policies out than you, Zach," Ms Jenkyns interrupted, to which Mr Polanski fired back: "And all the policies are divisive and don’t actually do anything."

He added: "To tackle wealth inequality in this country, Nigel Farage is a charlatan. He’s a man who says he’s a man of the people. He’s a man of the wealthy people."

Once again, Ms Jenkyn sighed in disbelief as she weighed back in: "You know, you lose in the argument if you call someone a charlatan."

Mr Polanski cut back in to dispute the suggestion that Mr Farage was "someone who is for the 99 percent versus the one percent".

"Nigel Farage literally represents the one percent, which is why your MPs are multimillionaires and billionaires," he sniped, to which Ms Jenkyns replied: "Oh, what rubbish. Oh my God."

The on-screen spats didn't stop there as the conversation turned towards Russia following former Welsh Reform UK leader Nathan Gill's imprisonment for taking pro-Russian bribes.

Ms Jenkyns conceded there were "bad eggs" in every party and that the conduct was "disgusting", before claiming that suggestions of there being a more insidious pro-Russian plot at play were part of "conspiracy theories".

When Mr Polanski argued there was "evidence" of the claims, Ms Jenkyns stood firm in disputing his claims, insisting Mr Farage was oblivious to any notion of illegal activity taking place.

The Green Party leader continued to push to suggest there was a trend at play within Reform UK, which led Ms Jenkyns to snap: "Oh my gosh. This is just ridiculous.

"You know, right since the Brexit years, anybody ever does — if you’ve got a different view to the BBC, etc, or mainstream media — you get as if you’re aligned to Putin. Putin’s vile."

When the debate turned to electric vehicles, Ms Jenkyns took aim at Mr Polanski personally, describing him as the "annoying kid at school who is still annoying" following a series of interruptions.

Following the numerous clashes with one another, it's safe to say Channel 5 viewers at home remained unconvinced either way, with the reception to Monday's show demonstrating a clear divide.

On X, Ms Jenkyns' supporter hit out at Mr Polanski's conduct. "I'm sick of that Zack going on about Nigel, he wants to look at him self first," one X user fumed.

"Green Party is the biggest joke in our political history. What a joke," a second agreed, while a third suggested: "If Zack wants to win votes here, he failed miserably.

"Not that I'm a Reform voter, but at least she has the decency to answer with what the public thinks. I don't want to be nannied in everything we do. We are f***ing adults too."

"You're like the annoying kid at school who is still annoying."@andreajenkyns tells @ZackPolanski, "keep your mouth shut", as she responds to accusations that Reform doesn't care about the health implications of pollution.@theJeremyVine | #JeremyVine pic.twitter.com/14e3USlUXc

— Jeremy, Storm & Vanessa On 5 (@JeremyVineOn5) December 15, 2025

And a fourth echoed: "I can’t believe there are people in the comments supporting Zack. His policies are from the land of make-believe and will ruin this country quicker than it’s spoiling now."

"Imagine (Zack) representing our country?" another typed in response to the show's X account. "We'd be bankrupt within a week, invaded in a month, and eventually nuked by the end of the year."

However, Mr Polanski did have plenty of support from those who felt Ms Jenkyns failed to cover herself in glory.

"Zack absolutely owns Andrea Jenkyns. With her bizarre outbursts. She starts attacking him personally," one viewer argued, while a second agreed: "Andrea Jenkyns all over the place. Appalling."

Elsewhere, a third said to the Reform UK member: "@andreajenkyns you really need to be better than this. You know you’re booked for the show, so I would expect a politician of your experience to be better prepared than this."

And a fourth praised the Greens man: "@ZackPolanski ripping @andreajenkyns apart with sensible questioning of her policies. Disgusting remark from her regarding the people on hunger strike in jail!"

Elsewhere, a fifth was unimpressed with Ms Jenkyns' attack on Mr Polanski: "When she has to stoop to insults, she has lost her point, not that she really had one." (sic)