Natasha Argent finally explains why she cheated at the London Marathon

Natasha Argent in this week’s OK! Magazine (Picture: OK! Magazine)

Natasha Argent came under fierce criticism when it was revealed thatshe had ‘cheated’ at this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon.

However the one-time The Only Way Is Essex star and sister of James Argent has now insisted that a panic attack was the reason for her decision to leave the route during this year’s race.

Speaking exclusively to OK! magazine, Natasha said that she left the course in order to calm down.

‘I kept running for probably a mile and then went over to a marshall,’ she told the magazine.

Natasha and her brother James Argent (Picture: Twitter/Natasha Argent)

‘I told him I had gone wrong and asked him to get me back to the place I should be, as I knew I hadn’t seen my parents who were waiting at Canary Wharf.

‘I was genuinely lost,’ she added, but the marshall reportedly told Natasha that there was ‘no way’ for her to return to the checkpoint where she had last checked in.

‘People were cheering me on and I felt like I didn’t deserve the cheers,’ said Natasha.

‘It was just awful. I’m really sorry if I have hurt anyone.’

MORE: Natasha Argent pictured for first time since being stripped of her London Marathon medal for cheating

The now-deleted medal picture (Picture: Instagram/James Argent)

In social media pictures, Natasha’s brother James posted a congratulatory tweet and shared a snap of Natasha with her medal.

The picture has now been deleted and Natasha has changed all of her once-public accounts private.

The London Marathon organisers confirmed to Metro.co.uk at the end of April that Natasha would be returning her finisher’s medal.

Natasha results board showed discrepanices (Picture: London Marathon)

This map shows the check points Natasha failed to check in at (Picture: London Marathon)

She was registered as missing checkpoints 13 – 23 along the route and so was asked by the organising team to explain the missing split times in her results from Sunday April 24, as

Because of the discrepancy the split times revealed that even though it took her over two hours to complete the race’s first 20k, the last 20k was run in jusr 48 minutes.

Natasha Argent has also appeared on Take Me Out (Picture: ITV)

‘Our results team has been in touch with Natasha Argent, along with a small number of other runners, to request an explanation for the missing split times in her results from Sunday’s Virgin Money London Marathon,’ Hugh Brasher, Event Director of the Virgin Money London Marathon exclusively told Metro.co.uk.

‘At her request, we have removed her results from the system and she will be returning her finisher’s medal to us.’