Trending 31st March 2025 by Jade Hayden

What Went On With The Denise Welch Hot Air Balloon Saga?

She's like a bird

@denise_welch

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Denise Welch in a hot air balloon, apparently.

Over the weekend, Twitter (now known as X) was awash with claims that the Loose Woman was last spotted drifting in a hot air balloon somewhere in French air space near Calais.

According to Denise’s Wikipedia page, she disappeared in the balloon over the Pyrenees along with three other tourists and a balloon pilot on Sunday – a claim that turned out to be, in fact, entirely false.

‘Hot Air Balloon Carrying Denise Welch Disappears En Route from the UK to France’ read a fake headline that was shared across social media over the weekend, leading to mild panic and much confusion.

Was Denise okay? Was she safe? Would she disappear in the balloon never to be seen again?

Thankfully, no. Denise was fine. And she took to Instagram to let her followers know that was indeed the case.

“Thank goodness they found me!” she wrote, alongside screenshots of the original headline, as well as a Simpsons edit of herself in a hot air balloon.

She later followed up with a response to a Lady Gaga meme, alluding to the time when Gaga said she “looked for evidence” regarding the January 6 insurrection.

The post read ‘Lady Gaga starts quest for Denise Welch and the mysterious hot air balloon – ‘I’m hunting for Densy.”

Denise replied: “There’s hope for me yet! !”

But who started the hot air balloon rumour, and what was their reason for causing such a panic?

The culprit has yet to reveal themselves, but we can only guess that the hoax was started either by a bored Twitter user, or simply AI.

Let’s blame AI.