Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bushsucker
Boris’ dad: I’ve never seen I’m A Celeb (so the kangaroo penis will be a shock)
IT looks like Stanley Johnson is as clueless as his politician son Boris after claiming that he has never even watched I’m A Celebrity.
At 77, Stanley – believed to be earning a six-figure payment – will become the show’s oldest ever contestant on Sunday.
But yesterday he blustered: “I have to tell you I have never watched the show.
“It’s all totally new to me, I know absolutely nothing about it.
“But I’ve been told about it and obviously I am ready to give it a go.”
Asked if he was afraid of challenges such as the famously stomach-churning Bushtucker Trials, which once saw the wine critic Jilly Goolden try – and fail – to eat a kangaroo penis, he said: “I don’t think I am dreading anything.
“I am looking forward to being with
the fellow competitors, contestants. I say that because it is a competition, isn’t it?”
Stanley will soon be on a diet of basic rations, but hopes that it will help him get the new, slim physique he dreams of.
He said: “I am looking forward to losing half a stone. No, seriously, I am.”
Stanley, who flew into Brisbane from New Zealand, confirmed the Mirror’s story that his four children – Boris, Rachel, Jo and Leo – had no idea their father was about to become a reality star.
He even claimed to have kept his participation in the show a secret from his wife Jennifer.
He said: “It’s an absolute secret as far as they are concerned. My wife does not know I am planning to do this.
“Her reaction? It’s hard to say.”
Th e environmental exp er t and novelist said his children would probably never find out he was on I’m A Celebrity “unless they turn the telly on”. He said: “They are all very busy. They will pick it up somewhere, I suppose.
“If the Johnsons spent all their time watching other Johnsons on TV, they would have nothing else to do.”
Stanley previously claimed that he had no idea his Foreign Secretary son Boris was busy dealing with the fallout from his horrific gaffe over Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe’s jail sentence in Iran.
Boris told a Commons committee the mum had been in Iran “teaching people journalism” when she was arrested in 2016, giving the Iranians ammunition to increase her sentence.
Stanley said: “I’ve been this side of the equator for the last three weeks, heaven knows what’s been happening.”
So at least Stanley is used to the conditions Down Under, which could make him useful to boxer Amir Khan, who admitted he will need someone to fight his corner to fend off creepy crawlies.
He said: “I am one guy who hates spiders. Whenever I see a spider at home, I get my sister to move it. I just don’t deal with it. I hope I don’t come across any of them when I am in the jungle.
“I know I am going to. Will I scream? Yes, definitely, but maybe this is the time where I face my phobias. I also hate snakes and heights too.”
Mark flew to Oz with BA. I’m A Celebrity starts at 9pm, ITV, on Sunday.