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 watched I’m A Celebrity.
Stanley, 77, will become the show’s oldest ever contestant when he heads into the jungle 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 he said: “I am looking forward to losing half a stone.”
Stanley, who flew into Brisbane from New Zealand, confirmed that his four children – Boris, Rachel, Jo and Leo – had no idea he was about to become a reality star.
He even claimed to have kept his participation 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.”
The environmental expert 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. They are so busy.
“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 gaffe over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s jail sentence in Iran.
Boris told a Commons committee the mum had been “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. He admitted: “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.”