WHEN JUNGLE LIFE’S NOT VINE AND DANDY
I’m A Celebrity... and I really, really want to get out of here. MARION McMULLEN looks at those who made an early jungle exit
ITV’S I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! is back on Sunday, but not everyone finds themselves suited to the challenges of jungle life. TOWIE’s Gemma Collins fled a helicopter trip in tears before she even set foot in the jungle in 2014. The hungry contestant also begged the producers for food before leaving after just three days because she was worried she might have malaria. She left wailing “People who murder get treated better than this”.
ELECTRIC shocks at a “kangaroo court” task proved too much for actor Nigel Havers who quit in 2010 after eight days. He left saying “I’m not up for it. I don’t do electric shocks so I’m leaving. I cannot waste another second of my life”. His time in the jungle included a duet with Sheryl Gascoigne while being showered with insects.
ENDLESS Bushtucker trials proved too much for All Saints singer Natalie Appleton in 2004. She faced snakes and had to eat kangaroo testicles and fish eyes. Enough was enough for Natalie when viewers voted for her to do a fifth trial and she told presenters Ant and Dec: “You have got to be kidding. I have nothing left.”
LADY Colin Campbell was one of the most talked about celebs in the 2015 series, but she left four days before the final citing “medical grounds”. She lashed out at her fellow campers saying, among other things, that “Duncan (Bannatyne) is a vain old goat who can barely speak English,” and called Tony Hadley “the buffoon who doesn’t have two thoughts in his head”.
CORONATION Street and Red Dwarf actor Craig Charles heartbreakingly quit the ITV contest in 2014 after being told of the tragic death of his brother Dean. In an emotional goodbye to his fellow camp mates, he said: “I’m out of here, guys. My brother died yesterday. I’ve got to go sort things out. I just wanted to say goodbye. Look after yourselves.”
SEX Pistols and PiL frontman John Lydon left the jungle camp in 2004 after saying goodbye and hugging his fellow contestants. The colourful celeb had been the favourite to win the ITV show and be crowned King of the Jungle prior to his departure. However, he had begged viewers to vote him out.
When they didn’t, he walked.
HEALTH reasons saw Hollywood star George Hamilton exit the jungle a week before the final in 2009. He told Ant and Dec: “I just thought, ‘why don’t I leave while I’m on a high’”. Strictly star Camilla Dallerup also left the series early after being close to fainting and suffering from memory loss.
THE same series saw Katie Price leave early during her second stint in the jungle. After being picked for her seventh Bushtucker trial, she declared: “I’m just not doing it.”
She also said the jungle held too many memories of ex-husband Peter Andre: “I met a husband here, had kids and I’ve had so much. Coming back is like a big circle for me.”
COMEDIAN Freddie Starr left the 2011 series after falling ill. He was attended by medics on site before being taken to hospital. The funnyman – who had a quadruple bypass the previous year after a heart attack – was taken to hospital two hours after winning a ‘greasy spoon’ Bushtucker trial where he chowed down on mice tails, turkey testicles and a pig’s anus.
SOAP actress
Danniella Westbrook made a tearful exit from the second series in 2003. The EastEnders star said she could no longer take it and wanted to be with her husband and children.
She told producers: “I can’t stand it. I really can’t.
“I just hate it in here.”