Mike’s back Down Under ... but has he boobed again?
HE has received strict orders to not embarrass his wife with his uncouth eating habits.
But Mike Tindall might have fared better from a general lesson in decorum after he was seen grabbing a stunned I’m A Celebrity crew member hours before heading into the jungle.
The former rugby ace, who is married to Zara Phillips, the late Queen’s granddaughter, threw his arms around the waist of a blonde woman and pretended to throw her into the water from a pontoon. It is not clear if the woman – who was seemingly caught off guard – appreciated his antics as half her face was covered in a mask. ‘Mike cheekily ran up behind the crew member before swinging her around on the pontoon,’ an onlooker told The Sun. ‘At one point he pretended to push her over the edge as he killed time while waiting to be taken to his first trial. ‘Mike was certainly bursting with energy after being cooped up in isolation for a week and is bound to be full of practical jokes when he gets in the camp.’
It is not the first time that Tindall, who has children Mia, eight, Lena, four, and Lucas, one, with his wife of 11 years, has displayed similar rough-and-tumble type pranks publicly.
In 2011, when he was England captain, he was fined £25,000 for ‘serious misconduct’ by the RFU for enjoying a ‘dwarf-throwing contest’ with some teammates at a bar in New Zealand.
He was also pictured with his arm around ‘old flame’ Jessica Palmer on the same evening.
Tindall, whose fellow campmates include Boy George, 61, Scarlette Douglas, 35, Sue Cleaver, 59, Owen Warner, 23, and Olivia Attwood, 31, is the first ‘royal’ to appear on the ITV reality show.
Speaking ahead of last night’s episode, Tindall said: ‘ Zara told me to go and be myself, which is all you can be. She said to go enjoy and be yourself.
‘Zara’s biggest worry is how loud I am when I eat.’
Tindall later found himself in the water as part of the Critter Cruise challenge to win stars for camp.
He was faced with a host of insects, including a large spider that crawled over his head as he battled to decipher a code to open a padlock to unleash his first yellow star.
Zara is expected to fly out to Australia to support Tindall in the 22nd series of the show.