Jungle Josie’s heartache over leaving her son for three weeks
FOR any mother, leaving a child at home to go to work is a heart-wrenching choice.
But for I’m A Celebrity contestant Josie Gibson, taking part in the reality show means being away from her five-year-old son Reggie for at least three weeks.
The This Morning presenter, who is a single mum, has revealed her sadness at flying off to Australia while her only child stays at home.
Ms Gibson, 38, says she has done her utmost to prepare Reggie for her absence.
She told the Mail: ‘I’ve done him a lot of videos before I left and also I’ve explained everything that I possibly can to him.
‘And I’ve been trying to explain that since I signed up. So, each morning we’ve been waking up and he says “mummy are we going to Australia now?” And I go “not yet Reg” and he’s going “when are we going into the jungle?”
‘So none of it has come as shock to him, he’s got his head around it.
‘It is going to be weird but there will be plenty of cuddles when I come out and at the end of the day this will better me and Reg and it’s all going to be good.
‘He’s going to be experiencing Australia while I’m going to be tucking down on mealworms.’
Reggie, who Ms Gibson says is used to sleeping with her every night, will travel to Australia a couple of weeks into the show when friends and family are allowed to join but he will not be allowed to see her until she officially leaves the camp.
Ms Gibson, who is being paid a six-figure sum to appear on I’m a Celeb, turned down invitations to appear in other prime-time shows, saying the option for her son to travel out was ‘a big reason I agreed to do it because obviously to leave Reg is a big ask and commitment’.
The presenter, who had Reggie with her property developer ex Terry, has been in the running to replace Holly Willoughby fulltime on This Morning and she admits ITV’s faith also played a big part in her decision to go into the jungle. She said: ‘ITV is my home. I’m an ITV face and ITV gave me this chance. Without ITV, I wouldn’t be where I am.
‘So, yeah, ITV really took a chance on me and they believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. So that’s why I stuck with them.’