NOEL
» Shocked Holly & Dec can’t believe I got the boot from I’m a Celeb » Nick Knowles is so rattled... he gets on everyone’s nerves » Viewers want to see me back on TV with my new pal Harry
He went into I’m A Celebrity playing an Emperor with a £600,000 fee and a feeling he could be one of the leaders of the camp for the rest of the series.
But in one of the biggest shocks in reality TV history, Noel Edmonds became the first contestant to leave the show on Friday night.
After spending 24 hours with his beloved wife Liz, Noel, who turns 70 this month, sat down and talked about his jungle adventure and life away from the cameras.
ON LEAVING CAMP FIRST
It was weird watching it back, my face was like: “Oh, OK then.”
And then when I got back all hell was let loose with what was going on in the UK and being said on Twitter and everything, so it changed to shock and then to abject despondency.
But I’ve come through that. The nation has spoken. I think it’s fair to say everyone at ITV was gobsmacked.
I’ve just been chatting to Dec and Holly and we had a really nice chat and both of them were just saying: “That was unbelievable.”
ON HARRY REDKNAPP
I am worried Harry is finding it quite tiring. He hadn’t seen the show, that was the extraordinary thing, I took the p*** out of him.
I said: “Harry, didn’t you check it out at all?”
He also said a wonderful thing, he said: “I didn’t laugh when I was a full-time football manager.” He said the stress and the strain and how quickly you are exposed to people hating you impacted on him and he couldn’t sleep. Then he said: “I became a miserable b ***** d. I have not laughed this much until I met you.”
We had such a laugh it was great. I think sometimes the others were a bit nonplussed why we were laughing.
We were plotting if the two of us got to the end we would split it and establish a kingdom to follow the Empire we started.
ON A TV RETURN
I think it is OK to say there have been a couple of ideas put forward for a Noel and Harry show. REUNITED Noel and Liz But my boy is still in there so we will have to wait for him to come out.
We did have a laugh and I think judging by what I have heard it went down well with the viewers. The threat [of a comeback] is there. There are offers coming in, but it is early days.
ON COMING BACK FROM THE BRINK OF SUICIDE
I’m not grateful I got to that dark place, I’m relieved that rather than continue down, I seem to have found the trampoline and I came back very quickly.
But I’m acutely aware now of what that dark space represents and I would ask people to be very respectful of anyone who says they’re severely depressed and not ridicule people who have attempted to take their life.
ON STAYING YOUTHFUL
I have a very simple, highly affordable and achievable regime for health and wellness. It doesn’t require you to give up anything other than recreational drugs and cigarettes are out.
But you can still have the odd glass of wine, too bloody right.
With electromagnetism, your hair grows, your nails grow. A couple of grand for that machine [mat] I use is a huge amount of money, but there are other ways of doing it.
I do resistance weights and I do snack-ercise. Bear with me.
I looked into the research and this is NASA, this is not new age stuff.
It is based on science. If you think about it people talk about going to the gym twice a week for a couple of hours, but we don’t eat twice a week or go to the loo twice a week. So I do snack-ercise – so I will do a weight, two or three times a day if I want.
And you work a muscle to failure. And it is very good for women and the young with appropriate weights and it is great for people my age but you have got to do the other things as well.
The electromagnetism means you don’t get muscle ache.
ON ‘FEUD’ WITH HOLLY
You’d have to talk to Holly but she said to me this morning it was b ***** ks. There’s no feud with Phil and Holly. We’re all entitled to an opinion about certain things. We’re all professionals, she’s upset about the idea, I’m upset about the idea, it doesn’t exist.
ON BEING EMPEROR
We were stuck up in this funny room that was fly-infested because they left the lights on and when it got dark every fly in Australia came through. We just laughed. I was anticipating
there would be moments of serenity and being alone but you always have to be in pairs. So there was no communing with nature.
The nicest bit of the creek is outside that boundary so you must be with someone for safety reasons.
The dunny is appalling. It’s very dark in there, some people don’t put the lid down, which was upsetting the girls.
So I introduced a rule that you had to slam the outer lid and the seat together so everyone in the valley would hear the guys were putting the seat down, but Mal still wasn’t putting the seat down, that was the only rule.
I was surprised at how quick my inhibitions went. If six months ago you’d have said that I would have been happy on national TV to just have a shower in my boxers I would have just said: “No way, I’m not going there.’” But very quickly it’s the only way you’re going to have a shower.
ON NICK KNOWLES
I didn’t rattle Nick. Nick rattles himself. He blows around all the time. Is he the most competitive? Bloody hell, yes. Absolutely.
He’ on a mission to win.
Yeah he gets on people’s nerves, I think everybody has been “Nick-ed”. But Nick, I think is great – he’s a natural leader, and he just wanted to make sure we were led. I do have a problem sometimes with rules and regulations, so there was no needle there, just maybe a little prick!
ON WIFE LIZ
I felt on a couple of occasions that Liz was definitely trying her best to send me positive energy.
What is completely spooky, she said to everybody: “He’s coming out.” When they transported her down there for the show, she said, “He’s coming out first” – and no one
believed her. She said: “I woke up this morning and I thought, OK, I’m getting Noel back.”
The first thing I said to her was how much I missed her because we have this very energetic relationship, a very compatible relationship.
Physically we were apart and it’s the first time we’ve been unable to communicate. They just take your phone away. It’s very difficult. But we’re back together so I’m complete.
ON MR BLOBBY’S RESURGENCE
Oh bloody hell, these hangers on – he wouldn’t last five minutes in there!
The dunny is appalling. It’s dark and people don’t put the lid down