The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Kezia Dugdale enters the jungle in I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
Many camp-mates had no idea who former leader was
Kezia Dugdale was forced to crawl through fish guts as she lost her debut task in I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
The former Scottish Labour leader finally took her place in the reality show after nearly a week of political hysteria over her decision to take unauthorised leave as an MSP.
But some of her fellow celebrities did not have a clue who the Lothians MSP was.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s dad Stanley, the former MEP, had to be told by footballer’s wife Rebekah Vardy that she is “someone from the Labour Party” as she was introduced to the show.
Ms Dugdale started her I’m A Celebrity campaign by appearing in a challenge called the Battle for 10 Downing Creek with fellow new camper, broadcaster Iain Lee.
The race saw them crawl through fish guts, spiders, frogs and other creepy crawlies in an obstacle course-style trial.
But she lost after getting bogged down in fish guts – leaving her and some of new camp-mates to endure basic rations.
The ex-Dundee head girl has faced heavy criticism for going AWOL to appear on the ITV programme. She defied her Labour bosses to jet off to Australia for three weeks.
Justifying her decision in a national newspaper, Ms Dugdale said: “It’s an amazing opportunity to talk to a whole new audience of people who don’t live and breathe politics like I do, to talk about Labour values and the difference they could make in practice.”
The viewing public gave their reaction to seeing her wade through a tank of guts called Sickola Sturgeon.
One said: “canny believe am aboot to witness kezia dugdale crawl through fish guts”.
Another tweeted: “Can tell Kezia Dugdale is a Labour rep after that performance. She won the people over, looked like she’d win on the polls, but somehow still ended up losing.”