How Dean broke I'm A Celeb's strictest rule and he's 'amazed' security didn't pick it up

I'm A Celebrity star Dean McCullough spoke to the Mirror about his time as a campmate in the jungle following his departure from the ITV show, which is filmed in Australia

Former I'm A Celebrity campmate Dean McCullough has opened up about how he smuggled teabags into camp - and reveals he hid them in the bottom of his water bottle holder.

"I was just leaving my hotel room, and I spotted the tea bags on the side. I was about to be taken into camp, and I thought, you're coming with me," he says. He says he was amazed security didn't pick them up.

"You know, whenever you're like, going through customs and you don't have anything to declare, but in that minute, you think, Oh, my God, I need to declare something. But it went down an absolute treat. I thought nothing bonds people like a cup of tea so just had to sneak them in."

Dean opened up in an exclusive interview with the Mirror. He tells how one night the rain got so bad they all had to shelter in the Bush Telegraph for 45 minutes. "All our crocodile tail for dinner was ruined, so they gave us tofu instead," he says. "If that's not a short change, I don't know what is…from crocodile tail to tofu. I'm from Belfast, and I live in Manchester, the two wettest places in the UK. I will never whinge about that rain ever again. It was biblical."

Dean also faced accusations he wasn't pulling his weight and was nicknamed Houdini, because he supposedly used to disappear when chores needed doing. And then there was that spat with Alan Halsall over wood. But Dean laughs both off.

"Houdini is the best thing ever. I'm gonna get that tattooed on me," he says. "I was pulling my weight. We were all pulling our weight in there. The beautiful thing about camp is that everything ebbs and flows. Some people are out busy doing trials and challenges, while others take care of camp."

Now his focus is very much on enjoying the luxury hotel ... and getting his weight back up after losing 10 pounds in the jungle. He also can't wait to spend time with his biggest fan, mum Ann, and Facetime his much loved shih-tzu Freddie back home in the UK.

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.