Eliminated I'm A Celeb camp mate Dean McCullough has confessed how he really found the trials in the jungle.
The BBC Radio 1 presenter was the second to be voted out of the ITV show, following the elimination of Loose Women star Jane Moore. During his time in the jungle, Dean was chosen by the public to face a Bushtucker trial a whopping times.
He had mixed success, stopping the trials early twice, flopping in a joint trial with GK Barry, and then eventually soaring to success. Now out of the jungle, and after accusations he was faking his screams and frustrations from host Ant McPartlin, Dean has had his say.
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The 32-year-old said: "It was very confusing, and I didn’t know at first why people were voting for me. I thought ‘what have I done that has made people want to vote for me’."
But then it clicked. "I thought, 'Oh God, I'm getting rinsed. I'm getting trolled online here,'" he said.
Viewers weren't convinced his screams of terror were the real deal, and even Ant confessed he'd been annoyed at him for quitting a trial early. Dean is adamant he wasn't faking anything, though.
He told The Mirror: "They were 100% real. I can’t tell you how much being on national TV in front of Ant and Dec was incredibly intimidating and also just how scary it is, especially when you’re in a box and you can’t move, and there’s creepy-crawlies going up your bum.”
The star, who appeared on a handful of other reality shows before finding fame, said: "It actually became a thing where I wasn’t just winning stars for camp to feed them all. It was that I wanted to become friends with Ant McPartlin and make him proud of me.
“Eventually he was shaking my hand, saying: ‘You did it,’ I was totally made up. I love Ant and Dec…and always have been since a little boy.”
But Dean reckons his past personal struggles made him toughen up for the jungle. He quit alcohol four years ago and had to deal with homophobic bullying while growing up.
“I can face my fears, because this is nothing compared to what I’ve been through,” he confessed.
“I’m not worried about being portrayed in a certain way…I know who I am, my friends and family know who I am. It’s why I have got such a fight in me - and why it was important for me to prove myself to my camp mates that I was strong, and could be relied on.”
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