I'm A Celeb star Dean McCullough's dark spiral forced him to make huge lifestyle change

The Radio 1 DJ has revealed the reason why he won't be joining his fellow contestants for a pint at the Jungle Arms during his stint on the ITV show

There’s never much alcohol available in the I’m A Celebrity jungle, but even on those unexpected occasions when they might win a trip to the Jungle Arms as a treat Dean McCullough won’t be joining his campmates.

The Radio 1 star is a teetotaller - and has opened up about the heartbreaking reason.

The 34-year-old who has been confirmed in the starting line-up of the hit ITV show which starts today, recalled how he “got himself into a bad way” and thinking “really, really dark thoughts” during the isolation of the pandemic.

And he confessed it started him on a slippery slope to addiction, on some evenings drinking two bottles of wine along with a bottle of vodka.

Talking about his struggles, Dean told the I newspaper: “It wasn’t until it got really bad that I realised.

"What was like a glass of wine of an evening after work turned into a bottle which turned into two bottles and then, some weekends, I was drinking like a bottle of vodka too.

“It was the pandemic, and I just got myself into a bad way and I was sort of thinking some really, really dark thoughts to myself.

"Anybody who’s kind of struggled with mental health will know what it’s like.

“I just saw the path in front of me and it wasn’t nice. It was really dark and it was very destructive and I thought, if I want to get to Radio 1, which was always my dream, if I want to do that, I need to make some changes.”

Dean presents the Dean presents the afternoon slot alongside co-host Vicky Hawkesworth.

Ahead of entering the jungle Dean, who presents the afternoon slot alongside co-host Vicky Hawkesworth, admitted 'he is so petrified of everything'.

Dean said: “I am terrified of everything and the more I think about being put in the ground with 50 snakes or getting those green fly things that bite poured over me – well there's just no point thinking about it, as otherwise I won’t get on the plane!

“When Ant & Dec say things like, ‘We are going to suspend you off the side of that cliff’, you know it is not going to be a fun day out. It’s no Alton Towers – it will be torturous.

“I made the mistake of watching episode one from last year and I nearly passed out watching it. I had to turn it off. And I hate cockroaches. There was a cockroach in a hostel I stayed in once and I checked out during the middle of the night, as the thought of it – urgh, even talking about it now gives me the chills.”