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I’m A Celeb star Duncan Bannatyne says daughter was “probably only a few hours away from dying”

Abi Bannatyne was in hospital for nearly a week

Former I’m A Celebrity star Duncan Bannatyne has spoken in a joint interview with his daughter, Abi, revealing his horror over her recent sepsis battle.

Speaking in an interview on Friday’s This Morning, the TV star admitted: “I think she was probably only a few hours away from dying, because if she hadn’t phoned [999] at that time, in a few more hours I think it would have been too late.”

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Duncan revealed his fears for his daughter (credit: ITV)

Abi, 34, spent six days in hospital suffering potentially deadly sepsis.

Duncan, who is a dad of six, was on holiday in Monaco at the time, and Abi says he called and texted every day as she recovered.

In the chat with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, Duncan added: “When you hear a word like [sepsis]… I’m not sure I’ve heard it before, so immediately you Google it and it’s horrific.”

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This Morning also had their doctor on hand to explain sepsis (credit: ITV)

Abi, a mum-of-two to Ava, nine, and Austin, six, is now speaking out about her ordeal in a bid to raise awareness of the condition.

She revealed how she felt ill, but kept dismissing her life-threatening symptoms as a hangover.

Abi told Ruth and Eamonn: “It was on the Monday, after I’d got back from the weekend.

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Abi said her two children were scared for her (credit: ITV)

“I’d gone into work, and I thought, ‘God, I’m really not feeling great, I must still be struggling from the weekend,’ but it just got worse and worse. I still just kept thinking it’s been a mad weekend, I’m just exhausted.”

She added: “I was sweating, just feeling really sick. I didn’t actually start throwing up until much later.

“I got home, I got into bed, and that was it, from that moment I couldn’t lift my head up, I felt like I couldn’t do anything. At this point I thought maybe it’s flu, it can’t still be a hangover.”

The presenters asked how Abi contracted sepsis (credit: ITV)

“It got to this point, on Tuesday night, about four o’clock in the morning, where I just had this overwhelming feeling that I was dying.

“And I can’t explain it because I don’t know what it feels like, but I just felt like I was dying. I just knew something wasn’t right.”

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The reality star’s daughter said she felt like she was dying (credit: ITV)

Asked how she contracted blood poisoning, the reality star’s daughter said: “There’s many different reasons you can get it, but the week before, I became ill – I had a water infection, which I did have antibiotics for, but it obviously hadn’t cleared it up, and the infection just spread from there.”

Read more: I’m A Celebrity star Duncan Bannatyne’s daughter lucky to be alive

Abi first spoke out about her close call earlier this week, in an interview with The Mirror.

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Duncan has confirmed he wants more children (credit: abi_bannatyne Instagram)

She said: “I felt like I was dying. I had a lot of pain in my lower back and felt stiff, I got into bed and couldn’t lift my head up from my pillow and then I started vomiting uncontrollably even though I couldn’t eat. My aunty had to collect my children from school but I was still adamant it was a hangover.”

Abi, who lives in Middlesbrough, called for an ambulance at 4am the following morning, and it was discovered she had a temperature of 42 degrees.

She was rushed to hospital and explains: “I began to get really delusional and I remember feeling like my head was going to fall off, I got really angry when people started laughing at me…

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The dad of six is close to his kids (credit: abi_bannatyne Instagram)

As the story broke, Duncan posted pics with his daughter.

Beside it, he wrote: “I was shocked when my daughter @abi_bannatyne had sepsis & I read about the condition. It is very scary.

“Be sepsis aware everybody it can kill if not treated swiftly.”

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor