Nick Pickard and Tony Bellew split image
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I’m A Celeb 2023 camp in chaos as security called after ‘tarantula’ spotted

In reality, it wasn't quite so scary...

Former I’m A Celeb 2023 campmate Nick Pickard has revealed all about a scary moment in camp that wasn’t captured by the cameras.

Hollyoaks actor Nick, who left the jungle on Wednesday (December 6), told The Mirror that fellow campmate Tony Bellew found what he thought was a tarantula in camp and chaos ensued.

Tarantula or huntsman spider?

He explained: “We saw [Tony was] walking around and I thought what is he doing? because we’ve all got the radios on and he’s going: ‘Guys guys guys,’ talking into his mic. I thought he was talking to himself but he goes: ‘There’s a massive spider in here.'”

Security entered camp, but couldn’t catch the fast-moving spider. Nick continued: “And so he just batted it into the bushes and went: ‘You’re alright it’s just a huntsman.'”

Huntsman spider on a leaf
The spider turned out to be a huntsman spider, like the one pictured (Credit: Unsplash/Sonika Agarwal)

While it wasn’t a tarantula in the end, Nick shared that Tony never went to bed that night. He claimed that he refused to sleep where he saw the “massive” spider.

According to the Australian Museum, huntsman spiders aren’t generally seen as dangerous to humans. They are venomous, but generally prefer to escape the situation rather than bite someone or something. Their bites can be hurt, but unless somebody has an allergy to the venom, they’re unlikely to see any serious ill-effects.

I’m A Celeb 2023 star Nick’s been spilling all the tea

The tarantula anecdote was just one that Nick shared after departing the jungle. He said that Tony (quite literally) put his foot in it while the group were trying to eat – but he was quickly forgiven.

He explained: “Tony’s messing around trying to get something sorted and he accidentally put his size 12s right in the food. But all 12 people still queued up for seconds! We were like: ‘I don’t care!’ So we’d have new lows every day, how low we’ve sunk.”

Tony Bellew
Nick claimed that Tony put his foot in it – literally – while the campmates were eating (Credit: ITV)

Meanwhile, he also discussed the rash he got from the bugs in one of his trials. He shared that he’s taken “a few antihistamines” and medics have assured him “it will go in a day”.

Speaking about the Critter Mixer trial, Nick admitted that was the only one where he considered uttering the immortal words – I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!

The show continues tonight (December 8) on ITV1 at 9pm.

Read more: I’m A Celebrity news: Ant and Dec accuse Nigel Farage of ‘re-writing history’ over Sam Thompson ‘rice-gate’ row

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