I’m A Celebrity star Adam Thomas has spoken candidly about the emotional toll of his time in the jungle, admitting he’s now in therapy after his clash with David Haye.
Opening up on his podcast this week, Adam shared how the experience has stayed with him long after filming wrapped, describing the situation as something that has affected him mentally.
I’m A Celebrity star Adam Thomas in tears as he reveals impact David Haye row
Much of this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity has been dominated by Adam and David’s rows.
The pair began to clash when Adam broke the rules by bringing chocolate back to camp after enjoying a banquet.
David later took umbrage with the fact that Adam felt too unwell to do a task. He complained that the Waterloo Road star is a “grown man”, and that he didn’t like “useless” people.
Adam eventually snapped back, telling David that he was his “problem”. David has since apologised, according to the actor.
However, despite his apology, Adam is still feeling the effects of David’s so-called ‘banter’, months on from his jungle stint.
Speaking on his At Home with the Thomas Bros podcast this week, Adam broke down in tears. The star admitted “it felt like being back in school”, being on the receiving end of David’s jibes.
I’m A Celebrity star Adam Thomas breaks down
“It was like being back in school again, and although it wasn’t physical bullying or anything like that, and I’m not saying it’s bullying, but he was just mind [bleeping] me,” he told brothers Scott and Ryan.
“And I just never stuck up for myself whilst I was in there, and I was like ‘[bleep] bro, I wish I stuck up for myself’. That was beating me up more than anything,” he continued.
Adam also revealed just how deeply the experience has affected him, admitting he feels like a different person since leaving the show.
“I’m not the same person, like I know for a fact I am not the same person as I was when I went into the jungle to when I came out. It’s changed me, and that’s no over exaggeration. I’m in therapy now because, like it’s [bleeped] with me mentally, because I just thought, ‘How is this happening? I’m a 37-year-old man’.
“I’m like, ‘How am I letting some other person do this to me in here?'”
He went on to explain how the environment of the show made it harder to escape the situation.
“I think, in a different environment, on the outside, if this happened to you, you’d go, ‘Oh, alright, he doesn’t like me, I’m going to leave the situation’, but because you’re in an environment like that, there’s nowhere to hide. You just have to grin and bear it.”
‘I wish I stuck up for myself’
Adam also shared that in therapy, he’s been exploring why he struggled to stand up for himself at the time. He said he was told it may be because he tends to put others first and avoids drawing attention to his own struggles.
Reflecting further on the situation, Adam said: “I just took it, and took it, and took it, until eventually it got to a point where I was like, ‘I’m literally at breaking point here’. I remember saying to him, ‘I can’t talk to you anymore, bro, if you’re not going to apologise for what you did’, and I reeled off all the things that he did, and he knew exactly why he did it.
“I was like, ‘Are you not going to apologise?’ and he was like, ‘I was trying to teach you a lesson,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t need a lesson off, you bro’.”
Adam added that once David left the jungle, it felt like a “huge weight” had been lifted and he could “finally breathe”.
Despite everything, Adam insisted there are no hard feelings, revealing David has since apologised and describing him as someone who ultimately has a “heart of gold”.
“I know he gives off this bravado but deep down, I know he’s a good guy. He really opened up to me, explained why he is the way he is,” he said.
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