I’m A Celebrity star Martin Kemp has been given a huge boost ahead of tonight’s launch show by one former campmate.
James Haskell took part in the show back in 2019. He was the fourth contestant to be eliminated.
Now, speaking exclusively to Entertainment Daily, he has backed Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp for King of the Jungle…
I’m A Celebrity star Martin Kemp backed for King of the Jungle
Speaking on behalf of Heart Bingo, James told us he thinks this year’s show will be “interesting”. And he backed “quite game” Martin to win.
“I think it will be interesting. Someone like Martin, I think, he seems quite game, seems quite fun. Lisa Riley looks like someone that will be able to get into it,” he added. James then said: “The thing is, you can never tell too early on who’s gonna really be the shining light.”
However, it sounds like if he was a betting man, then his money’s on the ex-EastEnders star. “I think Martin, if you were looking at it initially, could be someone who’s like a safe pair of hands around the camp really.”
‘The dunny was rank’
James, who said he would consider the All Stars spin-off of the show, also shared his least favourite part of jungle life – the dunny!
“Going to the toilet – the dunny was pretty rank. I mean that’s never that nice, and having to empty it, it’s not nice either,” he said. The creepy crawlies also freaked him out: “I woke up with a leech one morning on the side of my arm, which is a bit odd. It crawled on me in the night.”
Despite that, he would go back and do it all over again on All Stars. “Listen, if they want me, I would. I would obviously have to think of my family first, and how long I would be away for, and how that looks. But if we were asked to do it, I definitely would! I think I had a lot of fun. I’d probably do it a bit more differently, I would be a bit more relaxed now, but I would definitely do it.”
‘Chloe would be great’ on I’m A Celebrity, says James
After his ex-father-in-law Richard Madeley had a very short-lived stay in I’m A Celebrity back in 2021, ED! asked James if mother-in-law Judy Finnigan or ex-wife Chloe Madeley could head to the jungle at some point…
“I think Chloe would be great at it. I don’t know whether she’ll be able to be away from home for that long – I think she’d find it really hard, so that would be something to think about, but I think she would do really well. Judy, no, I don’t think she would want to do it,” he said.
James concluded: “A lot of people from my series struggled being away from their families. But for me I was used to it because it was just like being on tour. I was good at compartmentalising where lots of others were sort of, you know, just having meltdowns in the rain.”
I’m A Celebrity 2025 starts tonight (November 16) on ITV1 at 9pm.
Read more: Roman Kemp savages ‘nepo daddy’ Martin Kemp for signing up to I’m A Celebrity
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