Former I’m A Celebrity star calls for huge show shake up as he brands it ‘disgusting’ saying he can ‘barely watch’
THE first ever winner of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! has blasted the ITV show and said he can “barely watch” it these days.
Radio veteran Tony Blackburn was crowned king of the jungle on the ITV series back in 2002, beating the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson in the final.
He hit out at the Ant and Dec hosted show saying it is no longer “entertaining” because of the revolting eating trials.
Last night he tuned in but not for long, and then took to on X, formerly Twitter.
Tony, 80, said: “I watched I’m a Celebrity last night but had to wiz through most of it because I can’t watch the eating trials, I wish they wouldn’t do them as they are revolting and we’ve seen them so many times.
“I just want to see the celebs talking to one another as this is much more entertaining.
“Seeing people eating horrible stuff is not entertaining
being a vegetarian I find it disgusting , it’s time for a change.”
One follower replied to his tweet: “At least the bugs aren’t alive anymore, but agree they should change it to not include any sort of animal.”
Tony replied, saying: “Yes I totally agree Peter.”
I’m A Celeb sees campmates served up a range of rotten dishes – from creepy crawlies, to camel penis and cow anus.
It has often come under fire from animal rights charities like PETA, who said it had caused “extreme stress, fear, and trauma to the animals involved” during a trial that aired in the last series.
The public selected Nigel Farage to take on I’m A Celebrity’s Jungle Pizzeria eating challenge on Monday — and he gamely tucked into a medley of members from sheep, bull, pig and crocodile to win stars for camp.
He tucked into dishes called ‘Pepper Groaney’, ‘Veggie Scarian’ and ‘Quattro For-gag-io’.
But viewers also got to hear his views on Brexit, after recently saying it had “failed.”
He chatted to Frenchman Fred Sirieix — who has previously railed against Brexit online.
Fred asked: “What’s the benefit of Brexit, then? If you are an average person from Britain, what’s the benefit?”
Nigel said: “To know we’re independent, we stand on our own two feet in the world.”
The First Dates maître d’ said: “Brexit was about immigration, I remember your poster. I thought it was shameful what you did, Nigel.”
Nigel replied: “Sadly, sadly it was absolutely true.
“It was a poster showing mass young men moving illegally across borders.”
Fred said: “But it was about demonising migrants.”
Nigel replied: “No, it wasn’t. Brexit is about one thing and one thing only — being self-governing.” We’re in charge. We can get it right, we can make an absolute mess of it but we’re the people who make those decisions.”
Fred said: “I think the average person in the UK has lost out because of what you’ve done.”
Nigel said: “They haven’t lost out.”