Beverley Callard has described David Haye as a “great big teddy bear” while appearing on I’m A Celebrity… South Africa Unpacked.
The Coronation Street star admitted the boxer was “controversial” but praised him for “speaking his mind” as she joined the spin-off show via video call, after being unable to attend the live event due to being abroad.
It comes after Haye caused controversy during the finale after he and Jimmy Bullard asked their fellow contestants to agree that Adam Thomas was “abusive, intimidating and aggressive” during his row with Bullard on the show.
The interaction then spiralled into chaos and, after trying to defend Thomas, pop star Sinitta and reality TV star Gemma Collins walked off set.
Haye, 45, has hit the headlines since appearing on I’m A Celebrity… South Africa, most notably for his feud with campmate Thomas, who said the boxer “broke” him and pushed him to his limits.
He also left viewers in uproar after his remarks on “ugly birds” while discussing his girlfriend Sian Osborne, telling his campmates he thinks “most super-pretty girls are idiots” as they “don’t have to have a personality”.
Appearing on the Unpacked show, Callard praised the boxer and said: “I am going to tell you what the real David Haye is like.
“He is gonna hate me for saying this, but he is a great big teddy bear.
“I know everybody’s gonna disagree with me, but not the people who were in there.
“The first day I met him, I just thought, ‘Come on mate, bring it on. I’m not having this’, ‘How dare you judge me, and why do I have to feed you?’
“But once you get talking to him, and you get to know him, he is actually a great, forward, very direct person.
“We got to know each other more and more.”
The 69-year-old actress initially clashed with the boxer after he sent her to Savannah Scrub – a stripped-down, harsher version of the camp – and joked that she was going to “chin” him.
Callard then joked about Haye’s comments on “ugly birds”, and said: “I got to know his girlfriend, she is just gorgeous and she has got a great personality.
“On the last day before we flew back, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but David wears a pendant and his girlfriend made it for him.
“They made me one and gave it to me on the last day.”
She added: “He is controversial, but he just says what he thinks, but we all do.”
