Gillian McKeith has spoken of her shock at how well she got on with fellow campmate Shaun Ryder this time round on I’m a Celebrity.
As the pair made an early exit from the All Stars version of the show, which was pre-recorded in South Africa, she said: “We got on brilliantly.”
The last time the pair met on the ITV series, in 2010, it was carnage, with the Happy Mondays singer branding Gillian “a f***ing irritating woman”.
She confessed: “I heard a rumour he might be going in and I was horrified. Then when I saw him as I arrived I said ‘hello Shaun’ and I felt something shifted, even in that moment.
“He was very welcoming – we got on brilliantly. He sang my praises. I was like ‘who is this guy?’ He was like ‘she’s brains, she’s so intelligent, she’s this, she’s that’ - every compliment you can imagine flying out.
“It was crazy. I thought, ‘Has he had a brain transplant.’
“It shows you, you can go full circle with a relationship. It’s a life lesson for everybody.” Shaun said he’d mellowed since their last meeting and he wasn’t surprised to see Gillian.
He said: “She made such an impact last time I thought, if anyone is coming back, she’ll be there.
“The only difference is I’m 12 years more mature. I was all peaceful and nice with Gillian as soon as she walked in.
“I think she was a little bit ‘woo’, a little bit ‘whey’ as she had all these memories going on. But we got on. You know, Gillian’s Gillian. I mean, last time, I didn’t not like Gillian. I kept telling her that.”
But the former TV nutritionist, 63, was shocked when Shaun, 60, chose her to complete a trial. She spluttered: “I’m the last person you’d pick. I tried to convince him to pick Fatima [Whitbread]
as he might have won – I wanted to win.
“And I really want to take my best shot but just as I got started, we lost. I’m disappointed. I didn’t want to leave.”
Shaun said he got on particularly well with former US model Janice Dickinson and ex-cricketer Phil Tufnell.
“Janice is on my level. She’s as mad as a bag of bouncing frogs. Which is cool by me,” he laughed. “And I love Phil. And Fatima. And of course, later on, Andy [Whyment].
“I really wanted to take Phil home with me.”
Gillian agreed she’d got along well with everyone, saying: “People just seemed to be really open and wanting to get on. It felt positive from the minute I got there. Very different from 2010. A polar opposite.”
She admitted smuggling in contraband using a double bra stuffed with teabags, mints and almonds. “I thought it would be helpful to take my cup size from a B to a DD,” she explained.
“I only did that because I wanted to be more voluptuous.” She also smuggled spices in her knickers. She said: “It gave me a very voluptuous bottom which I’ve always wanted.” In last night’s show, the pair exited after coming last in the first survival trial, called Savage Safari.
Six campmates were chained to a truck and had to use tools to open crates filled with bush nasties before releasing themselves and hitting a buzzer.
Tufnell and Georgia Toffollo stormed into the lead while Whyment and Jordan Banjo came from behind to end up winning.
Gillian shook before the task and refused to put her hand into the
first snake-filled crate for over five minutes, which sealed their fate.
Asked if he regretted picking Gillian as his partner, Shaun joked: “A little bit, but we are mates now so I can’t slag her off. I’m a bit gutted.”
Hugging Gillian, he added: “Think we’ve come full circle, happy days. Now we are off to get married, ha ha.”
