Jordan North has revealed that he came close to quitting I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! before the first trial, but host Declan Donnelly managed to talk him down.
The runner-up of the ITV contest admitted he had a “complete meltdown” after viewers nominated him to go to the Viper Vault, where he would be tied down in a box and covered in live snakes.
“I’ve not talked about this to anyone, I just had a complete meltdown. And I know what people mean now by sheer panic,” he told The Sun on Sunday.
“I delayed it by loads. None of this got shown on TV. I just said, ‘I cannot do this. And I’m not going to do this. And in fact, I am gonna go. I don’t need to do this’.”
He added: “I nearly said, ‘I’m just not going to do the trial’. I nearly walked.”
North said that his anxiety led to a full-blown panic attack: “There were tears and I was struggling for breath. Dec said to me, ‘Jordan, breathe.’ I know it sounds dramatic but I could feel the panic leaving.”
After a conversation with Donnelly, North went ahead with the trial and, with campmate Shane Richie, managed to win nine stars that earnt meals for the fellow contestants.
He denied that he was “playing up” for the cameras, explaining that he had genuinely been as scared as he looked.
“If you see me in that Viper one I was physically shaking beforehand,” he said. “You could see me sweating. I was that scared.”
North’s friend and Radio 1 colleague Greg James posted a hilarious reaction after North lost to podcast host and author Giovanna Fletcher in the final, which aired on Friday 4 December.
However, James was forced to add that he was simply disappointed for his friend, after some of his followers apparently thought he was being “mean” to Giovanna.
“Don’t take it too seriously. Gi is lovely and a worthy winner but I’m allowed to be disappointed for Jordan,” he tweeted. “No need to call the be kind police.”
