Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly have admitted they felt deflated when Dean McCullough quit a tame I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! trial.
McCullough, 32, became the first campmate of the series to yell “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” when he broke down in tears during The Sinister Sarcophagus trial on Tuesday, 19 November.
The Radio 1 presenter was shut into a small space to answer a series of Egypt related questions to win 10 stars for camp. For every question he got right, a star was lowered down for him to grab with his mouth.
Speaking on I’m A Celebrity Unpacked, McPartlin and Donnelly told hosts Joel Dommett, Sam Thompson and Kemi Rogers they were disappointed viewers didn’t get to see the full trial.
Donnelly explained: “We are genuinely disappointed because you are prepared to do the whole trial and you want to see the whole thing.
“There’s a lot of time gone into the trials so when it’s called early your like, ‘oh,’” he said.
“That’s why we continued to ask him some questions after because we were really enjoying it.” McPartlin added. “But on the other side we’re like oh a bit of an early finish, let’s get out and get a suntan,” Donnelly said.
When asked if the crew become frustrated when a celebrity quits a trial early, the Geordie presenters emphasised the effort the I’m a Celeb staff go to for each trial.
“They just want to see it done properly,” McPartlin said. “Even in the past when we’ve had people not go through with it we’ve sometime bought the trials back because we want them to be seen.”
Ahead of The Sinister Sarcophagus trial, McCullough admitted the task was his “worst nightmare” because he was trapped inside.
Despite answering two questions correctly and securing two stars for camp, the radio presenter baffled viewers by screaming to be released before the trial was through.
“Probably the easiest trial in I’m a celeb history! Dean is definitely going to be up for every trial now!! A tad bit too dramatic!” one person wrote on X/Twitter.
“As if Dean said "I’m a celebrity get me out of here" because of some sand!!!” another viewer criticised.
“If sand stopped Dean..he’s not coping with anything,” a third social media user added.
McPartlin and Donnelly revealed at the end of Tuesday night’s episode that the public had subsequently voted for McCullough to do the next trial on Wednesday (20 November) alongside influencer GK Barry.
Barry, 25, has contrastingly been praised for her resilience in the jungle so far, collecting an impressive nine out of ten stars for camp in her first trial.
Despite panicking, swearing and screaming “I hate small spaces” she quickly told herself to “grow up” and continued.
“She’s carrying this season,” one fan praised the content creator on TikTok. “She’s my queen,” another person added. “So funny. I love her.”
New episodes of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! air on ITV1 and ITVX every night at 9pm.
