Charlene White's sister has spoken of her pride of her famous sibling as she joins the I'm A Celeb jungle.
Carina White has explained how caring for others comes as second nature to the Loose Women star as Charlene cooks a mud crab meal for camp.
Speaking out, Charlene's sister Carina says the star's maternal actions "aren't bossy", but stem from when their beloved mother Dorrett died from bowel cancer in 2002, with Charlene feeling she had to look out for her younger brother and sister.
And she says she could not be prouder already of the news reader's time in the jungle.
In an exclusive interview, Carina recalls how Charlene stepped up to fill her mother's shoes and believes Boy George is just jealous of how the news anchor is bringing the whole camp together.
She says: "I remember literally screaming down the phone when Charlene told me she was taking part in I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.
"This is the same girl that dropped out of Girl Guides when she was younger because she didn’t want to go camping! This is the same girl we couldn’t ever get to do anything remotely adventurous on family holidays.
"Me on the other hand? Being the middle child and having slight (and I mean ever so slight) middle child syndrome, I was the rebel, the daredevil, the one who jumped off a cliff into the sea and was nearly carried out by the current!
"Helping my sister prepare for life in the jungle was a weird experience. Yes, I was so excited and proud of her, but I also found myself selfishly wondering who was going to be my therapist when she was gone (there’s that middle child syndrome coming out again, it’s not all about you Carina).
"Sure, she’s been on holiday and out of the country before, but I’ve always been able to contact her, and she’s always been there for me when I’ve needed her. Most people will know by now that our Mum, Dorrett, died in 2002, aged just 47 when we were younger. I was only 17, Charlene was 21 and my brother was just seven.
"Our Mum instilled the importance of family and friends in us from very young ages and even though we were supported by those very family and friends after she died from bowel cancer, it was Charlene that stepped in and became that mother figure to my brother and I.
"She’s continued to be there for us to this very day. On the days she wasn’t working and should’ve been out, maybe partying and doing what typical 21 year olds do, she was at home helping my Dad to raise my brother and I.
"Watching her on I’m A Celeb doing what comes naturally to her - being proactive, cooking and assigning tasks to people - reminds me of the many weekends we spent in the kitchen with our Mum preparing Sunday dinner, which would always be some sort of Jamaican cuisine.
"If we had our friends round, they all had to get up and get involved, you couldn’t say no to my Mum! The friends I grew up with all have fond memories of cooking with her in our family kitchen. Some of them learnt to cook from those experiences!
"It’s what we do, it’s what Charlene does. She brings people together with her warmth and her kindness. Her comforting Scarlette and still trying to encourage Baba even whilst dangling over thirty storeys up in the air is Charlene in a nutshell, putting others first before herself.
"Watching at home with the family, we know that I’m A Celeb is entertainment, so editing down hours and hours of footage to extract an identifiable narrative for viewers is the goal of most programmes.
"But the people who know Charlene are well aware that what you see on TV is what you get with her. She’s someone who gets the people around her - in this case her camp-mates - to work together in difficult circumstances. Someone who wants everyone to feel included. She cooks and she instructs while doing so because she's been communicating that way for half of her life.
"It's almost her love language.
"Boy George reminds me of me in so many ways, the indecisiveness of wanting some leadership, but not really wanting to be told what to do. It reminds me of when I get jealous when I’m not invited out by my friends, knowing full well I don’t want to go anyway!
"Charlene is not a 'contradiction,' her maternal actions aren't 'bossy' - they're instinctive and proactive. They hold off her restlessness and boredom.
"Boy George and the others will get to cook. This was never a stand-off and in any case - it looks as though they’ll be cooking for Matt Hancock!"
