I'm a Celebrity 2023 winner as South Africa series…

I'm a Celebrity 2023 winner as South Africa series crowns first ever 'Legend'

I'm a Celebrity... South Africa came to a climactic end this evening (Friday, May 12) as musician and radio presenter Myleene Klass was crowned the show's first 'Legend' after winning the final Bushtucker challenge of the ITV1 20th anniversary special: an eating trial.

With Jordan Banjo, who appeared in the 16th series of I'm A Celeb, earning a well-deserved second place, the pair battled it out in front of their former campmates as they took on All You Can Stomach trial - although, as Ant announced it was "slightly different to the eating trials we've done before."

Before each round, the two finalists learned what dishes were coming up and they had to estimate how many items on the dish they could eat in five minutes. The person who wrote down the highest number had to eat that amount.

Enduring nine rounds, both Myleene - who had never done an eating trial and first went on the show in 2006 - and Jordan took on dishes like Sow Teats, Century Eggs - fermented eggs - Impala Eyes, Pig Snouts, Chicken Mala (intestine), Parny Worms, Mice Tails (of which Myleene at 60) and Stinky, aka fermented, Tofu.

With both seeming neck and neck for some time - Ant exclaimed "This is what you call a competition!" - and supported by cheers from their former campmates, an unflinching Myleene, who tackled each round with dogged determination, staring at the mountainside, came up top and in the final round finished the entire plateful of Stinky Tofu - forty spoons full in five minutes.

Ahead of the final round, Ant said to her: "If you do this, you deserve to be crowned the first ever legend of I'm A Celebrity" - and she did, winning the round 5-3.

Talking the presenters through the final trial, Myleene said: "What was I thinking? Do you know what I thought? In order to beat him I had to go high. And I don't know how high he was going to go so I just went... the lot. Go big or go home. And I thought after everything we've been through, I was not going to stop there. Not here."

She explained how her tactic was simply "thinking of my kids, thinking of my kids".

Speaking of how she feels after her win - beating her Australian run in which she came second - the 45-year-old said: "I feel a bit green. I feel so happy. Honestly, it was really hard to come away from the family this time around. First time around, it was just me, 27 years old. Bouncing around. This time around, I'm a mum. But with that, you get a super power cause you know you've got three little sets of eyes watching you."

Becoming teary, thinking of her kids, she added: "I thought if I'm coming away I had to make it worthwhile. I came to play. Here's the thing, I did say I came to play. I didn't want to leave with any regrets. And last time I came second. I held my place. And Jordan was fantastic, so even to have got this far was amazing. This is the icing on the cake."

Summing up her time in the bush, she said: "The second time around, it reminded you of how the jungle is in all of our lives and how much it changes you. It just gives you so much courage, also it focuses your mind but what it really does is gives you life long friendships... you can't do it alone. You're galvanized. I'm blown away by the friendships I've come away with."

Commiserating Jordan Banjo on his loss, the pair asked him how his South African experience compared to Australia, which he competed in in 2016. He said: "Last time I made loads of good friends and I feel like everyone had to carry me through and I had to rely on everyone. This time, I like to think I was a bit of a valuable member in camp. I tried my best. I learnt a lot from a lot of people. It's an all round different experience."

Fatima Whitbread came third in the final whereas Phil Tufnell came in fourth. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.

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