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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Mark Jefferies & Jamie Roberts

I'm A Celebrity's Boy George shares the one thing that scares him more than creepy crawlies

Boy George is set to make his I'm A Celebrity bow this weekend and has defiantly said he fears nothing the show will throw at him – other than himself.

The Culture Club singer, 61, goes into the Australian jungle as one of the hot favourites to be crowned the 22nd winner of the hit series, but is worried he'll wind himself up in camp due to the "sort of vibe" of the show.

He openly admitted he is ready to get stuck into any tasks that come his way as he doesn't do anything "half-a***d".

"There are a lot of times when I'm facing something and I think I can't do it," he told Mirror Online and other press. "And then I can actually – I can do it, you know, I can do it. I'm fine, you know, so I obviously wouldn't agree to do this show if I wasn't gonna get involved. There’s no point coming all this way and not experiencing it."

Boy George is thought to be the highest paid I'm A Celeb star (ITV)

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And he's keen to see how the big bosses test his "iron gut" with their vegetarian challenges, but joked that even if he fails in a task, he will be quite happy to live off rice for the foreseeable.

Touching upon what he feels most scared of ahead of his entrance, the music icon, whose full name is George Alan O'Dowd, confessed: "I don't really know what I'm scared of. Being ignored? You know, sort of being misunderstood.

"I think, you know, not being heard. Things like that."

He continued to say how he anticipates a much tamer ride this year, adding: "I also think the show – I've always watched the show and I've watched how it's changed over the last few years – it used to be much more aggressive before."

George with the rest of this year's campmates (ITV)

Despite his claims of a tamer programme and a nicer world in general, he knows there's a risk he won't gel with fellow celebs and knows exactly what traits he'd love other contestants to have – and those he'd detest.

He revealed his perfect pick would be former TOWIE star Gemma Collins to make her return Down Under.

"I think she makes me laugh," he added. "And then she reminds me of a lot of my relatives. So, I actually I like interesting people. I don't mind people that are kind of noisy and colourful and adopt idioms."

On the flip side, he's desperate not to be cooped up for weeks on end with anyone miserable, claiming that would be his nightmare.

Boy George has fronted Culture Club since the beginning of the 1980s (Redferns)

The Karma Chameleon hitmaker continued: "It's more like people that don't express themselves [that he wouldn't like] and you know, people, like, sometimes if you've got a personality people really hate it.

"I'm fortunate I do have one and I'm not prepared to suppress it for anyone else. I mean, I’m not gonna go out of my way to annoy people, but I talk a lot."

He burst into laughter as he confessed: "I'm gonna watch that if I can."

Ending the chat, he questioned whether a win would make him the first gay champion, before chuckling: "We're [gay people] very fashionable nowadays."

* I'm A Celebrity starts on Sunday night on ITV at 9pm

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