Joe Swash made his much anticipated return on I'm A Celebrity earlier this week as part of the all-star spin-off series filmed in South Africa, and last night (May 4) saw him open up about his relationship with wife Stacey Solomon.
The former King of the Jungle, who took the crown in the eighth series of the ITV show back in 2008, made his entrance during Tuesday night's episode (May 2) alongside fellow former EastEnders actor Dean Gaffney.
On their arrival the pair were thrown straight into the deep end and took on their first trial 'Flipping Disgusting' which saw Joe, 41, and Dean, 45, being made to drink "gruesome concoctions" named after individual campmates in a bid to win treats. It involved downing drinks made of blended cow vagina, maggots, chicken intestines, and testicles with Joe and Dean gagging the whole way through.
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After entering the main camp and greeting their fellow stars, it was revealed that the group would now be split into two 'prides' and go head-to-head to win food.
Joe, who played Mickey Miller in EastEnders from 2003 to 2008, was revealed to be the leader of one team whilst Dean led the other, and they then each took it in turns to pick the campmates they wanted.
Joe was the first to select his first teammate as he chose former Olympic athlete Fatima Whitbread, 62 to join his team.
In the latest episode (May 4), Joe discussed his relationship dynamic with wife Stacey, who he married last July in the gardens of their home Pickle Cottage, as he made a comparison to his campmate Fatima.
Speaking in the Bush Telegraph, he said: "Fatima's definitely like my Stacey. She's the only other woman that can boss me around in a really nice way and without me realising that I've been bossed around, which is clever."
Ahead of re-entering the jungle, Joe credited I'm A Celebrity for first introducing him to Stacey. The pair met on the spin-off show I'm A Celeb: Extra Camp back in 2010 which Joe was presenting whilst Stacey was taking part in the 10th series which she went on to win.
Joe and Stacey have three children Rex, three, Rose, one and baby Belle who was born in February. Joe is also a proud dad to teenage son Harry while Stacey is also a doting mum to her older sons Zachary and Leighton from previous relationships.
"I’m A Celebrity holds a big place in my heart. I won it and I was lucky enough to go on to present the spin-off series on ITV2 for 10 years," he said before heading to the new setting of Kruger National Park, instead of the Australian jungle, in South Africa.
"I met Stacey whilst I was out in Australia and me and Stacey have now married and we have had kids. Doing the all-stars series is closure. It finishes off the circle."
He said about Stacey's reaction to him taking part in the show, filmed last September: “Stacey is over the moon about me doing it. The jungle holds a big part in both our hearts. Without the jungle, we wouldn’t have each other. In a way, we owe it to the jungle to say goodbye.”
Earlier this week Stacey claimed she was a 'bad wife' as she revealed she had not been watching her husband's latest I'm A Celebrity stint.
Appearing in a video posted to her Instagram story, Stacey revealed that they both forgot he was even in it.
"I'm going to sort myself out and get ready to watch Joe in the jungle," the 33-year-old said as she sported her name-branded pyjamas and got ready for bed. "We're going to sit and watch it tonight in bed. I'll be honest with you. Both of us forgot he was even in it, so we missed it yesterday," she went on to say.
"We're going to catch up today. He filmed it so long ago and we've both got baby brain right now and completely forgot about it. I'm going to sleep after the jungle because I 've got a shoot tomorrow, which I'm really excited about."
Mum-of-five Stacey then ended the update in hysterics as she shared her hope about Joe's appearance on the first-ever spin-off of the hit show. She said: "Now I'm going to watch Joe in the jungle. Hopefully he's doing a really awful trial. I'm a bad wife."
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