'Tis the season for bushtucker trials, creepy-crawly challenges, rice dinners and cold jungle showers as ITV’s much-loved star-filled reality show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! returned to our television screens last night (Sunday, November 6) to introduce us to the show’s latest celebrity cohort.
The show has returned to the warmer climate of Australia and on its launch show, viewers saw a new batch of ten celebrities enter the jungle for the first time since 2019 after the past two years saw the show being shot at Gwrych Castle in North Wales due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
And it seems the campmates took no time in getting to know each other once they’d settled into base camp as viewers were delighted to hear the meet-cute story of the first royal contestant to take part in the show, Mike Tindall, and his now wife, Zara - who is the daughter of Princess Anne.
Read more: Olivia Attwood quits I'm A Celebrity after 24 hours
As some of the celebrities settled into the main camp, Mike was seen telling his fellow campmates Gogglebox star and comedian Babatúndé Aléshé and Hollyoaks Actor Owen Warner about how he met Zara and the adorable details surrounding their first date - including the sliding doors moment that could have changed everything.
The former English rugby union player met the royal Olympian when she was on her gap year in Australia in 2003 and he was playing in England's Rugby World Cup-winning campaign.
He told Babatúndé and Owen: “I was at the World Cup, she was out watching. I got dropped from the semi-final. I was p****d off and so I went for a beer with another guy who got dropped and a guy who was over [in Sydney]. They’d met her before and they introduced us and then got chatting.”
Owen replied: “So if you never got dropped you never would have met her?” The 44-year-old Royal laughed: “Best decision of Clive Woodward’s life.”
“Thank god he dropped you,” Owen said in response.
Speaking of the sports-loving pair’s first date, Mike - who married the royal in July, 2011 - added: “First actual date, just went out for lunch locally. And ended up being quite a boozy one. Then we figured out that we both quite like getting smashed. It was a good start.”
Babatúndé asked Mike: “How many years has it been?” Mike replied: “18 years.”
Of meeting his own wife, Leonie, 34-year-old Babatúndé unveiled his own love story. He said: “First date, I want to say we went Nando’s. Most likely did, you know… I think it was. Me and my wife, we went to the same school. Later down the line, it was just like 'oh, you're pretty'. That's all I said and one thing lead to another."
Celebrities taking part in season 22 of the popular television show - whose launch episode garnered an impressive 9.1million views - include pop icon Boy George, Corrie star Sue Cleaver, Hollyoaks actor Owen Warner, TV presenter and A Place In The Sun property expert Scarlette Douglas and Ex-England Rugby Player Mike Tindall MBE - to name a few. Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex star Olivia Attwood was also set to take part in the show and even made it to the jungle to complete her first challenge. This, however, was short lived as the reality star quit the show shortly after the first episode launched due to medical reasons. Read more on that here.
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! watch the next live episode on Tuesday, November 8 at 9pm on ITV and ITV Hub.
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