I'm A Celebrity's Mike Tindall will instruct his campmates to wake him up immediately if he starts snoring badly – after he once thought one of his former England teammates was going to "kill" him for making so much noise in his sleep.
The retired rugby union star – who broke his nose at least eight times during his playing career - admits he will be straight with his fellow contestants on the ITV show about his thunderous snoring, after his fellow ex-Bath and England co-star Danny Grewcock, 49, was once left incensed by his shut-eye snorting.
Mike, 44, said: "That's going to be my opening gambit. I'm going to go, 'Look guys, if I snore, just wake me up whenever.'
"Danny Grewcock woke me up and I thought he was going to kill me. So just wake me up."
Mike is married to Princess Anne's daughter Zara Tindall, 41, and admits that as well as missing his wife and their three children, daughters Mia, eight, and Lena, four, and 19-month-old son Lucas, he will be dreaming of a glass of gin when he is in the jungle.
Asked what he will miss the most when he is in camp, he said: "Outside family, gin. I will miss a beer every now and again. I can live without [tea and coffee]."
Viewers may see more of Mike than usual on the show, as he has considered wearing a pair of budgie smugglers in the Australian heat.
He said: "I've got to try to work out if I can wear my budgie smugglers in there or not."
But his former England teammate James Haskell, 37, has warned Mike the producers may not allow him to flash so much flesh, after he was denied the chance to strip down to a small swimsuit when he appeared on I'm A Celebrity in 2019.
James said: "I don't know if you're allowed to do that. I think I tried to do that, but I don't know if they will let you. But you might be able to do it.
"I think there's a few saviours [in the jungle]. There are some wet wipes in there, which is quite nice."
Mike admits he isn't too worried about facing jungle critters on their own, but may discover he doesn't like doing so in confined spaces.
He said: "Creepy-crawlies and snakes don't really bug me, but I've never been buried in a coffin with all those things. I've never been in a situation where you have to put your hand into something and you don't really know what's in there."
But his main issue could be with his co-stars being snakes.
Speaking on The Good Bad and the Rugby podcast ahead of his jungle stint – which got underway on Sunday – he added: "I think I will enjoy it, but I think it does come down to the characters who are in there as to whether you enjoy it.
"You're a fool if you're going in there with an active thing of saying, 'I can win this.' "
Mike is taking part in the show alongside the likes of pop icon Boy George, 61, Coronation Street actress Sue Cleaver, 59, and ITV News and Loose Women presenter Charlene White, 42, while former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, 44, is to enter the jungle as latecomer alongside comedian Seann Walsh, 36.
James Haskell also spoke on Good Morning Britain yesterday and predicted his pal would be King of the Jungle.
He said: "Mike is very capable. He is very calm, he's a calm guy and doesn't suffer fools. So he's a big competitor. So, actually, a lot of people when they go into the jungle they have all these preconceptions and nerves but Mike just dived straight in there and got straight in. All the ideas you have of the things you're scared of – like I'm not keen on spiders and bugs – as soon as you've got food, campmates and other people to let down you just throw yourself into it. Mike is quite a private guy anyway and he's part of one of the most famous and best families in the world.
"I think Zara will go out there and I believe Mike's gonna win it so we'll see."
