The start of the I'm A Celebrity... South Africa final kicked off with a bang tonight (Friday, May 12) as the latest campmate to be voted off the ITV1 20th anniversary special programme, losing out on the chance to be crowned the first I'm A Celebrity Legend, was revealed as Phil Tuffnell - and viewers were left 'gutted' over this choice.
After the former cast of 2023 returned to the South African camp to reunite with their fellow celebrities, it was their choice to make the final four into a three - a tough choice. After completing the fan favourite - the celebrity cyclone, which aired on Thursday, May 11 - the four semi-finalists who'd made it to the penultimate episode stood in front of their campmates as Paul Burrell revealed firstly Jordan Banjo then Fatima Whitbread and finally Myleene Klass were saved.
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"I'm absolutely gobsmacked. To be here in the top three has blown my mind," Jordan told viewers at home, while Myleene added: "I can't believe it, my children are going to be so happy. And I was voted by my peers. That means so much."
Fatima was "truly overjoyed" to "still be in with a chance."
Speaking to the show's hosts, Ant and Dec, who have been presenting the original show, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in Australia (and two years in Wales amid the pandemic) for over twenty years, Phil explained: "The final thing. I couldn't get over it!"
Ant told him: "What a way to leave though. You've done survival trial after survival trial after survival trial. Won them all and then a jury of ex campmates voted you out!"
"Yeah, then me mates blanked me!" Phil, who first appeared on the show in series 2 in 2003, joked, adding: "It sits absolutely fine with me. I couldn't think of three better people to be in there up for the challenge."
Asking him which is his favourite out of the Australia and South African versions of the show, Phil chuckled: "Listen, I've never really liked Australia. No, I take that back I love Austrlia. But I'm going to go for this just for the vibe and the laughter."
And while the former cricketer took this elimination on the chin, calling the experience a "blast" and the "best holiday I've ever had", viewers weren't as filled with happiness, with many of them 'crying' at Phil's exit.
One user, @eds_afterglow, took to Twitter to say: "Crying at Phil being snubbed by Paul again #ImACeleb #imacelebrity #ImACelebSouthAfrica" - referencing Tuesday night's episode where Paul failed to choose him to be saved from eviction - while another @Andiamluke wrote: "Gutted for phil #imaceleb".
A third and fourth, @Cgcg200 and @Silverdudeextra, also commented: "Fuming they didn’t put Phil through ughhhhhhhh. I want Fatima to win but I loved Phil #ImACeleb" and "So Phil, the only one out of the 4 who's ACTUALLY won a series of #imaceleb got voted out by the other celebrities, what an absolute toss this series is. I hope they never do pre-recorded ever again. #NotMyLegend".
The winner of I'm A Celebrity... South Africa, aka the first I'm A Celebrity Legend, will be determined by an eating trial - read more on that here - and announced at the end of tonight's episode.
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