I’m A Celebrity star Melvin Odoom has made no secret of his crush on former campmate Carol Vorderman, and sparks could yet fly outside the jungle—if a camera is on-hand, according to Kim Woodburn.
The BBC Radio 1 star, 44, entertained his fellow contestants after receiving a pillow featuring a glamorous picture of the 63-year-old ex-Countdown star.
He later revealed that his feelings for the maths whizz were so intense he couldn’t even bring himself to speak to her when they crossed paths at the Pride of Britain Awards last month.
Not only has he said he wants to take her out, but he also jokingly vowed to take her last name if they ever ended up walking down the aisle together.
Vorderman - who took part in the show in 2016 - appears keen, even sending voice notes to spin-off show I'm a Celebrity... Unpacked telling him he was doing a “brilliant job” and “see you on the other side”.
Could all of Odoom’s Christmases be about to come at once or is this a publicity stunt in the making?
82-year-old Woodburn - who went into the jungle in 2009 and lasted the full 21 days finishing as runner-up to Italian chef Gino D'Acampo - thinks their agents are currently rubbing their hands together with glee.
Speaking to The Standard on behalf of WhichBingo, she said: “Carol is a good-looking woman, very intelligent and so is he and he’s got this crush on her. Bless her, she’s playing along sending these messages to him.
“Let’s see what happens. I think they might [go for a date] for publicity. If their agents latch on and get them both together and the newspapers see them having dinner out, clinking glasses like that, it will fill the pages.
“I think publicity might happen here, we’ll all want to see are they, aren’t they.I think they will capitalise on it and we’ll see them together.”
Woodburn - who originally found fame in her 60s in the Channel 4 series How Clean Is Your House - had less flattering things to say about Odoom’s station mate Dean McCullough, 32.
The Northern Irish broadcaster has earned himself the nickname “Houdini” from the other campmates as when there are chores to be done, he mysteriously vanishes.
“I’d have strangled Dean if I’d been in with him,” Woodburn fumed, branding him a “horror”.
“The youngsters today don’t have the tolerance, do they,” she lamented. “With me, I thought ‘look, I’m getting paid a fat cheque for doing a job’. It’s kind of my age I think, it’s that thing of you take money to do a good job. That sort of thing with the youngsters, well, most of them, is thrown out of the window. It’s take the money and do as little as you can which I think is shocking.”
