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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jamie Roberts

Mike Tindall proud of 'best I'm A Celebrity in 22 years' in final meal farewell speech

Mike Tindall addressed his fellow I'm A Celebrity contestants with a gushing speech as they called time on their jungle experience with a slap up meal outside of camp.

In the heartfelt clip, the former rugby star, 44, was adamant the group had been the best the show had had in 22 years, much to the delight of his fellow diners.

The speech was shared by Charlene White to her Instagram page and Mike, standing at the top of the table, is heard saying: "I would like to say it's been an absolute privilege and honour to meet you all, to be together, to spend that valuable time together.

"... to get on for the amount of time we've got on is very, very rare and very, very special and we should all appreciate that."

Mike Tindall gave his campmates a heartfelt speech (Charlene White/Instagram)
Charlene White shared his words on Instagram (Charlene White/Instagram)

He then joked that the newfound pals mustn't lose touch with each other when they land in Blighty after all the nice things they've said to each other, before continuing: "Let's not do it because I think we've created a very special thing here.

"It's worth keeping it going and it's worth taking the time on the plane engaging in what it is we've actually done."

He then referenced the potential of this year's series being the best in 22 years. After a brief pause he then corrected himself, adamantly saying while first pumping the air: "It is the best in 22 years."

This year's I'm A Celeb campmates with Ant and Dec (James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

The remaining diners then burst into a rapturous applause as he ended his speech - and their time Down Under - on a high.

In her caption of the post, Charlene echoed the words of "the dad of the camp" aka "Vanilla Mike".

She added: "Every word echoes exactly how we all feel about this experience. It's been incredible. We would never have survived the early days of the @imacelebrity camp without him. Aside from all the other stuff he did in camp, he was the only one who knew how to light the fire - which was crucial obviously."

Charlene also shared a shot of the 'last one's standing' at dinner (Charlene White/Instagram)

The presenter and Loose Women panellist also paid tribute to his ability to share song lyrics like no other before gushing over how kind and caring he was.

She ended her words by saying: "And gives THE best hugs. I’m looking forward to seeing you back at our @loosewomen studio soon Vanilla Mike."

Sunday evening's finale saw Lioness Jill Scott crowned this year's winner, pipping Hollyoaks' Owen Warner to the title.

In a controversial ending, Matt Hancock finished in third place.

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