On the latest episode of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Nigel Farage revealed what he believed were his “final thoughts” while experiencing a plane crash.
Politician and GB News host Farage has made it through to the final stages of the competition alongside fellow campmates including This Morning host Josie Gibson, JLS singer Marvin Humes, former Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson and retired boxing pro Tony Bellew.
Throughout the series, Farage has spoken about the near-fatal accident that left him with a punctured lung, two chipped vertebrae, several fractured ribs and a fractured sternum after the aircraft plunged to earth.
At the time, the controversial politician was the leader of Ukip and was beginning his Brexit campaign to encourage the nation to back the ‘Leave’ campaign to exit the European Union.
Farage told his campmates that he was in the plane to fly a banner emblazoned with “a Brexit message”, adding: “I don’t recall being unconscious, but I do recall the explosion, the plane flipping over, being stuck in there, everything broken… every rib front and back, split sternum, punctured lung… it was bad.”
Farage broached the subject once again in Friday’s episode (8 December) of the ITV reality series, explaining he now struggles to use his right hand as a consequence of his injuries.
“Where I have the problem is my right hand doesn’t do directly what the brain tells it to do,” he said, adding: “I even find writing quite hard.” He said this was directly caused by his “spinal cord being bruised” in the crash.
When Gibson asked him if his life flashed before his eyes whe he thought he was “about to die”, Farage replied: “Do you know what I thought about? Women.”
Gibson then prompted Farage to elaborate, asking “which one you loved the most?”, with the politician saying: “All that stuff, yeah. Children, obviously, and I just thought, ‘Let’s hope this is over quickly.’”
He continued: “Then it was bang, cartwheeling through the air and then stuck, upside down in the seat, everything broken, in a bad way. Then I thought, if I get through this it’ll be a miracle.
“After that, I never let little things annoy me.”
Nigel Farage and Josie Gibson in latest episode of ‘I’m a Celebrity’— (ITV/Shutterstock)
In an interview with The Sun, Farage previously confirmed that the injuries he has sustained in previous accidents will mean that he is exempt from some of I’m a Celeb’s physical challenges.
“Anything involving weightlifting, I’d be out because I’ve obviously had some quite serious physical injuries and neck reconstructions and goodness knows what else,” the 59-year-old said.
“So they are fully aware that I’m a little bit damaged when it comes to bodily structure. But having said that, I can still do most things.”
Also on the latest episode, Farage reflected on his life as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), revealing why his political peers would often “look at” Ukip “in horror”.
“For the MEPs, it’s an amazing lifestyle. You get to the airport, there’s a chauffeur driven mercedes waiting for you. You want to go out for dinner the chauffeur takes you. You get 300 euros a day spending money, cash. The members dining room, wonderful crab and lobster buffets.
“The Ukip table was often the noisiest in there because we drank and had a laugh. People looking at us in horror. And if you’re an MEP the power that you have is incredible. You are treated like the elite. Women throwing themselves at you.”
I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! airs Sunday to Friday at 9pm and Saturday at 9.30pm on ITV.
