I’m A Celeb’s Seann Walsh breaks silence on exit and ‘hellhole’ jungle experience

Sean Walsh has admitted he “knew” he would be voted off I’m A Celebrity…South Africa first following his shock elimination that aired on Thursday night’s episode

Seann Walsh has admitted he “knew” he would be voted off I’m A Celebrity…South Africa first(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

Seann Walsh has admitted he “knew” he would be voted off I’m A Celebrity…South Africa first. The comedian, 40, first competed in the regular edition of Ant and Dec’s ITV reality show in 2022 and came back for the All Stars edition, which was filmed last year and began airing on Easter Monday.

But as part of a shock twist that formed part of Thursday night’s episode, Seann lost a trial, prompting King Harry Redknapp to order him out.

Now, the former Strictly Come Dancing star has spoken out on the matter, and admitted that he had no chance of survival, especially because he had come up against two servants of the camp’s reigning king.

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King Harry made the decision to eliminate Seann from the jungle (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

He said: “I knew it was going to be me, because I knew who I was up against, including a former Queen of The Jungle and a former world champion!”

Early on in the series, Seann was placed with Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard, as well as former Emmerdale star Adam Thomas, in the less-than-luxurious Savannah Scrub camp and joked that the trio of then couldn’t have been of less use to fellow campers Gemma Collins and Sinitta.

He said: “It was an absolute hellhole. The toilet was facing the shower. Honestly, I think the three most useless people to be left together in Savannah Scrub were Adam, myself, and Bev. You couldn’t have hoped for a more useless three, to the point where we couldn’t see any kind of door for the long drop, so we assumed there wasn’t one!”

When it comes to the grisly Bushtucker Trials, which have been a staple of the programme since the whole franchise began in 2002, Seann admitted that the level of difficulty this time round had been like never before, as he added: “The trials were harder and scarier. It felt like it was turned up to eleven, so that just put more anxiety into the camp.”

The comedian was initially placed in the Savannah Scrub camp with Adam and Beverley(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

Upon his initial exit, though, Seann admitted that it was “sad” that he would no longer be facing any tough tasks in the jungle. He said: “It’s a combination of emotions. I’m thrilled to be able to see my family, because I’ve missed my kids a lot. At the same time, I’m sad they won’t be able to see me in the jungle for longer and doing more trials.

Asked if the second experience in the jungle was even better, Seann concluded: “I preferred coming fifth last time. Doing I’m A Celebrity… the first time, my Mrs said to me, ‘You’ve got to do this, life’s an adventure. You’ll be able to tell the kids.’

“Most people don’t get to do that with their lives, it’s an extraordinary thing. For it to come around a second time is unbelievable. The trials were harder and scarier. It felt like it was turned up to eleven, so that just put more anxiety into the camp. The pleasure for me doing the jungle was the extraordinary people you get to live with. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

Asked for the biggest lesson he had learned, Seann said: “I’d really like to use this to spend less time on my phone when I’m home. It’s tough. You learn out there that you don’t need it. “

* I’m A Celebrity…South Africa airs weekdays at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.

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