I’m A Celebrity winner Danny Jones opened up about his time in the jungle
McFly star Danny Jones has spoken about one of the “hardest nights” he endured in camp. The I’m a Celebrity star was crowned King of the Jungle in the final on Sunday, December 9.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Danny said on two occasions the weather got so bad the campmates had to be evacuated, taking shelter in the Bush Telegraph. The singer said: “It was one of the hardest nights, we were all quite cramped and I think there were still 12 of us then as well, all boiling-hot in close proximity. The rain also meant the leeches were searching for you and I was literally on leech check every day.”
Danny said there was a real camaraderie among the contestants given the atrocious weather conditions, which saw record rainfall hit the camp. He also opened up about being reunited with wife Georgia and son Cooper in camp.
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“It was the most beautiful moment of my entire life,” he said. “I remember Cooper’s little smile and his little face which was so excited to see me…it was just pure love and emotion.” Going into I’m a Celebrity, Danny says his focal point was to make Cooper proud.
And faced with his boy again after such a long time, it was clear from speaking to him that he had done just that. “I said, ‘are you being a good boy for mummy?’ and he said ‘I’m the talk of the school, daddy’”, says Danny. In fact, his boy had been trying to emulate his dad on TV by making up his own Bushtucker trials at home.
“He went to me, ‘I hope you don’t bring any critters home,” he says laughing. As well as the three weeks in camp, Danny was also on lockdown without his phone for a further week. “I’ve never been away from Georgia or Cooper for that long. Even on tour, we tend to come home at the weekends,” he says. “But there was no contact for a month.”
For Georgia, she was thrilled to see her husband again. “She told me how proud she was of me and I just cried and cried. It really kept me going after what had been a testing experience at times,” he says. It was not the only time Danny let it all out. Viewers also watched as he bravely spoke about how he’d been in therapy since he was 19-years-old for anxiety after his dad left home.
It all got too much at one point as he was comforted by Tulisa Contostavlos and Oti Mabuse. And it seems his McFly bandmates are clearly not afraid to show their feelings too. Danny says how he Face-Timed Dougie Poynter shortly after leaving camp who was left in tears by his victory.
“We don’t talk like that normally, and I thought there was a joke coming but there wasn’t,” Danny laughs. “He was like, ‘I was just so proud of my best mate. I said, ‘Dougie, you’re going to make me cry here sunshine if you carry on.’” On the way back in the stretch hummer from camp to his hotel, he also watched video messages from his other bandmates.
“Dougie was awake as he was in the Bahamas, but the other boys were asleep so had done little videos online for me. Tom was saying ‘we love you to bits…we’re so proud of you.’ We don’t speak like that to each other in everyday life, so it was incredible really.”
