Seann Walsh was the first camp mate to be evicted from I’m A Celeb and it was all thanks to Harry Redknapp
Seann Walsh didn’t have any hard feeling for King Harry Redknapp after being kicked out of camp – but admitted he preferred his I’m A Celebrity experience in Australia.
Glossing over the details of his eviction, where he was called the wrong name, he told Ant and Dec it was a “completely surreal experience” and joked “, I just got dropped by Harry Redknapp”. He did not comment on being called ‘Stewart’ instead of Seann though, with the hosts not pressing him on the matter.
And in an exit chat after he was back at the hotel, 40-year-old Seann added: “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.
“I think as soon as Harry mentioned someone had to go, I was basically packing my bags. 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.”
Seann, a QPR fan, admitted it was delightful to spend time with Redknapp, who once managed his team. He explained: “He was great to have around, an incredible, natural storyteller. The man has been in the game for decades, his stories go all the way back to the 70s. He’s a raconteur. As a QPR fan, the real reason I was happy he chose me is because it meant I could pick his brains with football stories. He managed my favourite QPR player ever.
“The only problem was, of course, that they split the camp into two. It was like living in a London houseshare, there wasn’t any room to breathe. You’ve got noisy neighbours on your hands with Jimmy Bullard, Adam Thomas, Craig Charles, and Gemma Collins.”
Looking back to the start of the series in South Africa he described “Savannah Scrub” as “an absolute hellhole”. He added: “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!”
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.”
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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.
