Two new celebrities are set to enter the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! jungle in this evening’s episode (Thursday, November 23) but one of them is grieving the very recent loss of a family member.
Former champion boxer Tony Bellew and champion jockey Frankie Dettori MBE will become campmates in the episode.
Tony Bellew will perhaps be thinking of home a little more than the others as his nan Rose died last week.
She passed away just 24 hours after Bellew had signed his contract for the show, The Mirror reports.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, will former champion boxer Tony Bellew add King of the Jungle to his list of titles? 🥊 #ImACeleb @TonyBellew pic.twitter.com/9DkKmWr1fo
— I'm A Celebrity... (@imacelebrity) November 22, 2023
Bellew, 40, only entered the jungle after confirming he’d be out in time for his nan’s funeral.
She was 97 and committed to watching him on the TV as he took to jungle life.
According to The Mirror, Tony said: "I signed the day before she passed away, so there was no going back then. If I sign something, I honour my agreement. In an ideal world I would have left it but I had signed.
“I was coming, so I am here. But I am going back to bury her on the 15th. I was going to renegade if I couldn't move the burial date. I can bury her now when I get back."
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He described Rose as "the boss of the house" on social media, adding: "She was in a home. And she told my mum 'I'll be able to watch that [I'm A Celeb] every night'. So yeah, it is what it is. She'll be watching, you know, from wherever she is and whatever she's doing. She was a diamond of an old lady. She was wonderful."
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Bellew continued: "I come from a single-parent household, my dad left when I was 10.
"So when you come from where I come from, your Nan helps around a lot because your mother goes to work.
“So your nan is your second mum. She was a lovely, lovely woman, and she had the heart of gold, so she'll be missed by all of us. Me and my brothers and my mother and my dad by the way as well."
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