Former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star James Haskell has opened up about his decision to join the jungle crew over BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The ex-rugby ace, who was married to Chloe Madeley during his 2019 stint on the ITV show where he finished in ninth place, admitted that while he had been approached for Strictly, he was wary of the infamous ‘Strictly curse’ potentially jeopardising his relationship.
James explained his choice, saying: “I did it because it was a mega show. I’ve been asked to do Strictly. I didn’t think I was going to be good at dancing and then there’s obviously the Strictly curse and I was married so it just wasn’t a good idea at the time, trying to pretend to be sexy with someone for 12 hours a day, every day. I think it would’ve been a disaster. So I just decided that I’m A Celeb was the best thing for me. No rugby player had ever done it so I thought, why not?”
Despite now being separated from Chloe, with whom he shares a daughter, James remains uncertain about taking up any future offers to hit the Strictly dance floor, reports the Express.
“You know what? I don’t think I could because of my physical limitations – my ankles are so bad,” he confessed to Spin Genie. “I would definitely do reality TV again. I’d be really keen to do it. I just think some of the formats have been done to death now and I would like to do something that was slightly different. Loads of rugby players have done Strictly and I just think it’s a bit of a minefield at the moment with everything that’s going on there. I’d love to do Celebrity SAS. I’m just a massive show off and performer.”
His remarks come as I’m A Celebrity returns for its 2024 series, with a line-up including Coleen Rooney, Coronation Street actor Alan Halsall, boxing legend Barry McGuigan and McFly’s Danny Jones.
When asked what advice he would give to the new contestants, James said: ” I don’t often give advice because I think people have to sort of live their experience, but I would give the same advice as what I gave to Mike Tindall before he went in and he was quite impressed by it as some sense came out of my mouth for once! I just said that you’ve got to remember that you’re on a TV show and that you signed up for it and you have no say on how you’re portrayed so just enjoy it.
James also warned him to steer clear of any “bizarre” campfire conversations admitting “nothing good is going to come of this”.
He remarked: “So I kind of said to him, just avoid those things, keep yourself busy with chores, offer support and do everything you can do to keep busy. And that’s the best way of doing it, because you’ll have a much better experience if you just take one day at a time. Otherwise, you start getting caught up in other people’s drama. You’re there to do a show for entertainment.”
James, who revealed that coping with hunger was the toughest part, confessed he’d never watched I’m A Celebrity before joining the cast and didn’t aim to win.
“I just set out to kind of enjoy myself and to have fun. And for the two weeks I was in there, it was a super positive experience and people before had kind of labelled me as someone who would cause problems but it just wasn’t like that.
“I saw how my campmates were so gutted I had gone and I cried like a baby as I was obviously tired and emotional. But to see everybody in the camp to say how important I was to the camp and to see that kind of reaction to me leaving, just dispelled any rumours of what I was like.
“”One of the things that I always valued about my career was, you know, I wasn’t always necessarily popular with the public, but I was always popular with my teammates and coaches. So in the jungle, I was supporting others and helping them and being like that and so that for me was it really. A really important moment and that made it all valid.”
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! is on ITV1 and ITVX