TV favourite Ant McPartlin has labelled Alan Halsall ‘passive aggressive’ during his spat with Dean McCullough on I’m a Celeb. The BBC Radio 1 host Dean had a fiery exchange with the Coronation Street actor on the show regarding how Alan woke him up.
During an Instagram Live session with Dec, Ant weighed in on the tension, asking: “What would you have done, would you have kicked off? Alan was kind of OK about it, but he had a little bit of passive aggressiveness back as well, didn’t he? ” However, Ant also commented on Dean’s reaction, saying: “I wouldn’t stand for any of that… I would be like ‘shut-up’.”
Dean, who had been taking a nap, was roused by camp leader Alan to collect firewood with Loose Women’s Jane Moore. When a groggy Dean barely moved, Alan questioned: “You don’t fancy it? No? ” and then proceeded to assist Jane himself due to camp rules.
Dean followed later and told Alan he could “go back now”. Alan explained his gentle approach, “I was trying to wake you up as soft as I could,” prompting Dean to respond: “Listen to me. If you’re going to wake me up, you need to give me a minute, alright? ” He added, “It takes me a couple of minutes for my contact lenses to get back working again, all right? ” and criticised Alan’s comment, “So you don’t need to turn around to me and say: ‘Do you not fancy it? ‘ OK? And then turn around and walk away.”
Dean repeatedly urged Alan to “listen” to him, with Alan responding: “I didn’t say it how you think I meant it, but if you took it that way, then I apologise.”, reports the Mirror.
The actor clarified he wasn’t trying to criticise the radio DJ, leading Dean to express his understanding but also his feeling that he “didn’t get a chance to respond”. In the Bush Telegraph, Dean recounted, “I opened my eyes and wee Tyrone from Coronation Street is like: ‘Come on, mate, you need to go down to the bottom of the creek.'” He continued, “He didn’t even give me a chance to say yes or no because he went: ‘You don’t fancy it? No? ‘ and ran. He was being a real camp leader.”
Dean added, “I was like: ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa don’t dig me out like that.’ And I had to say to him: ‘If you’re going to say: ‘Don’t fancy it? ‘ – give me a chance’.”
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He explained, “Because, of course, I fancy it. I want to help Jane. I went straight down and helped her.”
Later, Dean was seen apologising to Jane before they both carried wood for the campfire.
Alan reflected in his own Bush Telegraph moment, “It was a flippant comment, I’m sorry if you took it in the wrong way. Wasn’t actually meant like that, it was just a bit of a joke.”
He added, “If I was asleep and you woke me up, I won’t fancy it either.”
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