Dean McCullough joined Good Morning Britain hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid to discuss his stint on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! after being the second contestant to exit the jungle in the episode aired on Sunday, (December 1st).
In a live chat with breakfast show hosts Susanna and Ed, Dean revealed some behind-the-scenes details about the Bushtucker trials that viewers didn’t get to see. Those who followed this year’s ITV series would know that the Irishman was a favourite among UK voters to undertake the gruesome challenges.
Early in the series, viewers started nominating Dean after he yelled: “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Here!” just as a trial was beginning, without really giving it a go, much to Ant McPartlin’s irritation. The Geordie host quickly lost patience and gave the star a stern reprimand.
While discussing the terrifying trials with Dean on air, Susanna noted: “Seven trials, that is more than Matt Hancock,” reports the Express. Looking somewhat embarrassed by the comparison, the ITV star responded: “Don’t make that comparison.”
Keen to delve deeper into his experience, she continued her line of questioning: “Tell us about that experience because it’s one of the things that came over.”
Susanna pressed on, recalling: “I think your very first trial was when you were in the sarcophagus, you were absolutely determined to do it then all of a sudden, it begins to fill up with sand and it’s the first time you screamed ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!’,” before probing further: “Did you gradually learn to love the trials or did your heart sink every time?”
Ed chimed in, sceptically remarking: “It didn’t look like you did.” In response, Dean shared with the presenters: “Yeah, I wouldn’t say love, but you do actually get used to the tension.”
Dean then revealed behind-the-scenes insights about the trial conditions that viewers didn’t get to see, explaining: “What you don’t see on telly is that it’s very quiet, and it’s all taken very very seriously. There are so many rules that you’ve got to remember and it’s tense.”
The radio host expressed his willingness to tackle the challenges again, stating: “I was the first one to get out and repeat these trials so over the week I actually got used to it. Now the sand one, I could not have predicted that was going to happen.”
He continued, detailing his initial instructions: “All I was told was to stand in the box with my hands on the perspex and I might be joined by things in the tomb so I wasn’t expecting it at all but I would actually do it again, I would give it a go.
“I think like anything you keep doing it and you get used to it but I wouldn’t say I loved the trials.” Ed was curious to know if Dean was more resolute than what was portrayed on screen. He asked: “Would you go into every trial determined that you weren’t going to shout ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!’?”
Dean then referred back to his televised disagreement with TV presenter Ant, assuring fans that it was all in the past. He told viewers: “Yeah, I mean when Ant was telling me off for saying ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!’
“It felt like a proper telling of,f and I felt like he meant it. So I did what I was told, and I wanted to win him back around which I think I did in the end.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1, from 6am.