I'm A Celebrity's Sam Thompson explains blunder that left him unaware of win

18 December 2023 , 17:35

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I'm A Celebrity's Sam Thompson explains blunder that left him unaware of win

When I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here star Sam Thompson was announced as the winner of this year's series, the entire set in Australia erupted with joy.

But one person who was left in the dark over his win was Sam, 31, as Tony Bellew had whispered a joke in his ear which distracted him from hearing the announcement. Appearing on This Morning, reunited with his former campmate Josie Gibson and her co-host Craig Doyle, the reality TV star revealed the blunder.

When Craig asked how he felt after being crowned King of the jungle, he said: "Ah mate it was amazing, feels like a bit of a dream. It's been mad, its been like a whirlwind really."

And when he noticed that footage of the announcement was being played in the background, he excitedly said: "Oh my God that's me on the TV. I didn't even know I'd won at this point because Tony whispered something in my ear that cracked me up so I didn't hear them say Sam, until everyone started clapping and I was like 'oh, it's me." But it seems Sam's win may not have happened as he nearly quit the show after the first day in camp, as he suffered a major panic attack.

Sam Thompson hadn't realised he'd won I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here because of Tony Bellew (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Sam Thompson said he felt like a competition winner while in the Australian jungle (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Speaking on the podcast he shares with his "brother" Pete Wicks, called Staying Relevant, he said: "So on the first day when we go in, I had a panic attack. And I went in really guns blazing, I was so excited." He added: "I was like 'oh my god everyone's here', like energy through the roof and then suddenly it hit me what we were doing and I literally sat on my bed and went 'oh my god'." He then continued: "My heart was going really quick and I was sweating and I really wanted to be sick, and I went 'I'm either really ill and I'm going to have to see the medic day one, and I'm going to be like you might have to pull me out'," he said, unable to finish his sentence.

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He went on to say:"I had a full-blown panic attack on the first day, and people were coming up to me and asking 'why are you being so quiet' and I was like 'I don't know, I don't know what's going on, and it took me a bit of time to acclimatise because I was so overwhelmed with the whole experience. It's a really weird experience when you first get in there, really, really weird, but everyone is so nice."

Sam has claimed that during his stint on the show, he felt like a competition winner. He went on to tell Josie and Craig: "It's very easy to be happy in there, when there's so many eclectic people. I felt like a competition winner! It's amazing because you think 'none of these people can leave so I get to go to everything single one of them and we make our own fun'!"

He explained: "It's not sunk in at all. i genuinely didn't think I would get far at all." Josie butted in, saying: "I did, I could tell straight away." Sam then shouted: "Then why didn't you tell me! I just thought the ultimate win was to just do a trial and meet Ant and Dec, and maybe do Cyclone!"

Lucretia Munro