Ant and Dec have finally spoken out about the explosive ‘I’m A Celebrity South Africa’ live final, which descended into a heated clash between contestants that had viewers talking for days. The hosts addressed the chaotic episode on their podcast ‘Hanging Out with Ant and Dec’, giving fans their first real insight into what it was like to be in the room that night.“If you didn’t see it, I bet you read about it,” Ant joked in a preview for the Thursday episode. “It was quite the night,” Dec shared, as Ant described it as a “weird night of TV.”
What happened during the explosive final?
Tensions ran high during the live final when Jimmy Bullard described Adam Thomas’ treatment toward him as “abusive, aggressive and intimidating,” while David Haye accused ITV of editing the footage to make Thomas look like a “victim”. Bullard also claimed Thomas had used language that did not make it to air, before directly asking Ant and Dec for their view, noting they had “front row seats.”Ant hit back directly: “No, it wasn’t. I was there.” Thomas said he took “full responsibility” and had “nothing but love for Jimmy,” but Haye quickly interjected: “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”
What Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly said about the night on their podcast
Reflecting on events, Dec said, “The first question was to Jimmy about why did you call ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here'”, with Ant adding, “On the night I said I disagreed with it.” Dec also noted that Bullard “had a bit of a bee in his bonnet and wanted to get that off his chest.”The hosts also revealed that two of the contestants, Gemma Collins and Adam Thomas, had since left the ‘I’m A Celebrity All Stars’ WhatsApp group.
How did fans react?
Fans flooded the comments section with support for how the hosts handled the situation. Jedward wrote, “You handled it so well,” while another fan added, “Ant really did do well. Fair play for standing up for what you believe in.”
