I’m A Celebrity contestant Anne Hegerty broke down in tears and threatened to quit the show on the same day she arrived in the jungle.
The 60-year-old, best known for her persona as The Governess on The Chase, endured a rocky start to the creepy-crawly-filled series which returned to our screens last night (November 18).
The show saw viewers meet the 10 celebrities who were first to enter the jungle after being split into the Red Team and the Yellow Team and working their way through a series of tasks.
Anne was chosen to join the Yellow Team along with Fleur East, Emily Atack, James McVey and Rita Simons and was faced with her first truly I’m A Celeb experience when she had to put her hand into a box filled with huge crabs and horrifically big spiders to find the winning tokens.
To be fair, I think that task alone would have been enough to make me quit.
After losing a race to grab their rucksacks from the centre of a lake due to their sinking boat, the Yellow Team were packed off to Snake Rock, the less luxurious of the two jungle camps.
While the Red Team, made up of Nick Knowles, Harry Redknapp, John Barrowman, Sair Kahn and Malique Thompson-Dwyer, had beds and a proper evening meal, the Yellow Team were left to sleep on the ground and eat rice and beans.
Upon arriving at Snake Rock, Anne burst into tears, showing viewers a whole new side to her away from the hard, unforgiving personality seen on The Chase.
Her campmates came to her side, and Anne admitted she was near the point of quitting the show, saying:
I’m really close to saying I can’t do this.
Despite having just met hours earlier, the fellow members of the Yellow Team showed their support and comforted Anne by saying they all felt the same way.
With terrifying Australian insects having the opportunity to crawl all over you as you sleep on the dirty floor after an unsatisfying dinner of rice and beans, I think we can all sympathise with Anne.
The Inbetweeners star Emily told the Bush Telegraph how everyone seemed to be trying to put on a brave face for the daunting situation, saying:
Anne got a bit upset so we gave her a cuddle. It’s overwhelming. I think she was just expressing how we were all feeling, we just didn’t want to admit it.
After being comforted by her teammates, Anne began to feel better and told the cameras ‘I like them. They’re my teammates’.
The Chase star was excluded from taking part in the first Bushtucker Trial on medical grounds, and as the Red Team won immunity, the public voted for Emily to face the snake-filled Viper Pit.
Hopefully she’ll win enough stars to take a tasty meal back to Snake Rock and raise her campmates’ spirits!
I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here continues on ITV tonight at 9pm.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.