Dean McCullough is second contestant to leave I’m A Celebrity after public vote
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Entertainment Reporter
Radio presenter Dean McCullough has become the second contestant to be eliminated from I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2024 following a public vote.
The 32-year-old’s departure was announced live on Sunday’s episode by presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, with Loose Women panellist GK Barry telling him “have a prosecco for me” as he left.
Speaking about his departure, McCullough said: “It’s absolutely nuts, I still can’t believe I’m here.
“I have really soaked up this whole experience, all the trials, the things I’ve faced, and got stuck in at camp, done a bit of everything, and I really, really, really enjoyed it.
“And when I woke up this morning, I thought if I go today, I am over the moon because I’ve not missed out on anything.”
The BBC Radio 1 DJ took on seven trials and won 33 stars for camp during his time in the jungle.
He added: “I’ve learned that life is better when it’s simpler. You really, really don’t need to be on your phone all the time.
“You don’t need to be chasing the next appointment, the next meeting, the next gig, you can literally just sit in the moment and just watch what is going on around.”
McCullough said he wanted Barry to win, describing her as “brilliant”.
Earlier in the episode, Love Island star Maura Higgins revealed she is missing an unnamed man, who she is “seeing”.
During Sunday’s episode of the ITV reality show, the Irish star was asked whether she was single by former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Oti Mabuse, which Higgins said she was – but added she had been “seeing someone since July”.
Former Communards member Reverend Richard Coles then asked her if they were “exclusive”, to which she replied: “I don’t know.”
The 34-year-old then told the camp she had been missing him, and added that the unnamed man was someone they would know.
She told the camp she felt she had never been in love, and radio presenter Dean McCullough asked: “Does it feel different this time?”
To which she replied: “It does, but then is it because we’ve known each other for a long time?”
Coles added: “You’d know if he was an asshole or not, by now.”
Higgins smiled and replied: “Yeah, he’s not an asshole.”
She has previously been romantically linked to current Strictly Come Dancing contestant and reality TV star Pete Wicks, who has recently denied rumours of a romance between him and his professional dance partner Jowita Przystal, saying: “We have great chemistry because we’ve become such good friends.”
Later in the episode, former boxing champion Barry McGuigan volunteered himself for the Spiralling Out Of Control Bushtucker Trial.
He told the Bush Telegraph: “This is a comeback for me, I suffered a TKO in the first round, the last time but this time I’m determined to get it right and I’m looking for the knockout.”
Presenters McPartlin and Donnelly revealed he would be strapped to a giant spinning wheel, with one hand free, and would win stars by throwing balls into hatches around the side, when they opened, with each ball in a hatch equalling one star.
After McGuigan was strapped in, he was joined by offal, cockroaches and giant mealworms, before he started to be spun around.
The 63-year-old struggled to find his bearings with the spinning, only managing to get one ball in a hatch with 10 seconds to go during round one.
As the wheel picked up pace, his ability improved however, and he got a full house in all of the other rounds, scoring 10 out of a possible 11 stars.
Celebrities were also given an opportunity to win their letters from home in the Silent Letters Challenge, which saw them asked to guess a sentimental phrase picked by their loved ones that was mouthed by another campmate within two minutes.
All 11 campmates succeeded in guessing their phrases and won their letter from home, however, Mabuse struggled to work out what her husband, dancer Marius Iepure, had picked until suddenly she told her campmates “Aero island, it was where we got married”.
Coleen Rooney’s secret phrase from husband Wayne Rooney was “petrol station” after he proposed to her at one, with Coles asking her how it happened.
She replied: “I knew it was going to happen but I definitely didn’t know it was going to be in a petrol station, but I’m glad we didn’t do it in a restaurant to be honest with you.
“We were only young, so we went back and had corned beef hash instead.”