Linford Christie fails in I'm A Celebrity jungle crown bid

Back in the real world: Linford Christie
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Former Olympic sprinter Linford Christie was adjusting to life out of the Australian jungle today after being the latest contestant to be voted off I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.

Christie sprung to his feet and jumped with joy, before hugging and kissing Ant and Dec as it was announced he had come bottom in the public vote on last night's show.

"I'm going home!" he shouted as comedian Dom Joly looked on dejectedly after learning he was staying in the jungle.

Speaking after leaving the camp, Christie said he felt under pressure to be strong on behalf of the group.

He said: "They saw me as a leader, a motivator, the big strong guy. I had to try to be brave.

"There were things that scared me but I had to just try and hide it and get on."

He said the heavy Pacific rains that had washed over the camp in the last few days had been the last straw.

"I've had enough. I had enough days ago, seriously," he said.

He revealed that he would like former X Factor contestant Stacey Solomon to win, saying: "Stacey's the loveliest person. When I was down I could always go to Stacey and she would cheer me up.

"She can't see the bad in anyone and she deserves to win."

Former Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder also opened up to his campmates during yesterday's show, speaking about his troubled childhood.

The ex-chart star, who has been riding on a high since nemesis Gillian McKeith was booted out of the jungle, said he used to "love getting chased... stealing and vandalism".

The former hell-raiser, 48, claimed: "On our industrial estate we had a Schweppes and a Bulmers and by the age of 12 I'd screwed the lot of 'em. I robbed them all. I sold the booze to an ice cream man."

He added: "Once someone broke into our junior school, chopped the heads off the hamster and guinea pigs, shat all over the place, smashed the place up and wrote Shaun Ryder on the blackboard. They spelled me name wrong, of course.

"Before I was 10, three kids grabbed hold of me and held me down while one booted the hell out of me."

Ryder, who was known for his drug binges, said of McKeith being voted out of the show: "It was wonderful to say goodbye to Gillian, absolutely great. I thought the public made the right decision. The public are very intelligent, wise."

Dom Joly and Jenny Eclair also revealed they were desperate to quit the jungle.

The pair, who entered the jungle after their fellow campmates, said they were bored with camp conversation and life.

Eclair, 50, confided: "I've felt fine, weepy, mad, fine, weepy, mad today and I'm not sure I can go through another day. It's like time has stood still like groundhog day."

Joly, 43, agreed, saying: "I've had it with this endless round of conversation, I need to talk to someone else, if you weren't here I would have definitely walked."

He added: "I could very much do with Kayla (Collins) going. She's really annoying me for no reason at all. It's totally not her fault, it's mine."

The comedian only won three out of a possible seven meals when he competed in a Savage Garden Centre trial - attempting to find the stars that were hidden among a greenhouse, water pots and a giant dung heap. He muttered: "This is it, the lowest moment in my television career."

Eclair had to get into a foul-smelling pool with Collins for the celebrity chest task.

But she refused to wear her swimwear, saying: "I'm not taking my shorts off when I'm standing next to a 22- or 23-year-old glamour model, I'm not mad."

The camp won salt and spices after correctly identifying which of their campmates made various statements.

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