Tony Bellew reveals the family tragedy that almost stopped him doing I’m A Celebrity as he prepares to the enter jungle
Tony Bellew has revealed he almost quit I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! after his grandmother tragically passed away last Sunday aged 97.
The former boxer, 40, is a late addition to this year’s series of the ITV show alongside Italian jockey Frankie Dettori.
Signed only days before the show was due to air, the World Champion was close to pulling out because his grandmother died the day after he signed the contract.
He said: ‘If I couldn’t have changed the funeral date I would have renegade. But I’m here now. She was in a home and told my mum: ‘I’ll be able to watch every night’. But I’m sure she’ll be watching wherever she is, whatever she’s doing.’
Tony acknowledged he did have some regrets about making the journey to Australia so soon after his grandmother’s death.
Heartbreaking: Tony Bellew has revealed he almost quit I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! after his grandmother tragically passed away last Sunday aged 97
Family: Signed only days before the show was due to air, the World Champion was close to pulling out because his grandmother died the day after he signed the contract
He said: ‘I signed it the day before she passed away so there’s no going back now. I signed it and I honoured my agreement. In an ideal world, I would have left it but I signed the day before my nan passed away. I’m going to bury her on the 15th.
‘I was going to renegade if I couldn’t have moved the burial. She was in a home and she told me mum: ‘I’ll be able to watch that every night.’ She’ll be watching from wherever she is or whatever she’s doing.
‘She was a diamond of an old lady, she was wonderful. I come from a single-parent’s household. My dad left when I was 10.
‘So when you come from where I come from your nan helps around because your mother has to work.’
‘So your nan was your second mum. So yeah, she was a lovely woman and had a heart of gold. She’ll be missed by all of us.’
Meanwhile, Tony, known for his dead-pan demeanour said he is determined to make Kiosk Kev laugh – despite the show’s iconic ranger never flinching a muscle.
He said: ‘I’m doing this because my wife and kids told me to. I’m here once and when I’m gone my kids will have something to look back on to show their kids to say “Look what my silly dad’s done, gone to the Australia Jungle for two weeks.”
‘They’ll have an absolute scream when they come to visit while I’m sitting here starving.’
Tony, who met his wife Rachael Roberts when he was just nine years old, told how being in the jungle will be the longest time he’s ever been away from her.
He said: ‘If I couldn’t have changed the funeral date I would have renegade. But I’m here now’
He said: ‘This is the longest I haven’t spoken to my wife for 22 years, since the day we’ve been together. But I’m used to being alone in the camp with the microwave and the iPad for weeks.
‘I’m sure I’ll get to know Nigel Farage and we’ll go from there. I’m from a different world from these people and I don’t class myself as a celebrity. I’m just good at punching someone in the face.
Tony, born on November 30, will celebrate his birthday in the jungle but doesn’t plan on telling his campmates.
He said: ‘Unfortunately it’s my birthday there. I normally spend it with my Mrs and my kids. I’m definitely not going to tell the others that it is.’
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