I’m A Celebrity star Alex Scott opens up to the Mirror after leaving the jungle saying she nearly pulled out of the show after her partner’s mum was taken ill
Walking across the famous bridge after 14 days in the jungle, Alex Scott’s heart sank when she realised Jess Glynne wasn’t there. The former England star already knew there was a chance that her popstar partner wouldn’t be waiting.
Before she even flew to Australia, Jess’s mum had suffered a stroke, and Alex agonised over whether to pull out of the show. In the end, it was Jess who told her she had to go.
“It’s been a tough time for us and obviously her family, and it was a tough decision to come into the jungle, but then Jess never wanted me to step away from not doing it,” Alex says quietly. “I knew there was always a possibility of her not being across the bridge, if her mum hadn’t got better, or if things had been getting worse, which they have been. But it was a big decision for me to not pass this opportunity, and Jess was the one that pushed me to be here.”
Instead of Jess, Alex’s close friend Regan Coleman was waiting instead, as the two women shared an emotional embrace. “My first thought when I didn’t see Jess on the bridge was that I needed to FaceTime and speak to her,” she admits. Being in the jungle and not knowing how Jess, or her mum, was doing was agony. “I found that really tough in the jungle, not being able to speak to Jess every day and just check in and see what’s going on, and how she was doing,” she says. “When we did speak, it was an emotional moment.”
Hours after Alex left the jungle, Jess posted on social media as to why she wasn’t there to greet her. In an emotional statement, she told how over the last few weeks her mother had “suffered a major stroke and needed urgent brain surgery.” She added: “It’s been a really serious, life-altering time for my family, and I’ve had to stay close to home. Alex would always want me to be where l’m needed most. I can’t wait to have her back by my side.”
Asked if she considered pulling out of the show, Alex said: “Oh, yeah, absolutely, 100 percent. But Jess was the one that wanted me to do this, so that’s why I wanted to go in and still make her proud.” When they finally spoke on the phone after Alex became the first celebrity to leave the jungle on Friday night, emotion quickly gave way to laughter.
“The first thing she said was that she loves me and we’re getting married….no, I’m playing,” she laughed. “She said she was just so proud of me and how I came across and that I was truly myself.” Jess told her that she thought her “fun side” wasn’t as apparent to viewers as it was to her. “But we know it’s a TV show, and they’re the edits…but she’s proud of how I came across, and can’t wait to have me home with her,” she said.
The pair have long joked about who will be the first to propose. “We have this conversation about proposing all the time,” Alex laughs. “Every time I say, ‘Well, I’m just going to do it,’ she absolutely fights me not to….and says that she is going to be the one to propose. I don’t know how or why, but she wants that role, so I’m just going with it, and I’m just waiting for the day.”
She admits that there will be “wedding bells” one day. “Maybe the jungle has accelerated the process of how much she has been my rock over the last couple of years, and I can’t wait to get back to now being her support, because she needs me,” she added.
Alex also opened up about being embroiled in one of the camp’s biggest talking points: her salt smuggling operation. The camp had a star taken away after she was spotted sneaking seasoning on crocodile feet.
“I felt like such a naughty schoolgirl, like I should have been put in detention or something,” she laughs. “We had stopped at a service station, and they just had all these little sachets of salt and pepper. I was staring at them for ages, like, ‘Shall I? No… they’ll frisk me.’ But I put them down my socks and didn’t get checked.” And she reveals that a string of other campmates knew about her secret contraband stash.
“Jack knew about it, Ginge saw me one night… he just kept giving me the eye. Shona knew about it from early days,” she admits.
Actress Lisa Riley was also sucked into the circle of trust. “I gave Lisa the salt wrapper….and she ran off to the dunny screaming. She couldn’t believe she had the salt evidence,” she says. When it was announced about contraband in camp, she says how Shona and her “looked at each other straight away.” She says: “We were like, ‘We have to confess.’”
EastEnders actress Shona was forced to hand over a can of air-freshener, which she also confided in Alex about. “When we were doing a trial, Shona came back and was like, ‘I managed to get this for the dunny.’ Me and Shona obviously knew, but no one else saw it. Kelly went in one day and said, ‘Oh my God, the dunny smells so fresh.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’ thinking, ‘Have you not seen the air freshener?’”
Alex insists she loved every minute. “I just hope everyone sees how much fun I had in there. We never stopped laughing. I feel so blessed to have been with such a special group of people who truly cared for each other and could take the p*** out of each other but also share deep, emotional conversations. It feels like real friendships were formed.”
Her closest bond was with Shona, whose confidence she watched blossom every day. And she insisted that any suggestion of romance bubbling between her and Aitch was wide of the mark. “Shona has been through a lot before coming on the show, and it’s allowed her to get rid of anxieties and insecurities she had about herself. We’ve seen her grow into this beautiful butterfly. I think that’s why I was so close to her. When Aitch said, ‘I have a soft spot for Shona,’ it’s because we all saw this amazing person starting to shine.”
As for who she thinks will be crowned this year, Alex says it’s likely to come down to the fan favourites. “Personally, I think, from the public and how the trials have been going, it’s going to be Ginge or Aitch between those two. Because of their fan base and how they’ve come across. I’d love for Shona to win, that would be a beautiful story. But I think it’ll be between one of the boys.”
After everything, though, there’s only one thing she wants now: home…..and back to Jess.
