Gillian McKeith Thinks I'm A Celebrity Bushtucker Trials Have Left Her With PTSD

On Sunday night, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! returned to our tellies with a line-up featuring the likes of Ian Wright, Caitlyn Jenner and Nadine Coyle.

However, it is unlikely many of this year's contestants will endure a stint in the jungle quite as memorable as Gillian McKeith's.

PA

The former You Are What You Eat presenter was continually voted by the public to take on the Bushtucker trials in a vicious cycle that ultimately saw the 60-year-old faint on live TV.

Almost 10 years on, she is still haunted by her time on the show.

Speaking to The Daily Star, she said: "When I look back at the jungle, it's like the stuff of nightmares. It was like being in a horror movie, to be honest. And I'm not certain I've fully recovered.

"I do laugh about it. But the funny thing is though, every day since I left the jungle, to the present day, I'm reminded of the jungle constantly - by strangers, by taxi drivers - everywhere I go, as if it was yesterday.

"There were massive crawling spiders in the dunny and it was enough to make you not want to not go and be constipated."

So severe was the impact of the trials, McKeith reckons they left her with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

She said: "There were so many trials and I was always out doing them, so it was a bit of a blur, and they were all horrible - horrid, horrid horrid.

"There wasn't a single trial I enjoyed, not even one. I honestly think I'm suffering from PTSD."

What's more, McKeith - who also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016 - said the worst trial she faced has made her claustrophobic.

She said: "The one trial that sticks out more than the others is the one where I was underground, locked up in chains with rats. That has completely done me in, that is the worst.

"Ever since, I can't really go into small spaces and I've developed a new phobia.

ITV

"I feel really claustrophobic. So if you said to me, 'Let's get in this lift,' but I felt the lift was too small, I'd say, 'Let's take the stairs' - which is good as it helps me get fitter.

"But in all seriousness, when I go into small bathrooms now, I can't lock the doors as I'm worried I can't get out and I know it's connected to that experience.

"Because ahead of my time on there, claustrophobia was the one fear I didn't have."

One unpleasantness contestants won't have to face this year is the eating of live bugs, which has been banned from bushtucker trials following outcry from animal advocacy groups.

Topics: TV and Film, I'm A Celebrity..., UK Entertainment

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey