I’m A Celebrity winner Sam Thompson has reacted in shock to the staggering fee his co-star Nigel Farage reportedly received for appearing on the ITV show.
Made In Chelsea’s Sam was crowned this year’s King of the Jungle on Sunday – comfortably seeing off the threat of former UKIP leader Farage and Tony Bellew – who finished in third and second place respectively. After winner the competition, 31-year old Sam declared that he’d “lived out a boyhood dream” and admitted his own fee was a “very easy negotiation” as he would have done “anything” for his jungle adventure.
After landing back in the UK, however, Sam appeared to be somewhat surprised that controversial GB News presenter Farage, 59, had been paid £1.5 million for his own endeavours. In contrast, the boyfriend of Strictly Come Dancing’s Zara McDermott went on to add that he would have “paid them [ITV]” to be on the show.
(
James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Sam told The Times: “It wasn’t monetary, or a career move, I genuinely wanted to go and eat camel’s penis. I wanted to meet Ant [McPartlin] and Dec [Donnelly], they’re my heroes, the most iconic people of my life.” The star added that unlike many of his fellow celebrities, he never suffered a “down day” throughout the experience, before acknowledging his “high energy” probably annoyed the other campmates at times.
Asked if he was aware of Farage being paid the seven-figure sum, meanwhile, Sam responded: “Was he? Bloody hell! I didn’t have a clue. You could buy five houses for that!” He continued, gracefully describing the Brexit champion as a “really interesting guy”. Modest Sam went on to explain that he felt like a “competition winner” as a result of his victory, and subsequently experiencing “imposter syndrome” emotions.
After returning to England, meanwhile, Farage took to Instagram to share a video message of gratitude to his followers. “I’m back! A massive thank you to everyone who supported and voted for me in the Jungle!” he captioned the clip. “I’m back, and I’ll tell you what, I’ve got a lot to say,” he added in the short video.
Nigel also took a cringe-worthy swipe at Sam on the platform about him “hugging men”. The Partridge-esque comment was made while the pair were embracing each other, after Nigel told Sam he “knew” he would win. Farage then added to the camera: “See, he hugs men. Very, very odd.”
The attempted joke fell flat with fans, who slammed him for being ‘insecure’ about his sexuality. One fan commented: “Nothing wrong with a man hugging another man Nigel, it’s good to show the love,” while another asked: “Why is it odd for men to hug men?” A third follower wrote: “Nigel ain’t very secure in his sexuality.”
*Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads
