Andrew Maxwell’s wife denies the comic is being “bullied” in the camp by Ian Wright , and says she understands the spats because her husband is “not easy” to live with.
ITV and Ofcom have fielded complaints by I’m A Celebrity viewers over football pundit Ian and ex-rugby player James Haskell’s treatment of Andrew.
But wife Suraya El-Wakil said: “Is it bullying? No, not at all. He’s a grown-up man. They’re all fine.
“You put anyone in that environment and you’re going to have disagreements, with sleep deprivation and food deprivation.”
One disagreement with Ian stemmed from Andrew going to sleep after a trial when he was due to be doing the washing up with Caitlyn Jenner.
Speaking after landing at Brisbane Airport, Suraya insisted the “bullying” by Ian was more like a lover’s tiff.
She went on: “At the beginning it felt like Kate Garraway was going to step in to the jungle wife role for him. But now I feel like Ian is being his jungle wife and they’re just having a lot of tiffs.”
Andrew, 44, and Suraya wed in 2016 and have two children.
She confessed: “I will be the first to tell you he is not the easiest to live with. Not doing the dishes after dinner is a daily struggle, so I feel for you, Caitlyn.”
The public were seeing the real Andrew, she explained, and everyone has their ups and downs.
“He is being himself as best as anyone can be in that situation.
“Sometimes he gets tired and hungry in there. There have been times when he has been struggling. It’s a really tough environment. He is only human and he is exhausted.”
She admitted it is hard to watch a loved one struggle and not be able to talk to them, she said. “He has good days and bad days but is doing well.”
On a lighter note, Suraya admitted being surprised to see her husband on screen wearing tiny striped swimming trunks that left little to the imagination.
She added: “I knew nothing about those budgie smugglers. I was told he bought them when he was in lock-down.
“I’m kind of glad he did because I wouldn’t have authorised them!” ITV confirmed that it received a “handful” of complaints about Ian and James’ behaviour.
A spokesman said: “We constantly monitor and talk to our celebrities to check on their welfare and have procedures in place to address any unacceptable behaviour.”
Ofcom confirmed it had also received a small number of complaints about bullying on
the show.
It will look into whether there are grounds to launch an investigation.Two years ago, there were suggestions that comedian Iain Lee was bullied by ex-footballer Dennis Wise and WAG Rebekah Vardy on the show, although he played this down when he left camp.
