Mike Tindall revealed he nearly didn't meet wife Zara Tindall in a candid chat with his I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here campmates.
The former rugby player, 44, is the first ever member of the Royal Family to join the show and he wasted no time in chatting to his fellow celebrities about his wife Zara, who is the daughter of Princess Anne. During a chat with Babatúndé Aléshé and Owen Warner, Mike explained how he nearly didn't cross paths with his wife – but a bad turn in his career gave him that chance.
He revealed to his campmates all about his first date with the royal, which he described as "boozy" and joked he was thrilled that they found out they both had a love of drinking – and that's what cemented their romance.
During the chat, Mike said: "I was at the World Cup, she was out watching. I got dropped from the semi-final. I was p****d off and so I went for a beer with another guy who got dropped and a guy who was over [in Sydney].
"They’d met her before and they introduced us and then got chatting."
When Owen asked, "If you never got dropped you never would have met her?", Mike admitted it was the manager's "best decision" for him and he was thrilled that the pair got along so well, with their love having since blossomed.
As they chatted more about relationships, Mike opened up about his first date with Zara – and admitted it was quite "boozy".
"First actual date, just went out for lunch locally. And ended up being quite a boozy one. Then we figured out that we both quite like getting smashed. It was a good start," he explained to his interested campmates.
When asked how many years it had been, Mike revealed they had been together for 18 years. It was then that Owen joked: "My longest relationship was 6 months!," before the rugby player reminded him that he was only 23-years-old.
Babatúndé also detailed his first date with his wife, which saw them going for a romantic meal in Nando's.
"First date, I want to say we went Nando's. Most likely did you know… I think it was. Me and my wife we went to the same school," he revealed as he shared their sweet love story with his campmates.
