I'm a Celebrity's Olivia Attwood revealed a blood test result meant she had to leave the ITV programme, adding that she was 'so scared.'
The test, which all the contestants undergo randomly throughout the show, showed that the star was anaemic and that she had low sodium and potassium levels, leading staff to immediately take her to hospital. The former Love Island contestant, 31, disclosed the truth behind her departure after only 24 hours in the Australian jungle in an interview with the Mail On Sunday.
She said: “I was so scared, I was like: ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ They couldn’t give me an answer, they just told me that they had to get me to the hospital immediately.
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“The results were really, really low when they put them into their reader and they consulted with another doctor off-site. I had those bloods done in England before I left, and they were fine. I was confused and of course very, very worried.”
However, when the tests were repeated in the hospital they came back normal, according to Attwood. The reality TV star was then taken to a hotel to sleep while ITV decided whether she could re-enter the camp.
She added: “They said because of the results the show’s medical team got from my readings, they were not happy to sign me off to come back in, even though I had the clean bill of health from the hospital. If I went back into camp, they feared my levels might drop and it could be detrimental to my health and wellbeing.”
She said ITV was not “willing to authorise my return and therefore I wasn’t insured” before adding she was “absolutely devastated”. On landing back in the UK she had more blood tests, which again came back fine.
Asked whether she will receive her full fee for the show, reported to be between £100,000 to £125,000, she replied: “We haven’t discussed that yet.” Attwood also said she was not aware Matt Hancock was joining the show until she turned her phone on at Brisbane Airport on her way home.
She said: “It’s funny to see him slimed and gunked but it isn’t funny if you didn’t get to hold someone’s hand when they died while he was snogging someone in his office. NHS workers are protesting to get paid enough money to survive and he is out earning money in the jungle. That doesn’t seem right, does it?”
ITV has been contacted for comment.
It comes after the public voted for the former health secretary, 44, to take part in his fifth consecutive trial on I’m A Celebrity. Hancock will face the House of Horrors on Sunday and be tasked with navigating an “eerie house in the jungle” full of critters.
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly announced the news at the end of Saturday night’s episode, prompting laughter from the contestants as well as supportive comments. Hancock’s previous trials have seen him covered in treacle and feathers, trapped inside a cage partially submerged in water and crawling through dark tunnels.
McPartlin and Donnelly also announced viewers can now vote on which campmate will become leader.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV at 9pm.
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