Lionesses legend Jill Scott has revealed she drew inspiration from her football career to help her storm to victory on I'm a Celebrity 2022.
Scott travelled to Australia on the back of a memorable year in which Sarina Wiegman's side triumphed at the Euros and secured England's first major trophy since 1966. The Sunderland native won the nation's hearts with her quick-witted one-liners and propensity to get stuck into a Bushtucker Trial.
The former Manchester City midfielder beat out Hollyoaks star Owen Warner and ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock to claim the jungle crown, and she's now lifted the lid on how she kept a level head during her three weeks in Australia.
Speaking on ITV's Loose Women, Scott said: "I think being part of a team and obviously going on England camps for the last 16 years, I think sometimes, when you’re in something, you just have that mindset where you have to be in so I kind of did use that a lot when I was in there but it was difficult."
Reflecting on one of her most challenging trials, where she was asked to walk a plank above a 334-foot drop, Scott added: "I think I just went into sport mindset of just going to help a teammate and I managed to do it.
"I did speak about that, I said sport for kids is so good because it's not about playing at the highest level but just like learning to have that mindset.
"Winning, losing, the amount of things (sport) helps you with in general. There were times in the jungle I had to revert back to that."
The 35-year-old has established herself as a legend of the women's game, representing Everton, Manchester City and Aston Villa in the Women's Super League as well as earning more than 160 caps for the national team.
She announced her retirement in August this year, but revealed on Loose Women that she found the perfect way to get her football fix in the jungle when she made all of her campmates football shirts out of food packaging.
"Because there was 11 of us in camp straight away I was like 'we’ve got a football team,'" she said.
" Boy George had told us a story about how football had never really accepted him when he was younger so we made him captain and we were like 'we want you to fall in love with football again' but he was just like 'oh right okay'."
Reflecting on the reception she's had since leaving the jungle, Scott said: "The support's been so good. I actually can’t believe it all to be honest but it was such a good journey."
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