Olivia Attwood has made an admission about I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here after being forced to exit just 24 hours after appearing on screen. The former Love Island star was actually in the jungle for 48 hours but had her experience on the ITV reality show cut short.
She made her first appearance during the 2022 series launch episode on Sunday, November 6, alongside the likes of Boy George, Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver, Loose Women's Charlene White and former rugby star Mike Tindall as the first 10 stars signed up for the show.
Tipped to do well on the show, Olivia was selected as the first 'Jungle VIP' following a public vote and hosts Ant and Dec told her she was allowed to choose one person to join her for a meal, as she picked Chris.
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The 31-year-old and the radio DJ later took part in a skydive before Olivia was seen alongside Chris, fellow Jungle VIP Boy George and Scarlette Douglas taking part in the first trial of the series before uniting with the rest of the line-up in the main camp. But after just 24 hours it was announced that Olivia had to leave the camp.
Olivia has since disclosed how a concerning blood result was the reason for her departure in an interview with Mail On Sunday. She admitted to being 'scared' as she was rushed to hospital. However, according to Olivia, the blood tests in the hospital returned fine but claims she still wasn't able to return to the jungle in case her levels dropped again.
Appearing on This Morning on Monday (November 14), Olivia spoke to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about her hospital dash and how she feels now not being part of the show. "There’s loads [of rumours] swirling around the internet and I think ‘Olivia Attwood pregnant’ was trending on Twitter - and it’s not that I can assure you - and it’s not that exciting when it boils down to it," she said of the reason she had to leave.
"I was pulled out on my first day in main camp for routine medical checks - which can be blood pressure, giving blood - so I had my blood taken and the results came back that my iron was low, I was showing that I was anaemic. Potassium was really low, sodium was really low, so basically all the markers you would look for were low so they consulted with a doctor outside of camp and they said I would need to come to A&E basically off the back of those readings, so I was taken to the nearest A&E department, admitted in there where they ran their own checks and their checks came back normal, so…"
She added: "Just before leaving the UK I’d had all those checks and everything was normal and the first thing I said to the camp doctor was ‘is that possible for things to change in such a short time?’ and he didn’t really have an answer, but that it was not normal and why we need to see what’s going on…"
On realising that she couldn’t return to camp afterwards, Olivia explained to the daytime show hosts: "I was like 'shall we go back?' and I knew there would be Covid tests and things like that but there was a pause in proceedings there, and it was late at night and taking me back into camp doesn’t work logistically.
"So I went to a hotel and basically as I now know the conversations went on all through the night with production obviously desperate to have me back in, but the medical team… I think it’s an insurance thing. Because they had those readings, they had to seek other party opinions and it’s a collective decision. I think they thought the readings might drop that low again and they wouldn’t be covered because it’s already been flagged up."
But Holly, 41, said: "You can understand it but it is so frustrating, especially for someone like you who’s grown up watching this show and is a big fan of the show and to be teased by being there and around the fire…" to which Olivia agreed, “I’ve been a big fan of the show all my life, and those conversations about joining the jungle happened when I left Love Island the first year, so it’s been like five years in the making…and it was the first time they’ve put someone from the show on there”
Phillip interjected: "So you had something to prove there?" as Olivia replied: "Massively. I think when you come off reality shows, you get a huge opportunity, and I’ve done amazing things, but also, I think you can be put in a box and I was looking forward to showing a different side to myself. I am not a quitter, I am not scared of much, and I was just loving it. I was looking forward to having that exposure to a new audience."
Olivia was also quizzed on whether she would do I'm A Celeb again next year, to which she said she already had to shift her other work commitments and added: "I daren't approach that question now. I would love to because I was absolutely loving it."
Despite being gutted on her exit, she said: "It is what it is, there's much worse happening in the world," but confessed: "I’m grateful I’m healthy but it makes it harder to accept because I’m frustrated. I'm not watching. It made me sad, I had FOMO [fear of missing out]. I wanted to jump in the telly."
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