It’s a new year and you know what that means? A whole new batch of contestants getting ready to chew on some animal balls for our entertainment in the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here jungle! We’re just days before the new season premieres but instead of making us wait, the good people at Channel 10 have given us a little tucker trial taster by revealing the very first celebrity donning the red and khaki in the jungle.
Are you ready for the big reveal?
It’s The Bachelor royalty Matthew Johnson AKA Matty J!
I’m A Celeb has been hinting at a “romantic leading man” reality star to be heading into the jungle this season. The initial clue was: “can Mr Smooth sweet talk his way through camp? Hope he doesn’t break his heart!”
Clearly, it didn’t take a genius to guess that the leading man was on a fellow Channel 10 show, The Bachelor and with so many seasons, there are a bunch of dudes that could have fit the bill. However, it was Matty who got the call up to give the jungle a crack and it turns out he’d been waiting for the opportunity to give the show a go for a while.
“Channel 10 were playing hard to get,” Matty tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“Over the last three years, I was like, ‘this is going to be my time, surely I’ll get the call up’. But it was crickets from Channel 10.”
So when the 37-year-old reality star turned podcaster finally did get the call, he decided it was time to play hard to get. Well, until he panicked thinking they’d go with someone else instead.
“They were like, ‘Are you going to do this or not because we need an answer’. And eventually, I was like ‘Okay, let’s do this’.”
The only thing he asked for? A first-class flight to enjoy the good life before he started feasting on rice, beans and animal unmentionables.
Before flying to South Africa, Matty admits he reached out to Brittany Hockley, a former jungle campmate who co-hosts the Life Uncut podcast with his wife Laura Byrne.
“She’s overseas at the moment and I need to have a proper debrief with her, but she’s given me a few bits and bobs of advice,” the Two Doting Dads podcast host said.
“She did say that when it comes to food, and you’re in a situation where the season’s chef has gone home, make sure to soak the beans. You have to soak them straight away and they need to soak the whole day before you cook.”
Brittany also gave him some sage advice about which bed to pick when he finally makes it into camp.
“She said it’s important not to get a bed too close to the campfire,” Matty continued.
“Otherwise, during the day, everyone kind of chats around the campfire and you don’t want people sitting in your bed because it means you can’t nap during the day.”
Honestly, thank god he has Brittany because that’s the only kind of advice you get from someone who has lived it!
Although the jungle is a fun yet challenging experience, Matty isn’t going into the jungle to sit around and make new friends. He’s excited to hopefully raise some money for The Starlight Foundation, a charity that helps sick kids and their families in hospitals around Australia.
Matty and Laura discovered The Starlight Foundation after their youngest daughter Lola, 4, was sick.
“We had a situation with Lola shortly after she was born. She was a little bit unwell and we spent a bit of time in hospital. It was during COVID, so at the time, only one parent was allowed to be with the child,” he said.
Although they didn’t have help from Starlight at the time, when the foundation caught wind of what the young family had been through, they got in touch and invited Matty and Laura to come down and see what they do to help families struggling with sick kids. Eventually, it led to the couple working in the Starlight room at the Children’s Hospital in Sydney to bring a smile to the faces of the sick kids and their families.
“Hospitals are a strange place and for people who are happy and healthy, we are totally blissfully unaware of what other families going through and the battles that they’re facing,” Matty continued.
“Ignorance is bliss. I remember the first the first time I helped out, I spoke to a mum who had just found out that her child was diagnosed with leukaemia. She literally broke down as I was talking to her. It’s devastating knowing that she’s just about to start on this insane battle, and then after two hours, I’m like, ‘Okay, thanks very much. See, see you later.’
“For me, it’s over, and for her, it’s just starting. Starlight really helps people out who are in one of the toughest situations of their entire life. And I wanted to do something to help support them.”
I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! premieres Sunday 19 January At 7.00pm on 10 and 10 Play.
The post The Very First I’m A Celeb 2025 Contestant Has Been Revealed & Well, Well, Well appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
