Danny Baker opens up about mum’s dementia battle

I’m A Celebrity star Danny Baker has revealed that his mum Betty’s dementia is so bad she doesn’t even realise he’s appearing in the show.

Speaking to the Daily Star before he headed off to camp, the radio presenter said: “My mum has dementia. She doesn’t know who I am anymore. She is 84 now, bless her.

“But I don’t worry about dementia. It’s not smallpox. There’s no history of it in my family. My mum’s just very old.”

“She’s extremely happy. That’s the thing – she’s not one of those anxious people. I go and sing songs to her. It’s how it is.

“There are various types of dementia and it doesn’t happen overnight. Me and my sister go and see her and sing songs. I come from a very strong family.”

The 59-year-old Londoner lost his dad Fred eight years ago, and credits him with giving him the strength to appear on the show.

“What you see in me is my old man. No fear. He lived. We only get to actively play in this fairground for 65 summers.

“We have 65 summers to romp around. Do stuff. Throw things. Thunder around. In 15 years, I’m 75, I’m not some kid.”

Despite entering the jungle late, motormouth Danny’s already a favourite to win the show – despite urging viewers to get rid of him as soon as possible.

“For me, if you win it, you get one more day in a hotel and then you’re on a plane again. I haven’t had a holiday this year, so I’d quite like a few days in the hotel” he said.

Danny’s also tipped Gogglebox favourite Scarlett Moffatt to go all the way and triumph in the show.

“Scarlett is in there and she will probably win it,” he told the Star.

“The young women in there are always tougher than anything. Time and time again, the models and the pop stars, they scrape their hair back, take off their make-up and they win this thing.

“And quite right, too. If I win it, all right, OK. But I think someone like that needs to win it and then they can have a career. I’ll have a lot of fun. I’m not going to sabotage it, but I’ll just see what happens.”