Richard Madeley admits he binged on hospital food after leaving 'I'm A Celeb'

Richard Madeley has admitted he was so ravenous after five days in I'm A Celebrity that he binged on hospital food after quitting camp.

The Good Morning Britain star has had to leave the ITV contest after being sent to hospital for a health check after falling ill, meaning he had broken the camp's COVID bubble and was not allowed back in.

Read more: Chloe Madeley says dad Richard was 'livid' to leave I'm A Celeb

But in his exit interview, Madeley admitted to Ant and Dec that he had grabbed his opportunity for a solid meal, even if it was hospital food.

He said: "I did hang on after I was discharged for about 20 minutes because I went to the canteen, seriously, and had a bacon butty. That was my first port of call for a bacon butty. And a huge cup of tea, it was amazing.

“I ate hospital food, exactly. I’m absolutely fine. As I say, if it wasn’t for COVID, I’d still be in the game. I’m gutted. I’m gutted, I really am.”

He added: "If it wasn’t for COVID I’d be back there sort of eating rice and beans."

Madeley, 65, said he had felt fine but that producers insisted on him getting a full medical check up after he was ill in camp.

Asked about the hardest parts of the show, he said it was sleeping in freezing conditions in The Clink, which his team were sent to for the first few days of the series after losing the first challenges.

Read more: I'm A Celeb - 10 stars who left camp early

He explained: "Really cheap, frankly, sleeping bags. And covered in straw, on the floor, very thin, it was freezing in there. We were always cold. We had to get all of our clothes out of our bag and put them over us to keep us warm at night.”

Madeley was speaking in a pre-recorded interview as for the first time in the show's history, it was unable to air a live episode because of the threat of Storm Arwen getting worse in Wales at the time the show was due to air.

Hosts Ant and Dec explained the situation as Ant said: "Because of Storm Arwen, for the first time ever we're not coming to you live."

Joking about the Saturday night highlights show that was unpopular with viewers in the 2020 series, Dec added: "This show was recorded earlier this evening because weather conditions are forecast to get worse.

"But don't worry, it's not like those hugely popular highlights shows we did on Saturdays last year, it's business as usual, this is the story of yesterday in the castle."

The episode also included scenes of campmates being shown a video of Madeley explaining to them that he had left I'm A Celebrity.

Explaining that he was "completely fine", he added: "But it’s our old friend COVID, I had to come out into the COVID world and I can’t risk bringing the bug back in with me and ruining the experience for you guys, the programme and the viewers.

"So that’s it, my adventure is over."

He also promised: "I’m going to set up that WhatsApp group we spoke about for when you come out."

Watch: Who is I'm A Celeb's Richard Madeley?