Carl Fogarty wins I’m A Celebrity

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/dec/08/carl-fogarty-wins-im-a-celebrity-itv

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Former world superbike champion Carl “Foggy” Fogarty has been crowned king of the jungle on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

Fogarty, 49, beat former X Factor contestant Jake Quickenden and TV presenter Melanie Sykes to the title in the final of the ITV show. He endured three weeks in the Australian jungle braving grim bushtucker trials to beat 11 other celebrities.

The motorcyclist broke down in tears as he took his place on the throne in front of his fellow camp-mates before wrapping his arms around his wife.

He told presenters Ant and Dec: “I just think it’s all a dream, someone’s playing a trick on me.

“This is the best thing that has ever happened. It’s absolutely mental. I don’t know what, but I must have done something right.”

His final task saw him tackle an unappetising meal including ostrich anus and camel penis.

Quickenden came second after braving burrowing cockroaches and crabs in his final task. The singer and self-proclaimed clown was little known before the show started, having appeared in X Factor just weeks before he entered the jungle.

He joked how “people voted for me more on this than when I was a singer”.

Sykes was the first of the three to be voted off the show after being forced to submerge herself in a tank filled with eels and crabs.

On Saturday, former Tory politician Edwina Currie was voted off the show, saying that despite previously comparing the show to childbirth it was a “privilege and a pleasure”.

After leaving the two men behind in the camp, she said: “I’m a bit gutted that I’m not in the final because you get so close and you think I might do it. It was better than I expected. I had fun, I made great friends. I don’t want to sound corny but it’s exceeded all my expectations.”

She said she mastered “counting to 10” in the camp after admitting it was hard for her to watch other people cooking – a point of contention throughout the competition.

The finalists enjoyed a slap-up meal to mark their last night on the show after all three won the final tasks.

On Saturday night, former Tory politician Edwina Currie was voted off the show, saying that despite previously comparing the show to childbirth it was a “privilege and a pleasure”.

Quickenden had been the favourite going into the final, according to bookmaker Coral, which said he had been “very popular with the betting public ever since he set foot into the jungle”.