POP legend Limahl has shared his theory that I’m A Celeb bosses had a hand in his exit when he appeared in the jungle, viewing him as a “pain in the a**e”.
The NeverEnding Story singer, 67, was a late arrival in the jungle, along with chef Rosemary Shrager, back in 2012.
He had been due to start in the main line-up but was swapped with darts legend Eric Bristow at short notice after the late star became reluctant to delay his entrance into camp.
Making it into the jungle at all was an unexpected achievement for Limahl, real name Christopher Hamill, after he had a heart scare that prompted a medical check on Harley Street ahead of the show.
He got the all-clear, which left him “absolutely gobsmacked”, and went on to catch a long-haul flight to Australia.
Just hours before he was due to make his way into camp, he nearly quit altogether after suffering a scary panic attack.
He explained: “The morning we were going in we were asked to wait on the hill and we were going to get taken down into the camp. It was quite early and we hadn’t slept and I could feel the heat starting, heat makes your heart beat fast, heart beating fast makes me anxious at this point because of what’s just happened and I start panicking.
“I’m basically having a panic attack before I’ve even got in.”
He begged a member of the crew for help and water as his temperature started to soar and he was overcome with exhaustion.
He continued: “This went on for about two hours and I start losing it and actually started threatening to quit the show before I’ve even started.”
Fortunately, a producer reassured him and took him to a nearby canopy where Limahl stripped to his underwear and soaked himself with water, which quickly calmed him down.
Though he felt somewhat of an outsider after his arrival, he did make fond memories in there and even saw the charm in the strange noises huge spiders made as they scurried over the walls of his jungle shelter.
There were laughs when Rosemary farted and apologised in her posh manner, while the moment he declined a high-five from Helen Flanagan became humorous fodder for hosts Ant and Dec for the rest of the series.
But the joy was short-lived as he was the second person to be voted out after ex-politician Nadine Dorries.
Recalling his thoughts at the time, Limahl said: “They [Ant and Dec] came down for the second vote and they went ‘you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe’ and it got down to like three and I thought ‘okay, now is it going to be me?’ and it was.
“So to this day the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that the producers got rid of me because they thought I was a pain in the a**e. So that’s the negative side of it.
“I think I could have shone a lot more and had a lot more fun but I was voted off second. So it’s a sort of bittersweet pill really.”
When asked if he really felt manipulation could have taken place, he said: “I mean I thought that back in 2012 and now we live in a world where everyone’s a conspiracy theorist. I mean, come on, we have found out stuff.
“Do you remember the scandals about the so-called competitions where people would be thrown in and paying a pound or whatever it was? So I wouldn’t be surprised.”
There is no evidence to support claims of any wrongdoing from the programme.
The Sun contacted I’m A Celebrity for comment.
Limahl didn’t dwell on his exit, his career and status in entertainment already secure long before his participation on the show.
He’s since performed around the world around as well as at fancy corporate gigs, including a charity auction for the Terrence Higgins Trust and a celebration of the renovation of London’s National Portrait Gallery.
Now he’s back doing what he does best, making music and singing, 42 years on from achieving a number one hit in Kajagoogoo with Too Shy.
Tomorrow, Limahl releases an original Christmas song called One Wish For Christmas, which he is “immensely proud of”.
Its creation was a labour of love, and Limahl has expressed a desire to turn its creation into a book at some point.
“I’ve always fancied writing a Christmas song but everybody’s sang about tinsel and snow and sleigh bells etc,” he said.
“But we found an angle. So our couple are going off on this city break, which is something you see now on lots of travel sites, and then why not London, I love London, I’ve lived here for 50 years, I love everything about it really and I still feel the same, so that gave us the angle.
“It wasn’t an easy song to write, sometimes you do hear that songs are written in half an hour, maybe in the old days before the landscape was rammed with other songs but now you’ve just got to dig, dig, dig and dig to find the treasure, the musical treasure, so I will probably work this song every December now until I die.”
Christmas is a time of year Limahl treasures, recalling his humble upbringing in a Wigan council house with his miner father, barmaid mum, and his two brothers and sister.
He said: “Christmas Day, getting those gifts was so exciting, I mean I think we only ever got about three or four hours sleep just waiting for that morning, ‘can I go down and unwrap the present yet?’
“It was usually board games, you know with my brothers who were all one year apart, the three brothers, amazing. It was darts, it was table tennis, it was snooker. I can still play all those games. It was Monopoly for hours, just fantastic.”
However, it is also tinged with sadness as loved ones depart as years go by.
Limahl’s partner of 33 years Steve lost his mum last year and she will be on their minds this Christmas.
He said: “It’s a weird time isn’t it, because everyone’s kind of told to celebrate and have a good time and let your hair down, and you kind of push the sadness away, it’s always there isn’t it, bubbling. It’s tricky.”
But the couple’s outlook on life remains positive, and they do their best to live healthily and remain youthful.
And the musical fire is very much still burning inside of Limahl.
He said: “I’ve been lucky enough to tick so many boxes already in my life, but a creative challenge does give me a good reason to get out of bed in the mornings. There’s always another song, another project, another adventure.
“Having a Christmas classic is deffo high on my list though – Mariah, Cliff and Michael (Buble) watch out.”
Limahl’s new Christmas single, One Wish For Christmas, is out now via Christopher Music. More info and links at https://ffm.to/onewishforchristmas and http://www.limahl.com.
