If you’re wondering why Gillian McKeith showed up on I’m A Celebrity… South Africa with her hair plaited into very tight braids, there’s a very unpleasant reason behind the decision.
During Sunday night’s premiere episode, the first nine members of the cast arrived to camp after completing a series of harrowing activities that included Helen Flanagan, Jordan Banjo, Carol Vorderman, and Shaun Ryder.
Just as the returning participants thought their first-day shocks were ended, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly arrived to offer further news: a package was on its way.
Members of the team carried in a package carrying none other than TV celebrity Gillian, who is best known for her appearance on I’m A Celebrity… I need to get out of here! for collapsing at a Bushtucker Trial in 2010.
Shaun seems worried by the possibility of being reunited with Gillian, as they didn’t get along when they previously appeared on the ITV show together.
Gillian’s braided hairdo garnered surprising comments from admirers, with one tweeting: ‘Obsessed with Gillian McKeith copying Katie Price‘s #imaceleb hair style from 2004.’
‘Oh dear! Whoever thought that putting Gillian McKeith‘s hair into braids was a good look should step back into the 70s,’ someone else quipped, while another wrote: ‘Gillian’s hair is very much a choice.’
However, it turns out that the plaits were not picked purely for their aesthetic value.
The 63-year-old revealed that she was bitten by a tick that ‘burrowed’ under her hair the previous time she appeared on the show.
‘I have quite thick hair and it burrowed under my hair at the neck, so I thought I’m not doing that again,’ she told MailOnline.
‘The tick bite was very painful. It stuck its pincer into my neck under the hair. It was like being sliced with a razor sharp knife.’
Praising I’m A Celebrity’s resident medic Bob McCarron as her ‘saviour’, she continued: ‘I didn’t want to risk being attacked by a tick again, so I thought I’m going to put my hair in plaits.’
Gillian’s iconic fainting spell has been a discussion topic over the past 13 years when discussing the show’s most memorable events.
Speaking in 2021, she insisted that she ‘doesn’t care’ if people thought that it was fake.
Outlining her ‘history of fainting since childhood’, Gillian said: ‘I wish I could understand why, but it’s either if I’m really excited or in the case of the jungle, I was literally weak from no food, I hadn’t eaten.’
I’m A Celebrity… South Africa returns tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
