Grace Dent has stepped down from I’m A Celebrity…Get me Out Of Here! on medical reasons.
The 50-year-old culinary critic had alarmed spectators with her recent presence in the jungle, and it has now been verified that she has departed the camp.
A show spokesperson said: ‘Unfortunately Grace Dent has left the show on medical grounds. She has been a great campmate and will be missed by her fellow celebrities and viewers alike.’
During the programme on Sunday night, she seemed pale and stated on camera, ‘I just want to go home.’
Despite being chosen for the Down The Tubes experiment, she didn’t provide much of a reaction and was silent while presenters Ant and Dec were in camp.
Danielle Harold will replace her in the challenge, according to a source who told the show she was ‘pushed to the brink by gruelling trials’ on Monday’s broadcast of Good Morning Britain.
On Friday’s episode of I’m A Celeb, Grace was picked to take part in the Touchdown of Terror, but insisted: ‘I’ve had enough. I’ve completely had enough. I just want to go home.’
Josie Gibson of This Morning attempted to encourage Grace and suggested it would be ‘excellent’ for her, but Grace subsequently told the Bush Telegraph: ‘I don’t have a lot left in me at the moment. I’m simply putting up a brave face for everyone.’
Fans have been concerned about the critic in recent days, with several viewers remarking about her weekend look.
‘Someone should check Grace’s pulse. That girl does not look well. #ImACeleb,’ one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter), while another added: ‘Are we sure her jaws have not been wired shut? Never seen her so quiet.’
And someone else asked: ‘Is grace ok?? Think she needs checking on she looks so deflated #ImACeleb (sic)’
The singer confessed before going into the jungle that she was concerned the jungle food would be a “shock to [her] system.”
She said: ‘Everything is filling me with a real sense of dread, but I am especially dreading being really hungry because I tend to eat four or five posh meals out a week because I am a restaurant critic.’
Before heading to Australia, Grace had revealed she signed up to the reality show after ‘a really difficult time over the last four or five years’.
‘My dad had dementia, I cared for him and I lost him. Mum had cancer and I lost her. I think that this has made me very strong and resilient,’ she explained.
‘This is going to be a big challenge and now I am older, life is for living and it’s one of the reasons why I said yes.’
I’m A Celebrity continues tonight at 9pm on ITV.
