Paul Burrell has undergone rigorous training in order to be ready to return to the jungle for I’m A Celebrity… South Africa.
He is so eager to display his naked figure that he can’t help but stand next to boxer Amir Khan.
The 64-year-old former royal butler will compete in the bushtucker trials once again alongside celebrities including Carol Vorderman, Phil Tufnell, and Shaun Ryder for a special 2022 South African version of I’m A Celebrity.
In 2004, he successfully traversed the Australian jungle, but this time, he is much more prepared.
Before the season aired, Paul said: “I thought to myself, “This is going to be tougher this time.”
‘I am an older man, I’m 64. I was the second oldest in the jungle, Janice [Dickinson] was just a tiny bit older than me.
‘I thought, I’m not going to be able to have the energy that I had last time, so I went to the gym.’
He continued: ‘I did train for this because I knew what was ahead of me.
‘So I got my personal trainer to put me through the ordeal of survival in the gym and he did a great job, which you will see.
‘I’m very proud of being a 64-year-old man and able to take my shirt off in the middle of the jungle clearing next to Amir Khan.
‘Just wait and see!’
Paul added that he’s doing it for ‘gay men’ and ‘married men who don’t know they’re gay yet’.
After divorcing his wife of 32 years in 2016, the father of two came out as gay in 2017. Graham Cooper, a cooper lawyer he first met in 2007, is now his wife.
Paul told us: ‘I did it for 64-year-old men, I did it for gay men, I did it for married men who don’t know they’re gay yet. I did it for all of those people.
‘It was going to be tough. I knew the trials were going to be tougher.’
Paul, who finished his radiation treatment for cancer earlier this month and who really credits I’m A Celebrity with’saving his life’ when the medical exams discovered his disease early on, was filming in South Africa when Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96.
He had the option to go home at the moment, but he chose to stay.
When asked if he watched the broadcast after leaving South Africa, Paul responded, ‘I did. But you know, whilst I was there in South Africa, the ITV team said, “Do you wanna go home Paul? You can go home if you want to?”
‘I said, “Listen, I’m better here. This is my sanctuary right now. If I go back home, it’ll be a circus and I’ll be sucked into that world. So let me stay here with the other celebrities, and I’ll share my grief with them.” Because it was their Queen too!’
When thinking on how he joined the Palace service at the age of 18, he referred to the Queen as his “surrogate mother.”
‘I went to Buckingham Palace when I was 18 years old, she became my surrogate mother. I know that’s difficult for people to understand, but living with someone in close proximity for 11 years, you do begin to love them,’ he said.
‘And I loved the Queen. She was a wonderful, wonderful lady. For me, she influenced my life, she shaped me – along with Diana later. They made me the man I am today. I have great respect and admiration for our late Queen.’
I’m A Celebrity… South Africa starts Monday at 9pm and all week on ITV1 and ITVX.
