Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage is “probably fitter and stronger” than when he was at school thanks to his time on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
The 59-year-old came third in the ITV series after spending more than 20 nights in the jungle, alongside the show’s winner, reality TV star Sam Thompson, and runner-up, former professional boxer Tony Bellew.
Arriving back from Australia at Heathrow Airport, he told the PA news agency: “(I did) 23 nights in the jungle and by the end of that I was 20 years older than all the other contestants that were left.
“So all I would say is the whole thing was much more physical than I could ever have believed, even ferrying buckets of water up from the pump to the camp, all of that is the biggest detox.
“No tea, no coffee, no booze, lots of exercise, so after 23 nights in there I’ve left it in many ways fitter and stronger than I’ve probably been since I was at school. So there’s a real upside to it.”
Farage added that he was “absolutely thrilled” to make it to the final and had a “super” time, but is now “excited to get back to work”.
“I think the news agenda is going to be busy… and if my popularity has risen 20% amongst Conservative voters in Britain, well, there’s an audience that might want to listen.”
Former Made In Chelsea star Thompson and Bellew went through to the final after receiving 43.4% and 30.1% of the first vote on Sunday while Farage secured 25.8%, which placed him third.
Thompson went on to win the show with 56.6% of the final vote.
The finale saw an average audience of 6.6 million tune in on the night, ITV said, which is a notable drop from 10.1 million viewers who watched former England footballer Jill Scott beat MP Matt Hancock and Hollyoaks actor Owen Warner to become queen of the jungle last year.
Sunday’s show attracted a peak audience of 7.6 million while the 2022 finale had peaked at 11.5 million viewers.