I’m a Celebrity host Ant McPartlin addresses ‘unprofessional’ treatment of Dean McCullough

ITV presenter explained reason for his frustration in aftershow admission

I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! co-host Ant McPartlin has shared an admission about his treatment of contestant Dean McCullough.

In Thursday’s episode (21 November), as new arrivals Maura Higgins and Reverend Richard Coles left viewers in hysterics with their “double act”, presenter McPartlin couldn’t hide his frustration with McCullough, who has been voted to do the ITV show’s grisly Bushtucker Trials four nights in a row.

After feeling “disappointed” with the Radio 1 DJ for his performance in the first two trials, McPartlin, in an uncharacteristic move, told the campmate he was “not trying properly” and told him to “try harder” when he quit the latest trial.

This occurred after McPartlin gave him a stern talking to ahead of time, stating: “Now Dean, I want to have a word with you. What happened yesterday? No stars. What happened the day before? You said ‘I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.’ You can only change the narrative by sticking with it and getting on with it.’

Mccullough said he felt like he was “being told off by Ant and Dec”, with McPartlin’s co-host Donnelly declaring himself “good cop”. Unfortunately, the chat didn’t work, with McCullough quitting the trial after being covered in fish guts.

The host angrily told viewers wher McCullough was out of earshot: “What the bloody hell? He only gets four stars and [his campmates] pamper him. It’s not good, is it? He literally got four out of 10.”

Fans were left divided after detecting McPartlin was particularly “mad” with McCullough.

The presenter addressed his reaction on ITV2 aftershow I’m a Celebrity: Unpacked, when host Joel Dommet said: “Let’s talk briefly about today’s trial.”

McPartlin admitted he let his frustrations get the better of him, stating: “My annoyance came across on screen and I was quite unprofessional. You get to the point where you’re like, What are you doing?’”

He said he “got quite annoyed at one point” as he thought: “If you can’t do it, you can’t do it, but just get on with it – just try it.”

Dean McCullough’s performance in the Bushtucker Trials has frustrated Ant McPartlin (ITV)

‘If it is physically impossible or you find it physically hard, that’s fine – but at least try,” McPartlin continued, adding: “There was a lot of not trying for quite a few minutes until they started to try and then they ran out of time.”

New episodes of I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! air on ITV1 and ITVX every night at 9pm.