Former royal butler Paul Burrell took part in the programme in 2004
Paul Burrell has made the surprising claim that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip once “watched” him eat raw kangaroo testicles on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! back in 2004.
The former Royal servant revealed that he was informed the late monarch, who passed away in September 2022 at the age of 96, let out a shriek when she saw him undertake the gruesome Bushtucker Trial on a television in Windsor Castle.
During his appearance on Thursday (November 27) night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity…Unpacked!, Paul shared with hosts Joel Dommett, 40, and Kemi Rodgers, 30: “I was told that at Windsor Castle, where the Queen and Prince Philip used to have dinner, they had a little television in the corner of the room, and they were watching the trial that night, and the Queen let out a little yelp as I chomped into Kangaroos testicles.”
A stunned Joel then queried Paul: “Do you think the Royal Family still watches [the show]?”. To which Paul responded: “I bet they do, yes, I can see William and Kate sitting down watching it with the kids, absolutely – it’s the best show on TV!”
Paul, who served as butler to the late Diana, Princess of Wales until her death in August 1997, finished as runner-up to comedian Joe Pasquale, 64, on the ITV jungle survival show in 2004.
And even after 21 years, Paul maintains contact with his fellow campmates, including Celebrity Love Island 2005 winner, Fran Cosgrave, 47.
Paul revealed: “He came third, and he lives in Ireland. He does a lot of DJing, and his son [Josh] used to come into my flower shop, and in his wallet, he carries a picture of me and his dad in the jungle because he said, ‘It’s my favourite jungle.'”
Paul lost 22lbs while participating in I’m A Celebrity…South Africa – the spin-off to the main ITV1 programme that invites the most memorable campmates from previous series to face even more challenging bushtucker trials – in 2023.
He confessed: “I’ve never been as hungry as that in all my life. I lost 22 pounds. I just thought, don’t complain. I mean, at points, I think we were all dreaming about food. We’d all make it tougher on ourselves by thinking about food all the time. People at home don’t realise how hungry you actually are.”
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