Angry Ginge opens up to the Mirror in his first chat after the Jungle as he reveals how he was on the verge of quitting twice on the ITV show
King of the Jungle Angry Ginge has told how he nearly quit the show after just TWO hours. The star opened up to the Mirror just hours after being crowned the winner of I’m A Celebrity. In his first chat he revealed how:
He considered walking almost immediately over the food, and later “debated” quitting a second time after his tears in the Bush Telegraph. He also says he kept going to make his mum proud, who told him: “I was already proud of you…you didn’t need to go on the show to do that..” And he’s amazed at his new heartthrob status, saying: “Maybe me in jungle attire is sexy.”
We can also reveal how being on the show has actually cost him more than £100,000 in lost brand deals in the build up to Christmas. A source said: “His fee for doing the show was nothing compared to the money he could have earned on the outside. But he just wanted to make his mum proud.”
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Opening up about nearly quitting the ITV show, he said it happened on Day One. He said: “I was debating on the very first day, and I’d only been in there for a couple of hours. It was late when I’d got in, and I was expecting a steak but it was one steak between four of us, and that was a shock. That was the eye opener. I think, forget the snakes around the head.
“And then it was just getting later and later, and our other camp mates hadn’t joined us yet, and I was just sat there thinking, ‘this is going to be tough. It’s going to be really tough.’ He said that things improved slowly but by the time he got to Day 10, he was struggling again.
He admits: “Jack Osbourne warned me day 10 would always be the hardest and I don’t know what it was, but I just woke up emotional that day. I just said to him: “I just don’t feel that good today.’” Viewers later watched him break down in the Bush Telegraph as he missed home. And he reveals that he later took himself off by himself. I came out the Bush Telegraph, and then I went and sat by the pond by myself there,” he says.
Once again he considered quitting. He said: “I asked myself ‘Do I want to go the extra two weeks. I was debating it, but then I just powered through it.’” He says that the thought of making his mum Michelle proud – as well as his humble beginnings – powered him on during the dark times.
He says: “I will never forget where I came from, and I think because I started literally from the bottom and watched everyone around me from my mates to their parents, my mum, everyone had to graft their way to get wherever it was.” His mum Michelle brought up Ginge, whose real name is Morgan, up with his sister Tasha on a council estate in Eccles, Salford.
Money was tight and she had to work several jobs to keep them afloat. Even so, when Ginge was 18, Michelle was forced to sell the family home and move somewhere cheaper. He moved in with his Nana round the corner to ease the pressure. He says his aim from the outset was to make his mum proud
“She told me I’d done that…but then she also said,’I was already proud of you…you didn’t need to go on the show to do that..” Asked what it means to make his mum happy, he says it meant everything.
He says: “I want her to know how well she did raising us, and how much I do appreciate everything that she did. From literally being a single parent since I was probably one……and working all of the jobs that she had. Just to know that anything I can do would make her proud, is just the best feeling.”
He added it brought him great joy being able to say bring her Down Under to watch him triumph. “I remember her saying years ago, one of her main aims was to go with Australia, and I managed to get her a free holiday there, so I’ve done all right,” he says. Now he has his sights on treating her even more now he is King of the Jungle.
He said: “Christmas is obviously around the corner, so I need to get something big. But yes I’ve got a few things up my sleeve, but I don’t reveal in case she finds out.” He also says seeing his mum and sister Tasha in their surprise camp visit also helped give him the motivation to continue. “It made me so happy. I had their photo, and letter, but to actually see them was that extra bit of fuel I needed to get through the next few days,” he says.
Ginge also reflected on his friendship with Aitch – and joked about their rivalry. “He often refers to himself as the king of Manchester, but I think he’s been overthrown,” he laughs. But he said having his friend in the jungle was a huge help mentally. Every night, knowing I’m sleeping next to my mate from Manchester, who I’ve known for ages and it hurts me to say, am a fan of his music. It’s like a comfort blanket, just to know I’ve got him there.”
