Rapper Aitch has made a startling confession about his time on the latest series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, revealing he came perilously close to quitting the ITV reality show altogether.
The Breaking Point: "I Was Dying to Do a Runner"
Speaking after his eviction from the jungle, the musician, whose real name is Harrison Armstrong, admitted there were moments he was "dying to do a runner." The relentless, round-the-clock nature of the production proved a significant psychological hurdle for the star.
"There was a certain day where I thought to myself, 'I need to go in this Bush Telegraph now and say, 'Please, someone come and save me. I need to go,''" Aitch disclosed. He pinpointed the intense lack of personal space as a core issue, describing a frustrating cycle where seeking solitude was undermined by the ever-present cameras.
"It’s weird because you want to go off and have your little moment to yourself," he explained. "But then when you go and do that, you clock that there's cameras around, and then you start tripping, thinking, ‘Oh, I don't want to look like I'm having this alone moment for the camera.’ So then you're turning around, going back to the camp, but you're not ready to be surrounded by 12 people yet. So it gets a lot."
The Mental Challenge of the "Middle" Phase
Aitch identified the middle section of the series as his lowest point, a common psychological trap for contestants. "The middle for me was the lowest part," he said, "because you're stuck in a position where it's like, ‘You've come too far to give up now, but there's still ages to go.’"
He contrasted this with the mindset at the start and end of the process. "At the start you can't give up because you're thinking, ‘I've only been here for five days. Sort your head out.’ And then at the end, you're thinking, ‘Oh well, there's only five days to go, so suck it up and go for it.’ But in that middle point, you're like, 'Whoa, I've been here for ages, and I've still got to be here for ages.'"
Mornings presented a particular challenge, as he often woke after his campmates. "Some people have already been up for three hours, and the chat is at an all-time high," he said. "And I'm thinking, ‘Do you think I'm ready to speak to these people yet?’" Conversely, he found his mood lifted at night. "When it got dark, for me I was at my best... The lights were on in camp. The lighting was nice. The mood was nice. You know, food's coming, and you also know it's a short time to bedtime."
The Manchester Pact with Campmate Ginge
In a lighter revelation, Aitch also shared that he knew fellow contestant Ginge was entering the jungle beforehand through a mutual friend. The two Mancunians even spoke on the phone to psych themselves up.
"We spoke a couple days beforehand saying ‘Are you ready for this? Yeah, let's go. Let's go,'" he said. More importantly, they made a pact about the winner's title. "I said: ‘Right, if you don't win, I need to win, and if I don't win, you need to win. Either way, we need to take this crown back to Manchester somehow.’"
Aitch's candid admission sheds light on the intense, often unseen pressures of reality television, where the 24/7 filming schedule and complete lack of privacy can push even the most resilient celebrities to their limit. His experience underscores the mental fortitude required to see the jungle journey through to the end.
