It is rare to witness truly chaotic reality television in the modern era, where celebrities shout over one another, accusations of editing are hurled, and stars storm off set. However, that is exactly what unfolded during last night's live final of I'm A Celebrity: South Africa.
The live episode, which took place seven months after the main reality competition was filmed, saw Emmerdale's Adam Thomas crowned the ultimate king of the jungle in the all-stars spin-off. Yet his victory was overshadowed by a dramatic confrontation. Jimmy Bullard accused Thomas of being "abusive, aggressive and intimidating" during a row that forced presenters Ant and Dec to intervene. Bullard claimed that the altercation had been edited down for broadcast.
In the days leading up to the final, viewers watched as Thomas furiously confronted Bullard during a trial after the former footballer immediately gave up, resulting in both being eliminated from the show. "You're taking the p***!" Thomas exclaimed. "If you wanted to go, go – don't do it on my f***ing watch!"
While Thomas was later allowed to stay after his fellow campmates voted on the issue, Bullard used the live final on Friday (25 April) to address their row before the winner was crowned. "What I don't stand on is someone being abusive, aggressive and intimidating. Youse were there, you had front row seats. You didn't show none of that," he said.
As Ant and Dec interjected, arguing that I'm A Celebrity showed "quite a lot of it", Bullard claimed that the broadcast did not include any of Thomas's alleged "c-bombs". "The reason you can't show the c-bomb is because that's unbroadcastable," Ant said. "I didn't think it was intimidating. I was there. I was there, Jim," Ant continued, as the crowd applauded.
Given a chance to address his behaviour, Thomas said: "Listen, I take full responsibility for my actions. Yes, emotions were definitely running high in that moment but listen, I've got nothing but love for Jimmy." At that point, David Haye chimed in: "You have a funny way of showing it – you're such a victim." Haye and Thomas had also clashed while in the jungle, with the former heavyweight champion boxer calling Thomas "useless" and appearing to continually pick on him. Thomas revealed earlier in the week that while Haye had apologised, his actions "broke" him on the show.
After Haye's comments during the live final, Ant and Dec repeatedly tried to stop him from speaking. Dec said: "David, you'd gone – you weren't even there." Haye made it to the 11th day in camp before being eliminated with Gemma Collins. The presenting duo then asked Haye what he made of the reaction to some of his comments on the show – with the boxer sparking outrage earlier in the competition after claiming that "beautiful girls have terrible personalities, whereas uglier girls have much better personalities".
However, Haye took the opportunity to accuse ITV of editing his time in camp. "I like to say how I see it, when I'm in a situation, I keep it real. What I've seen is a lot of editing to make this poor guy look like a victim so the people support him," he said, referring to Thomas. "When we all have banter, we all have back-and-forth, a lot of it was cut out from their side but I think it's time for the truth."
As Dec said he "wasn't there" once again, Bullard then waded in again, with the conversation descending into a full shouting match. "I was there as well and that was a full and fair representation," Ant began to say, before Bullard started asking each individual cast member whether they thought Thomas's behaviour was "abusive and aggressive". While Bullard began shouting for ITV to "show" the full clip, Sinitta walked off set – but not before telling the audience: "I was there. It was aggressive and abusive." Gemma Collins was next to walk away as the arguing continued, before Mo Farah became the voice of reason.
"Listen, we enjoyed it. Let's not spoil that moment. We all have a moment in our life – right or wrong," Farah said, with Bullard firing again: "But you can't be abusive, aggressive and intimidating." Attempting to shut down Bullard again, Ant said: "He said sorry. Right, let's leave it there because if you can't take an apology then I can't take that. Let's leave it at that. I didn't find it was that and I was there, so we'll agree to disagree."
The Independent has reached out to ITV for comment. Viewers quickly took to social media to hail the scenes as some of the wildest ever seen on the show, with one writing on X, formerly Twitter: "That was the craziest 5 minutes of #ImACeleb in 25 years. I absolutely love the drama of live TV but David and Jimmy are EMBARRASSING themselves." Strictly Come Dancing star George Clarke even gave his take, tweeting: "I have watched 0 minutes of this show and this might be some of the best bit of tv I've ever seen."
Thomas addressed his win on Instagram, saying: "I have realised that when people try to dim your light, it says more about them than it ever will about you. This experience has shown me my strength in ways I never imagined. Not because of any title or recognition, but because I stayed kind, I stayed grounded and I stayed real." He went on to thank his family and those who supported him, before saying that he carries "no negativity" towards those who "tried to bring [him] down". Meanwhile, Collins also took to Instagram – but addressed the drama more specifically in her post. "Jimmy Bullard and David Haye should be absolutely DISGUSTED WITH THEMSELVES," she wrote on her Instagram Stories.
