Grace Dent told fellow contestants her “heart is broken” as she left I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! on medical grounds.
The Guardian restaurant critic was pictured at Brisbane airport shortly after ITV announced she was to leave the reality TV show early. In a statement, Dent said: “My dear camp mates, I’m so sorry to let you down. I have left the camp for medical reasons. My heart is broken, I have loved and enjoyed getting to know you all.
“You’ve held me up and it’s been a pleasure being your friend through this experience. Leaving you all at this stage will be one of the saddest things in my life. I love you all. Your friend, Miss Grace Dent.”
The camp mates shared messages of support. A tearful Danielle Harold shouted: “Love you Grace,” with the EastEnders actor praising her for doing “really well”. The JLS star Marvin Humes said he would miss Dent, adding: “She hasn’t let us down.”
A statement from a show spokesperson previously said: “She has been a great camp mate and will be missed by her fellow celebrities and viewers alike.”
At the start on Monday night’s episode, Ant McPartlin, one of the show’s hosts, said: “Sadly Grace Dent has left the camp for medical reasons but she’s doing fine and we all send her our best.”
Dent had told fellow contestants she was struggling with her time in the jungle. “I’ve had enough,” she told the Big Brother winner Josie Gibson last week. “I’ve completely had enough. I just want to go home.”
She added later in a video diary: “I haven’t got a lot left in me at the moment. I’m just keeping on a face for everybody.”
During the recent “touchdown of terror” trial, the YouTuber Nella Rose and the reality TV star Sam Thompson, representing the home camp, faced Dent and the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, representing the away team.
In an attempt to win food for their respective camps, Rose and Dent had to retrieve footballs from a box filled with bugs and throw them to their teammate while wearing an American football helmet filled with jungle critters.
As more animals were added to Rose’s helmet, she pulled her emergency cord to end her time in the trial, giving the away team a default win.
Dent was seen by a medic after the trial when a cockroach crawled into her ear, with the star saying: “There’s one in my ear! There’s one in my ear! That’s not nice, I can hear it.” The bug was flushed from her ear.
During Sunday night’s episode it was announced that Gibson and Dent would face the next trial. EastEnders’ Danielle Harold will now take part in the trial alongside Gibson, the PA news agency reported.
Before entering the jungle this year, Dent had said: “Everything is filling me with a real sense of dread. But I am especially dreading being really hungry because I tend to eat four or five posh meals out a week because I am a restaurant critic.”
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
