Adam Thomas has opened up about the toll that his second stint on I’m A Celebrity has taken on him.
Last year, the Emmerdale actor was one of 12 former campmates to return to I’m A Celebrity for its latest all-star series, which was filmed in South Africa and is currently airing on ITV.
Over the course of the season, it’s fair to say that Adam hasn’t had the easiest time, first being moved to tears a spat with David Haye, and later having a much more explosive row with Jimmy Bullard.
During the latest instalment of his podcast At Home With The Thomas Bros, Thomas became emotional as he claimed that the former heavyweight champion “fucked” with his head during their time on the show.
“It was like being back in school again,” he claimed to his brothers Ryan and Scott Thomas. “It wasn’t physical bullying or anything like that – and I’m not saying it was bullying – but he was just mind fucking me.”
He lamented: “I just never stuck up for myself whilst I was in there, and I was like, ‘shit bro, I wish I stuck up for myself’. That was beating me up more than anything.”
Adam also disclosed that since leaving I’m A Celebrity, he’s been seeing a therapist, as he felt so changed by his experience.
“I’m not the same person,” he continued. “Like, I know for a fact I am not the same person as I was when I went into the jungle to when I came out. It’s changed me – and that’s no over-exaggeration.”
He added: “I’m in therapy now because, like, it’s fucked with me mentally. I just thought, ‘How is this happening? I’m a 37-year-old man’. Like, ‘How am I letting some other person do this to me in here?’.”
Adam later became tearful as he told his siblings: “If I saw that happening to anyone else, I’d stand up for them, man. But I just couldn’t do it for myself. I just became like a little kid again.”
Since his spat with David aired, Adam told his Instagram followers: “He broke me in there, he pushed me to my limits, and I’ve told David this and he’s apologised and that’s that! I’ve moved on now, am not one to hold a grudge.”
I’m A Celebrity hosts Ant and Dec also agreed that David’s conduct had “crossed the line”, while the retired boxer himself has also shared his side of the story following his elimination.
“[There’s] no bad blood from my side,” he was quoted as saying, adding: “When a grown man tells me that a fun TV show – where we’re being paid handsomely every single day – is the hardest thing he’s ever been through, it’s just not a frequency I recognise.”
After Adam’s latest podcast interview was made public, David then responded with some somewhat questionable comments in The Sun.
“If a few comments breaks him, how soft is he? How weak, how brittle-spirited is he?” he said of Adam, claiming: “It’s probably £20,000-£25,000 per day for being in that jungle. So to get up and do some trial or doing whatever, how is that hard?”
