A close shave, but Razor gets the boot
Former footballer Neil “Razor” Ruddock became the third contestant to be booted out of the I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! camp.
Fellow contestants gasped as Neil, 35, was told he had received the fewest votes from the public after 10 days in the Australian jungle for the ITV show.
The former Liverpool, Spurs and England defender had been joint second favourite with Alex to be voted off during last night’s show, after odds-on favourite Jennie Bond at 1-2, according to bookmakers William Hill.
However when the show began last week he was one of the favourites to win, with bookies believing he was in the same mould as last year’s winner, Phil Tufnell.
Neil, formerly known for his soccer hardman image, told presenters Ant and Dec that the worst part of his experience in the jungle was the hunger.
“I could not eat the food ... I thought I was going to die,” he said after his eviction.
“I’m sad to say goodbye to my mates because you get so close to them, but I’m glad to be here.”
As he complained about the daily meals of beans and rice, he added: “I’m so big anyway and I was just eating a mouthful of food a day, so I’m happy to be here.”
He said he was not surprised by his eviction and could not wait to see his wife.
“I’ve not been myself ... I’m normally bubbly and the funny man ... you just can’t be yourself in there because you’re so drained and tired,” he said.
Asked what he thought about the apparent blossoming romance between fellow contestants Jordan and Peter Andre, Neil said: “Jordan is a lovely girl and I think she’s just stringing him along.”
He said he also noticed how Peter would turn to Alex Best when Jordan – real name Katie Price – gave him the elbow.
Neil did not have a bad word to say about any of his fellow contestants, describing shamed aristocrat Lord Brocket as “the funniest man I’ve ever met in my life” and former Atomic Kitten Kerry McFadden as “like a little sister”.
On former Sex Pistol John Lydon, Neil said: “When you get past them scary eyes, he’s quite a nice person.”
Asked who he thought would win the contest, Neil said he hoped it would either be Kerry or Lord Brocket.
At the end of the programme, Neil nominated Lord Brocket for the next Bushtucker Trial, dubbed “Torture Tank”, to be screened tonight.
In a joking reference to the aristocrat’s previous conviction for an insurance scam, he added: “I want to put Lord Brocket in there. It’s just like being in one of his cells in that thing.”
The remaining seven in the third series of the show are John Lydon, 47, Kerry McFadden, 23, Jennie, 53, Alex Best, 32, Peter Andre, 30, Lord Brocket, 52, and Jordan, 25.
