I’m A Celebrity’s Ginge praises his mother who ‘keeps him going’ through jungle

By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter

I’m A Celebrity’s Ginge has praised his mother, who worked multiple jobs while he was growing up, and said he thinks about her when he needs motivation to get through the jungle.

The social media star, also known as Morgan Burtwistle and Angryginge, opened up about his working-class background and the hard work he has had to put in to build a following of more than two million on TikTok and nearly one million subscribers on YouTube.

During Thursday night’s episode, Ginge and sports broadcaster Alex Scott bonded over their experiences of coming from similar council estate backgrounds.

Ginge told the camp: “The biggest thing with streaming, especially when you start off, is the mental game, especially when your numbers are low, it’s so demotivating.

“I always had a plan B which is why I was always at college, but it’s a tough one but I knew I was good at it, and I don’t wanna sound cocky or anything but I knew I had the element of entertainment.

Alex, who is dating singer Jess Glynne, added: “That’s like my Jess, literally everyone was like no you need to have a back-up, and she was like I know I want to be a singer, I’m going to be a singer and then bam, she exploded.”

Ginge replied: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

The former footballer said: “I was not the one that was supposed to make it, no-one ever said that I’d be going on to play for England but I knew if I outworked everyone, if I was the fittest, if I was the strongest, then I’m the player that the coach has to pick all the time so I became that hard working in every single thing.”

Ginge agreed: “It’s just how hard you want it.

“We’ve got no problems getting our hands stuck in, because that’s what we’ve had to do from being little to where we are now.”

He added that when he struggles mentally with being in the jungle, he thinks back to his mother who took on multiple jobs while he was growing up.

He said: “If she can do it then I can do this in the jungle, so that’s what keeps me going really.”

The episode also saw Ginge and rapper Aitch voted by the public to face each other again in the day’s Bushtucker Trial named The Pits.

The pair had to escape their pit by finding the keys to unlock their escape hatch, before crawling through the tunnel and ring the bell outside.

Because it was a Rivals trial, the pair also had the opportunity to sabotage their opponent when they heard a specific tune by pressing a red button in one of the hell holes which turned off the lights in their rival’s pit for 15 seconds, thereby slowing them down.

As the klaxon sounded, they both struggled to find the key for the matching padlock. However it was Aitch who managed to get the first sabotage and turn off the lights in Ginge’s pit.

Despite this, Ginge managed to unlock two padlocks first – however, Aitch beat him repeatedly at responding to the tune and was able to sabotage him four times.

The neck-and-neck race was won by Aitch who managed to climb out first and ring the bell, taking home six meals for his fellow campmates back at Doomsville, while Ginge and the celebrities at Win City were left with rice and beans.

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! returns on Friday at 9pm on ITV1, STV, ITVX & STV Player followed by I’m A Celebrity…Unpacked which airs nightly after the main show on ITV2, STV, ITVX & STV Player.