Joey Essex emerged victorious once again from the latest I’m a Celebrity bushtucker challenge – despite claiming that didn’t understand what the name of the trial meant!
“I don’t even know what submerged means,” he complained. “I don’t really have baths. I have showers,” he told campmates before he went to the the Bush Tucker Trial clearing to take part in “Submerged”.
Once there the former TOWIE star saw a massive submarine hanging above a pool and hosts Ant and Dec explained what the Trial would entail.
Hidden inside HMS Jungle, were 10 stars, each representing a meal for camp. Joey was shut inside the sinking submarine and would have 10 minutes to find the ten hidden stars. When the klaxon sounded, the Trial began and the submarine started to sink.
This being a Bush Tucker Trial, meant that Joey wasn’t alone in the submarine. “It’s not crocodiles is it?” he asked.
He climbed into the submarine and started to look for the stars as it slowly began to sink. He undid a stopcock at the far end and as more water flooded in, he put his hand into the tube to retrieve a star which was surrounded by eels.
The water was already waist deep as he frantically tried to find more stars. Soon he had to dive down into the cold water which he now shared with baby crocs. “Oh my God, he’s looking at me” cried Joey as he kept searching underwater, momentarily coming to the surface to catch his breath.
Joined by water spiders, mud crabs and lobsters, he worked methodically through the craft finding another star in a helmet. His 10 minutes soon elapsed and he clambered out of the submarine, exhausted.
“I don’t know how much I got but I’m pleased with myself” he told Ant and Dec. “I thought I just kept thinking the crocodiles were breathing where I want to breathe. I thought I did alright.” He counted the stars out of his bag and to his delight, he found that he’d retrieved seven, meaning seven meals for camp.
After returning to the camp Snooker ace Steve Davis said: “I think he actually enjoys being in the position to give us our daily bread.”
Lucy Pargeter was also impressed. “Joey definitely made a great impression on it. It’s nice to have him as a camp mate instead of thinking, ‘Joey’s doing the challenge against someone’,” she said.