Sam Thompson would rather face the jungle again than Gladiators
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner Sam Thompson would rather "eat a bucketload of kangaroo balls" than do Celebrity Gladiators again.
Sam Thompson would rather "eat a bucketload of kangaroo balls" than do Celebrity Gladiators again.
The Made in Chelsea star - who won I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2023 - is one of the famous faces taking on the Gladiators in this year's Christmas special, and he admitted that if given the choice, he'd opt to return to the jungle before going head-to-head with Giant, aka Jamie Christian-Johal again.
He told The Sun newspaper: “I would rather eat a bucketload of kangaroo balls than take him on every day of the week!
“Giant hitting you over the head with one of the sticks is diabolical. I feel like I was a bit stitched-up. He’s a giant. The clue’s in the name.
“When he came out, I literally went, ‘Oh, no!’ He was just laughing at me while I was hitting him.
“All hope left my soul.”
But Sam didn't feel like a "loser" because he came away from the show with a new friend in fellow contestant Joe Wicks.
Joking about best pal Pete Wicks, he said of Joe: “We’re brothers in arms. There’s no losers because he just takes me with him. It’s great.
“Now I have another Wicks in my life – I’ve got too many Wickses in my life now. Pete’s never jealous though, he knows that I love him.”
Joe added: "We made a little video for Pete and I joked that there’s a new Wicks in town.
“Every now and then when I’m out, people mistake me for Pete Wicks. They say, ‘It’s so lovely to see you, Pete!’
“I’m like, ‘No, you’ve got the wrong Wicks’. Apparently he gets the same about me.”
Meanwhile, after a hectic few years since being crowned King of the Jungle, Sam is planning some time out next year.
He said: “I’m maybe slowing down a little bit.
"So I think maybe a bit of rest for me in 2026, consolidate, and actually just enjoy life a little bit.”
Also taking part in Celebrity Gladiators - which airs on Christmas Day (25.12.25) - are model Vogue Williams and boxer Nicola Adams.
