ITVs Anti-Jimmy Stance: Behind the Scenes Drama

For the nearly three million I’m A Celebrity fans who tuned into the live All Stars finale on Friday night, it was certainly an entertaining – if explosive – watch.

Plunging the evening into more chaos than a snake-infested bushtucker trial, former footballer Jimmy Bullard used the opportunity of live television to call out the show’s winner, Waterloo Road actor , for his ‘intimidating behaviour’ on set and his repeated use of the ‘c-word’ – scenes which, he raged, had been cut from ’s edit of the pre-recorded series.

Things only escalated when , hosting the hotly-anticipated final alongside sidekick , attempted to defuse the situation and – to Bullard’s fury - defend champion Thomas.

Worst of all for ITV, into the fracas waded boxer , also a contestant on the show, who accused producers of deliberately manipulating their edit of certain scenes to make Thomas look like a ‘victim’ so the public would support him and ultimately vote him King of the Jungle.

It was all rather unseemly, leaving a taste more bitter than any kangaroo’s testicle.

But that, I’m now told, wasn’t even the half of it.

Behind the scenes, sources in the audience at the Versa Studios in Acton, West London, say Ant summed up the evening as ‘a s***show’ – and say the most scurrilous of the action took place during the ad breaks.

While television audiences saw Ant going head-to-head with a furious Bullard, it was Dec who had what is described to me as ‘a full-on argument’ with the footballer when the cameras weren’t rolling.

‘They were arguing, and that’s when the security guards came in,’ says my snitch. ‘Dec was rowing and Ant stormed off to have a vape, saying what a mess it had all turned into. Those in the audience couldn’t believe it.’

And the arguments weren’t restricted to Bullard and Dec. David Haye was seen tapping Adam on the shoulder, trying to provoke a row, while the audience chanted ‘bully’ repeatedly at the boxer.

‘David was tapping at Adam’s shoulders to try and get a rise out of him,’ says the source. ‘Ant and Dec were stunned, the whole thing was chaos like you wouldn’t believe.’

Not to be outdone by the men, Eighties singer Sinitta and reality star Gemma Collins, who were both appearing in the jungle, also had an argument and fled the stage.

Meanwhile, pregnant former Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffat went to comfort Ant and began crying.

My source says: ‘You couldn’t have made this up. It’s amazing that they managed to calm things down enough for the show to go ahead.

‘Scarlett who, bless her, is pregnant, kept crying. Ant and Dec didn’t seem to be believing what they were seeing. It was a mess.’

Meanwhile, despite winning the show, Adam left with his wife Caroline and older brother Ryan when the cameras stopped rolling – and did not appear on the spin-off show.

That the finale has proved so controversial will not have come as a surprise to fans of the show or, indeed, its producers.

Only on Thursday, Dec had joked during ITV’s showcase event at the British Design Museum on Thursday that he planned to bring a ‘red card, a yellow card, and a whistle’ to the final.

Their time in the camp was recorded in September and October last year, and it has emerged since that Bullard and Thomas had had a furious row during filming and that it was unclear whether they would even agree to appear together.

In scenes that were broadcast last Tuesday night, the pair clashed after Bullard failed to complete a bushtucker trial, prompting Adam to launch into a rage. But the fact that ITV failed to broadcast much of it had clearly irked Bullard yet further.

On Friday night’s show, Bullard told his fellow jungle celebs: ‘Adam and all of you can be upset with me. And I absolutely threw him under the bus, I get it, I’ll wear that, but what I don’t stand for is someone being abusive, aggressive and intimidating.

‘You didn’t show none of the C-bombs, that’s a liberty!’

Ant explained that the foul language had been ‘un-broadcastable’, and went on to say that he did not believe Adam had acted in an intimidating way.

Sources close to Bullard say he is ‘furious’ that ITV have appeared to come down on Adam’s side.

Footage after the live broadcast appeared to show him attempting to take Ant to task again once filming had ended, prompting security to intervene.

But viewers, too, have been left bemused by Ant’s determination to stand up for Adam, despite what was clearly a foul-mouthed incident.

And for that, there may well be a rather thorny explanation that lays bare the connections between agents and the powerful people who head television networks.

In Adam’s case, his agent is Madison Lygo – the daughter of ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo, who oversees all content commissioning across genres at the broadcaster.