Tony Bellew left I’m A Celebrity viewers yawning with a four-minute tale about meeting his wife on Thursday night.
The former professional boxer, who was celebrating his 41st birthday, told JLS’s Marvin Humes and Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson about how he and Rachael Roberts got together.
Rachael has touched down in Australia to support Tony alongside their four sons: Carter, Carson, Cobey and Corey.
The pair met when they were nine years old – but it took many years of effort from Tony for them to finally get together.
The boxer even got a tattoo of the date Rachael first gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Tony Bellew left I’m A Celebrity viewers yawning with a four-minute tale about meeting his wife on Thursday night
Tony and Rachael met when they were around ten years old (pictured together in 2017)
After Marvin asked about how they met, Tony then embarked on a very long-winded monologue, leaving the JLS star and Sam bleary-eyed by the end.
Tony said: ‘First time I met her I was 10/11 years old. Then they moved and I was still friends with the brother and then I was working in a nightclub as a security and she come up to the thing and said, “Anthony”.
‘At this stage everyone just called me ‘Bomber’ or Tony. I looked at her and she went, “Anthony, it’s me, Rachel.”
‘And I thought, “I do not know anyone that looks like you called Rachel.” She said, “It’s Neil’s sister.” My eyes went, “Wow!”
‘Tried to play it cool, gave it about half an hour, bounded straight into that club and found her, said “Can I get you a drink, how are you, what’s going on?”
‘After about an hour I said, “Have you got a boyfriend?” [She said], “No I haven’t.” [I said], ‘Any chance we could go pictures or something? Go for a drink?’ and she just went, ‘No.’
‘I was persistent. Carried on, carried on… she said ‘Listen, you’re just on my case constantly, give me your number and I’ll phone you…’ Anyway, she phoned me and said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I thought we could just go to the pictures or something.’
‘I got us a taxi, went to the pictures… Got a kiss on the cheek, October 15th 2001 [he shows that date’s tattooed onto him]. And that was it from there. That was the best thing that ever happened to me, 100%.’
Some viewers branded Tony as ‘boring’ but others were left swooning over his tattoo
After a gruelling 21-hour flight, Tony Bellew’s wife Racheal Roberts arrived at Brisbane Airport on Wednesday with their four sons; Carter, Carson, Cobey and Corey
Viewers were quick to brand Tony ‘boring’ after the extensive speech, while another said they ‘didn’t like’ him.
However, others were left swooning over the romantic story – especially Tony’s tattoo.
One said it was the ‘sweetest thing’ they’d ever seen while another said: ‘I need someone to be that romantic about me.’
Childhood sweethearts Tony and Rachel grew up together in nearby Merseyside neighbourhoods and met when they were around 10 years old.
Their romance was sparked years later when 18-year-old Tony met Racheal on a night out and his three-week stint in the Jungle is the longest time he’s been apart from his family.
She rejected him three times as he was reportedly ‘besotted’ by her.
When Tony had finally stopped speaking, Marvin escaped to the Bush Telegraph and said: ‘Persistence, persistence, persistence. Trust me.
‘It was the same for me to get a first date with Rochelle, you know. He’s a bit of a romantic old Tony Bellew.’