Alan Halsall has been supported by his Coronation Street co-star and close friend Andy Whyment following his rift with Dean McCullough on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Alan Halsall’s Coronation Street co-star Andy Whyment has jumped to defend the actor saying Dean McCullough ‘spoke to him like a child’ on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Andy, who stars as Kirk Sutherland on the Cobbles and knows what jungle life Down Under is like after starring on the ITV show in 2019, claimed Dean was ‘disrespectful’ towards his co-star.
Last week, Dean had a heated exchange with Alan over how the actor had handled waking him up to help with a camp task. Alan, who was the camp leader at the time, explained to Dean that he tried to wake him up “as soft” as possible, but the BBC Radio 1 presenter told him, “you need to give me a minute”.
Tensions ran high in the camp, and now Andy, Alan’s close friend has spoken out about the rift during an appearance on Lorraine. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly from the set of Corrie’s Rovers Return on Monday, 25 November, Andy said: “It was the fact that when Alan was on the floor Dean’s basically on top of him, hand on his shoulder, pointing in his face saying ‘no you listen to me.
“The reason that got me is when he was in the Bush Telegraph and said ‘I was asleep with wee Tyrone from Coronation Street standing over me.
“I just thought that was a bit disrespectful – I mean Alan’s a 42-year-old man – the way Dean was speaking to him was like he was speaking to him like a child. I just thought it was a bit disrespectful.
“On the other hand it gave Alan the chance to show what a really great man he is, so I’m really glad everyone saw that.”
Tensions rose in camp when Dean had taken a nap but was later awoken by camp leader Alan as he needed to do his chore of collecting firewood alongside Loose Women star Jane Moore. After a sleepy Dean hardly stirred, soap star Alan asked him: “You don’t fancy it? No?”
Alan then went to help Jane himself as camp rules state she was not allowed to do it by herself. Northern Irish presenter Dean followed afterwards and told Alan to “go back now”.
The actor told him: “I was trying to wake you up as soft as I could,” to which Dean replied: “Listen to me. If you’re going to wake me up, you need to give me a minute, alright? It takes me a couple of minutes for my contact lenses to get back working again, all right? So you don’t need to turn around to me and say: ‘Do you not fancy it?’ OK? And then turn around and walk away.”
Dean then repeatedly asked Alan to “listen” to him, with the later explaining: “I didn’t say it how you think I meant it, but if you took it that way, then I apologise.” The actor confirmed he was not trying to have a dig at the radio DJ, to which Dean said he understood but that he felt he “didn’t get a chance to respond”.
Dean later said in the Bush Telegraph: “I opened my eyes and wee Tyrone from Coronation Street is like: ‘Come on, mate, you need to go down to the bottom of the creek.’
“He didn’t even give me a chance to say yes or no because he went: ‘You don’t fancy it? No?’ and ran. He was being a real camp leader.
“I was like: ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa don’t dig me out like that.’ And I had to say to him: ‘If you’re going to say: ‘Don’t fancy it?’ – give me a chance’.
“Because, of course, I fancy it. I want to help Jane. I went straight down and helped her.” Dean was later seen apologising to Jane before joining her in carrying the wood for the campfire.
In his own Bush Telegraph moment, Alan said: “It was a flippant comment, I’m sorry if you took it in the wrong way. Wasn’t actually meant like that, it was just a bit of a joke.
“If I was asleep and you woke me up, I won’t fancy it either.”
