Dean McCullough has proved to be a divisive star of I’m A Celeb, with many fans calling for the DJ to go straight home and miss out on his luxury hotel stay once he leaves
Radio presenter Dean McCullough has rubbed fans up the wrong way after his clash with a campmate, his non-stop screaming during trials and his refusal to stop singing in the mornings – with many insisting his early elimination from the jungle and for him to fly straight home after the jungle axe.
The BBC Radio 1 DJ, 32, was little known before his stint on the ITV hit but has come to dominate the show thanks to being voted to do trials night after night. Fans took to X to vent their frustration with Dean, who has called “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” on two trials. One said: “Then he goes and lives 2 weeks of luxury in the hotel really ! I don’t think so.”
Another chimed in: “Should be sent straight home how he spoke to Alan. Also as their youngest you would expect him to give his bed to one of his elders.” A third commented: “I didn’t like how he spoke to Alan nor how he has to be the centre of attention. Best he went.” After celebrities leave the jungle, they get to stay in a luxury hotel till production wraps on the show but fans don’t even want Dean to stay after he leaves.
Many turned against him after Saturday’s I’m A Celeb when Dean clashed with Coronation Street’s Alan Halsall. The actor woke Dean so he could carry out his wood-collecting duties alongside Jane Moore. However, he was none too pleased to be disturbed, barely budging even when Alan enquired: “You don’t fancy it? No?”
Once Alan had set off, Dean joined them, dismissively telling Alan, who was camp leader: “You can go back now.” The soap star replied: “I was trying to wake you up as soft as I could.” Dean snapped: “Listen to me. If you’re gonna wake me up, you need to give me a minute, alright?
“It takes a couple of minutes for my contact lenses to get back working again, alright, 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.”
Alan explained: “I’ve listened to you, Jane was halfway down here, that’s why I went…” but Dean cut in, “Ok I get that but you need to give me a minute mate.” The squabble didn’t stop there, with Dean venting his frustration in the Bush Telegraph.
He fumed: “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.”
Some reckoned the run-in has confirmed him as the first star to be getting sent home. One wrote: “Dean’s just earned himself the first elimination I think” while another insisted he “definitely needs to be the first one to be voted out of the jungle”.
