What Actually Happened During The I’m A Celebrity Live Final

Things went a little off the rails, to say the least, during the I’m A Celebrity: South Africa live finale.

While the series itself was pre-recorded last year, the last episode aired live on ITV1 on Friday night, during which Ant and Dec announced who the public had chosen as their latest I’m A Celebrity “Legend”.

Almost the entire cast were reunited for the live special (aside from Beverley Callard, who was unable to attend on medical grounds), during which old arguments between certain campmates resurfaced.

Early on in the show, David Haye interrupted a segment involving Adam Thomas to question whether the Emmerdale star thought he “deserved to win this” after “calling Jimmy the c-word a couple of times” during their heated row towards the end of the season.

Ant and Dec then assured David that they would “come to this” a little bit later – and that’s when things became even more chaotic.

Later, Jimmy Bullard brought up the row again, criticising ITV for editing out the C-bombs dropped by Adam during their argument.

Ant McPartlin pointed out that Adam’s language had been “unbroadcastable”, which Jimmy agreed, but referred to the soap star’s conduct as “abusive, aggressive and intimidating”.

“I was there, I didn’t think it was intimidating,” Ant responded, before inviting Adam to share his side of the story.

The Waterloo Road actor then insisted he takes “full responsibility” for his conduct during his row, and had “nothing but love for Jimmy”, at which point David interjected, retorting: “Funny way of showing it…”

Declan Donnelly then pointed out David wasn’t “even there” for the row, having already been eliminated, with the former heavyweight champion going on to accuse the show of “a lot of editing to make this poor guy look like a victim”, referring to Adam.

Following this, Gemma Collins and Sinitta disagreed about who was in the right, with the So Macho singer going on to walk off set completely.

“You weren’t there, I was there, it was aggressive and abusive,” she insisted, as Gemma left the sofa to join her off stage.

At the end of the turbulent episode, Adam was voted as the public’s winner, over runner-up Mo Farah, and had something of a muted reaction to the news.

David Haye and Jimmy Bullard later claimed they’d been ejected from the I’m A Celebrity studio

The Sun has since published a report claiming that Jimmy and David were “kicked out” of the studio between the live final and the recording of the companion podcast I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked.

In footage shared by the tabloid, David was heard saying: “We’ve been kicked out the show. What’s that about? Genuinely?”

Jimmy then agreed: “We got kicked out.”

“For trying to tell the truth,” David added.

A show source said: “Some campmates were uncomfortable being on stage with David and Jimmy, so we sent them home during Unpacked.”

HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for comment.

Writing on Instagram over the weekend, Adam claimed: “I walked through this journey with my heart first, no matter what came my way. It was not always easy, there were moments that could have broken me, but I stayed true to myself and that is something I will always be proud of.

“I have realised that when people try to dim your light, it says more about them than it ever will about you. This experience has shown me my strength in ways I never imagined. Not because of any title or recognition, but because I stayed kind, I stayed grounded and I stayed real.”

“Those who doubted me or tried to bring me down, I carry no negativity towards you,” he added. “I have already won in the ways that matter most.

“I have love, I have happiness and I have stayed true to myself, and that is something no one can ever take away from me. I hope one day you can do the same.”