Ant and Dec break silence on I’m A Celebrity final and what really happened with Jimmy Bullard in car park

The presenters have spoken out after the I’m A Celebrity South Africa final when Ant appeared to be confronted by Jimmy Bullard

Ant McPartlin has revealed what really happened with Jimmy Bullard in the car park after the dramatic I’m A Celebrity… South Africa final, in which the presenter seemingly backed Adam Thomas in his row with the former footballer.

Ant and his long-standing friend and co-host Dec Donelly have said they had “quite the night” as they broke their silence on the chaos that unfolded out during the live final of the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here spin-off show last Friday (April 24).

Waterloo Road star Adam won the ITV reality show, in which former campmates compete in trials and challenges to be crowned the show’s ultimate ‘legend’. But the win was overshadowed by the drama which unfolded, as he was accused of being “abusive, aggressive and intimidating” by Jimmy following their spat while in the South African savanna.

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Days before the final, viewers saw explosive scenes in the last week of the pre-recorded series as Adam almost lost his place in camp after the former footballer Jimmy quit a trial, Adam forfeiting his time on the show, where he was a late arrival alongside former football manager Harry Redknapp.

As they worked in pairs, it meant that Adam would also lose his place on the show, leading to Adam hitting out at Jimmy. The former Emmerdale star stormed over to the sportsman and, during a heated exchange, said: “Taking the f****** piss, are you taking the f****** piss?” He added: “I’m in there getting covered in f****** ants!” Jimmy responded by telling him to “calm down” and described his outburst as “pathetic”.

Adam ended up making it to the final of the series, alongside Harry, Sir Mo Farah, and Craig Charles. But as all the campmates reunited for the first time during the final, Jimmy discussed their explosive row on the show, claiming Adam dropped “c-bombs” which were not aired, and asked hosts Ant and Dec for their opinion as they had “front row seats”. But Ant disagreed that the exchange was intimidating and said: “No, it wasn’t, I was there!”

Following the final, pictures emerged of Ant appearing to be confronted by Jimmy as he left the studio. But the presenter has now set the record straight. The pair said they didn’t find out until “quite late on” that Jimmy would be attending the final, but he had a “bee in his bonnet” and wanted to tell his side of the story.

But as viewers of the live final saw, things became chaotic after David Haye joined in the conversation to accuse the ITV show of editing footage to make Manchester-born Adam look like a “victim” and, after defending the actor, Gemma Collins, who followed Sinitta, who shouted to the audience that they “weren’t there” and it “was abusive and aggressive”, walked off set.

After what unfolded on live TV, Ant said on the new episode of the podcast, Hanging Out with Ant and Dec: “I went up to David Haye and he went, ‘How brilliant was that? Wasn’t that great?’ I went, ‘Well… It was certainly talk about TV, I wouldn’t call it great’, but anyway we had a laugh and we were cool.

“Then I’ve walked off and seen Jimmy Bullard and I just shook his hand and I was like, ‘Look after yourself’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, yeah cheers, cheers, cheers!’ So there was no confrontation. He was shouting at me, I wasn’t shouting at him. I wasn’t flanked by two security guards as it said in the paper. One of them was carrying my bag to the car in Beyoncé style.

Ant then clarified once again there was no argument in the car park. Dec then said: “I saw David Haye and he said ‘What about that then, hope you get some good ratings for that one!’ and I was like, ‘Thanks for that David!'” Ant added: “See, he doesn’t care! That’s what he does, he’s a boxer!”

It comes after Dec said: “It was quite the night!” Ant replied: “Oh my God… it had a flashback of Jimmy Springer over it… There were walk-outs, there were people goading each other. It was a weird night of TV!”

Ant later said of Adam’s winning moment: “I just thought it was a shame that the crowning moment of I’m A Celebrity.. South Africa couldn’t have been more celebratory!