I'm A Celeb: This is the real reason Richard Madeley had to leave I’m A Celeb

Every year, thousands of Brits tune into ITV to watch their favourite show that sees TV personalities, politicians, and celebrities try to survive in the jungle. Not only are they surviving, they are competing against each other in the harshest challenges in order to be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle, and also win the grand prize which is then donated to charity.

The show gives fans glimpses of both popular and rather controversial personalities doing the most gut-wrenching things. They are of course heavily compensated for joining the show.

In the year 2021, Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley surprised fans by entering the contest. According to reports, he is among the celebrities who received the biggest pay package for his stint on the show. According to Express, Noel Edmonds had signed up for a whopping £600,000, followed by Katie Price for £450,000 and the Richard Madeley for £200,000.

Unfortunately for Madeley's viewers, he was forced to make an early exit from I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! 2021. He officially announced his exit from the camp on Day 5, after he was rushed to the hospital in the morning before on 24 November. Despite making a full recovery, he was unable to return to camp as he had broken the show’s COVID bubble.

Why did Richard Madeley leave I’m A Celeb?

At the time, some fans speculated that Richard fell ill due to the Castle Kitchen Nightmares trial he took part in, which saw him covered in fish guts, offal and rotting fruit, veg and eggs.

However, this did not seem to have been the case after all. In an appearance on Good Morning Britain, Richard revealed the truth behind his mystery illness. He said:

I think what happened to me was, I think I got dehydrated, that's all it was. But dehydration is actually quite disturbing. It's not a pleasant thing. I think I had been up for 20 hours the day before, and the day before that having very long days.

We were sleeping quite late. I don’t think I got to bed until four or four-thirty in the morning and I knew I was feeling thirsty. I'm quite bad at remembering to drink actually, drink water.

He continued:

As I snuggled into my sleeping bag, it was freezing, I thought 'I haven't had a big drink for a while, I'll do it when I wake up'. The next thing I knew I was sitting there babbling. I don't know. I was talking nonsense. I didn't know where I was, what was going on and I could hardly string a sentence together.

Was Richard Madeley OK after he was rushed to the hospital?

Richard confirmed that his illness was ‘harmless’ and that he made a full recovery. He was merely ‘gutted’ to have had to leave the show so early.

Despite his quick exit, it has been reported that Madeley walked away with his initial pay package of £200K. The TV presenter has not confirmed the exact number himself, but he did reveal that he did do more days in the show that people think. He said:

So I was actually in the castle for about eight days.

But I don't know about the fee, I've only just got home, I'll leave that to my agent to talk about.

It will be fine, we'll sort something out."