I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here’s Peter Helliar was eliminated from the South African jungle on Tuesday, April 25 after 26 days in the jungle and nothing meant more to him than seeing his family.
According to the comedian, one of the payoffs for getting to the end of the season is a visit from family, something the campmates were all looking forward to and hoping for at the end of their journey. However, as luck — or misfortune — would have it, Helliar was booted the day before the cut off, meaning his wife Bridget and sons, Aidan, Liam and Oscar were no longer coming.
“I was really elated coming out and then I made a quick call [to Bridget], because it’d been a couple of hours because they put you through the psych, the medical team and you get debriefed and everything, so it’s quite a process,” Helliar told Mediaweek post his elimination.
“They were on standby. They were packed, ready to come [to South Africa] and the kids had had their vaccinations and it kind of really took the wind out of my sails a little bit after that. My beautiful friends at Ten saw that and then an hour later, they said ‘we’re flying them out’. It was really beautiful, I’m very touched by that.”
Even though all good things must come to an end, and the celebs had to go home at some point, it didn’t stop them from trying to guess who was being eliminated.
“There’s a lot of speculation in camp at what the voting means and the trends, and you’re trying to guess. It’s ridiculous and we were never right. I said to a lot of my campmates, just don’t read into anything.”
Ten.
Pete Helliar reveals what it was like to be called every name but his own
While the former The Project co-host is a household name in Australia, his welcome into the jungle was, well, “a little mean” (according to Ian “Dicko” Dickson). Even though #CelebPete was plastered on his back and it was very obvious who he was, the campmates were instructed to call him anything but his actual moniker.
At first, Helliar described the whole experience as his “senses being bombarded”.
“I think I basically said yes to this [being on I’m a Celeb] in late November. I’ve had to live with this moment in my mind and how will they do it and what’s it going to be like. Once you say yes, it kind of hovers over you and your family. Then you walk out and Liz [Ellis] says, ‘Oh, it’s Dave Hughes… and then I remember Aesha [Scott] saying ‘Hey, Paul’. I thought, that’s a bit weird if you have my name wrong, but whatever.
“I don’t think I got it, what was going on,” he said. “It wasn’t until like a day or two later that I realised that the game was rigged as far as it was always going to be me putting my hand in that box of snakes, it dawned on me very slowly.”
Even though it was all in good fun, there was a moment where he thought the whole joke would get “annoying”.
“There was this one moment when I was attempting to get the fire started and it took us a long time… There was one moment when I had my head down and I think I heard Aesha and Anna [Polyviou] say ‘Paul’ and giggle. I thought, this is going to get annoying. My name is on the back of my shirt!”
How Pete Helliar feels about headlines about his weight loss
One interesting part of being a celeb in the jungle is everyone’s obsession with the weight loss that comes with a diet of rice, beans and “pig’s anus”. And while Helliar understands why people are keen to find out how many KGs each person has lost, he says it’s not “the healthiest way” to lose weight and doesn’t want to promote it as such.
“I understand because people do lose weight when you go in there and I was nervous I’d be the only celebrity who would comeback putting on weight…but I certainly hope people aren’t looking at it as any kind of way to lose weight because there are easier ways to do it then to starve yourself in the jungle for 26 days…and eat a pig’s anus.”
Overall, the How to Stay Married actor loved the “positivity” of the show and the all-star cast.
“It’s a lovely vibe in there. There’s lots of positivity and everyone’s supportive. I’m wrapped that it’s doing really well because it’s not a season that has had a villain in it and so, it’s a good kind of thumbs up for positivity, which is nice.”
I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here continues on Thursday with the Grand Finale on Sunday April 30 on 10 and 10Play.