Shane Richie has admitted his wife Christie Goddard knew her friend Giovanna Fletcher would win this year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
During Monday’s This Morning, the EastEnders icon, 56, revealed actress Christie, 41, told him ‘there’s no point of going on the show’ as she was aware of the podcast star’s extensive fanbase.
The campmate, who finished in fourth place, said: ‘As soon as it was announced that Giovanna was going to be taking part in the show, my wife went ”well there’s your winner, there is no point you going Shane”, even my daughters.’
‘She told me there was no point of going on!’ Shane Richie has admitted his wife knew her friend Giovanna Fletcher would win this year’s I’m A Celebrity (pictured last week)
Praising the first-ever Queen of North Wales’ Gwyrch Castle, the actor added: ‘She’s such a great role model as well I think to young girls and mums, and she had such a big heart.
‘She was the go-to person, if anyone was feeling down – there were times I felt down in the castle and I just give her a little nod. But what was really great was that there was a lot of us that were parents in the castle.’
The media personality shared that the blogger, 35, would help others when they struggled to cope with being away from their children.
Shane added: ‘Between myself, Giovanna, Vernon [Kay], Mo [Farah], Russell [Watson] and dame Victoria Derbyshire, every time we got to talking about our children we’d departmentalise it and Giovanna was like ”right nobody is talking about children.”’
‘She was the go-to person’: During Monday’s This Morning, the EastEnders icon, 56, revealed Christie Goddard, 41, was aware of the podcast star’s extensive fanbase
Loved-up: The couple have been married since 2007 and share three children (pictured in 2013)
The thespian added that he still shares a close bond with his fellow campmates and they plan on meeting up soon after creating a WhatsApp group.
Ahead of his stint, the comedian confessed he signed up to the programme as he was left skint amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The TV star, who was previously asked to take on the original competition in Australia, further explained the reason behind his appearance.
He told hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby: ‘I was out of work, I was happy to go anywhere.
‘She has a big heart’: The actor praised the first-ever Queen of North Wales’ Gwyrch Castle (pictured together with Jordan North and Vernon Kay)
‘She helped us’: The media personality shared that the blogger, 35, would help others when they struggled to cope (pictured with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby)
‘But when they said about Wales straight away, me and Christie spoke about it and I said ”Christie if I get voted out really early at least I’ll be home for the school run”, and I kept thinking like practical reasons like you know ”it’s not far, I could get home.”
‘I mean me were gutted when it wasn’t Australia, I’ve never been to Australia. And when I was approached to do it in January, we had it all planned.
‘We spoke to the school, Christie and the kids were going to come out, we had homework we were going to bring, we were going to make it an adventure. And then they said no one can come to Australia, and then they said no one is going to Australia.
‘And then for a while it wasn’t going to happen, and then I heard it might be a little island off the coast of Spain, the Balearic or one of the islands there. And then they said Scotland and then I thought ”oh this is coming to the UK.”
‘I was just so made up and the fact that they asked me to do the show, I felt that they already won.
‘For all the people who wanted to do it, especially this year being the 20th anniversary, and people in my industry of course being out of work, the fact that they asked me I thought ”I’m going to do it” as there will come a time when I will stop being asked to do it, so I felt really special.
‘And when we turned up on the first day, it was an incredible experience. It’s hard now, cos I’ve only been back a couple of days, to put into words, it was like a sleepover for three weeks with 11 strangers.’
‘We were messaging at four in the morning’: The thespian said he still shares a close bond with his fellow campmates and they plan on meeting up soon after creating a WhatsApp group
Weight loss: Elsewhere in the interview, the funnyman revealed he’s lost just under a stone after falling ‘ill’ following a drinking challenge in the camp (pictured L last month, R last week)
Elsewhere in the interview, the funnyman revealed he’s lost just under a stone after falling ‘ill’ following a drinking challenge in the camp.
Shane detailed: ‘I lost just under a stone, but Vernon bless him has lost two and a half stone and he’s eight-foot-two. But I lost weight because after I did the drinking challenge, 12 hours later I was really ill.
‘And thankfully they didn’t show on take, because I didn’t want my family getting upset. But I thought I was going to have to see a doctor, I had a few tablets and I had a dodgy stomach.
‘That’s kind of where I lost my weight and after a while, everyone was going ”Shane how can we catch that bug of ya”, so after people were trying to hug me to catch the bug off me. So I’ve come back and dropped two dress sizes.’
For Christmas, the soap star plans on spending the season with his loved ones and hopes to have family over from Canada, before he returns to his role as Loco Chanel the Drag Queen in West End’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
The thespian shares sons Shane Jr., 32, and Jake, 28, with his ex-wife Coleen Nolan, and has three children with Christie.
Comeback: The soap star plans on spending Christmas with his loved ones before he returns to his role as in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (pictured with Jessie Wallace in 2019)