Former I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! contestant Babatunde Aleshe has tipped his friend Melvin Odoom to win the 2024 edition of the show saying he will “light up the place”.
The comedian, who is also friends with former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer and 2024 contestant Oti Mabuse, described her and radio DJ Odoom as “great” when asked who would win the show on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
The 38-year-old became the first celebrity to quit a trial before reaching camp after he pulled out of a task to walk along a plank attached to a skyscraper, and was the fifth celebrity to be eliminated from the show’s 2022 series, which was won by former England footballer Jill Scott.
Melvin Odoom will enter the jungle on Sunday (Ian West/PA)
Asked to pick a winner by fellow former contestants Kate Garraway (who completed the skyscraper task on the same series) and Richard Madeley (who took part in 2021 before withdrawing after being taken to hospital), Babatunde said: “Look, Melvin’s a great guy, Oti as well, she’s great.
“I’ve known Melvin for ages, I think that he’s going to light up the place with his personality.
“So at the beginning I’m saying maybe Melvin, but we’ll see, you never know.
“When you’re in there, it’s different. When you’re hungry, you might say the wrong thing, so let’s just wait.”
He went on to say that it was not crossing the plank that had prevented him from completing the task on the show’s 22nd series, but the fact it was withdrawn once the contestants had reached the end leaving them stranded in the air.
The London-born Taskmaster star said: “You know what it was? I don’t know how it was when you (Garraway) did it, but for me when Charlene walked out, they drew the plank away after she got to the end, so I was just like, oh once I get there, I’m stuck.
“That was enough for me, I was just like, I’m a celebrity get me out, and I wasn’t even in the jungle.
Garraway added: “It’s so windy, nobody tells you that.
“At one point when I did it, they took Ant and Dec downstairs for a bit because they were just checking all the security, and I was like, well hang on, what about us, they brought them back though, they’re great.
“It was so frightening, and they always put tricks in, there was gaps for us, there was a seesaw and, of course, they’re very clever, the producers of it, they don’t give you a chance to just look straight ahead, because I was thinking in my head, if I tell myself, you’re just walking across a room there’s no problem.
“But the task is, you have to look down.”
I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! starts on Sunday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX, where Odoom and Mabuse will be joined by Coleen Rooney, former boxer Barry McGuigan, and N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos.