Jamie Lomas accused Iain Lee of trying to “manipulate” his fellow I’m A Celebrity 2017 contestants ahead of Dennis Wise’s elimination yesterday.
After Dennis objected to Iain doing another Bushtucker Trial, the radio host finally got to prove himself in last night’s episode of the ITV reality show.
He teamed up with Jennie McAlpine to face ‘Deadly Departure Lounge’, and the pair won all six meals up for grabs.
Despite their success, Iain’s alleged gameplaying was still on the minds of the lads as they woke up yesterday morning.
In a chat with Jamie, Dennis claimed Iain has been trying to get ‘airtime’.
“I get how important it is for the public to actually see you come across in a certain way,” he commented.
“I got that when Iain wanted to do the Trial, and I thought, ‘you need the airtime to promote yourself’.”
Jamie went a step further, suggesting Iain had even tried to “manipulate” the other celebs to make himself look better.
“That’s fine, but you don’t have to manipulate other people to do it,” the Hollyoaks actor said. “Try and make people look bad, ‘I’m the victim, I’m the victim’.
“Nah, come on mate, we’ve not treated you like that in any way, shape or form.”
Moments later, it was announced that Dennis was the sixth contestant to be voted out of jungle by viewers.
In his live exit interview with Ant and Dec, the ex-footballer repeated his view that Iain is seeking airtime, but insisted that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“I realise there’s people that want to promote themselves and go on to TV and other things,” he explained.
“Amir’s gonna go and box again. I’m gonna go back to what I did before. We’re gonna go back to our things, but there’s other people that need to promote themselves.
“I listened to Iain’s letter [from home], and I realised then, ‘Iain, go and do that Trial tomorrow, because you need the airtime’. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Meanwhile, back in camp, Iain visited the Bush Telegraph to praise Dennis.
“Me and Dennis locked horns a couple of times. It was no big beef, but I have ultimate respect for that man,” he said.
“I disagree with him on some things, but I’ve got so much respect for him.”
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues tomorrow at the earlier time of 8.20pm on ITV.
