When Simon Gregson joined the I’m A Celebrity camp last month, he didn’t expect to make it to the final. In fact, the Coronation Street icon tells OK! he only signed up to the show because his wife Emma, 38, and sons Alfie, 14, Harry, 12, and five-year-old Henry have been begging him to do it for years.
Still, the actor – who has played Steve McDonald on the Cobbles since 1989 – admitted he hoped the public would get to know the real him. And while the bubbly star kept us laughing in the camp with his cheeky comments, Simon concedes it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.
“It’s a very psychological, physical game,” he tells us as we join him and his family at home for our Christmas cover shoot. “It was freezing cold. It’s literally a game of survival. I had no preconceptions about it being easy. It is what it says on the tin!”
We saw Simon, 47, open up on screen about wanting to get fitter and healthier after realising he struggled with some of the challenges, and he tells OK! he actually lost more than a stone in the castle thanks to the rice and beans diet. Now he’s hoping to continue his health kick (bar the odd Chinese takeaway) into the new year.
Here, Simon and Emma fill us in on their reunion, plans for Christmas and why being in the camp has brought their family even closer…
Hi Simon, what was it like being reunited with your family?
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