This year's cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here...! have been a TV treat so far. We've had jungle heart-to-hearts, bombshell entrances (something Love Island's Maura Higgins knows about all too well), and nail-biting trials. The 10-star rewards have been rather lacking this week, but we marvelled at the camp's dedication to scooping up those spilt beans. What hunger drives you to, eh...
And now, 2006 campmate Dean Gaffney - a certified I'm A Celeb legend, thanks to his iconic live trial and appearance on the all-stars iteration in 2023 - takes Closer behind the scenes Down Under. While we might empathise with the restrictive diet of rice and beans, it turns out the jungle inhabitants are entitled to a little pick-me-up.
Reminiscing about his time in the jungle 18 years ago, former EastEnders actor Dean, 46, said, 'I remember at night [producers] would give us a brownie. They're still trying to make a TV show - let's get nothing twisted. It is entertainment, and they need you to be speaking.
They need you to talk about your lives and open up, which is why the show is so popular, because you've got nothing else to do but talk. Hence why there'd always be an episode where someone's talking about something controversial or something that's pained them through their life.'
He continues, 'We would get a brownie at night because they would want to raise our sugar levels so that we weren't lethargic and we'd at least open our mouths and talk. We would eat this brownie and I've never experienced anything like it in my life. We are talking a tiny brownie.
'In everyday life now, I'd go to a fridge, pick a brownie up and eat it within point one second, and probably have four more. But with these brownies, you are literally licking it and nibbling it. Some people look at it for 10 minutes before they eat it. Some people gorge on it one go. It's a blimming brownie, for God's sake!'
He joked, 'If you haven't got a chef in there, you're buggered.'
Dean also reveals what time the campmates get some shut-eye - and it's earlier than expected.
He recalls, 'At the wrap party, one of the cameramen said to me, "What time do you think you guys go to bed?" I said, "I'll just assume probably 11pm." He laughed and said, "Nowhere near. It gets dark early in Australia. You probably go about eight o'clock."'
The actor admitted that getting snapped up for I'm a Celebrity… South Africa last year was a 'massive accolade', especially as watching it was the last thing he did with his late mother. But equally as poignant is the fact that Dean credits the All Stars series for saving his life.
He explains, 'During my medicals for I'm A Celeb, they said, "You're losing blood." When they investigated further, they could see that there was a polyp that needed to be cut out. And had that not been cut out, it could have ruptured or burst, and could have been cancerous. So to be on top of that is massive thanks to I'm A Celeb.'
Dean was chatting to Closer on behalf of heartbingo.