After losing 6st, Stephanie Park, 37, was inspired by the reality show to shed her last few pounds
At the age of 19, I left my home in Wales to train as a primary school teacher in Liverpool. I embraced student life, eating out a lot, and I couldn’t resist the cheap drink deals on student nights. I loved beer and could drink about ten pints in one sitting. My friends were the same, too.
Over the next four years as a student, I went from a size 12 to an 18. I’m 5ft 5in, and I put on 4st. I didn’t feel great in myself, but I was stuck in a cycle of unhealthy habits.
By 2016, I was living back home in Denbighshire and wearing a size 18-20. After joining a local spa, I managed to lose a stone in a year from regular swimming sessions. My diet stayed the same, though, and I knew that if I wanted to lose more, I’d have to address it.
In the mornings, I usually skipped breakfast and just had a milky tea with two sugars. Working as a manager for a beach caravan park, I’d eat white bread sandwiches with crisps and chocolate for lunch. My evening meal would usually be a big chicken roast dinner or curry. I’d reduced my drinking since uni, but I still enjoyed a few lagers or ciders on my days off.
Physically, my job could be quite demanding, and due to my weight, I suffered with swollen feet and back pain. I didn’t sleep very well, either, and often felt sluggish.
Then, in March 2017, a friend mentioned that she was going to start attending her local Slimming World group.
“Do you fancy joining me?” she asked, and I thought, “Why not?”
More enticing real life stories
Shock surgery: 'I spent lockdown transforming myself into Barbie'
Christmas escort: 'A man paid for me to have sex with his wife as a festive gift'
A few weeks later, I went along to my first group.
I was pleased to see that the plan was all about food optimising, and I could eat as much “free food”, such as rice, pasta, fruit and veg, as I wanted. My starting weight was 15st 10lbs, and I told myself to take it a pound at a time.
I loved that the plan was realistic and didn’t require me to dramatically change my lifestyle. It was just about making achievable adjustments, such as cooking from scratch instead of using ready-made sauces, and cooking with Frylight rather than normal oil. I swapped lager and cider for gin and slimline tonic, and I made an effort to eat yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. I also made sure that when I had my dinner, my plate was mainly full of fresh vegetables.
I lost the weight steadily each week, and by April 2018, I got my 5st award. When I went on holiday to Magaluf the following month, it felt like a dream to wear size 12 vests and shorts and not feel self-conscious. I’d never been on a long-haul flight before because I feared it would be too uncomfortable, but now the world was my oyster, and over the next year, I went on holidays to Thailand, Bali and Singapore.
Instead of just lying on beaches all the time, I was a lot more active and even did a two-and-a-half-hour hike up a volcano at sunrise. The views were absolutely stunning and something I never could have thought about doing before I got fitter.
My confidence was coming on in leaps and bounds, and when I hit my target weight of 9st 10lbs in October 2019, I was delighted.
During the first lockdown, I put on 10lbs because I wasn’t working, so I’d eat out of boredom. Then, last autumn, I heard that the new series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! was coming to Gwrych Castle, just five miles away from me.
Check out the most DISGUSTING bushtucker trials ever:
I'm A Celebrityu2026 Get Me Out Of Here: 15 truly DISGUSTING bushtucker trials - SLIDER
1 of 1515. Carl (Foggy) Fogarty Bushtucker trial - The one where... he drinks blood!
Call him a vampire, seriously.During series 14 Carl Fogarty aka Foggy had to drink deer's blood – blood, liver and kidney in a Bushtucker trial.While drinking it you could see the blood around his mouth and we have to admit he kind of resembled the Joker… Foggy was an absolute champ and completed the task. He later went on to win the series.
2 of 1514. Kieron Dyer Bushtucker trial - The one where... he hunts through rotten meat and flies
One of the most stomach-turning tasks was in series 15 when Kieron Dyer had to find two tiny stars in a room full of rotting meat and flies.The noise of the flies buzzing was enough to put us off, but it's not until you look at the black meat and realise that it's not actually black it's red but the thousands of flies makes it appear black…
3 of 1513. Katie Price Bushtucker trial - The one where... Flies for lunch?
When Katie Price returned to the jungle during series nine she had to eat a fried bug, flies and a cockroach milkshake. Katie ate the fried bug and the flies, but she declined drinking the milkshake.She then had to drive through cobwebs and HUGE spiders to get more stars.
4 of 1512. Fatima Whitbread Bushtucker trial - The one where... She snorts a cockroach
We doubt any I'm A Celebrity fan will ever forgot this task.During series 11 Fatima Whitbread had a head to head trial with Pat Sharp, but during this trial, a cockroach got STUCK UP HER NOSE!She did have 7,500 cockroaches surrounding her face – so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one was cheeky enough to crawl up her nose. She soldiered through the task and continued doing the trial with the cockroach up her nose, after the task with the help from Bob she managed to blow it out of her nose.
5 of 1511. Brian Harvey Bushtucker trial - The one where... He gets pie faced
This task was pretty mission impossible.Poor Brian Harvey had to collect stars from 10 pies using just his mouth. The pies already had creepy crawlies on them but he was then joined by a whopping one and a half million flies.That's pretty crazy. He managed to get two stars before giving up. We don't blame him.
6 of 1510. George Shelley Bushtucker trial - The one where... He rips opens a few pig bits
This one was very questionable. In a task called 'Cloudy with a Chance of Pigs Balls' George Shelley had to rip open some pigs bits to find three stars. They hit him in the head a few times as well, poor guy.
7 of 159. Alison Hammond and Kayla Collins Bushtucker trial - The one where... There's insects in the dentist
Most people don't enjoy going to the dentist, but we reckon if they had to go to this dentist they wouldn't turn up to their appointment.Alison Hammond and Kayla Collins had to sit and put insects (that are still alive) in their mouths for 20 seconds. The creatures included grasshoppers, giant burrowing cockroaches, water spiders, yabbies and a stick insect.The girls did pretty well, we don't think we could have gone through with any of them.
8 of 158. Katie Price and Kim Woodburn Bushtucker trial – The one where... Kangaroo bits for lunch anyone?
Every single eating trial makes us feel ill but during Katie Price and Kim Woodburn's Bushtucker Trial we couldn't help but feel VERY sorry for them. They had to eat fish eyes, a cricket, a cockroach, a witchetty grub and a few unsightly bits from a kangaroo.Katie refused to do a few and Kim admitted she'd been sick twice but swallowed it back!
9 of 157. Joe Swash Bushtucker trial - The one where... He eats a crocodile's bits
We think this is the worst eating trial we've ever seen. Joe had to eat a bit from crocodile no one wants to eat and it's clear from the clip below that he struggled to eat it. He was literally gagging, heaving, crying, dribbling. Ugh.
10 of 156. Shaun Ryder Bushtucker trial – The one where... He has a Snakebite (no, not the drink)
This has got to be the toughest trial we've ever seen. Sean Ryder put his hand in a box and the snake literally bit his hand so hard he bled and it took two people to get the snake off it. We were never really fond of snakes but this has just made it clear we should steer away from jungle snakes.
11 of 155. Helen Flanagan and Nadine Dorries Busktucker trial – Fermented egg and soliders?
We've seen a few celebrities eat a fermented egg (Ashley Roberts even drank one in a smoothie) but during series 12 Helen Flanagan and Nadine Dorries had to eat the whole fermented egg.Nadine couldn't do it but surprisingly along with a few gags Helen did it. We didn't think she'd do it considering her track record with trials…
12 of 154. Ashley Roberts Bushtucker trial - The one where... Fish eye is on the menu
A lot of celebrities have done this challenge and every time we watch it we feel very, very sick. But Ashley Roberts got through to the final of I'm A Celebrity and in order to win a three course meal she had to eat a few creatures on the way – fish eyes included.Out of all the other celebrities who have eaten a fish eye we chose Ashey's purely because when she started to bite it you could hear the eye pop in her mouth.
13 of 153. Ferne McCann Bushtucker Trial - Panic Pit featuring snakes
Ferne had to lie UNDERGROUND with a bunch of snakes on her - 42 snakes.But we don't even think Ant and Dec were prepared when that humungous snake (one the size of our arms) joined Ferne and they turned the lights off right when it wrapped itself round around Ferne's neck.Ant even described the trial as "One of the toughest trial they've ever had."
14 of 152. The one where... I’m A Celebrity contestants get more than bed bugs
This task must have been extremely difficult; the campmates had an overnight trial with bed bugs. They were locked in a glass box full of creatures ranging from cockroaches, crickets, snakes and rats.Sinitta gave up straight away but the others tried to wait it out even Mark Wright - who screamed and was petrified of rats - lasted longer than Sinitta.
15 of 151. Ferne McCann - The one where... She eats that spider
Save the worst till last right?We will never forgot this trial.Poor Ferne as if she hadn't been through enough, she ate a witchetty grub, a lambs brain, and bulls penis she then had to eat a spider.We say spider it was more like a tarantula. Seriously it was HUGE. We actually don't know how she did it. You can literally hear it moving around in the glass AND crunch in her mouth when she's chewing it!Not only that I'm A Celebrity received nearly 1500 complaints. Eek!
As a huge fan of the show, I was really excited, and it also gave me an idea. I still had half a stone that I wanted to shift, so I was inspired to create my own I’m A Celeb eating challenge.
Of course, I drew the line at eating fish eyeballs, but every day, after my usual breakfast, I’d eat a portion of rice and half a tin of beans for lunch – just like the campmates would have. I went out and bought every type of beans I could find – broad beans, black-eyed beans and edamame – and I added my own sauce or spices.
Then my dinner would depend on how many stars the celebrities won in their bushtucker trials. So, if they won five stars, I could put five different things on my plate! Sometimes, I just had rice and beans again, and the stars would be used as Syns for treats throughout the day.
It wasn’t too difficult as I’ve always loved beans, and as they are full of protein, they keep you feeling fuller for longer. It was a fun challenge, and a few other members from my Slimming World group joined in. By the time Giovanna Fletcher was named queen of the castle, I’d got down to 10st!
Fridge Raider: Inside Hayley Palmer's Fridge
Afterwards, I got into running, challenging myself to run 75 miles in a month. Now, I’m happily maintaining my weight and attend my Slimming World class every week to keep me on track.
I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. I sleep better, my back pain has eased, and I’ve got much more energy. I love the happier, healthier me, and it gives me a kick that my favourite telly show got me back to my goal weight!
You can find your nearest group at Slimmingworld.co.uk or by calling 0344 897 8000