Sam Thompson and his partner Zara McDermott reunited in Heathrow airport after he returned home from Australia as the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2023 winner.
The TV star, 31, and the former Love Island contestant, 26, were pictured looking overjoyed as they kissed and embraced each other at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
McDermott also surprised the new king of the jungle, who returned home with his close friend Pete Wicks, with a cluster of rainbow-coloured balloons which said “Welcome home”.
Reflecting on how he was feeling about his win after landing back in the UK, he told the PA news agency: “It hasn’t sunk in yet but I’ve had my best mate Pete out there so he’s been keeping me very grounded.
“I told him to call me king for a day and he didn’t even want to do that.
“It’s been a really, really fun couple of days.”
Thompson was announced as the winner of the ITV reality show on Sunday night after securing 56.6% of the vote, with former professional boxer Tony Bellew coming second with 43.4%, while former Ukip leader Nigel Farage took third place.
During the final days of the show, Thompson took on the famous cyclone obstacle course and ate a variety of unusual animal parts for his last bushtucker trial.
The Made In Chelsea star said there was “nothing hard” about getting used to being in the jungle as he had wanted to do it for so long.
He added: “It was my dream, my absolute dream. I had the best time in the world, I loved it to bits.”
Thompson also joked that his fellow contestant Bellew would be what he missed most from the show after they formed a special bond during the series.
The finale saw an average audience of 6.6 million tune in on the night, ITV said, which is a notable drop from 10.1 million viewers who watched former England footballer Jill Scott beat Matt Hancock and Hollyoaks actor Owen Warner to become queen of the jungle last year.
Sunday’s show also attracted a peak audience of 7.6 million while the 2022 finale topped at 11.5 million viewers.
By Naomi Clarke and Shivansh Gupta, PA Reporters
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