I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star Jordan Banjo has opened up about his experience on the show - and meeting Carol Vorderman for the first time. Both Carol and Jordan were cast for the 2016 series, with the Countdown legend reportedly among the highest earners that year, commanding a fee of £200,000.

Reflecting on his time in the Australian jungle, Jordan revealed he initially turned down the offer, due to feeling too nervous. After being persuaded to take on the "huge opportunity" by his brother Ashley Banjo, he decided to go for it with just a couple of weeks' notice.

"The very first time I did it was in 2016, so me and my wife had only been together for about a year at the time, we didn't have any kids," the 33-year-old shared. "From a personal level, I found the first I’m A Celebrity borderline impossible. I really crumbled. I was 23 when I did it and it was the first thing I'd ever done outside of Diversity."

Arriving to meet his campmates, which included Helen Flanagan, Scarlett Moffatt, and Larry Lamb, Jordan said he first laid eyes on Carol. "She come walking up these steps and Carol, she's beautiful, stunning," he said on the No Parental Guidance podcast.

"She's wearing this all-gold Versace dress and she looks like TV star Carol Vorderman. I was standing there with my ASOS shirt and my loafers on, I was like I've bitten off more than I can chew here."

He continued: "I immediately crumbled, it's like the first day I was fine, and then after that I was like all the filming - I just got really overwhelmed really quickly and I panicked. It's not about me, I'm representing Diversity."

Fearing he might say something he shouldn’t, Jordan decided to stay quiet.

"I went into this weird little shell," he recalled. "The first time I went on there I just completely buckled. I didn't feel myself." Jordan and Carol later returned for the all‑stars edition of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2023, filmed in South Africa.

Having enjoyed his second time on the show, he recalled: "In the camp you'd be walking to trials and back and you'd just see monkeys running around and all this crazy [stuff]. I was like, 'This is actually insane that we've actually got to do this opportunity.' So I just enjoyed it, which I really did."

Through the shows, Jordan and Carol forged a strong friendship. Previously gushing over their bond, she said on Lorraine: "Jordan Banjo - so he was in Australia with me. I was his jungle mum and he was my jungle son."

Following the birth of his first child with his wife Naomi Courts, Carol also publicly congratulated him on X, writing: "Huge congratulations to a lovely young man. I was his ‘Mum’ in the Jungle. Jordan, you will be a superb father… your son is a lucky boy."