I’m A Celebrity king Danny Miller had a tearful reunion with his family and revealed he would have quit the show if he was not providing for his son.
Danny, 30, triumphed on the ITV show on Sunday night after leaving fiancée Steph Jones and baby son Albert behind to go into Gwrych Castle for 20 days.
The Emmerdale star came close to calling it a day several times, especially after time in the show’s prison.
He said: “There were a lot of things thrown at us and there were a lot of people saying they wanted to quit. They hadn’t signed up for this experience. The Clink was hard. I don’t think I realised how hard it was when I signed up.
“But there’s no point in me lying. The truth is that I wouldn’t have been able to afford to walk away from it. I think it was a mental challenge for me. Everyone in there had their own mental battles, and people in there including me have got their own mental health issues and stuff.
“I left my job at Emmerdale to go out there and show the world what Danny Miller is about as opposed to the Danny Miller who plays Aaron in Emmerdale.
(Image: ITV)
“And as much as I probably did want to leave at some points, it was never an option, because A, I couldn’t afford to do it, and B, I didn’t want to do it.
“I wanted to finish the journey. I signed up to a show and I wanted to finish the contract. I wanted to finish the show. I wanted to do everything I could to represent myself and my family as best I could.
“And I’ve done that, and it’s meant that I’ve got the best possible outcome by winning and it makes it all worthwhile for not quitting. But I never shy away from it that I couldn’t afford to walk away from it. I was doing it for Albert’s future. It’s just bonkers that I won. It feels crazy, but a really good, crazy positive.”
Danny rejoined Steph and Albert at his Stockport home yesterday afternoon, with NHS midwife Steph jumping into his arms in the driveway, before he got to hold seven-week-old Albert again.
He was seen on screen crying when a letter from Steph and Albert was read out in the castle and on yesterday’s Lorraine when they had a “virtual” reunion.
Danny, fan favourite Aaron Dingle in the ITV soap, told the Mirror: “I’ve spent the last three weeks crying on screen, so I’m not going to cry talking to you now, but yeah, he’s obviously changed whilst I have been away. I just can’t wait to hold him and Steph in my arms all night long and now we are going to shut the door and put the key in and lock it and no one’s allowed in for a good couple of days.
“It’s just going to be us three and I can’t wait. I’ve been hugging Steph and I’ll give her more big kisses, and then I’ll hold Albert for what will feel like an eternity and make up to him what I’ve just lost in three and a half weeks because he’s changed massively.
“It is fortunate that he doesn’t know what has happened in the last few weeks but unfortunately for me, I’ve missed him so much. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to him.”
(Image: Instagram/ Danny Miller)
Danny also paid tribute to Steph, who he will marry next June and who led a voting campaign for him. He said: “Steph has been the most amazing person I’ve ever met, a mum to our child, she’s the best role model.
“I wouldn’t be able to do this show without her. She was the one who pushed me to do it and said, ‘Keep going,’ when I was going to say no.
“We were going to go through the IVF which would’ve led us up to April next year and then she naturally fell pregnant, it sped everything up four or five months, and I was going to say no to the show because I didn’t think it was the right time.
“She was the one who said, ‘You need to do it for us and to set us up’. Without this show, I wouldn’t have been able to leave Emmerdale and it’s all good saying that I wanted to go out there and show people who I am and stuff, but financially I’m not going to lie, without her, I wouldn’t have been able to do the show.
(Image: ITV)
“She said, ‘This is a once in a lifetime opportunity’.”
Danny, who also wanted to “spread my wings and see what’s out there other than Emmerdale”, showed he had the will to win when he told in camp how he had slept on the floor of his cottage when the whole camp was evacuated for Storm Arwen.
Other campmates enjoyed their beds, watched Netflix and sneaked in sweets when they returned to camp after a few days. But Danny was determined to stick to the rules.
He said: “I signed up for a show of a certain amount of days and I didn’t want to be getting to a position where I’d go back into the castle after evacuation where it meant that I had to restart the journey that I’d just left.
“I stuck to beans and rice, I stuck to very little food, I stuck to being on the floor because my back was really bad anyway. I didn’t want to have to go back and start craving all the foods and all the salt, the sugar, all that stuff I’ve missed.
“But each to their own. People [in the cottages] had coffee and they brought in tea and food and pizza and stuff, takeaways.
“I signed up to a show that I knew was going to be minimal. The evacuation didn’t change anything for me. I think the worst thing I did was wash my socks and I shrunk them anyway.”
Earlier in the series he did a Dreaded Diner trial with Snoochie Shy, in which some viewers thought he was exaggerating how bad the food was. But Danny laughed: “Bloody hell, if you think I’m putting it on, try eating a load of bull’s c**k and tell me it’s easy. It wasn’t easy at all, it was hard work.
“If something hits the back of your throat and makes you gip, it makes you gip. I’d challenge anyone to eat and drink that stuff and not throw up.”
Another highlight of the series was his friendship with David Ginola who he said was a “father figure” in camp for him and says gave him advice he will use for the rest of his life.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
