Scarlette Douglas has been left “devastated” after learning her fellow A Place In The Sun host Jonnie Irwin has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! contestant only found out the news after leaving the jungle and will now send a heartfelt message to Jonnie and his family.
Jonnie told Hello! magazine last week he has secretly been battling terminal cancer and was given six months to live two years ago.
READ MORE: I’m A Celeb’s Scarlette Douglas admits one jungle grub is her ‘new favourite’
Scarlette said: “I had heard but I didn’t realise it was terminal, which makes it sound imminent.
“On A Place In The Sun we’re always in different locations and we never really get to see each other.
(Image: James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“Sometimes our paths might cross but I think I probably only met Jonnie in person maybe three times, a handful of times, but it was always just brilliant.
“And I remember when I was doing my screen test for it, I’d watch a lot of his shows because he was confident with the house hunters. He was just on it. He knew everything, you know, you never question Jonnie. Jonnie was just so knowledgeable.
(Image: Instagram)
“Any questions the house hunters had, he knew the answer to and I remember taking a lot of inspiration from him when I first did the screen test, and even still doing the shows, still watching his episodes and being like ‘Jonnie’s done it like that’. And I love how he’s done that. So I want to add a bit of that into how I present stuff.
“So I knew that he wasn’t well, but I didn’t know this. I’ve come out and been told there was something in the papers that he is not well. I didn’t know the true extent of it.”
(Image: jonnieirwintv/Instagram)
Asked if she will get in touch she said: “Of course I’m going to drop him a message now because that’s devastating because I know he’s got three young kids, he’s got a beautiful wife and he’s an amazing person.”
Jonnie is a father-of-three children; son Rex, three, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.
He said he hoped sharing his diagnosis would inspire others to “make the most of every day”.
(Image: James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
In his interview revealing his diagnosis, he said: “I’m carrying a dirty secret – it’s become a monkey on my back. I don’t know how long I have left, but I try to stay positive and my attitude is that I’m living with cancer, not dying from it.
“I set little markers – things I want to be around for. I got into the habit of saying, ‘Don’t plan ahead because I might not be well enough’.
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“But now I want to make plans. I want to make memories and capture these moments with my family because the reality is, my boys are going to grow up not knowing their dad and that breaks my heart.”
Jonnie was diagnosed with cancer while filming Channel 4’s A Place In The Sun in Italy in 2020.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
