I’m a Celebrity star Victoria Derbyshire revealed that her battle with cancer motivated her to sign up to the show, having previously thought that her days were numbered.
The TV presenter has joined this year’s lineup and will be bedding with other stars at Gwrych Castle as ITV bosses swapped Australia for north Wales.
Victoria cited her battle with cancer as her main inspiration for taking part in the competition after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, later undergoing a mastectomy.
“This is a mad thrill adventure that I want to take part in. Because of cancer, I know more than lots of people, life is short,” she said.
The BBC broadcaster previously revealed how she prepared her husband to raise their children alone following her diagnosis.
The BBC journalist will join her campmates this weekend (Image: ITV/UNPIXS (EUROPE))
She was 46 years old when she believed her life was ending amid fears that a tumour had grown.
Speaking on a BBC One Special earlier this year, she explained that after her surgery she had suffered with dizzy spells.
Fearing that the cancer had spread, she returned home after a precautionary CT scan assuming her days were numbered.
She said: “I thought, ‘Okay, it’s spread. It’s spread to my brain. That’s it. There is no hope. That’s it’.”
Victoria, 52, is said to be ‘really looking forward’ to be joining the line-up (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
When she got home, Derbyshire warned her husband, Mark Sandell, that he might have raise their two sons, Oliver and Joe, as a single parent.
“I got home, and I said to Mark, ‘You might have to bring up the boys on your own’.”
Thankfully, it was only minutes later that the phone rang with the results of her check up scan.
Victoria Derbyshire’s children (Image: BBC)
She said: “My mobile rang and I thought: ‘Okay, this is it.’ I took a deep breath and answered. He was really brief, he said: ‘Hello Ms Derbyshire. The cancer hasn’t spread to another part of your body’.
“I just shouted down the phone, ‘Oh my god, I love you’.”
Victoria heads into the castle having had her BBC show axed this year.
The Victoria Derbyshire Show was canned by the Beeb as it is too expensive, according to reports.
The popular current affairs series aired every weekday for five years, from 2015 to 2020.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
