Psychologist and TV personality Emma Kenny has claimed that Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly 'forgot their roles as presenters' during the chaotic live final of I'm a Celebrity... South Africa. Speaking to the Mirror, she explained that the veteran hosts contributed to the turmoil rather than containing it.
Ant and Dec's Role Questioned
Emma Kenny stated: 'Ant and Dec forgot their roles as presenters. Psychologically speaking, they are authority figures in that environment. They set the tone, they regulate the room, and crucially, they act as the bridge between the contestants and the audience at home. When tensions rise, it's their job to contain, not contribute to the conflict. In this final, that line didn't just blur, it disappeared completely.'
She added: 'They are meant to be the emotional anchors of the show. When they step into the conflict, the entire structure feels less secure. If the referees are now players, who's actually in control? This is why it descended into chaos.'
Campmate Tensions Explode
The live final saw an explosive row among campmates, with Sinitta and Gemma Collins storming off stage, and Ant clashing with David Haye and Jimmy Bullard. Emma believes the campmates felt a sense of injustice over Jimmy Bullard's accusations that Adam Thomas had been 'abusive, aggressive and intimidating.' David Haye supported this interpretation, while Ant and Gemma Collins disagreed.
Emma commented: 'What unfolded wasn't standard reality TV fallout; it was a full-scale rupture of group cohesion, played out live. At the centre was Adam's win, but the real story was the hostility orbiting it. Long-simmering tensions with Jimmy and David didn't just resurface, they detonated.'
Walk-Offs and Group Divide
Regarding Sinitta and Gemma Collins walking off, Emma said: 'It wasn't drama for drama's sake. They were experiencing emotional overload. When individuals remove themselves physically, it's often because the situation has exceeded their ability to manage it psychologically. The environment became intolerable.'
She noted a split in the group: 'Some campmates defended Adam, while others doubled down on claims of behaviour not fully shown. That creates a split narrative, and once a group fractures like that, reconciliation becomes almost impossible in the moment.'
Adam Thomas's Uncomfortable Victory
Adam Thomas looked visibly uncomfortable even as he was crowned winner, which Emma attributed to cognitive dissonance: 'Winning in the middle of social rejection creates cognitive dissonance. You're being rewarded publicly while being challenged socially. The brain struggles to reconcile those two realities.'
Emma concluded: 'The most striking thing is that this finale exposed resentment that had been contained too long. We now know there were claims of unaired incidents, accusations of favouritism in editing, and tensions that had been building for days.'
