Former boxing champion Barry McGuigan, who captured the hearts of the nation during the 2024 series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, has firmly ruled out a return to the jungle for any potential All Stars edition. The 65-year-old appeared alongside Coleen Rooney and McFly guitarist Danny Jones, who went on to win the series.
McGuigan Reflects on Jungle Experience
Speaking ahead of the dramatic final, McGuigan admitted: "I enjoyed it, but would I do it again? Probably not... the jungle was phenomenal. It was great. I was starving the whole way through - genuinely really hungry, and if we mucked up our trails, we didn't get food, so that happened several times."
The former world champion elaborated on the physical toll: "I was genuinely very hungry, and I lost a stone and a half in the time I was there. It was an amazing experience – incredible, but I was terrible at the tasks. I was just rubbish, and I couldn't see."
Friendships Formed in the Jungle
Despite the challenges, McGuigan spoke warmly of his campmates: "I made a lot of friends, and they were all a great bunch of people. Danny in particular, Melvin [Odoom] is a great fella, and Alan [Halsall] from Coronation Street is a fabulous lad as well - all the lads were really great."
Recalling Tragic Events
McGuigan's life has seen immense highs and lows. In 1982, he tragically killed Nigerian opponent Young Ali (Ali Mustaffa) in the ring. The incident was loosely depicted in the 1998 film The Boxer, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the Irishman.
"I killed that young man that night. I will never forget it - it was a terrible fight. I dropped him and he was hurting. I dropped him again in the fifth round twice, and I went to the neutral corner. In those days we didn't have paramedics ringside or ambulances, and the nearest neurosurgical hospital wasn't aware that a fight was going on. That's all that's changed now, but that was the fight that actually changed it," he recalled.
Family Tragedy and Inspiration
McGuigan's daughter Danika was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at age 11 in 1997 but recovered after two years of treatment. Heartbreakingly, she later died from bowel cancer at 33. McGuigan credits Daniel Day-Lewis with inspiring her to become an actress.
Holding back tears, he said: "I had to leave that [film] set at the end of 1997 because my daughter got leukaemia. She got better, and sadly she died in 2019, but that was an amazing time, and she came and watched the movie. She watched how Daniel went through the process and she loved him. She became an actress because of that."
