I scoffed at Angry Ginge entering I’m A Celebrity and then rolled my eyes when he became the bookies’ runaway favourite to be crowned King of the Jungle.
Not that he’s unworthy of being there: the stats speak for themselves – over 2.2 million followers on TikTok, 1.7 million on Instagram and 900,000 YouTube subscribers.
They’re just not stats that honestly meant anything to me compared with Martin Kemp’s collection of number-one singles, Kelly Brook presenting one of my favourite childhood TV shows The Big Breakfast, or Ruby Wax simply being one of the most brilliant and iconic comedians and interviewers I grew up with.
I’m still of a generation that separates ‘celebrity’ from ‘streamer’, and I’m fully aware that makes me a dinosaur.
But it didn’t take long for Ginge, real name Morgan Burtwistle, to win me over completely. My votes became his, even if the ‘Angry Ginge and Aitch’ show wore thin very quickly.
But when the content creator was away from his fellow laddy Mancunian, he’s been softer, emotionally intelligent, and has struck up some of my all-time favourite friendships in I’m A Celebrity, most notably with his unlikely new ally, Ruby.
With very little knowledge of or interest in the streaming world, watching Angry Ginge feels reminiscent of Chantelle Houghton imitating a famous person on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006 – which I mean as a great compliment.
He has no air of stardom at all, and outside of his fanbase, that’s absolutely worked in his favour this series.
I’d hazard a guess that the majority of I’m A Celebrity viewers had no idea who – or what – an Angry Ginge was until almost three weeks ago, and now a huge chunk of that majority adore him like I do.
With bookmakers, he’s currently neck-and-neck for victory alongside rapper Aitch, which is unsurprising given how much airtime they’ve both had.
They’ve also painted an extremely healthy picture of masculinity throughout.
It has been wildly overlooked, however, that Aitch and Ginge are both sharing what is likely an identical fanbase which inevitably needs to split its votes between the two front-runners. Could that lead to an unexpected upset? Only time will tell.
Should either of them take Danny Jones’s crown, I wouldn’t be mad about it – but, for me, they’ve thrown away their dignity in the final week by celebrating ‘getting away with’ stealing sweets from their camp mates, and someone else has suddenly emerged as my winner – Shona McGarty.
The former EastEnders star hasn’t had the airtime she’s deserved until this final stretch to the finish line, where she’s been understated but quietly magnificent.
Until this week, her highlight was undoubtedly talking about her ex-fiance with grace after they split just weeks before she entered the jungle.
When Kelly Brook giggled away at her track record of failed engagements, Shona quietly took herself away and leant on the purest shoulder to walk planet Earth, Tom Read Wilson.
It was such a tender and vulnerable moment that was so clearly devoid of attention-seeking, which on a celebrity reality TV series is practically unheard of.
She finally did her first solo Bushtucker Trial on Tuesday night’s episode, dressed as a pirate to walk a wobbly plank 100 feet in the air and collect stars dangling in hard-to-reach places.
The Whitney Dean actor zipped through the challenge with carefree abandon, like a child at soft play, and despite watching hundreds of Bushtucker Trials, I found myself rooting for Shona more than anyone who’s ever done a trial before her.
She was fantastic, and it felt like, after fading into the background in early episodes, she finally found her stride and proved herself to be a bit of a hero.
