Martin Kemp has spoken out about his notably low profile during this year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, following his elimination from the ITV programme on Thursday evening.
The Spandau Ballet musician and actor, who became the sixth contestant to depart the Australian jungle, acknowledged that he intentionally stepped back to give his younger co-stars greater opportunities.
Speaking to hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly after his exit, Mr Kemp reflected on his time in camp: “I wasn’t one of those guys that was dancing and singing and stuff, I just brought a calm energy.”
The 64-year-old’s limited screen time had prompted viewers to label him the “ghost” of the camp throughout the series.
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Friday, Mr Kemp elaborated on his approach to the competition, suggesting his fellow contestants were performing “magic tricks” to secure camera time.
“I suppose my role was to let the kids be kids and bring a little bit of calm into the camp and I knew that was going to be my role, I’m not one who wants to jump in front of the camera and do magic tricks,” he told presenters Adil Ray and Charlotte Hawkins.
The former EastEnders star explained his reasoning further, noting that he considered himself at the tail end of his career whilst his campmates were just starting out.
“And the other guys are at the beginning, and why not give them the chance and time and put them in front of a queue?” he said.
Martin Kemp addressed why he had taken a back seat in the jungle
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ITV
Mr Kemp also opened up about the personal challenges of forming friendships after spending more than five decades in the public eye.
“I realise that I’m not very good at making new friends, you know, generally. I think that comes from being in the public eye for getting on over 50 years or something now, I was a 17-year-old kid,” he admitted.
However, the jungle experience proved transformative in this regard, with Mr Kemp revealing he had managed to forge genuine connections with his campmates for the first time in years.
“I think what you do when you’re in the public eye, you kind of pull up the drawbridge a little bit,” he explained.
Martin Kemp talked about his notably low profile on the show
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ITV
His wife Shirlie had apparently encouraged him to participate in the show specifically to help him learn how to make friends again.
The musician’s son Roman, who presents The One Show, had playfully dubbed his father the “jungle ghost” throughout the series due to his minimal appearances on screen.
Roman took to social media to joke about the situation, at one point writing: “If it wasn’t for your posts, I’m not sure I would have realised he was on it,” quoting a fan’s response.
Former campmate Vogue Williams added further context following her own elimination.
She claimed during an Instagram live session that Kemp had been exempt from certain Bushtucker trials.
“Martin did want to do the trials, but Martin was exempt from some,” the Irish presenter told fans from her hotel room.
Kemp’s sole major trial came on Thursday’s episode alongside Tom Read Wilson, just hours before his departure from the competition.