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'I Don't View Myself As A Celebrity At All': Radio Host Woody Whitelaw Is Heading Into The Jungle

For the first time in I'm A Celeb history, Woody was one of the last people to find out that he was heading into the jungle.

Several weeks ago, Dr Chris and Lady Julia stopped by the KIIS studios to chat with Will and Woody, revealing the news that one of the radio hosts would be heading into the jungle.

"It was sort of done behind Will and my backs in that [the show] approached our partners and work, and it was organised, as I said, behind our backs," Will told 10 Play.

"Then it was announced to us on-air when Chris and Julia joined us on the radio show, they announced one of us was going into the jungle and we were sitting in limbo for a very, very long time until we found out which one of us was going!"

Admittedly, Woody said now that he knows that he's the one heading into the South African jungle when Season 9 kicks off on April 2, he's very much looking forward to seeing how he handles the challenge.

"Any time you do something really hard in life I think you learn a lot about yourself and really grow. I'm hoping that's the experience I have in the jungle," he added.

While his partner Mim was part of the scheming to get Woody into the jungle, the pair welcomed their daughter Remi in October last year, making the decision to head into the jungle with no contact with the outside world a little more difficult.

"I went away for three days for work recently and I still had access to my phone so I could FaceTime the girls every morning, and even those three days were really, really, really difficult," Woody said.

"Being away from them and not being able to talk to them at all, not get any real updates... I imagine it'll be pretty emotional and pretty hard," he continued.

"Even though she's six months old and probably has no idea what's going on, I like the idea of teaching Remi that going after or chasing things that scare you is a good thing to do. I hope that, in the future, she can see that by the way that I've handled myself.

"I've convinced myself of this anyway, to justify going into a jungle and leaving her for so long," Woody added, laughing. "That's what I'll say to her in years to come in therapy."

Having worked in radio for over a decade, Woody is no stranger to talking to people from all walks of life, so living in the jungle with his secret celebrity campmates doesn't concern him too much.

"I think I'll be too excited," he admitted. "I worry that I'm going to be a fanboy in there because I don't view myself as a celebrity at all. I don't think I'm a household name, people don't know who I am and that's the beauty of radio, people don't see what you look like.

"I'm going to be stuck in this jungle with genuine celebrities and I think the key for me is just keeping my excitement in check. I don't think these celebrities are going to want a fan in there... the key for me: be cool, act cool and be one of them. That's what I keep telling myself."

As Dr Chris and Lady Julia prep the various Tucker Trials that will force our celebs out of their comfort zones, Woody said he couldn't think of any fears he may come face-to-face with during the experience.

"I might find out that I do have a few phobias because I know they get pretty creative with the challenges that they give you while you're in there," he said adding, "I've been asked this a lot and I feel like the only one that might get me is being trapped in a box underwater. It's very specific, but I might struggle with that."

While submarines may be his worst nightmare, Woody felt reassured that it might be difficult to find a submarine in the middle of the jungle. Difficult, but not impossible.

"I've been asked this question a lot and I'm like... are we in the game? Are we doing it right now, or do you actually care about me? I feel like I probably shouldn't talk about the mini-submarines they're currently organising."

After it was announced that he may be heading into the jungle, Woody had several former jungle alums reach out with words of advice.

"I spoke to a few people when I was still in limbo as to whether I was going or not going -- Beau Ryan, Diruk Jayasinha, Casey Donovan -- and they were all amazing," he said.

"They actually made me feel more positive about going in because they were talking about the fact that an opportunity like this just doesn't come around. I'm going to be in the jungle in South Africa without a phone, without electricity and with a whole group of people."

But the former celebs also had some wise words of advice, "They all said do whatever you can to sneak in salt and pepper which I thought was strange, but yeah, all three of them said just get in some seasoning.

"I have to be careful with what I say here, I'm currently thinking of ways I can strap salt and pepper sachets to my body, try to get in and bury them and hopefully liven up the food.

"Maybe the first test will be strapping it to my body and seeing if I can get it through customs in South Africa," he joked. "If I pass that test I reckon I can get past the producers as well!"

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! premieres Sunday, 2 April at 7.30 on 10 And 10 Play