Danny Baker triggered an emotional response from his ‘I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!’ campmates, as he opened up about his battle with cancer.
The radio DJ - who announced he was cancer-free last month, six years after his diagnosis - had Scarlett Moffatt in tears as he talked about overcoming the disease.
During a conversation with the group on Friday (18 November) night’s episode of the ITV reality series, Danny explained why he thought cancer had given him an advantage in the jungle.
“One of the legacies of it is my mouths always dry, I’ve got very few taste buds, very few saliva glands and my appetite is flat lined,” he said. “One of the things here because it’s in your head and you get radiotherapy, its blitzes your mouth.
“I didn’t talk for eight months” he added.
Danny then explained how he was diagnosed back in 2010, saying: “[I had a] big old lump come up in the neck, and like most blokes, I thought oh that’s nothing. It’s only because people stating saying what’s that on your neck.
“I had another one about four years ago, that was just a thyroid. And they said you’ve got to take three days off work. And I said when am I going to take three days off work.
“So then this side starts coming up. I just let it go for about eight months. I went into see them the bloke. I said, ‘look the other side’s gone’. He said that doesn’t look like thyroid. I said you remember, you said the other side’s going to come up. Test, test, test, test, test, test. He went I’ll let you know about them in a week. Got home, and hour later the phone went and it was his secretary Mr Baker, did you, you came in for some tests this morning. I said yes I did. She went could you come back? I said, ‘when?’, she said, ‘now’. She said, ‘could you bring someone with you?’. You think ‘ok...’”
Danny’s story prompted Scarlett to cry, and he later said: “People may have thought I was going to come in here in an iron lung or something and seeing this robust bloke coming in you know it’s a pretty good story and unfortunately these days it’s one of the few things people know about me.
“People come up to me and said are you the poster boy for the Big C? A lot of people are interested in that sort of thing and they think because everyone is terrified by it, and all I can do is hopefully be some kind of living, breathing, bumptious proof you can actually come through it.”
An emotional Scarlett later went to the Bush Telegraph, praising Danny for his bravery.
“I just think Danny’s so brave and like I just got very emotional because I just think cancer is awful and like obviously it affects so many families,” she said.
“My dad’s had it before and Danny actually reminds me weirdly of my dad, because he’s got such a positive outlook on everything, and when he was talking I was just like, it weren’t tears of sadness, it was tears of just how inspirational he is, just how positive he can stay, and he’s just amazing.
“He’s just mint,” she added.
‘I’m A Celebrity’ continues on Saturday at 9.25pm on ITV.