Retired boxer Tony Bellew says 'I'm on my way home' to family as he finishes second in I'm a Celeb

Retired boxer Tony Bellew told his family "I'm on my way home" after finishing second on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

The former WBC cruiserweight champion, from Liverpool, made it to this year's final with GB news presenter Nigel Farage and reality star and radio presenter Sam Thompson, who went on to win the show.

Sam Thompson, who is known for starring in Made In Chelsea, was crowned 'king of the jungle' after being voted the winner of this year's I'm A Celebrity.

Bellew says it was difficult to be away from his family and was taken by "complete surprise" when his wife entered the jungle.

He said: "It just broke me for a good ten minutes. I can't explain and I wanted to just walk out and leave with her I'm not gonna lie. It was only her telling me 'you can't just walk out', if I would of walked out it would of been such a disappointment because my kids would have seen their dad quit and I've never quit nothing in my life.

"It broke my heart to leave her again it really did, I cannot put it into words because it's so difficult to tell people how hard it was in there at times. But we got through it and I stuck and believed I could do great things, and keep trying.

"After leaving Rach I was going back to Sam, Sam was brilliant I cannot put into words how exceptional Sam is and I knew he was the winner from literally a few days after meeting him."

The public enjoyed the friendship that sparked between Bellew and Thompson. Bellew described Thompson as his "fifth child" in his interview on Good Morning Britain.

He said: "Sam is unique, Sam is basically a unicorn. I have never met anyone like Sam before in all my life. He's just a lovely boy with such a kind, caring nature. He never gets down, he never sees any bad in anything.

"I think as a human race we see bad in everything. The way we're all growing up there's so much negativity in the world and we feel it. But Sam for some reason doesn't, I only wish I could feel the way Sam does 24 hours a day.

"But every minute I'm with him, I do feel like Sam does cause you only have to look at him and it's always smiles and laughter."

Bellew was persuaded to enter the jungle by his close friend.

He said: "Mike talked me round and said to me 'go in there because no one really knows you'. I didn't really care if people knew me and wasn't that bothered.

"I wasn't sure if people were ever gunna like me because the persona of me is I'm a maniac that punches people in the face.

"But the truth is I'm a normal person, I'm the exact same as every person watching that. The only difference is that I used to punch people in the face for a living.

"Well that's gone now, it's been five years since I've done that. You've just seen me, so I guess people like me for me, and I can't do anything else but that to be honest."

In 2018, Bellew retired from professional boxing and has since commentated on boxing events and taken part in reality programme SAS: Who Dares Wins.

Bellew says he experienced mental challenges in the jungle but was determined to not quit.

"You would have good days, bad days and lonely times. I was going through it a little bit before I went in there in my personal life, losing my nan, my beautiful nan. On top of that I missed my son's birthday which I promised after I retired I'd never do that again but I did.

"So there's so much going but I had brilliant people in there with me, I had some quality people, lovely people."

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