Heading into the semi-final of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! no one was more surprised to see Nath Valvo fighting for a spot in the finale than Nath himself.
Throughout the season, Nath had joked that he barely expected to last the first few days, let alone be in the Top Five battling for a shot at the jungle throne.
"I'm not sure if you're aware of who I am as a person," Nath told 10, "but I don't like being in discomfort, I'm quite unfit, I don't really go outdoors, I've never been camping, I don't play sport, and I have no interest in personal growth," he said. So why on earth would he ever agree to go into the jungle?
"I did the show for three reasons," Nath confessed. "One, because I knew it would deliver in terms of material for my stand-up shows and comedy. I knew it would, and boy did it!
"Two, I have heaps of nieces and nephews... and they're all very young, they can't watch me in anything, they can't come to my shows, and they're not interested in any of the stuff I normally do on TV so it's been a very cool thing to be dealing with crocs and snakes, getting catapulted into the sky, and them FaceTiming me or watching episodes with me. They're obsessed!"
Nath's third reason for signing up for the jungle experience was the simplest of all. "Any time you see a comedian in the jungle, just know that they've definitely recently signed a mortgage," he laughed.
Coming into the experience, the comedian said he expected it to be difficult, but also was convinced that there would be small comforts hidden from the viewers.
"I thought there was probably extra food, extra comfort.... I thought there'd be a secret shower, oh, absolutely not," he laughed.
"I mean, come on! We're D-Grade celebrities, we deserve respect! But it's very real. You are on a cot in the middle of the jungle, day and night," Nath continued.
"The show doesn't tell anyone that there are two men walking around in camo, fighting off baboons so they don't come into the camp and rip our faces off. No one told me that until we got there!"
While the threat of baboons loomed over them, the most dangerous animal in the camp was a hungry celebrity. Nath said that on top of everything, there was a lingering anxiety of letting the camp down when you went off to do a trial. With everyone already cranky from a lack of food, returning with a disappointing amount of stars could push people over the edge.
"Food becomes everything," Nath said. "Day and night, it's just about winning the trial. So, when you go off to do it, you're just so scared that you're going to let them down."
Getting to the semi-final, Nath said he thinks underestimating his own efforts may have been his secret weapon. "I was just so excited and surprised to still be there," he said.
"I knew how much some people wanted to be there to the end and, once a few of those people had left -- sorry to sound like Luke -- the gratitude really kicked in," he said. "I found my groove in that last week."
According to Nath, he and Rebekah Elmaloglou have come to an agreement that they tied for fourth place. "So, to come fourth out of 13 is just mind-blowing," he laughed.
"I was absolutely stoked. That [semi-final] day was one of my favourite days in the entire time there. I woke up that morning and said to Chef and Luke, this is my last day, I just knew it, and I just loved it!"
Though he narrowly missed out on a spot in the grand finale, Nath said he had an absolute ball and was thrilled to be reunited with his husband, Cody. On top of everything, he was in the jungle supporting a charity close to his heart: Lifeline, a suicide prevention and crisis hotline.
During a fireside chat with the whole camp, Nath spoke about losing a close friend as well as a cousin to suicide.
"One of the highlights, for sure, was the chat at the campfire," Nath said. "It went for so much longer than what you saw. We all chatted for hours that night about everything. About why people were there, experiences, stories, and I think it did shift a few people and the vibe in camp in a really nice way after we all spoke about our charities," he said.
"You just can't deny it, once you get in there and talk about it, you share your personal stories -- I spoke about my friend and my cousin -- it absolutely helps," Nath continued. "And $100,000 is not nothing, it doesn't seem like a possibility, but when there's only five or six of you left, that's when it started to kick in with all of us!"
You can find out more about Lifeline, as well as all the charities our celebs were in the jungle supporting here.
Voting is now open to crown your next King or Queen of the jungle! Head HERE and vote for your fave to crown Gary, Luke, or Concetta!
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Grand Finale airs Sunday at 7pm on 10.
