I’m a Celebrity star Dean McCullough’s rise to success after being left homeless with family

Dean McCullough has already made a name for himself on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and it hasn’t even been a week.

The Antrim native has worked hard to get to where he is, from leaving his home in Northern Ireland for London to making it big on the radio.

However, he hasn’t had it easy, with the presenter dealing with homelessness at different points in his life.

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Childhood

Dean was born on 9 July 1992, making him 32 years old. He is originally from Newtownabbey in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

He attended Glengormley High School and obtained a scholarship from Laine Theatre Arts.

The DJ opened up about experiencing homelessness for a year after his parents’ separation.

“We weren't living on the street, we were living in my aunt's house on a sofa. I was moving between houses on a regular basis,” he told the Big Issue.

When he moved to London in order to pursue a career in musical theatre, he dealt with homelessness again and began couch surfing.

Dean shared: “As soon as I sensed any kind of danger, I'd be straight out of [where I was staying]... for a long time I had no fixed address.

“I would go out on the Thursday and just stay out all weekend because I just didn't want to go home.”

He revealed how these periods left him with “problems with my possessions and feeling like I need to take care of absolutely everything around me”.

He added: “That comes down to moving from house to house and not ever feeling like anything was ever truly mine."

Rise to stardom

Dean appeared on Britain’s Got Talent in 2013 and made it all the way to the semi-finals as part of all-male dancing group called The Glambassadors. The three-person group danced and lip-synced to songs, such as Candyman by Christina Aguilera.

Speaking on the show at the time, he said: “We formed because we all know each other through working in dance. But a week before the auditions we lost two guys who got jobs in LA.

“So we found two other friends and we had one rehearsal before we got to the stage.

“I choreographed the dance so I was under pressure to get it sorted. We were winging it but I think because of the pressure we were under it all came together and now I have made friends for life.

“We have all been on this journey together, none of us have ever done anything like this before.”

Dean appeared on another reality TV show called Young, Free and Single two years later. The E4 show saw singles living together in a house as viewers voted on who would date who.

Afterwards, Dean began radio presenting as a volunteer for Wandsworth Radio. He later co-hosted a show with Emma Goswell on Gaydio. They presented their radio programme from 2018 until 2021 and covered LGBTQ+ issues.

The Northern Ireland native began filling in periodically for presenters on BBC Radio 1 and in September 2021, he started hosting the 10:30 to 13:00 slot.

During the following year, it was announced that Dean and Vicky Hawkesworth would replace Scott Mills and Chris Stark as co-hosts of the station's afternoon show.

In 2023, Dean began appearing on Big Brother: Late & Live and in 2024, he was confirmed as a castmate on the 24th series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.