ITV I'm A Celebrity's Danny Jones minutes from bailing on show because of incident at home

The Mirror's Mark Jefferies is currently Down Under as ITV's I'm A Celebrity gears up for a grand return to screens

Bookmakers favourite Danny Jones almost didn't make it into the I'm A Celeb jungle after losing his passport hours before he was due to leave home.

The McFly star is actually about to move house and in the impending chaos he thought his passport was in a packed box and turned things upside down before even going to the recording studios as time ran out.

Danny, who only signed up for the show a couple of weeks before he left the UK, said: "Leaving the house was one of the most stressful mornings of my life.

"Because one: I'm leaving. I didn't know I was doing the show, right? Until, like, pretty last minute. My wife has to move house. I was meant to be, like, I've done this. I've done the 21st anniversary, we've been touring for two years straight.

"I've just got The Voice. It was a great year, and I'm just gonna move house. I'm just gonna chill and have Christmas. But no, there were different plans! So leaving the house was quite stressful. And here's the double reason why it was stressful: I couldn't find my passport in the morning. I was literally going, 'Darling, I've got to go to the airport now and I can't find my passport!'"

He added: "So I was literally like, it was such a quick goodbye, I felt like I've not really said goodbye. But in a way, I look at that as a bit of a positive, because it wasn't so like, you know, long-winded and kind of like, I don't know when I'm going to see him again.

"It was like, 'I've got to go check the car at the studio, check this place, you know. I've got to find my passport. So that's why you can see that shocking picture of me turning up to the airport looking dishevelled."

Bursting into laughter, he said: "Well, here's the thing: I already packed it in my bag! I was already prepped, man. So there's me, like I went to the drawer where I thought it was, wasn't there. Panicked, and obviously, because we're moving house, I'm emptying every single box that we've packed over the past few weeks.

"And I went to the studio, because I parked my car there, and I was like, it's not in my car. I had to go back home, and then as I checked my bag that I was going to the airport with, it was sat there staring at me. I said to my wife, 'Darling, it's fine. I found it. I must have packed it last week and forgot about it. I'm so organised I forgot about it."

Danny has been part of the pop-rock boyband McFly since they formed in the early 2000s along with Tom Fletcher, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter who was king of the jungle in 2011.

ITV viewers have already seen him win The Masked Singer this year and afterwards he shared a cute video of the moment his son Cooper, six, realised 'Piranha' who he had enjoyed watching on screen was actually his own dad.

Speaking about how hard it was to leave his wife and son behind, Danny was close to tears and said: "I couldn't tell him. It was a little bit like The Masked Singer. As I was leaving, I was like, 'Daddy's going away for a few weeks'. But then when it got announced, I'm sure he would find out now, but I said to him, 'You're gonna come on an adventure with Mummy and be a good boy'. I've never been away for this long.

"We normally have a two-week thing on it where if it's any more than two weeks, you've got to come and say hi. I mean, FaceTime does obviously help, but that's taken, my whole communication has been taken away. And it's not just while you're in the jungle, it's in this lockdown bit that I'm in now for a week as well. So in its entirety, it will be, you know, just over a month.

"It is hard, and you've got time with yourself, and I'm a big thinker - a big over-thinker - so it's a real challenge. But I wear my emotions on my sleeve, and I'm definitely, 100 per cent will be so overexcited and emotional when I see the people that I love the most walking towards me. I think that would be a special moment, and I'm not scared to show my emotions either."

Danny also admitted he may struggle in camp with the trials and the fact he is with nine strangers. Despite being a big name pop star for decades he feels safer on stage with the band than going solo in camp.

He explained: "It's a scary place to be. Not only are you limited to what you eat, I'm in there with a load of strangers. I'm vulnerable.And because I can't hide behind... see, everything I've done in the past, I feel like I'm protected in, you know, if I've got my guitar, or if I'm singing, I've always got something to kind of not hide behind, but to protect me.

"I'm more comfortable singing than I am talking. I'm more comfortable playing in front of O2 Arena than doing an interview. It's just the way I'm wired. So I'm going to be vulnerable, and that scared me. But I'm just gonna do my best and I don't know, maybe I'll have some switch that goes on, like survival mode, and I've got to do it. But maybe I won't. Maybe I'll be an absolute wimp. We'll see."

Danny is the bookmakers' favourite to win and speaking to him it is easy to see why. He is easy to talk to, part of a hugely popular band and has already won two ITV primetime series this year if you include his stint as a coach on The Voice and The Masked Singer.

On the possibility of becoming kind of the jungle and winning I'm A Celebrity, he said: "I can't even fathom what it would feel like to win the jungle. I think why it would probably mean so much is that, even though I may look super confident, we have insecurities, and we're fragile as human beings. I've never been out there as just myself in such a vulnerable state.

"And I think just having the approval of the British public and people that... oh, you actually do like me or whatever, it's kind of nice to know that, and I think that would be just the cherry on top. And if I won it, I'd definitely, 100 percent get a brand new tattoo of the crown and the stick somewhere on my body to represent it. Absolutely would."

He added: "I've got The Masked Singer under my belt, I've got The Voice under my belt - I'm going for the Treble. I'm going for the Pep Guardiola! And I know that I will try my best. All you can do is your best, and I'm going to do my very best to impress you guys, impress my son and impress my campmates."

I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here starts on Sunday night at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.

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