Ex I'm A Celebrity star reveals how celebs sneak contraband into camp

I'm A Celebrity star Alex Scott has received praise from last year's contestant Dean McCullough, for managing to sneak contraband into the camp.

The footballer, 41, faced the wrath of bosses on Monday night's episode, after she was caught using smuggled sachets of salt to season the food in camp.

After being spotted by the beady-eyed producers, the camp was punished by losing one of the stars Aitch had earned on the Bushtucker Trial for their dinner, while Alex was forced to give up the illicit seasoning.

However, Dean, 33 - who famously smuggled several tea bags into camp last series - has heaped praise on the pundit for managing to get the salt past ITV, despite the militant searches that all the celebrities go through before entering the Jungle.

The show has a host of items which celebrities are banned to take into camp each year, including their own clothes, makeup, condiments, food and pillows. 

Speaking to The Mirror, Dean explained how vigilant ITV are to prevent any illicit items making their way into camp, insisting: 'They search every nook and cranny.'

The Radio 1 DJ recalled how security went through all his belongings and even patted him down, ahead of his entrance.

He said of Alex: 'Good for her… it’s so difficult to actually get stuff in there that I think she deserves a reward for her efforts.'

Dean also sympathised with her decision to sneak in some seasoning and insisted her campmates would be grateful regardless of the resulting punishment, because the food in camp was so tasteless and unappetising.

But he said that while Alex had been clever to get the salt into camp, she had messed up by bringing it into the open at the 'worst time' - as the producers are at their most observant during the cooking.

He said: 'The producers watch you cook every single item of food in there... they see everything that’s being handled to make sure no one gets sick so showing your contraband around the food is the worst time to do it as they’re paying such close attention to everything.'

Last year, Dean secretly made tea for his campmates, while only confessing to have snuck in teabags to his campmates in hushed whispers away from the cameras.

He revealed that he had only narrowly managed to sneak the contraband by stuffing the teabags down his pants before his arrival in the Jungle, via skydiving from a helicopter.

He explained that he then had to transfer them around to circumvent the security search, moving them from his pants, to his socks, to the case of his water bottle.

But despite security going to extraordinary lengths to sniff out any concealed contraband, Dean insisted that it wouldn't but a stop to the rule-breaking, revealing that former contestants even share their secret tips to beating the system.

He said: 'They’ll never be able to fully stop it, we’ll just find new ways of sneaking stuff in. We all talk… I was told by a very reliable source about how to sneak stuff in.'

Alex's rule-break was spotted by hosts Ant and Dec on Sunday, as she cooked up a dinner of crocodile feet with Jack Osbourne.

Sneakily pulling of sachets of salt, she instructed him: 'Jack you have fun with the crocodile toes and all of that section and just give me the mushrooms, potatoes and kale. I'll add some flavours in. I know people are going to be happy.'

But after watching the footage back, a suspicious Ant was quick to suggest: 'Was that a bit of seasoning added?'

And Dec teased punishments were in store as he replied: 'I think it was, I think it was contraband. What's going to happen? Watch this space.' 

The next night saw the campmates get a nasty surprise when dinner arrived, as they were told they'd lost one of the stars as there was contraband in camp.

The celebrities were told there would be an amnesty where they'd have an opportunity to surrender all contraband without further punishment, and only then would dinner be delivered.

Alex owned up to the salt, while Shona McGarty also confessed to having a can of air freshener for the dunny.

But rather than cause tension or anger in the group, their fellow campmates acknowledged the two's rule-breaking had been in aid of helping the whole camp and were quick to forgive.

Dean also brought punishment to the camp during the last series, after being overhead telling Jane Moore about the illegal tea bags.

He them slyly took a tea bag from his hidden contraband supply and dropped it into that morning's hot water.

When the 'hot water' was served, the dark colour in the mugs confused the campmates and a befuddled Barry McGuigan questioned: 'Why are they dark?'

While Alan Halsall joked: 'We got a bit of mud in the kettle but if you try it, it's not too bad.'

A still unsure Barry took a sip of the suspicious looking water, before realising and gave a sly wink back to Alan and Dean who laughed along as he said: 'Fantastic!'

However, due to Dean's contraband antics, the camp's treat of cupcakes they won from Kiosk Kev was halved as punishment, with Dean forced to give up his contraband to avoid further retribution.