I’m A Celebrity viewers were left stunned on Saturday night as Shane Richie admitted he hasn’t worked for a year.
And perhaps even more humiliating, he said he’d been recently rejected by the Mr Tumble movie.
The former EastEnders actor, 56, shared his down on his luck news to the campmates in the special non-live episode.
He said he was struggling to find acting gigs since leaving the BBC soap.
And that he’d been left devastated when he failed to get an audition for an upcoming Mr Tumble movie.
What happened to Shane Richie?
Speaking to Giovanna Fletcher, he said he’d hoped to get the role while out of work during lockdown.
Shane lamented: “I got turned down this year by Mr Tumble. So, we’re all out of work, my manager rings up and says I’ve put you up for this part, they’re making this movie before they go into lockdown and they want you to play a cheeky copper.
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“No. Don’t want him. Didn’t even get back to me.”
Before adding: “I’ve starred with Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, and I’m thinking yeah I’m ready for Mr Tumble and no. Even Mr Tumble didn’t want to work with me.”
How are viewers reacting?
But Giovanna, 35, reassured him that everyone gets rejected in life, and things will pick up eventually.
She said: “Sometimes you’re just not wanted. And that’s ok. You sort of keep riding the wave. Sometimes TOWIE doesn’t want you. Sometimes Mr Tumble doesn’t want you but someone will.”
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Mr Tumble is a CBeebies character and television show, played by MBE Justin Fletcher.
However, fans rushed to Twitter to share their sympathy for the actor.
One viewer tweeted: “Lost a lot of respect for mr tumble today #imaceleb.”
While another viewer joked: “Always knew there was something bad about that Mr Tumble #ImACeleb.”
And a third viewer reassured Shane with: “It’s alright Shane. Mr Tumble might not of wanted you but #ImaCeleb a celeb did so ya know you’re winning.”
Yet another viewer teased: “Wow, Mr Tumble! How rude #ImACeleb #imacelebrity.”
Shane previously told The Sun he was mainly going on I’m A Celebrity this year to help pay off his debts.
He explained he had a lot of work lined up for 2020, but it had all got cancelled due to lockdown.
He said: “And now I am literally skint. You save money for a rainy day but you don’t expect the rainy day to last six months.
“Thankfully I’ve been able to borrow money from mates, my family and the bank and my wife is now very happy we can finally pay off the credit card!”
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