Jack Maynard has left I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Ant & Dec announced on Tuesday night’s show that the YouTuber had withdrawn from the jungle due to circumstances outside of camp.
They told viewers: “Due to circumstances outside camp Jack has had to withdraw from the show.”
No further information was given on air, but his rep later explained Jack had chosen to leave the jungle in order to defend himself against recent tabloid allegations.
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A slew of confused viewers took to Twitter in the wake of Ant & Dec’s announcement to express their surprise at his sudden exit.
One baffled fan wrote: “Ant & Dec casually mention that Jack Maynard has left I’m A Celebrity – I’m definitely not the only person who instantly stopped watching to google why.”
Jack found himself making headlines outside of camp over the past week, after a string of old tweets using “unacceptable language” were unearthed.
In a statement, the star’s rep said Jack agreed it was best for him to leave the jungle in order to defend himself.
A statement to The Sun read: “In the last few days Jack has been the subject of a succession of media stories which, given his position as a contestant on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here – filmed in the Australian jungle, with no contact with the outside world, he has been unable to respond to.
“Since it is only fair that everyone should be aware of any allegations made against them and should also have the right to defend themselves, it was agreed that it would be better to bring him out of the show.
“Jack agrees with this decision which was made by his representatives and ITV and thanks everyone who has supported him in the show this far.”
He was forced to apologise last week after a newspaper dug up old homophobic and racist tweets that had been sent from his Twitter account.
A spokeswoman for the vlogger said at the time: “Jack is ashamed of these tweets, many were deleted a long time ago.
“He would never use that language now and realises this kind of retaliatory, inflammatory, insulting language is completely unacceptable.”
A spokesperson for ITV added: “Jack has issued a full apology and has deleted the tweets that he sent.”
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Jack isn’t the first I’m A Celebrity contestant to withdraw from camp just days after arriving.
TOWIE star Gemma Collins memorably quit the jungle just three days into the 2014 series, but later said an incident in her personal life had meant she wasn’t in the right mindset for the challenge.