Coronation Street star Nigel Havers has delivered a brutally honest explanation for his dramatic exit from I’m A Celebrity… in 2010.
The 73-year-old actor is known for his role as smooth-talking con man Lewis Archer on Corrie. However, Nigel claimed he left the jungle to avoid a prison sentence after clashing with fellow campmate Lembit Öpik.
He joined the ITV reality show 15 years ago but lasted only nine days before sensationally walking out. Now, he’s finally told The Guardian why.
Why did Nigel Havers leave I’m a Celebrity?
“You think it looks bad on TV? [Bleep], it was terrible,” Nigel said.
“It was the boredom more than anything. There was a bloke called Lembit Öpik, the politician. After a couple of days, I wanted to kill him. Had I stayed, I would’ve killed him and I’d be in prison now. So it seemed like a good idea to leave.”
Nigel’s frustrations in camp were clear to viewers, especially as tensions grew between him and former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit, who he repeatedly branded “dull”.
The friction came to a head just hours before Nigel quit the show. The star had refused to take part in the Kangaroo Court trial, which involved electric shocks.
“I’m not up for it. I don’t do electric shocks, so I’m leaving,” Nigel was seen fuming on air. “I cannot waste another second of my life. If you are gaining something, that’s a fantastic thing. But if you’re not gaining something…”
Nigel also admitted he didn’t want his wife to see him in such a state of stress.
“I didn’t want my wife to see me in prison.”
‘If I’d stayed there I would have killed somebody’
However, the tension between the two celebs didn’t end in the jungle. In 2018, Nigel told Good Morning Britain: “If I’d stayed there I would have killed somebody. His name was Lembit Öpik and I was just about to murder him.”
Lembit has since fired back, mocking Nigel’s repeated digs by writing on Twitter.
“Poor Nigel Havers,” Lembit wrote. “Only celeb to walk out of the jungle in my series. He fell in a lake – blamed me. In car back to hotel – he blamed me. Now he’s blaming me for his departure from camp! I apologise for it all: and for his appearance on Benidorm in case he blames me for that too.”
In a separate interview with The Sun, Lembit called Nigel “two-faced”.
“He pretended to be my friend,” the politician shared. “I only realised what he really thought when I saw the show after I came out. We’ve not been on each other’s Christmas lists since 2010.”
Nigel also aired other frustrations during his short time in the jungle, expressing dismay at the lack of stimulating conversation:
“There has been non-stop chat, never a pause ever. I’m 59 and I don’t want to waste it sitting around talking absolute [bleep].”
While his jungle stint may have been brief and controversial, Nigel’s career remains anything but. Known for roles in Chariots of Fire, The Charmer and Downton Abbey, the actor has since reflected on life, love, and a youth filled with Swinging Sixties mischief.
While he may have left the jungle early, his I’m A Celeb legacy lives on.
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