Daytime queen Steph McGovern has revealed the real reason why she is unlikely to appear in the I’m A Celebrity jungle.
Speaking exclusively to Entertainment Daily, the Steph’s Packed Lunch presenter admitted that she has been asked to travel Down Under to Australia for the show various times before, but has always turned it down.
And Steph – who is nominated for Best-Loved Presenter in the Entertainment Daily Awards 2022 – revealed it has nothing to do with a fear of eating creepy crawlies.
Steph McGovern on health reason for turning down I’m A Celebrity
Steph said that the idea of putting unusual things in her mouth doesn’t bother her.
However, something does.
It turns out Steph is actually more worried about the affect eating certain things might have on her body.
“I’m not scared about eating things,” she told us. “My main worry is about would be how my body would react.
“You see, I’m the type of person who gets a small bite and then my whole leg swells up.
“I’ve also got IBS too so I’d be scared that if I ate something that disagreed with me I’d probably end up [bleep]ing myself on TV.
“It’s not mentally how I’d deal with it, but more physically how my body would work,” she then added.
Seeing Matt Hancock in the jungle was ‘hard’
Another jungle critter she has an opinion is I’m A Celeb runner up, Matt Hancock.
She told ED! she sympathises with the nation who thought he shouldn’t have been paid £400k to appear on the show. But she understands why ITV bosses offered him so much dosh!
“Of course, I understand why producers got Matt Hancock on the show – ITV has got an enormous amount of publicity having him on, so I totally get why they put him in,” she said.
“But I think it is so hard for anyone who lost someone during the pandemic or wasn’t able to see their loved ones see a man they think is partly responsible doing a popular TV show without any remorse or any words to say about that time and how it could have been done differently.
“I think that’s hard for people to stomach especially when he you know he’s getting quite a lot of money for it as well.”
However, in spite of the nation’s initial unpopularity, Steph said she’s not surprised that Matt did so well in the competition.
“Once I saw that he could do the challenges quite well I thought people would get to like him,” she then reasoned.
“We are very much personality-driven as a society. We like people with personality, whether we agree with them or not.
“You can say: ‘I don’t agree with that, but he was funny doing that wasn’t he?’ We put, we put personality over competency.”
Strictly’s out of the question for Steph, too
Another reality juggernaut Steph is currently reluctant to do is Strictly Come Dancing.
Steph explained that, as a new mum, she doesn’t want to spend time away from her daughter.
“My little girl is only three and if I was to do it, and my show, which is five days a week, I wouldn’t see her for a few months,” she explained.
“My priority at the moment is her and being with her when I finished work. I’m not in a rush to do it but I think it’s an amazing programme. I was there watching it in Blackpool.”
Steph McGovern on ‘reality’ of motherhood
Steph and her partner welcomed their daughter back in 2019 and she is the first to admit that the adventure wasn’t easy.
“No matter whether you are incredibly prepared or not prepared at all, once the reality hits of you having a child, all your best laid plans go out of the window,” she said.
I still love my career, but fundamentally, I’m a parent first.
“You just have to follow what your kid’s doing.
“You can have all these grand ideas about feeding a certain way, or sleep a certain way but if it’s not working, you’ve also got to think about your own sanity as well and making sure you get some sleep.”
Luckily she has her other half to help out.
“Me and my partner tag team and that’s the way we get through it,” she revealed.
“And you realise that every time you reach a milestone you’re ‘Phew! Right, that bits done, let’s move on to the next one to contend with’. It’s life-changing. It has made my priorities different. I still love my career, but fundamentally, I’m a parent first.”
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Baby number two for Steph?
So would she fancy another child any time soon?
“I was an only child, so I don’t see the desperation to have another one,” she admitted.
“I don’t think it matters if she has a brother or sister. But again – never say ever, but at this point now it’s a no.”
Steph’s pride for Alex Scott
While she has been bingeing on The White Lotus, Bad Sisters and The Crown, Stephanie has kept an eye on the controversial World Cup tournament in Qatar.
She revealed she is proud of the way presenter Alex Scott has dealt with her presenting stint.
And she’s disappointed in David Beckham’s decision to be an ambassador for a country that upholds antiquated laws against the LGTBTQ+ community and women.
“I think Alex has handled it really well,” she said.
“She was still doing a job and wore the arm band and was very much a strong woman in a country where women’s rights and gay rights and particularly are abhorrent.
“I think she’s probably done the right thing.”
She added: “The thing with David Beckham is it’s hard to stomach that he is an ambassador for Qatar.
“That’s the thing that I find hard as a gay woman.
“It’s one thing going to do your job after the decision has already been made to host it there. But there’s a whole other thing being the ambassador to a country where human rights are questionable.”
Steph McGovern thrilled over Entertainment Daily Awards 2022 nomination
On a more personal level, Steph says she has been touched to discover that she has been nominated for the Best-Loved Presenter gong in the Entertainment Daily Awards 2022.
With Steph’s Packed Lunch having been extended to the end of 2023, her career is going from strength to strength.
And Steph couldn’t be happier.
“When we started it, we had no idea how long it would be on for,” she confessed.
“I knew when I was starting this, it was a big challenge because obviously there are some brilliant daytime shows that are well established and have been on for decades. This is why we thought we’d offer something different.
“We’re not necessarily trying to compete directly with anyone. We’re just trying to look at what you don’t see as much as on telly and try and cater for that.
“I love programs like This Morning and Loose Women – I’ve watched growing up so it’s just nice to be in the same category as them now as well.”
Steph admitted that having her ‘Lunch Mates’ in the studio for the show has helped set her show apart from the others.
“My big thing when we did this show was to hear it from as many different types of people as possible, not just from the media world.
“I wanted their voice to be just as important as any celebrity who might be on the show.
“So that’s why we have the Lunch Mates who come from such a diverse background – from firemen to kids entertainers to nurses who sometimes completely change the way we do a story because of their perspective.”
Eeee well this is lovely! 🥰
If you want to vote for me (or anyone else for that matter 🤣) here’s the link: https://t.co/wIbfmwHfdT @EntDailyUK #EDAwards2022 pic.twitter.com/ioKgxTIaBq
— Steph McGovern (@StephLunch) November 18, 2022
Proudest moment revealed
While Steph says she loves live telly and the challenges big events like the Queen’s final days and the change of Prime Ministers haven thrown at her, she admitted that her proudest moments have been when she has tried to help viewers understand the cost-of-living crisis.
“I’ve got a background in business journalism. So one of my main joys is explaining complicated stuff to our viewers,” she said.
“So that’s what’s been great to talk about and what’s been really successful on the show, us giving advice to people on what to do in these various consumer situations by explaining things they might not understand.
“I genuinely get a buzz out of explaining all that. So to do that for our audience it feels like we’ve used our expertise to help people.”
‘I don’t like fighty telly’
Having interviewed the likes of Donald Trump – who she says “definitely had charisma and was fun to interview”, even though she disagreed with almost everything that came of his mouth – Steph said she loves chatting to people with amazing stories.
“My ideal people to interview are people who had extraordinary things happen to them in their life.
“But more often they’re not, they’re not necessarily famous or they’ve only become because they dealt with something extraordinary. They’re the people I find the most interesting.
“I don’t like doing fighty telly. I used to have to interview politicians all the time at the BBC and did a fair bit of that.
“But for me, I get the best out of people by talking to them about their story and making them feel comfortable on the show.”
Steph is nominated in the Best-Loved Presenter in the Entertainment Daily Awards 2022. Vote for her or your other TV favourites here.
Read more: Steph McGovern reveals real reason behind weight loss
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