I'm a Celebrity: Wayne Rooney urges fans to nominate wife Coleen for Bushtucker Trial

Football legend Wayne Rooney has urged fans to nominate his wife Coleen for a Bushtucker Trial as she continues to take part in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. The ex-Manchester United player said his spouse would like to “put herself to the test” and that he was proud of her.

Rooney, 39, shares four sons with Coleen - Kai Wayne, Klay Anthony, Kit Joseph and Cass Mac - and said the family was backing her in the Australian jungle.

“Proud of (Coleen) on (I'm a Celebrity) she’s doing great,”, he said on social media. “Me and the boys would love to see her doing a trial and we know she’d want to put herself to the test. If you can, download the (I'm a Celebrity app) and let’s get voting!”

And her husband's wish came true on Saturday night, when it was revealed Coleen would be taking on the next Bushtucker Trial, alongside BBC Radio 1 presenter Dean McCullough. During the first task of the series, McCullough chose to partner up with TV personality Coleen as he hailed her as “Wagatha Christie”, in tribute to the 38-year-old's antics which prompted the famous defamation trial involving Rebekah Vardy.

Coleen sensationally revealed she believed Vardy was behind numerous tabloid leaks about her which, in July 2022, a judge at the High Court found the was “substantially true”. Vardy herself took part in I'm a Celebrity in 2017, and was the third celebrity to leave.

Earlier this week, Liverpool-born Coleen told her fellow campmate that going to court over her feud with Vardy was her “worst nightmare” as she felt she was “putting on a show for the whole world”. However, she said she was not scared about making the viral post which kicked off the dispute, saying: “I just didn’t think it would have the impact it did, because I was just that sick and tired of it, it was draining.”

News of Rooney's upcoming Trial challenge came after fellow contestants Maura Higgins and Rev Richard Coles chewed down on a host of animal body parts and creepy crawlies during an eating trial. Love Island star Maura, 33, and writer and broadcaster Coles, 62, managed to eat 12 themed dishes in the task, including pig’s eyeballs, cockroaches and goat’s testicle.

The pair, who have been living in a secret luxurious camp since entering the ITV competition earlier this week, were competing to win a junk food buffet for the other contestants. Before tucking in, Coles – a Church of England priest – crossed himself and jokingly said: “For what we’re about to receive…”

Dean McCullough and Alan Halsall fall out in the jungle

However, in the main camp, tensions rose as McCullough and Alan Halsall clashed over chores. BBC Radio 1 presenter McCullough had a heated exchange with Coronation Street star Halsall over how the actor had handled waking him up.

He was awoken by camp leader Halsall as he needed to do his chore of collecting firewood, alongside Loose Women panellist Jane Moore. After a sleepy McCullough hardly stirred, soap star Halsall asked him: “You don’t fancy it? No?”

Halsall then went to help out Moore himself as camp rules state Moore was not allowed to do it by herself. Northern Irish presenter McCullough followed afterwards and told him Halsall could “go back now”.

The actor told him: “I was trying to wake you up as soft as I could,” to which Dean replied: “Listen to me. If you’re going to wake me up, you need to give me a minute, alright? It takes me a couple of minutes for my contact lenses to get back working again, all right?

“So you don’t need to turn around to me and say: ‘Do you not fancy it?’ OK? And then turn around and walk away.”

McCullough then repeatedly asked Halsall to “listen” to him, with the later explaining: “I didn’t say it how you think I meant it, but if you took it that way, then I apologise.”

The actor confirmed he was not trying to have a dig at the radio DJ, to which McCullough said he understood but that he felt he “didn’t get a chance to respond”. McCullough later said in the Bush Telegraph: “I opened my eyes and wee Tyrone from Coronation Street is like: ‘Come on, mate, you need to go down to the bottom of the creek.’

“He didn’t even give me a chance to say yes or no because he went: ‘You don’t fancy it? No?’ and ran. He was being a real camp leader. I was like: ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa don’t dig me out like that.’ And I had to say to him: ‘If you’re going to say: ‘Don’t fancy it?’ – give me a chance’. Because, of course, I fancy it. I want to help Jane. I went straight down and helped her.”

McCullough was later seen apologising to Moore before joining her in carrying the wood for the campfire.

In his own Bush Telegraph moment, Halsall said: “It was a flippant comment, I’m sorry if you took it in the wrong way. Wasn’t actually meant like that, it was just a bit of a joke. If I was asleep and you woke me up, I won’t fancy it either.”

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV1 and ITVX.