‘I really couldn’t be more pleased for her’: Carol Vorderman gushes over I’m A Celeb winner Myleene Klass

Carol Vorderman has opened up about her lifelong connection with the winner of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa. The former Countdown star, 62, who lives in Bristol, took part in the All Star edition of the reality show, which saw its most popular contestants  from over the years come together to compete for the first ever I’m A Celebrity ‘Legend’ crown.

The spin-off show saw the return of stars including EastEnders actors  Joe Swash and Dean Gaffney, health expert Gillian McKeith and American supermodel Janice Dickinson.

Amongst the campmates was also  Myleene Klass, 45, who rose to fame as a member of the pop group Hear’Say, which  were formed as part of ITV’s reality show Popstars, in 2001. The musician and TV presenter took part in the original series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here in 2006, and was famously remembered for her white bikini, which she went on to sell at a charity auction for £7,500.

This year’s series involved no public vote as it was filmed last summer, and evictees were determined through head-to-head survival trials. The show’s finale on Friday  saw Myleene and Jordan Banjo as the last two, battling it out with an eating trial.

Myleene Klass was victorious after eating fermented eggs, pig snouts, 60 mouse tails and 40 spoonfuls of stinky tofu, during the last moments of the final face-off. The 45-year-old’s triumph was met with floods of congratulatory messages from fellow campmates and loved ones.

Fellow campmate Carol was among well-wishers who were clearly delighted to see Myleene crowned the first ever I’m A Celeb ‘Legend’. Carol and Myleene first crossed paths before Myleene was even famous.

Carol told The Mirror: “I’ve known Myleene forever. We met when I used to host the BBC science show Take Nobody’s Word for It. There was a paper engineering competition and Myleene won one of the awards when she was about eight-years-old.”

The countdown star continued: "She made a Ferris wheel out of paper and it worked. We still love the photo of me presenting her with her BBC award. It’s very cute.

"She is great. And now she has won I’m A Celebrity South Africa, I really couldn’t be more pleased for her."

The 62-year-old campmate narrowly missed out on a place in the final, when she and Paul Burrell were eliminated in 9th and 10th position. This meant that they also missed out on the popular celebrity cyclone which always involves the last four campmates.

Ex-Cricketer Phil Tufnall, 57, was eliminated and finished in 4th when the other campmates chose their final three. Olympian Fatima Whitbread, 62, came out in third place after she failed to count to six minutes in a survival trial, which left Diversity’s Jordan to face-off with Myleene.