Former Member of European Parliament and politician Stanley Johnson took part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! last year.
The ITV jungle campmate swiftly became one of the favourites before eventually being voted out after forging a memorable and hilarious friendship with Georgia “Toff” Toffolo.
The Made in Chelsea and now This Morning star eventually went on to become the winner of the entire series.
This year the pair have enjoyed taking part in companion show Extra Camp in Australia, sharing their opinions on the latest batch of celebrities.
Yet 78-year-old Stanley has exclusively told Express.co.uk he thinks this year’s series has been without the “tension” in camp that made last year’s offering such a success.
And what’s more, he claims former Inbetweeners actress Emily Atack should be given the Queen of the Jungle crown over bookies’ favourite and football manager Harry Redknapp.
“I go for Emily,” he said without hesitation. “I go for Emily. I mean obviously Harry is, I would say the favourite, but my line is Harry’s had everything.
“He’s been manager for England. No let’s give it to someone who’s not used to being top of the world’s competitive [stage], you know.”
The former contestant quipped: “And also I never miss the chance to make a joke – either Holly [Willoughby] or Dec [Donnelly] asked what I thought about the boat trial.
“[They said] Emily is gonna splash it, and I said Emily is going to smash it.”
Chuckling to himself, Stanley continued: “Anyway, I’m still putting some money on her.”
But the environmentalist was convinced former X-Factor star Fleur East was going to be in the final three celebrities in camp, and instead fans are left with Harry, Emily and Hollywood actor John Barrowman.
Speaking about the lack of conflict with the celebrities this year, who have appeared to get on relatively well, Stanley claimed boxer Amir Khan and radio presenter Iain Lee had the right idea in last year’s series.
“This is what I’ve thought so far,” he said. “They have lacked the kind of sense of conflict which was generated last year on ‘Strawberry Gate’ – Amir and Iain together won the Dingo Dollar trial that gave them the plate of strawberries and cream, wolfed the whole plate and maintained that they hadn’t won it.
“And that caused an ongoing sense of drama and suspicion and even antagonism in the camp, which I think this particular session has lost.
“They’ve all been too you know, goody-goody about each other, if you see what I mean.”
“They give a whole new meaning to the word camaraderie in the sense they’re constantly playing to the camera by being so nice to each other,” Stanley joked.
“There hasn’t been enough tension in the camp [though],” he mused. “So it seems to me that to generate the kind of drama, the ongoing drama which ‘Strawberry Gate’ gave – and I can say that it certainly gave it to other members of the camp.
“But for the viewers even more, because the viewers knew, you see. That Amir and Iain had eaten the strawberries, even though the members in the camp didn’t.”
Despite that, Stanley insisted: “I don’t want to say it lacks entertainment, I’m just saying it could do with a little bit more internal edge, ok we had a little bit of fuss when Noel Edmonds and Nick Knowles were arguing a bit about whether three people were safe in camp, [but it’s not enough].”
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! concludes tonight at 9pm on ITV.
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