I tried to keep the peace, says evicted Christine

Christine Hamilton today spoke of her role as “peacemaker” between warring celebrities on ITV1’s hit show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

The wife of disgraced former Tory MP Neil Hamilton, whose jungle adventure came to an end last night when she became the sixth celebrity to be voted out, said she knew it would only be a matter of time before her co-stars “let rip” on one another.

“There were some amazing emotional fisty-cuffs which I’m sure were hugely entertaining to watch,” she told ITN.

Referring to the “fireworks” in camp, she added: “There were some explosive characters there who, frankly, wherever they had been were always going to let rip at each other.

“I saw my role as peacemaker,” she continued. “I have slightly been accused of stirring things up but that was not intentional.

“I really enjoyed getting to know all the other people. Some of them I shall want to see more in real-life than others, but it’s been a very, very interesting time and I’m extremely grateful to have had this opportunity.”

Her departure from the show left socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and radio DJ Tony Blackburn to fight it out for the crown of King or Queen of the jungle.

The 52-year-old self-styled battleaxe said she “absolutely loved” the experience but would not describe it as “life-changing”.

“I have learnt an awful lot and I found it really liberating to be without anything – not to worry about make-up, hair or clothes, the silly things in life,” she said.

“But also to be away from all of the pressures – no phone, no correspondence, no nothing and I found that splendid.

“I enjoy the physical deprivation. I don’t mind getting dirty, sweaty and smelly.”

Sporting a black-eye, sustained during one of the daily Bush Tucker Trials, she said she had not missed her husband Neil as much as she thought she would have done when she first entered the camp.

Describing the last 13 days as “odd” without him by her side, she said her only slight regret was that she had had such an “amazing experience” which Neil had only partly shared in.

But he quipped back: “It was certainly different not having Christine there to boss me around. The only difficulty for me was choosing from the menu.”

As for the eventual winner, the couple said they would not put their money on either Tara or Tony because they were both ill-equipped for jungle life and therefore, evenly-matched.

Tara had never made a bed in her life, Neil said, and Tony would run a mile from anything that made a noise.