Jungle Jennie raises €385,500 for flying ambulance

A mercy mission helicopter ambulance service has been handed more than £250,000 (€385,500) thanks to the jungle exploits of former BBC Royal correspondent Jennie Bond, it emerged today.

Bond spent two weeks in the Australian jungle in the reality TV show “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here,” in which she was voted runner up.

The Devon Air Ambulance Trust said today it had been told that Bond, who has a home in south Devon, had raised £260,989.85 (€386,971.70) for the charity.

General manager of Devon Air Ambulance Trust Lyn Paver said: “We were both speechless and delighted when we were advised of the amount Jennie had raised for us. We had no idea it would be quite that much.

“This donation is the largest we have received from one source, so we feel that it should be used for a project which we may have dreamed of, but never achieved, even with the fantastic support of the people of Devon,” she said.

The charity, which raises the funds to keep an emergency helicopter flying for Devon, has been in negotiations with the Westcountry Ambulance Service NHS Trust, who handle the day-to-day operation of the helicopter, on how the money could be best used.