Ant & Dec break silence on Richard Madeley’s shock I’m A Celeb exit

Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly have broken their silence following Richard Madeley’s shock departure from the I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! castle.

Medics entered the castlein the early hours of Thursday morning after Richard complained of feeling unwell, before calling emergency services and rushing the Good Morning Britain star to hospital.

Ant and Dec, like the rest of us, have revealed they were left 'gutted' by the exit. They said, "You've probably heard the sad news already, but Richard Madeley has had to leave the castle" Ant said at the opening of last night's show."

"Yes, Richard was taken ill in the early hours of this morning," Dec continued. "He's absolutely fine but sadly due to Covid restrictions he's now unable to return to the camp."

Ant added, "He's gutted, we're gutted, we'll have the full story including an interview with the man himself on Monday night's show."

"Really looking forward to that," Dec said.

So are we.

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Even though Richard is now feeling better, he can’t return to the camp due to Covid restrictions; after leaving the 'bubble' of his co-stars to visit the hospital.

In a statement, he said "Richard here – firstly just to say that I'm absolutely FINE. I started to feel briefly unwell in the small hours of the morning and was taken to hospital as a precaution. By leaving the camp, I had consequently broken the Covid 'bubble' and as such I've had to leave the castle and all the wonderful celebs that remain in the camp.

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"Obviously I'm gutted to be leaving so soon but the safety of all the campmates is the number one priority. I'm incredibly excited to watch their journey continue…even more so at the prospect of being somewhere a little warmer than Gwrych Castle.

"Thank you to everyone who supported me on my brief but completely unforgettable adventure – I've made some great friends and honestly had the time of my life."

While we are so glad Richard is feeling better and can't wait to hear more, we can't help but wonder if he will return to the castle once he's isolated and it's safe. OOH.

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In other I’m A Celeb news...

Despite only recently arriving, Coronation Street’s Simon Gregson has said that he knows exactly where he will go if things get too tough in camp.

"It was common knowledge I would never do I'm A Celebrity" he admitted. "But my wife and kids were like, 'Come on Si, you've got to do it, you will have fun.' And so, I've said yes! It is something cool for the kids to watch dad scream like a young child!".

As he entered, Simon said, "I'm starting to get really frightened now about what might be there, I'm not great with spiders”.

But not to worry, he joked "It's great that it's in Wales I've got a caravan in Anglesey, I'll just be like 'I'll climb over that wall I'm done'."