Noel Edmonds 'disappointed' by I'm A Celebrity exit

Noel Edmonds has said he felt "down" and "disappointed" after becoming the first star to be voted out of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

But he joked that he soon got over it - because he swapped the TV show's jungle camp for a five-star hotel.

Speaking to ITV's Lorraine from poolside, he said he was "astonished" when he was evicted on Friday.

"I was hoping to hang around for a little bit longer," he said. "I hadn't even actually got into my stride."

Edmonds joined the ITV reality show three days after the rest of the campmates, vowing to retire from the TV industry if he won.

But viewers didn't want that outcome - and voted him out after just nine days in the jungle, despite the entertainment provided by his burgeoning friendship with football manager Harry Redknapp.

Edmonds joked: "As Harry Redknapp would say, the boy was hardly on the pitch and he didn't even get a yellow. He got a straight red and he was off.

"So, yeah, I was surprised, and then I was disappointed, and then I felt a bit down, and then people have just been wonderful."

He thanked fans for the warm reception since his eviction. He said: "I'm not complaining now that it's happened. I have to accept the public have spoken."

He added that he was glad to be reunited with wife Liz, saying: "We're back together, having to really, really put up with a five-star hotel, 30C today, we're right by the edge of the pool. It's tough."

Edmonds also responded to reports about a feud with the show's co-host Holly Willoughby and suggestions that he held a grudge against Ant and Dec for apparently copying elements of Noel's House Party while they were developing Saturday Night Takeaway.

"There's no feud with Holly or Philip [Schofield, her This Morning co-host]," Edmonds said.

"One particular newspaper has been trying to make out that I'm in some way jealous of Ant & Dec's success. The truth of the matter is they had me on [their show] as the Overlord.

"I know some people don't like it, but we all do get on very well."

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