I’m A Celebrity’s Oti Mabuse has become the new favourite to win this year’s series, with fans rallying behind her.
The 34-year-old former Strictly dancer and current Dancing on Ice judge recently won a golden ticket to the Celebrity Cyclone in the latest challenge, securing her immunity from Friday and Saturday night’s vote.
Following the departure of Maura Higgins and Barry McGuigan from the ITV show, the remaining campmates are Oti, Coleen Rooney, GK Barry, Danny Jones, Alan Halsall and Reverend Richard Coles. However, it’s not just her success in challenges and gruelling Bushtucker Trials that has endeared her to viewers.
Oti has also shown a nurturing side, earning her the nicknames ‘camp mum’ and ‘camp counsellor’ from fans. This was particularly evident when she engaged in heartfelt conversations with her campmates and opened up about her personal struggles, including the premature birth of her one-year-old daughter at just 28 weeks in November 2023.
Oti opened up about her harrowing birth experience, admitting: “I was having to still be my usual, bubbly self. But I wasn’t feeling bubbly inside. I just remember going to the shower and I was crying. I was just devastated, but nothing was wrong. I had a new baby, the midwives were amazing, my husband was there. It was like nothing was wrong, but everything was wrong.”
:
I’m A Celeb fans are enjoying Oti Mabuse on their screens (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Connecting with Danny Jones over shared experiences, Oti revealed her struggles with her husband Marius’s approach to her emotional needs: “He needed to learn to be there for me emotionally. Instead of just trying to fix it [the situation]. Sometimes I just needed him to hold me while I cried,” reports .
Danny empathised, sharing his own challenges as a partner: “I wanted to try and fix it and say, ‘Come on your can do this’, but that’s not what she needed.”
In a candid conversation, McFly’s Danny Jones also confided in Oti about his estranged relationship with his father, who left when he was 19. Despite sharing his middle name, Alan, with his dad, Danny expressed a desire to change it, revealing at age 38: “My dad doesn’t speak to me.
Don’t miss…
Oti has shined throughout the series (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“I had a good relationship with my dad. He was my best mate, until he left. I got on with him. I loved him to bits. It’s just weird, because I don’t feel I’ve really healed with it. You can go to therapy, but you still crave your dad and that’s hard.”
Viewers are calling for Oti Mabuse to have her own chat show after showcasing her empathetic nature and positive energy in the jungle. Fans have taken to social media to praise the star, with one writing: “I didn’t really know Oti before this, I didn’t watch strictly. God damnit I am a firm Oti fan now. I absolutely love her!”
Another fan commented: “She seems like the most sweet and genuine person on earth.”
A third fan said: “Oti Mabuse to be crowned queen of the jungle immediately now #imaceleb.”
The dance star has been making an impact in camp (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Others have noted how Oti has become an unofficial therapist to her campmates, with one fan observing: “I adore the way Oti is so sincere with her camp mates and she’s somehow turned into their unofficial therapist who listens because she’s actually cares. I can’t cope with it man.”
Another fan added: “The reason we know so much about this group is because Oti has been that person who takes the time to ask them about their lives. She’s so selfless and obviously makes them all feel comfortable enough to open up and she doesn’t make anything about herself.”
Some fans have even suggested that Oti is unknowingly auditioning to be a chat show host, with one writing: “Oti unknowingly auditioning to be a chat show host; she’s really good at empathetically getting people to open up, isn’t she? #ImACeleb.”
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! airs Mondays-Sundays at 9pm on ITV1.