I’m a Celebrity’s Thursday night episode had fans in hysterics, with some even going so far as to call the comedic moment between Sam Thompson and Tony Bellew the television highlight of 2023!
During the episode, Sam and Tony were taking part in a Dingo Dollar challenge, with Tony appearing to look somewhat less enthused than Sam, who has been praised for his enthusiastic approach to the show.
While chatting to the camera, with Sam explaining to Tony that he was "Jamie Laing’s intern," he interrupted Tony’s questions by hitting him on the side of the head after spotting a mosquito. He shouted: "Mosquito! Swear on my life." Tony responded by taking a deep breath, with Jamie joking: "That was dangerous! Could have got punched then!"
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, to discuss the hilarious moment, one person wrote: "The funniest thing to happen tonight. Like Tony had to dig deep to not knock Sam out #ImACeleb." Another person added: "Sam is unreal. I can't believe he just slaps Tony Bellew without warning and just carries on with himself, quality, my favourite to win."
A third person wrote: "Arguably the best 10 seconds of TV in 2023 courtesy of Sam and Tony." Another person joked: "If Sam doesn’t win this season we RIOT!"
Sam is dating Zara McDermott who has been supporting him on social media. In a recent Q&A, she responded to questions about whether people were finding Sam irritating in the jungle, saying: "I think all of us are different and there’re so many different personalities in there, but no one has said anything unkind to him or about him at all?
"Unless I’m watching something different? It seems to me that everyone has warmed to him in the camp! I think it would be a very different camp without him there, he has created more fun and excitement for everyone."
During the episode, Sam spoke about his ADHD and autism diagnosis, saying: "[It happened] last year, mate. There are loads of people who are actually like, of a certain age who get diagnosed way later. When the low bits happen, it goes low. But then the highs are really high.
"My girlfriend Zara is so steady and it's so good for me. When she's going steady I'm going like that [motions a wavy line]. My timekeeping is terrible. I get quite selfish, not just with her, but with everyone, my mates or whatever. My listening to Zara… I'm just finding myself staring off at something completely different. You sort of feel like you're a bit of a kook sometimes."
He added: "[It’s] weird no one spotted it beforehand at school, but if you look at all of my report cards, every single one says the same, it says: 'Likeable enough guy, but lacks focus'. It's staring at you in the face. If I'd known as a kid, not much would have changed, but how you feel about yourself probably changes. I remember crying into my textbook because I couldn't understand the words going into my head. You want to do good. You don't want to be mischievous or anything like that."