Casey Donovan can now add her I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here title won last night to her other reality competition win – the Australian Idol crown from 2004.
Donovan won the title ahead of AFL footballer Dane Swan in second place, and actress Natalie Bassingthwaighte in third. Donovan – who was reportedly driving an Uber before her appearance on the show – won $100,000 for her nominated charity and takes home an appearance fee rumoured to be around the $200,000-mark
However, last night’s finale wasn’t without some controversy after recent evictee, comic Nazeem Hussain, accidentally revealed that Bassingthwaighte had come third a good 15 minutes before the announcement of the winners.
With only Bassingthwaighte, Donovan and Swan left after six weeks in the jungle and awaiting the naming of the victor, Hussain said live to air: “It’s sort of sad to see Nat come in third because they all should be first. But that’s not how it works, huh?” Hussain’s revelation was met with awkward hand-wringing from hosts Julia Morris and Chris Brown.
“I know, that’s, we’re sort of, I know, I think, everyone feels that way, that they’re all worthy winners, so, to see one go is like, ‘ughhh’,” Morris bumbled.
Last night’s finale pulled 989,000 according to OzTam figures, rising to 1.06 million when Donovan was declared the winner.
However, it couldn’t topple Nine’s Married At First Sight that pulled in 1.06 million viewers. While, Seven’s My Kitchen Rules had another sub-million performance, pulling in 968,000 viewers.
