CRAIG Charles has had one final parting blow as he slammed the I’m A Celebrity edit and said the show bosses focused on all the controversy, amid claims from fans ITV “tried to protect Adam”.
The latest series of the reality show was marred with drama, which culminated in an explosive live final which saw the cast clash with hosts Ant and Dec and each other.
The series mainly focused on controversy surrounding David Haye’s behaviour, his feud with Adam Thomas, 37, and Jimmy Bullard, 47, and Adam’s almighty bust up.
After last night’s tense final, former Coronation Street actor Craig, 61, headed onto the spin-off show I’m A Celeb Unpacked, and revealed how he thought it was a shame the show was marred by “controversy”.
The TV star said: “I’ll always remember it for tears of laughter, rather than tears of pain.
“We laughed so much in that camp.
“I’m talking proper belly laughs, I mean my stomach was aching with the laughter.”
Criticising ITV for their edit, Craig added: “But they didn’t really show much of that.
“It kind of got sidetracked by the controversy
“But I’ll always take away that we laughed so much.
“We bonded so well and I’m gonna take away friends for life from this experience.”
Viewers echoed Craig’s thoughts over “editing” claiming that ITV did it to “protect Adam”.
One fan wrote: “Multiple camp mates who were there have backed up Bullard’s claims.
“They have criticised ITV’s editing of the footage to hide what happened and protect Adam, but we should just blindly accept what Adam, Ant & Dec say? Not like they would lie to protect their affiliation with ITV.”
While another added: “Just shows how clever editing can ruin someone!”
An ITV spokesperson told the Mail: “We showed an accurate and fair representation of events.”
It comes after Craig fought back tears on This Morning yesterday as he talked about the impact that Adam and Jimmy’s row had on him.
Jimmy and Adam got into a heated clash on the ITV show, after the former footy star put the actor’s place on I’m A Celebrity at risk.
The Sun then revealed the true extent of the argument, and how ITV edited out Adam’s c-word rant at his nemesis – our claim was later backed up by fellow campmate Sinitta, 62.
Craig then revealed how he thought the Waterloo Road star’s outburst had been “aggressive”.
Addressing the argument, he said: “Adam was so wound up, so aggressive, like a coiled spring.
“It looked like he was going to attack Jimmy, he was dropping f-bombs and c-bombs.”
Speaking to host Dermot O’Leary, he continued: “If Alison (Hammond) said she didn’t want to do an interview and you reacted like that, you would be escorted off the premises, it really was traumatic.
“They had to water down what we’d really seen but they didn’t water down our responses.”
“They couldn’t broadcast it, I get that, I’m not blaming ITV, they edited it out. So mine and Harry’s response to that was because of what we’d really seen.
Becoming overcome with emotion, Craig said: “We laughed so much in that jungle, Adam laughed so much in that jungle and then to come back and see it all reduced to a grudge match.”
Meanwhile, last night’s I’m A Celebrity final descended into chaos to say the least.
Viewers watched Jimmy get wound up when Ant insisted Adam wasn’t intimidating in scenes that weren’t aired on TV due to the C-word being thrown around.
The angry fallout amongst the cast even saw Gemma Collins, 45, and Sinitta walking out.
