FANS of jockey Frankie Dettori are used to backing him to win — but that all changed when he became the first star to crash out of I’m A Celebrity.
And the 52-year-old flat racing star was stunned to learn of ex-Ukip boss Nigel Farage’s rising popularity on the ITV show after stripping naked in the shower.
He exclaimed: “We were told to keep our swimmers on. S***! Now you tell me.”
Despite his annoyance over his exit, Frankie was in good spirits just hours after leaving camp, in an interview at the Marriott Hotel on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Despite not stripping off like Nigel, Frankie had kind words for the Brexiteer.
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He said: “I think he’s doing really well. I love Nigel. He is super funny, very interesting, very knowledgeable.
“He’s got an opinion about something, he says it how it is.”
The rider said camp rations meant he has reached his goal weight for his next race — on Boxing Day in California.
After eating a chicken caesar salad as his first meal on leaving camp, the Italian said: “I think I lost five pounds. I am actually at the bottom of my racing weight, so it’s great.”
Frankie also insisted he did not feel like a loser, adding: “To me, I have come out of there as a winner. I challenged myself, I passed every challenge, I took it head on.
“I did my chores. I made some good friends. I lost weight.
“Speaking to my wife, she said I had very little airtime.
“I thought I’d done a lot, but it depends how it is edited to the programme.
“But you know what? I had lots of fun and jokes, banter, laughter.
“Of course winning would have been nice, but it’s not the important thing. The important thing for me, it was the experience.”
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The three-time British flat racing champion managed to fit in a version of his famous flying dismount during his debut trial, where he had to bounce on a trampoline to clear hurdles while grasping a bull’s testicle in his teeth.
But he says his worst trial was battling claustrophobia in a snake-filled coffin.
He explained: “I went in there with the strongest mental frame of mind.
“I thought, I’m going out there, it can’t be any more difficult or dangerous than riding a horse at 40 miles an hour with other horses around me.
“As you know, I’ve had plane crashes and falls. So I thought it can’t be any harder than that.
“We are all starving hungry, obviously. There was a lot of days when I felt drained.
“Even as a person that has been dieting for 30 years, I still found it challenging.”
Frankie left camp with just six days to go, but says he has left campmates in good shape.
This year saw two stars quit early — restaurant critic Grace Dent and Jamie Lynn Spears, sister of pop star Britney.
Frankie, who said he is backing Sam Thompson to win, said of the celebrity quitters: “I really didn’t see that coming. It just happened so quick. I don’t know the ins and outs.
“At the moment everyone is OK, but the trials are getting tougher and tougher and tougher. The pressure is going to be on.
“People are getting homesick. So let’s see what happens.”
Frankie also admitted he hoped the public had seen a different side to him and his campmates, adding: “You strip down all the celebrity status. Who you are, what you have done, we’re all just human.”
