Russell Watson: Did I’m a Celebrity star have a brain tumour?

New contestant is ‘lucky to be alive’

Russell Watson is one of the late arrivals on this year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

The tenor joined the ITV show for its new-look Wales-set series alongside theatre star Ruthie Henshall in Wednesday night’s episode (18 November).

Watson, whose career as a tenor has earned him numerous awards, has generated a dedicated fanbase over the past three decades.

Fourteen years ago, in 2006, Watson was diagnosed with a brain tumour. 

After being successfully treated, he was diagnosed with a second tumour the following year due to a sudden regrowth that led to bleeding in his brain.

Following surgery, in which he had the tumour removed through his nose, Watson had five weeks of radiotherapy.

He spent the next three years recovering from the effects of the relapse and regained full singing capacity through vocal rehabilitation.

Speaking to his campmates about the brain tumours on Friday night’s show (20 November), Watson said: “The second one was the ‘one’, the first wasn’t life threatening, it was painful and I nearly lost my vision.  The second one was holy s***, I went home, went to bed and didn’t wake up because of a haemorrhage.  

“My assistant found me, called the paramedics and I knew I was in trouble because the paramedic kept saying ‘stay with us, stay with us’.  We got to the hospital and they operated.  One of the most emotional things after I came out of intensive care was this bloke came up to me and said ‘nice to see you’re doing well Mr Watson’ and I realised it was the ‘stay with us, stay with us’ guy.”

I’m a Celebrity continues nightly at 9pm on ITV1