Dean McCullough confronts I’m a Celeb contestant for critical comments

McCullough did not find Odoom’s ‘Houdini’ joke funny

Dean McCullough is set to confront his former campmate and BBC Radio colleague Melvin Odoom for critical comments he made about him on I’m a Celebrity.

The Irish radio host, 32, was called out by fellow contestants for what appeared to be a tendency to avoid doing chores.

In one episode Odoom said that their water duties had been a “lone man situation” for him as McCullough is “very good at disappearing” whenever there’s work to do.

After Odoom encouraged McCullough to continue fetching water and the camp advised him to adopt a positive attitude, he replied: “Look, no beef, no drama, I just hate my job.”

Keeping the conversation friendly, Odoom joked back: “Listen, your new name is Houdini because you like to disappear.” In another scene, he is seen likening McCullough to a “dirty teenager”.

Odoom wasn’t alone in his comments, with King of the Jungle Danny Jones quipping “Just get on with it” to McCullough, and even presenter Ant McPartlin being forced to apologise after becoming impatient with his Bushtucker Trial performances.

However, in an episode of I’m a Celeb’s Coming Out show on Friday (13 December), McCullough singles out Odoom for his comments, according to The Sun.

“I saw Bush Telegraphs of you saying, ‘Oh, it’s another chore to ask Dean to do the chores’,” he said.

McCullough did not find Odoom’s ‘Houdini’ joke funny (ITV/I’m a Celeb)

Odoom reasoned that his “Houdini” joke was a way of gently getting him to help.

“Me calling you Houdini was my way of telling you I need help,” he replied.

“When we said, ‘Let’s do the water’, I came up the steps and you were having a shower, when I came down you were folding your clothes by the bed, by the time I said, ‘Houdini’ that was me saying, ‘I need help’.”

But McCullough was not assuaged and still resentful as he insisted that Odoom should have addressed him personally rather than making the joke.

The pair have worked together at the BBC in their respective radio hosting duties. The feud comes after they had agreed to have each other’s back in the jungle, a promise that McCullough broke unceremoniously as soon as he landed in Australia, by grabbing Coleen Rooney to pair up with as the show started instead.

McCullough was voted to do six Bushtucker trials by the public during his time and was the second celebrity voted off after a series of poor performances.