Celebrity MasterChef: New judge Grace Dent's confession before quitting I'm A Celebrity in 2023
Grace had been in the jungle for 10 days before she left...
Grace Dent may now be riding high as the newest host and judge on Celebrity MasterChef 2025. She has cemented her status as a full-blown primetime A-lister – but rewind two years and she was embarking on a very different TV adventure. In late 2023, restaurant critic Grace Dent had just stepped into the I’m A Celebrity jungle… only to make a swift and unexpected exit.
Grace left the series on medical grounds. ITV praised her as a “great campmate” and said she would be “missed” by both her fellow celebrities and viewers at home. It was a sudden departure that left fans asking questions.
So what really happened? Why did Grace Dent pack up and leave the I’m A Celebrity camp so soon after arriving? Here’s a look back at the story behind her short-lived jungle stint.
How Celebrity MasterChef co-host Grace Dent left the I’m A Celebrity jungle
Grace left the I’m A Celebrity jungle in 2023, the same year Sam Thompson was crowned King of the Jungle. He beat Tony Bellew and Nigel Farage to the top spot.
The statement about Grace’s exit read: “Unfortunately Grace Dent has left the show on medical grounds. She has been a great campmate and will be missed by her fellow celebrities and viewers alike.”
ITV did not say exactly what had forced Grace to leave the camp.
Grace released a lengthy statement days later. She claimed she was “removed” from the reality show but wouldn’t give any more information.
Meanwhile, she added that she wanted to “keep alive in my heart the huge personal breakthroughs” made over the past weeks.
Grace Dent’s time in I’m A Celebrity
Grace’s brief jungle stint wasn’t without its horrors, and one particularly grim moment saw medics rushing in after a cockroach began burrowing into her ear.
The ordeal unfolded during a gruesome trial to win the ultimate breakfast. Grace teamed up with Nigel as they battled against Nella Rose and Sam Thompson, with both pairs tasked with unscrewing footballs and hurling them to score a ‘touchdown’.
To make things even more vile, Grace and Nella had huge glass helmets bolted onto their heads, each filled with worms and all manner of creepy crawlies. Meanwhile, Sam and Nigel were forced to squeeze their feet into plastic long socks teeming with ants.
Just when things couldn’t get worse, round two saw a fresh jar of cockroaches poured into the women’s helmets. Cameras caught them scrambling across their faces, hair and goggles, prompting Nella to reach up and try to remove her helmet in panic.
Her forfeit meant Grace and Nigel clinched the win. But the victory came at a cost, as Grace needed urgent help from medics afterwards thanks to the cockroach that wouldn’t stop burrowing.
After, she yelled ‘one is in my ear!’ meaning a cockroach had made its way in.
A medic rushed over with fluid to ‘wash it out’. She closed her eyes and squealed at the sound of the bug rummaging around in her ear! Thankfully, after a few seconds, the medic helped to remove the cockroach. She was able to walk away.
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Fans were concerned over Grace
At the time, fans were concerned over Grace after noticing she appeared ‘pale’. But this could have been down to the lack of makeup and hair care as celebs aren’t entitled to luxury items in camp.
Grace had already undertaken many trials. And then when she was told she would be facing another, she remained quiet.
She told the camera: “I just want to go home.”
When a replacement was found for the trial, ITV revealed Grace had left.
Grace Dent may have been thinking about leaving I’m A Celebrity beforehand. In a discussion with campmate Josie Gibson, she said: “I’ve had enough. I’ve completely had enough. I just want to go home.”
She also added in the Bush Telegraph: “I haven’t got a lot left in me at the moment. I’m just keeping on a face for everybody.”
Grace Dent leaving I’m A Celebrity wasn’t ‘planned’
But in her statement after leaving, the star said living outside, being without her phone, and having no contact with loved ones for 15 days was rough. Grace said the added wet weather and rainforest environment gave her a “short, sharp glimpse into the pain” some people endure around the world.
“Normal life, forever, will always feel beautiful,” she said.
Grace also reflected on remaining mentally strong during tough ordeals. She highlighted the trick was to “stay calm, have empathy and that screaming achieves nothing but wasted calories”.
She added: “I had no idea it was possible to be shown an American football helmet and be informed I was shortly to be locked in at the neck and filled to the eyebrows with cockroaches, and for me to think ‘OK this is doable, the trick is to breathe’.”
Grace did confess she didn’t “go out as I planned or I wanted” but that she did what she could. The star joked she also left without chipping her red gel manicure!
Grace on Celebrity MasterChef 2025
Grace Dent has now made her debut as both host and judge on the hit BBC series, joining John Torode in a primetime slot that just so happened to go head-to-head with ITV’s I’m A Celebrity last night (Monday, November 17).
This week’s line-up of Celebrity MasterChef hopefuls includes Blue star Antony Costa, former Coronation Street favourite Katie McGlynn and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Ginger Johnson – all battling it out in the famous kitchen under Grace’s watchful eye.
Read more: Celebrity MasterChef 2025: Ginger Johnson out of drag ‘looks just like Dermot O’Leary’
