Confidential at the Cox Plate: Dale Thomas, Joel and Brit Selwood join Jackie Epstein and Nui Te Koha

Former AFL star Dale Thomas has shared the “foolproof method” used by producers to get celebs to open up on reality TV.

Dale Thomas has revealed the secret behind why celebrities open up on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

The former AFL star went to South Africa to appear on the reality TV show soon after retiring in January last year, finishing runner-up to chef Miguel Maestre.

“They’ve got a pretty foolproof method there: bore the crap out of celebrities until they start talking about themselves, which we all know celebrities, they love to do,’’ Thomas told Confidential at the Ladbrokes Cox Plate webcast.

“You sit there and there’s nothing else to do so you just start talking.

“No phones, television, papers, you literally get cut off from the outside world.

“As humans you become inquisitive and start asking questions. It’s where it leads and a question is followed up with another question.

“You literally sit around a campfire for as many days as your last and interact with one another.

“In that sense of getting away from phones and everything that is the modern day life … you genuinely are getting to know some people and it was a fantastic experience for that.”

Thomas said the group, which included Billy Brownless, Erin Barnett and Rhonda Burchmore, still kept in touch.

“The only person that isn’t in the WhatsApp group and slightly because of where he is in the world is (intruder) Perez Hilton,’’ Thomas said.

“Our season, everyone got on well until Perez came in and upset the apple cart. Erin Barnett just released a book on endometriosis, I spent a lot of time with Erin and her and I were laughing at the fact I was a published author from Drouin and she is now a published author from Melton.”

The new series of I’m a Celeb is due to air in January.

Thomas spent some time during the week at Living Legends, meeting former Cox Plate champion Fields of Omagh.

“I’m just a racing enthusiast,’’ he said.

“I’ve done the horse ownership thing with limited success, it must be said.

“The social side of the racing carnival and the Victorian spring racing carnival, there’s nowhere else like here.”

Geelong captain Joel Selwood and wife Brit also joined Confidential at the Ladbrokes Cox Plate.

Watch Confidential at the Ladbrokes Cox Plate above or on the Herald Sun Facebook page at 12.30pm on Saturday, October 23.