Dave Hughes reveals staggering I’m A Celeb weight loss

Dave Hughes lasted 25 days in the African bush - but as he tells news.com.au, camp life had a dramatic effect on his body.

He might’ve been one of the most famous faces in I’m A Celeb this season, but that wasn’t enough to take Dave Hughes to victory – he was eliminated during Tuesday’s episode of the show, leaving seven celebs still in the game.

Hughesy lasted exactly 25 days in the jungle, but his three-and-a-half weeks of camp life had a staggering effect on his body.

“I lost eight kilos and I’m stronger now than when I went in there,” he told news.com.au’s Andrew Bucklow for the From the Newsroom podcast, out tomorrow morning.

Hughesy explained that when he first entered the show, he struggled to do manual tasks like carrying a crate of firewood back to camp without assistance.

Hughesy before entering the jungle... Picture: Supplied.

...and after his elimination, eight kilos lighter.

“I’d be holding one side of the crate while my fingers almost snapped off, with another burly bloke like (former NRL player) Sam Thaiday on the other side,” he said.

“But by the end of the month, I’m carrying the whole crate on my own. My fingers are loving the task. I’m just living my best life.”

Hughes also noted his progress in the “jungle gym,” a rudimentary workout station contestants can use to keep fit.

“There was a bench press there and on the first day, the heaviest weights, I could do 20 (reps). On the day I got kicked out, I did 52.”

So he got fitter and leaner, but Hughesy’s transformation didn’t quite give him a six-pack to rival fellow campmate Matty J: “Sam (Thaiday) says I now look like a pregnant greyhound … I think that’s a compliment, so I’m happy.”

Hughes said that rather than wasting away, he gained strength during his time at camp.

Vegan Hughes ate meat for one of the show’s eating challenges.

Elsewhere in the interview, Hughesy also spilled the beans on one potentially awkward feature of camp life: The open-air showers. While I’m A Celeb has a PG rating, meaning nothing too explicit will make it to air, the showers are in full view of cameras, and of any other contestants walking by. Which begs the question: To nude up, or not to nude up?

Hughes said he disrobed “only very briefly … I wasn’t ‘full parade’. And if we knew someone was down in the showers, we’d let them go. It wasn’t Big Brother Up-Late style with everyone walking around nude.”

You can listen to Hughesy spill more secrets from his time on I’m A Celeb – including which campmate he found annoying, and the contestant he accidentally stumbled upon in the shower – in news.com.au’s From the Newsroom podcast, which goes live on Thursday morning.

I’m A Celeb continues 7:30pm tonight and Thursday on Ten, before the season finale at 7pm this Sunday.

Originally published as Dave Hughes reveals staggering I’m A Celeb weight loss