GK Barry’s mum has shared with the Mirror how proud she is of her daughter’s Jungle journey to date – and how she could even triumph such is her determination

Grace and mum Loretta

I’m a Celeb star GK Barry’s mum has backed her daughter to be crowned Queen of the Jungle – telling the Mirror: “I am just so proud of her.

Mum Loretta has watched in awe as her daughter, whose real name is Grace, has impressed viewers on the ITV show. It marks an incredible rise for the 25–year-old who despite having an avid following online, has not broken into the mainstream yet…until now.

But for mum Loretta, her success was never in doubt – and she is not surprised viewers have fallen in love with her.

“Both her father and I are absolutely incredibly proud of what she’s doing,” Loretta says. “We feel this is only the beginning. Once people get to know Grace, she will become an absolute comedy legend. She’s good at entertaining people of all ages, and it’s really exciting to see her on the screen for the first time. She’ll be her amazing self.”

Asked if she could win the whole show, Loretta even says: “Yeah, I think she could. If she puts her mind to it, Grace can do anything.”

‘I’m so proud’: Grace with her mum

Grace as a smiley youngster

And that included facing her fear of creepy-crawlies in “Vile Volcano”, which saw her endure rats, lizards and snakes…yet emerge with nine stars.

It was quite the turnaround after being left distraught by cockroaches in the first episode, which initially didn’t bode well for the rest of the series. Then last night, GK left the trial arena with no stars after flopping a terrifying water trial alongside campmate Dean.

Speaking on spin-off show Unpacked, host Ant McPartlin fumed over the lack of effort. He called out stars for wasting time during trials, bothered when they “don’t even try” before screaming and flapping around in fear.

But Loretta insists: “I think the more she does, the stronger she’ll get. Whatever she needs to do, I know Grace will do it and she’ll give it her all.”

Growing up, she says Grace was always terrified of bugs.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from Grace…she’s always been a bit of a scaredy cat,” she says. As the series progresses, Loretta hopes that viewers will see more of the “real Grace…and how she’s “up for anything.”

GK Barry and Dean managed to get no stars(Image: (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock))

Her sense of fun has endeared herself to Loose Women bosses who signed her up the show as a guest presenter shortly before her jungle stint.

And she brought her mum along with her to soak up the showbiz atmosphere.

“They treated me beautifully. I’ll always remember that. I am so proud of her, what an achievement,” she added.

GK Barry, as a child, with her mum and grandad

She said on the show: “It was by accident I found Ella, through a mutual friend and then I really liked her the first day I met her but I’d never told my parents.

“I’d mentioned, ‘Oh I’m just going to see my friend Ella’ or ‘I’m staying round Ella’s’ so they’d heard her name.”

Speaking about a situation when her parents came down to her house to visit when Ella was there, they asked: “Who’s Ella?” and she told them: “Oh. she’s my girlfriend”. She explained to her campmates: “They just love her, they never had an issue with it….they’ve always said whoever you end up with we do not care, boy or girl we don’t care, as long as they’re not a d*ck.”