Campmate Martin Kemp has opened up about being reunited with wife Shirlie after his jungle stint. The star – who has been married 37 years – said of her first words: “She told me she loved me…..but that I needed a bath.” He admitted that being apart from her was one of the hardest things he has ever done.

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But after seeing her at the end of the famous jungle bridge, he says her first words left him elated. “It was something I was dreaming about hearing for three weeks. It is something that I was dying to hear. It meant more than it has done for years, and I really loved it.”

Speaking to the Mirror at the five-star hotel, Martin laughed as he confirmed he had followed Shirlie’s advice and washed. “I just stank of the campfire….the first shower was brilliant, and being able to take down your pants without anyone looking was superb,” he says. But he admits it was hard making so many memories in camp – and not being able to share them with the one person he wanted to tell the most.

“I don’t see me and Shirlie as separate people. I see us as one, and above all, we share everything,” he says. “Every day, me and Shirley talk to each other, even if I’m away, we FaceTime each other. Whether it’s good news or it’s really bad news, the first thing you do is you phone your partner. That’s the same with me and Shirlie.”

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Martin Kemp opens up to the Mirror(Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)

Martin says that Shirlie had a particular reason for wanting her husband to go into the jungle. “When we first spoke about doing it, Shirley said to me, ‘You need to go because you need to learn how to make new friends.’ And she’s absolutely right,” he says.

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“I think what I realised about myself is that I’m not very good at making new friends generally…and I think that comes from being in the public eye for over 50 years now, since I was a 17-year-old kid. But after time spent in there, I realised that I could. You know, it’s the first time I’ve done it for a long time, so it was a really lovely experience.”

Once in camp, he found himself drifting between very different personalities and stories. “It was lovely because if I wanted to go and laugh about something, then maybe I’d go over to Ruby or Ginge. If I wanted to talk sensible and learn something, I’d go and speak to Jack, because Jack is just a walking encyclopedia. He’s one of the nicest guys I’ve met for a long time.” During his time in camp, some viewers complained that the Spandau Ballet star wasn’t being given enough air-time, or trials for that matter. But Martin’s instinct in camp was often to step back and let the next generation take centre stage.

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Martin and wife Shirlie(Image: Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)

“I thought, I am at the end of my career,” he says. “I’m at a point where I’m slowing down a little bit, and the other guys are at the beginning. Why not give them a chance and time and put them in front of the queue. I did the whole helicopter thing and the big trials at the beginning, but I just felt, you know, the young guys were chomping at it, and why not let them go? Let them do it, and it can do brilliant things for their career. Absolutely, that’s absolutely why I kind of stepped back a little bit.”

Martin delighted viewers with his stories including how him and Shirlie, 63, got pregnant on their wedding night.The pair had struggled to conceive before marriage due to Shirlie’s Endometriosis diagnosis.Martin went on to share a memory of Shirlie’s mother asking the racy question of whether the couple had ‘tried the Wheelbarrow?’

Son Roman – who had previously taken part on the show – joked how he was mortified by the comment. And Shirlie previously told the Mirror how she too was a little “embarrassed” but was used to it. “It’s something me and Shirlie laugh about all time,” he laughs. “It was a really sweet memory, even though at the time, I was more than embarrassed too.” Viewers also loved the