Ant McPartlin was left speechless when Declan Donnelly explosively lashed out at the Reverend Richard Coles in the latest episode of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

The presenting duo were giving highlights of the past 24 hours of jungle action in the Monday night show when they observed the 62-year-old Priest make a catty comment about recently evicted camp member Dean McCullough. Sunday night’s highlights show revealed that 32-year-old radio host Dean had received the least votes from the public and was due to be sent home as the second celeb of the 2024 season to go.

While in the camp, he had been assigned the task of collecting water for the camp – a chore he didn’t always follow too well. As the campmates sat around following his eviction, podcaster GK Barry lamented the fact that the show had lost one of it’s biggest personalities.

Richard then quipped: “Who is going to not fetch our water now?” – with his comment prompting laughs from the other contestants. Cameras then cut back to the presenting room where Ant and Dec offered commentary over the latest scenes. Ant laughed: “Ooh! The Reverend’s got claws!” While Dec then snipped: “Reverend Richard? More like Reverend B**chard!”

A shocked Ant then gasped: “What?” And Dec immediately apologised, saying: “Sorry, Father.” Viewers watching along were left howling by the quip. One fan wrote on X: DEC … NO HE DID NOT !! Reverend B**chard !!! God forgive him #ImACeleb,” alongside a string of crying-with-laughter emojis.

Another wrote: “‘Reverend Richard? More like Reverend B**chard! Sorry father.’ That absolutely floored me #ImACeleb,” again with a string of crying-with-laughter emojis. Another fan gasped: “Rev. B**chard… I’m dead #ImACeleb.”

Later in the episode, Richard explained to McFly singer Danny Jones how he met his late husband, David Oldham. Tragically, the fellow Anglican priest passed away in 2019 at the age of 42 after falling victim to a worsening liver disease following a battle against alcoholism. Communards musician Richard recalled the beginnings of his romance with his late husband.

Richard admitted: “I came to preach a sermon in his church and he sort of picked me up afterwards!” Things weren’t immediately romantic, with Rev Coles explaining: “He heard me preach and afterwards he said that he was thinking about getting ordained and could he come and talk to me about it. So he came round one Sunday for lunch and it was all very proper and professional”.

Richard then divulged how the two talked at length, but Richard had to get back to church for work. When David asked to meet up again, Richard was seemingly blind to his future husband’s feelings, and offered to put something in the diary for a month or so in the future. However, David was brave enough to make his intentions clear, and sent a text to Richard saying “Don’t you get it?” soon after he’d left their talk.