ITV I’m A Celebrity’s Sam Thompson is ‘using people’ on the show, jokes pal | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Sam Thompson’s best pal Pete Wicks has joked that his friend is “using people” on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! The Only Way is Essex star Pete appeared on Friday’s episode of Lorraine and was questioned by the host about his pal’s newfound friendships in the camp.

Lorraine, 64, asked: “He loves Tony [Bellew] though, are you feeling a little bit that you might be rejected, you might be ousted in favour of Tony and not be the best pal anymore?”

Pete, who was appearing via a video link from Australia, where he has flown out to support his friend, responded: “Lorraine, we said it last week when I was with you, it was Marvin last week, it’s Tony this week.

“He’s using people,” he quipped. “He’s using people because he’s missing me, that’s what it is alright. None of it is gonna last, he’ll be back in my arms very soon.”

This comes after Lorraine jumped to 31-year-old Sam’s defence as she blasted the other celebraties for moaning while in the camp. On Thursday’s episode of her morning show, she expressed: “Sam, he’s spoken very openly about his ADHD, he is a little tigger, you’ve just got to cut him a bit of slack.

“How much better to have somebody that’s like that in there? It’s positive, not gurning and moaning like the others are doing.”

Sam’s girlfriend Zara McDermott addressed viewers’ complaints that Tony Bellew was “rude” to him in the jungle. On Monday night’s episode, Sam volunteered to sleep in the Misery Motel with Marvin Humes and Tony.

While Sam appeared to be delighted to be partnered up with Tony, it didn’t seem as if the feelings were mutual, according to fans. After viewers watched as Sam jumped on Tony when he realised they would be sharing the task, one wrote on Twitter: “Tony Bellew secretly hates Sam.”

While another said: “You can tell Tony is getting fed up.” as a third commented: “Sam is going to do Tony’s head in at this motel trial.” It also didn’t help that when Sam was nominated Camp Leader by the public, Tony, 40, didn’t appear to be happy for him.

Once he was announced as leader, Zara, 26, took to Instagram to gush to her 1.8 million followers: “CAMP LEADER how do you think this is going to go? Ps he will be so so grateful for your votes thank you on behalf #teamSam.”

However, Zara seemingly tried to temper any talk of a rift between Sam and Tony.

I’m A Celebrity continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.