Wayne Bridge desperately trying to convince wife Frankie to do I'm A Celebrity
EXCLUSIVE: Former footballer Wayne Bridge headed into the I'm A Celebrity jungle in 2016, and now he's dying to see his wife, ex-Saturdays singer Frankie give it a go
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Former I'm A Celebrity campmate Wayne Bridge has admitted he's desperately trying to convince his wife Frankie to take part in the show.
The ex-England footballer exclusively told Mirror Online how hard he was working to make it happen as he teamed up with Gordon's Gin to share his Christmas hacks.
Wayne went Down Under to take part in the show in 2016, and says even though it's taking place in Gwrych Castle in Wales this year, watching has brought back many happy memories.
And he wants former Saturdays singer Frankie to experience the same thing, even though he reckons the stars in Wales have had a much easier time than he did.
Wayne, 40, told us: "To be honest I thought they got off a bit lightly on some of it. At the beginning the trials were easy and I thought they had to get tougher.
"It's obviously different with them being in Wales.
"People say at least Australia is warm but we were in a storm a few of the nights and we were getting drenched, sometimes the weather's quite bad.
"I can't say I wouldn't have done it [in Wales], I like to challenge myself and you just don't know what it's going to be like."
Wayne is now dying to see wife Frankie, with whom he share sons Parker, seven, and Carter, five, take part.
He added: "I've just got such great memories of it, I loved doing it and I always try to push Frankie to do it but she knows that if she does it my phone bill would be through the roof because I'd be voting for her to do the trials non-stop.
"I think Frank would be scared of everything - missing the kids, sleeping out with all the animals, she'd be terrified of everything so I think it would be good value to watch.
"I think she will do it. She'd try to talk herself out of it but I know I could talk her into it.
"She has to do it for the kids so they can see it. They were quite young when I did it so I'd love them to see her do it."
Wayne says he's had Giovanna Fletcher pegged as this year's winner from day one.
"Frankie knows her quite well and I've met her, she's a really nice person and she's done really well," he said.
When it comes to getting organised for Christmas, Wayne is quite the expert.
As well as having one of his three Christmas trees up since the day after Halloween, he's also been taking cooking lessons in lockdown so that he can whip up dinner for the first time when the big day finally comes around.
"We did a tree each this year - the kids, Frankie and me," he said.
"We've probably told the kids their tree is the best but really, it's mine that's the best.
"To be fair, the kids' is quite good. It was a bit more of a free-for-all formation but it actually looks alright."
By teaming up with Gordon's, Wayne is sharing his Z-formation tree decorating hack, and he's hoping fans who follow his advice will share their pictures with him.
"I love Christmas and I love a bit of gin as well," he laughed.
"I wanted to create some Christmas hacks for everyone and mine is to do with decorating the Christmas tree.
"The Z formation is a new one for me this year, but it makes sense and it looks really good.
"I love doing the tree and the Christmas decorations."
He added: "My best tip is decorating. After what everyone's been through this year you've got to enjoy it and be grateful for what we have.
"It's been a difficult year for everybody so we need to enjoy the family and definitely enjoy a Gordon's Gin Fizz because they're so nice.
"I just want to sit back and see the smiles on the kids' faces, enjoy the food, enjoy a few gins and take it all in. It goes by so fast."
MirrorCeleb