Richard Madeley leaves I'm a Celebrity after going to hospital

TV presenter Richard Madeley has said he is "absolutely fine" but is leaving I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! after being taken to hospital.

Medics on the ITV show entered the camp at Gwrych Castle in north Wales early on Thursday and called an ambulance.

Posting online on Thursday, Madeley said: "I started to feel briefly unwell in the small hours of the morning and was taken to hospital as a precaution."

He must now leave the show because he has broken its Covid safety bubble.

The 65-year-old said he had "had the time of my life" on the programme and was "gutted" to be unable to re-join, but stressed that the "safety of all the campmates is the number one priority".

He wrote: "I'm incredibly excited to watch their journey continue… even more so at the prospect of being somewhere a little warmer than Gwrych Castle.

"Thank you to everyone who supported me on my brief but completely unforgettable adventure - I've made some great friends."

Madeley alongside campmates David Ginola, Louise Minchin, Snoochie Shy and Frankie Bridge, as well as Kadeena Cox, Matty Lee, Naughty Boy, Danny Miller and Dame Arlene Phillips

A statement from the show said: "Our strict Covid protocols means Richard has sadly had to leave the show as he is no longer in the bubble the celebrities form when entering the castle.

"He has been a truly brilliant campmate and we thank him for being part of this series."

Medical emergency

Earlier on Thursday, an ITV spokesman said: "Richard was unwell in the early hours and was immediately seen by our on-site medical team.

"He's since been taken to hospital as a precaution, the health and safety of our campmates is our priority."

The Welsh Ambulance Service said it was called to a "medical emergency" at the castle in Abergele, Conwy, at 05:43 GMT.

"We sent a paramedic in a rapid response car and an emergency ambulance to the scene, and one patient was taken to hospital," they said.

Reacting to the news, Madeley's Good Morning Britain colleague Susanna Reid tweeted: "Sending love - hope he's feeling ok now. Doing brilliant job on #IACGMOOH and being supportive to everyone. Get well soon Richard."

Fish guts and offal

No details of his illness have been revealed. It came the morning after he had slid head first into a sewer of rotten fruit and vegetables during a trial.

The Castle Kitchen Nightmares task saw him hunt for 10 hidden stars in a kitchen "full of castle critters" after a public vote.

• Madeley and Minchin lead I'm a Celebrity line-up

Rotten food was dumped on Madeley, who said: "That's seven tons of fruit, I'll never find a star in here. Oh, it's freezing."

"Oh, this is really, really hard...there's just no way of sorting the wheat from the [chaff]," he said.

After searching in dark chambers for 10 minutes, as fish guts and offal fell on him, Madeley managed to get four out of 10 stars, securing a meal of squirrel for his camp-mates.

Madeley told Metro before he went into the castle: "I really hope I do get voted for the trials. The thing about this programme is you mustn't go into it if you take yourself remotely seriously."

He had also said his roles in the camp would be cook and interviewer.

"I will ask questions in camp. Unless you are curious, you don't learn about people," he said.

Madeley made his name alongside wife Judy Finnigan on ITV's This Morning from 1988 to 2001, and more recently has co-hosted Good Morning Britain, as well as doing stints on BBC Radio 2.

A familiar face to millions, the TV presenter had been asked to do I'm A Celebrity many times - but said this time around he "realised the time had come to experience it."