‘I absolutely jumped out of my chair’

Ant and Dec made Homes Under the Hammer presenter Martin Roberts’ day this week by making a “deep-cut callback” joke to the I’m A Celeb series on which he appeared, in 2016.

ITV’s flagship reality show is homing in on its finale. Before it gets there, however, audiences are in for a treat – or a trick.

There will be a double eviction on I’m A Celebrity tonight (Dec 5).

The shock twist is sure to delight and disappoint in equal measure, although some viewers are convinced that ITV have fixed the show for Coleen Rooney to win.

Martin Roberts is best known for presenting BBC show Homes Under the Hammer (Credit: This Morning/YouTube)

Ant and Dec make callback to 2016 season of I’m A Celeb

This week, I’m A Celeb presenters Ant and Dec made a sort of in-joke reference to a previous season of the series, featuring Martin Roberts.

He went on the show in 2016, and made it past halfway to the finish line. Viewers voted him off seventh.

Scarlett Moffatt, from Gogglebox, won that season, with Joel Dommett coming in second place in front of Adam Thomas, in third.

After espying the campmates performing Singin’ In The Rain together, Dec joked that it was a bit late for that.

“Singin’ In The Rain? Bit late, a bit Homes Under the Hammer,” he said.

Ant replied by saying: “Shut up, Martin.”

Dec excitedly noted the “deep-cut callback to 2016” and said: “I like it”.

Martin Roberts praises Ant and Dec for ‘sweet’ gesture

“It was really sweet!” Martin told the Daily Record.

His response to the co-hosts makes a change from some of the mood of some of the other responses they’ve received. Ant, at least, has been branded “sassy” for his reaction to a studio technical error.

Some say he even harboured a grudge against I’m A Celebrity contestant Dean McCullough. But not Martin.

“I absolutely jumped out of my chair. And started whooping because you do think since then there’s been about 100 campmates gone through,” he said.

“It was just really nice that they both remembered and I do get a lot of people still coming up to me still saying how much they enjoyed my time on the show. But to have that little mention they will probably never realise that it was really sweet and definitely made my day!”

He also posted about the snippet on Instagram.

“What a nice surprise to get a mention from Ant and Dec on last night’s I’m a Celeb,” he wrote.

“I can’t believe it’s eight years ago that I was on. But it’s lovely that people still come up to me saying they remember and enjoyed my antics in the jungle.”