He’s the first star to be booted from season three’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, but the witty American wasn’t shedding any tears as he left camp.
Once a reality show airs their eviction episode, the star spends the following day doing back-to-back exit interviews. And it was no different for actor Tom Arnold.
Luckily for me, I was the 57-year-old’s final interview for the day… And boy was he excited to chat.
I had intended to do a straightforward Q&A with him, but what ensued was an ultimate declaration of love for his family, honest ramblings and a very frank outlook of his 14 days in the South African jungle.
A man free from the constraints of a small camp…
How are you feeling?
I’m pretty exhausted. I’ve been doing interviews straight through. They’ve been getting every single morsel out of me. I will sleep on the plane. I’m grateful to be out of there, I’m grateful for the opportunity. Allegedly I will be going home at some point.
Tom must be psychic because he begins to tell me what he’s looking forward to now he’s out
I will be seeing my wife for the first time in two weeks and I will be able to touch her for the first time in four weeks. I will be able to see my babies! Actually, she told me what was really going on while I was away. She originally assured me “Oh, don’t worry! Everything is fine!” But apparently my son [three-year-old Jax] had broken my wife’s nose.
And then everyone had the flu. It’s been tough. She pretends like she doesn’t need me but when I’m not there… We’re very connected. Actually she calls me co-dependent. I probably am co-dependent. She sent me a note, “Jackson – that’s my three-year-old- is so proud of you. He took a picture of you jumping off a cliff to school. He’s literally made 1000 cards for you.”
Now, that’s not a joke! He made two stacks of 500, in fact he probably has OCD, but he made a 1000 cards! It really just made me so happy and proud and everything is great. But then my wife says to me, “Umm maybe you don’t want to be and look so grumpy! Just give them a smiley face, especially if you want people to go to your comedy show!”
When she says something, I listen to her. But then I forget… 10 minutes I’m swearing my head off to someone saying, “F— you!”
Tom with his current and fourth wife Ashley Groussman. They share his son Jax, three, and daughter Quinn, 13 months.
From watching you on the show, is it safe to say that you’re happy you’re out?
I wasn’t loving the jungle. The things I loved are the things most people don’t love. I love the animals. I love eating the really bad stuff. I loved jumping off stuff – the dangerous stuff.
But honestly the intimacy with strangers – I was worried about. People thought I’d be scared about the other stuff, but I have zero fear about that for some reason. But I have tremendous fear when it comes to people.
I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I’m also a foreigner. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I can seem myself being included when they meet afterwards [when they’re out of the jungle].
And when they speak about America it’s not so good. “Boy people there are stupid. People are mean there. I hate the business there.” I’m like, umm OK that’s my home. You know if you need help, I can help you!
Tom was famously married to Roseanne Barr for four years in the nineties.
He did like Chris and Julia – so that’s a win!
*Tom decides to share his candid views on what he really( thinks of I’m a Celeb**
I think this show is better for them [the other camp mates], because apparently you can get work in Australia from being good on this show, and that’s what I want them to do! I’ll get them a role in a movie if that’s what they want. A little role, for real… IN AMERICA. But to get a real show, they need to shine since they’re from Australia.
Was there anyone that surprised you?
I have so much more respect for Julia Morris and Dr Chris Brown – because I’d only seen a couple of clips of the show… So I didn’t know what Dr Chris or Julia did. It just looked so silly but seeing them up close I really like them.
She’s very pretty and sharp and he is too. I thought he’d be dumb because he’s so good looking with that jaw, but no! And she’s genuinely so funny. I really want to see her perform. They work so well together. It is such a team effort. I genuinely grew to like and respect them.
Any final thoughts on your time on the reality show and what will you treasure forever?
I’ll never have this experience again! I’m taking that with me. When I jump off something – I look straight down. I don’t close my eyes because I always think that I will never in my life be in place this beautiful or have this opportunity again.
Hopefully that will override the grueling, boring, stinky horrible camp. I was worried they’d get really sick of me if I was in there any longer.
I’m use to conflict. In my family, everyone argues and then we get over it! And we’re loud about it! We have these arguments. We don’t get offended or we give it right back to them… And then we just laugh about it later and go about our business.
Tom, Hollywood star and former spouse of comedienne Rosanne Barr, then left me with this final nugget of gold…
If there’s anything I learned it’s how hard being an extra is. Because I went from being an occasional star in movies to being an extra. And now I have much more respect for them.
Well, that’s one celebrity that’s now out of here… Also one villain may have left but our Queen Keira is entering the jungle tonight. Be sure to tune in to Channel Ten from 7:30pm Sunday-Thursday for all the crazy action
