Our Aussie male TV presenters don’t always come with the most glowing reputations.
Too often, their colourful personal lives – involving cheating, divorce, breakdowns and drug abuse – make the headlines, instead of their work on-camera.
But the former host of Channel Seven’s Daily Edition Tom Williams is the exception to the rule, proving during his time in the South African jungle on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! that being the nice guy actually does get you ahead.
The 49-year-old was one of the most popular contestants both in camp and among viewers back home, who praised Tom’s vulnerability and lack of shame around expressing emotion.
Now out of the jungle – and eight kilos lighter – Tom says he is a changed man after his three-week stint on the show.
“I’ve survived in one piece! It’s been a great time,” he told Now To Love just hours after leaving camp.
Of his extraordinary weight loss, Tom says he feels “really good”.
“I feel really cleansed, I feel open. You detox everything – coffee, alcohol, sugar, carbs, processed foods, meat – everything. Everything washes away from you. I feel really enlightened.”
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Tom lost eight kilos in three weeks.
(Credit: Channel 10)He and Spanish chef Miguel Maestre forged an unlikely, yet fiercely strong friendship in the jungle, culminating in an emotional farewell when Tom was eliminated on Thursday night’s episode.
Tom handed Miguel a memento from their time together, a single piece of elephant-shaped pasta saved from a meal the contestants had won earlier in the season, which Tom had saved as his “lucky charm”.
“It’s so beautiful to see two men not only embracing but talking with such emotion about their new forged friendship,” one viewer wrote on Twitter. “Should be more of it.”
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Miguel and Tom’s emotional farewell.
(Credit: Channel 10)When Now To Love asked about his relationship with Miguel just hours after exiting the jungle, Tom was overcome with emotion and paid tribute to his wonderful friend.
“It’s the rawest of emotions and friendships. That’s it,” Tom said.
“Maybe a lot of people will bag me and say ‘You’re a sook’, but bah humbug,” he said.
“You [viewers] saw me at my lowest moment, reaching out to that man and he held me every step of the way. He’s a remarkable person and no one will ever understand what that means, other than him and I. No one will. I’ll see him soon and we laugh together. He’s an incredible person, he really is.”
Tom was praised by viewers for his ability to be emotional on camera.
(Credit: Channel 10)The pair had met once before, but those three weeks in the jungle have solidified their friendship for life.
“We’d met years before, but no one can prepare you for what you endure through that experience. I work with coaches and people who drive and really push you to every ounce of your physical ability but he does that on every different level and I love that. It makes me a better man, to be able to stretch my emotions and physical strength.
“It’s in my nature to say ‘OK, we’re in this altogether. We need to bond. We need to be together. We are a force if we all come together’. I’m not a solo competitor. I love the team I love the unit. I love everybody being together, so [being in the jungle] fulfilled all of those things to me.”
Tom pictured with his wife Rachel and their two daughters.
(Credit: Instagram)Tom says he can’t wait to get home to his family – fashion designer wife Rachel Gilbert and his two young daughters, Storm, five, and Sloane, three.
“I am just heading back home to wife and children, who are about to go to school,” Tom said.
“So I’ll be doing plaits and ponytails and hearing about ‘Daddy, I don’t want my hair like that’,” he said.
“That’s the best thing I could ever go home to … making lunchboxes and hanging with the mums at school drop off.”
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Tom can’t wait to get back home to his family.
(Credit: Instagram)
Tom’s two little girls.
(Credit: Instagram)Tom is clearly a huge family man and relishes the role of primary carer.
He has previously spoken out about the need for better paid paternity leave, admitting he’s was lucky during his career at Channel Seven and was able to achieve a good balance between work and family life.
“The time I was on The Daily Edition, the work schedule was very good – I could spend all morning at home taking care of the girls while Rachel went off to work,” he told Men’s Health.
WATCH BELOW: See Tom Williams’ shirtless appearance on Dancing With The Stars in 2004. Story continues after video.
And Rachel is clearly still head over heels for her man.
“He is a man of his word, is honest, and holds his own,” she told Sunday Life.
“He is a strong man’s man and makes me feel safe.”
I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! airs from Sundays to Thursdays at 7.30pm on Channel 10.
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