Inside I’m A Celeb star Kiosk Kev’s off camera life with reality star past – and ‘real job’ away from show

I'M A CELEBRITY's fan-favourite shopkeeper Kiosk Kev will be back for the 2023 instalment of the hit reality TV series.

The Outback Shack proprietor, who replaced I'm A Celebrity's Kiosk Keith, is set to pose a number of mind-boggling questions to the show's celebrity line-up in return for some sweet treats.

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This series, he even gets a new cabin in a huge show shake-up.

Yet away from the ITV reality series Kiosk Kev - whose real name is Mark Herlaar - is a lime farmer.

He has a side-hustle running an online kombucha business, Manifest Kombucha.

Mark runs his drinks company from his farm in Queensland and juggles it with his I'm A Celeb role, which he began in 2018.

He was first to tell us: "Coronavirus was actually an opportunity wrapped in the cloak of disaster.

"After losing around 150 tonnes of fruit due to club and pub shut downs, as they were the largest uses of our limes, it made us stop and think: ‘What is the most valuable resource on this farm other than ourselves?’ The answer: Water!”

"We have been making kombucha as a family for more than 20 years and decided kombucha would add far greater value to the water.
So, we constructed a purpose-built kitchen, obtained a food licence and started to produce Manifest Kombuca."

Meanwhile, The Sun Online can also reveal the hatch-slamming star is an Aussie reality TV veteran with a thing for posting topless selfies.

The mute ruler of the Outback Shack actually competed on the Aussie version of TV show Survivor.

Hailing from the town of Toowoomba in Queensland, where I'm A Celeb is filmed, he was recruited by ITV after advertising himself as an actor on casting websites.

And the dad-of-two will have a very good idea what new campmates Nigel Farage and Josie Gibson and the others stars are going through - because he's done it all himself.

In 2017, he was one of the contestants on Australian Survivor, a reality show which sees 24 castaways battling to survive after being dropped into the Samoan jungle.

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He was adored by viewers for his selfless nature, but lasted only 11 days before being voted out by his back-stabbing campmates.

The Kiosk Kev star later contracted dysentery he picked up from the water well they had dug in the jungle.

He explained, in true Aussie language: "It manifested two days after I got home and I was just crook as a dog, like I had dysentery and was nauseated and sick.

"And if that had of played out [in camp] I would have been very disappointed to be going out, basically, in a body bag with the zipper open."

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Mark has also appeared on Australia's answer to Family Fortunes, a primetime hit called Family Feud.

However, away from the limelight he quietly runs his own business growing limes and mushrooms - in stark contrast to the sugary treats he serves in the Outback Shack.

Some Kiosk Keith loyalists treated the arrival of Mark's character Kev with suspicion, posting the likes of: "Don't like this. THIS IS CHANGE AND IT IS NOT COMFORTABLE."

However, others have been delighted with the scary-looking new arrival, commenting on his magnificent beard.

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One wrote: "Kiosk Kev’s beard is literally on point."

Another took a contrary view, writing: "Take the beard off kiosk kev and I reckon he’d be quite the looker."

One Twitter fan joked: "Kiosk Kev looks like he's killed Kiosk Keith."

Kev replaced Keith, whose real name was Raymond Grant, after he was axed for turning up to work drunk.

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He was also accused of behaving inappropriately towards a female member of staff on the bus into work in the jungle.

A show insider previously told The Sun: "Everyone on set is really pleased with the new Kiosk Kev character.

"Kev won't take any nonsense from the celebrities, and he looks very intimating!"

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However, Mark is actually a sunny-minded family man, whose motto is: "Be well, world and namaste."

Now, we really can't imagine Kiosk Kev ever saying that.

Listen to , talkRADIO's cheeky, no-holds-barred take on the action Down Under. Hosted by Jamie East with daily guests, including former campmates and celeb reality TV fans the gang will dish the dirt on the REAL behind-the-scenes gossip. Read more here.

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