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SANDRA's BATTLE
Harry Redknapp almost QUIT I’m a Celeb after ‘killer disease’ struck his wife Sandra
The King of the Jungle nearly pulled out of the series as wife Sandra battled deadly sepsis
I’M A Celebrity winner Harry Redknapp has told how he nearly pulled out of the series when wife Sandra was struck down with killer disease sepsis.
The ex-football manager, 71, said she was in hospital just days before the show started and he “feared the worst” while in the jungle.
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He revealed he broke down during their surprise in-camp reunion after wrongly believing she had been taken seriously ill.
Harry said of Sandra, 71: “She’s been ill with the sepsis and it’s knocked her for six.
"It was only five weeks ago.
“Sandra was in and out of hospital but she wanted to come over to Australia.
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“I was worried about her coming, I didn’t know if it was going to be too much for her.”
In an exclusive interview with The Sun hours after he was crowned King of the Jungle on Sunday, ex Spurs and Portsmouth boss Harry also opened up about his dramatic weight loss and suffering a stroke scare in camp, his unlikely bromance with Noel Edmonds, and hitting “rock bottom” as a football manager when bad results made his life a misery.
Harry’s 51-year marriage became the most talked-about in Britain during the ITV series.
Viewers and campmates lapped up his gushing tributes to Sandra, and his love for her home-made jam roly polys.
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The Sun treated him to an extra-special plate of his favourite pud after he lost a stone in weight in camp.
He said: “It was three or four days in a row where a bit of rice in the bottom of a cup was all I ate.
"I found the food difficult to eat, I’m not a fan of wallaby, kangaroo, crocodile, emu — it was all stuff that I’ve never eaten in my life.”
But his refusal to eat was not the only thing that triggered alarm bells from his campmates.
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Just after Chase star Anne Hegerty was voted out last week, DIY SOS host Nick Knowles was heard alerting medics, fearing Harry suffered a stroke.
Redknapp explained: “An insect got into my lip, I didn’t even know.
"They said, ‘What’s happened?’
";My face has swelled up on one side, but I wasn’t having a stroke, thankfully.”
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Harry’s jungle woes also included two critters burying themselves into both his eardrums.
But they were nothing compared to Sandra’s secret battle with sepsis, an infection which can lead to multiple organ failure and death if not treated quickly.
He said: “Sepsis is such a dangerous thing, we were quite lucky.
“The day before I came in, if she said she didn’t feel well or weren’t up for it — I wouldn’t have come, I’d have scrubbed it.”
It’s not known what triggered Sandra’s illness but Harry did reveal she had an op to insert a cage at the back of her neck to stop the nerves from touching each other.
He said: “She’s had a tough five years, you name it — she’s had it.”
Harry was so worried about his wife that he believed producers were sending him out of the jungle to deal with a medical emergency. But he was then overwhelmed to see her for a surprise televised reunion instead.
Harry, who had never seen the show before, recalled: “I thought something had happened, I really did — I thought something wasn’t right and I was going to come out.
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“When the girl called me in the Bush Telegraph office, I said, ‘Can I tell the others?’ and she says, ‘No you can’t’.
“That’s why I got double choked when I saw her.”
He went on: “I’ll be honest, the day I met her and when I started crying on the TV, I’m not usually one for that.”
Another highlight of the series was Harry striking up an unlikely bromance with TV presenter Noel Edmonds, who made him his No 2 in his role as jungle emperor.
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Harry said: “I assumed that he was coming in to be the emperor for one day, like as a celebrity special guest.
“I thought maybe Gordon Ramsay might come in the next day to do a bit of cooking.”
Harry found himself confiding in broadcaster Noel about his secret inner turmoil as a football manager.
Bad results were increasingly difficult to overcome, he said.
Redknapp was sacked as manager of Championship side Birmingham City in September after just eight games — despite orchestrating a miracle relegation escape the previous season.
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He explained: “I’ve been lucky, I’ve never had home fans on my case, but away from home you get abuse and when you get beat, I used to get so low it was frightening.
"I felt rock bottom.
“I used to say to Sandra, ‘Never make arrangements to go out with anyone on a Saturday night’.
"I’d be no use.
"If she says we’re going out with some other people, I may as well not be there.
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“I couldn’t talk to them — no matter how hard I tried.
“Bad results when you’re a football manager make you miserable.”
But now, after his title-winning stint in the Australian jungle, he’s happy as Harry.
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Team full of Flair and Atack
GOALKEEPER
ANNE HEGERTY
I’ve put Anne in goal because, you know, she would lack a bit of pace.
RIGHT-BACK
MALIQUE THOMPSON-DWYER
Malique could do full-back. He’d be up and down all day.
LEFT-BACK
JAMES MCVEY
James, on the other side, would give us an engine.
CENTRE-BACK
NICK KNOWLES
I could see him organising everybody, like in the camp. You could drop him in the jungle and he’d survive for a year with just a penknife.
CENTRE-BACK
SAIR KHAN
She’s a toughie. Her and Flair were a good win double.
RIGHT MIDFIELD
NOEL EDMONDS
His mind would be elsewhere and then he’d do something very clever.
CENTRE MIDFIELD
RITA SIMONS
She’d go round booting everybody. She’d get done for swearing at the referee. She swears at everybody.
LEFT MIDFIELD
EMILY ATACK
Emily could be a bit lightweight but Rita would sort out anyone taking liberties.
RIGHT WING
HARRY REDKNAPP
I could do something once every quarter hour — win the game for them.
LEFT WING
FLEUR EAST
I’ll have Flair, as I call her, as a number ten. She’d buzzing here, buzzing there.
CENTRE FORWARD
JOHN BARROWMAN
He’d like the limelight. He’d like to get the goals and want the biggest wages.
Harry Redknapp cries when he talks about wife Sandra on I'm A Celebrity
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