Harry Redknapp, 72, was a hit on the ITV series I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! but the former professional footballer has since revealed why he chose the jungle over taking part in the BBC series of Strictly Come Dancing. The football manager has admitted his son Jamie Redknapp, 45, was the reason behind his decision to skip the dance floor. In an interview with MailOnline, Harry said: “I told Jamie I was thinking of doing [Strictly] and I don’t think he was pleased about it. “And so I was offered the jungle at the same time and chose to do that.”
The former West Ham manager also divulged he did not tell Jamie about his plans to head Down Under to the Australian jungle and “kept quiet.”
He said: “But I didn’t tell him about that one, I just went for it because I didn’t think he’d be best pleased with that either. I kept it quiet.
“I thought he might get the hump otherwise.”
After winning the show, Harry revealed the real reason for going on the reality show was because his grandchildren urged him to.
He told The Mirror: “I’d never seen even one second of the programme.
“I had no intention of doing it, but my grandkids were like, ‘Oh go on Pop, please. Don’t be scared of Kiosk Kev, he won’t hurt you.’ I’m like, ‘Who is Kiosk Kev?’
Despite being an early favourite to win the show, he admitted he had thought about pulling out of the show.
He added to the publication: “Even the week of the show I was still half-and-half, I could easily have not done it, but I thought, ‘I’m here now, I’ve got to.’”
Meanwhile, the football star is currently fronting his own TV programme Harry’s Heroes: The Full English.
The show sees the main man take the reins as manager of a football squad which includes former professional players, including England legends Mark Chamberlain, 57, and David Seaman, 55, as they bid to lose weight and get fit by getting back on the pitch.
With the help of assistant manager John Barnes, 55, Harry aims to get them up to scratch to take on a German team by the end of their training.
Speaking to Express.co.uk about the show, he said: “It was great to be around them.
“They’ve all come to the end of their careers, all got different lives now. All different shapes and sizes now,” he continued.
“It was nice to be around them, I like being around footballers, especially good footballers.
“And that’s what they were, they’re a bunch of ex great footballers.”
Harry’s Heroes: The Full English airs tonight at 9pm on ITV.