Katie Price reportedly had her eyes on Declan Donnelly, revealed his co-host Ant McPartlin.
The famed Geordie pair have crossed paths with Katie numerous times, largely due to her stints on ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!’
Yet, it was after her first escapade in the Australian jungle that Ant hinted that Katie – who went on to marry her jungle campmate Peter Andre – took a fancy to show host Dec.
In the duo’s memoir, Ooh! What A Lovely Pair, Ant reminisces about how Katie, still known as Jordan back then, attempted to woo Dec during the celebratory gathering after that year’s ITV series concluded, with even her mother trying to set the pair up.
Katie entered the jungle in 2004 for the third season of I’m A Celebrity while in a relationship with Scott Sullivan, who accompanied her to Australia, reports the Mirror.
Despite dumping Scott to develop a romance with Pete, she seemed to verify Dec’s availability before engaging in a relationship with the ‘Mysterious Girl’ artist post-show.
“The other thing I remember from that party is doing shots with Kerry, and Jordan [Katie’s glamour model alter-ego] chasing after Dec, who she had propositioned during her departure interview,” Ant writes, casting his mind back to the festivities following that series’ end in their autobiography released in 2009.
Despite Dec, who had recently split from childhood sweetheart Clare Buckfield at the time, giving her the cold shoulder, Katie’s mother Amy Price attempted to play cupid for her daughter.
According to Ant’s writings: “He managed to avoid her all night, but her mum did corner him a couple of times and try to set him up with her. He wasn’t having any of it.”
Katie’s representatives have been contacted by Express.co.uk for comment.
Katie might not have secured a date with Dec, but she did strike up a serious relationship with another star from the I’m A Celebrity… family. Following her 2004 jungle stint, Katie and Pete quickly became an item, and their whirlwind romance culminated in a wedding at Highclere Castle in Hampshire the next year.
Together, they welcomed two children – Junior Andre, now aged 18, and Princess Andre, aged 17 – before dramatically ending their relationship in 2009 and parting ways through divorce.
Discussing his eldest offspring on This Morning last year, Pete remarked to Alison Hammond: “They’re the only jungle babies. They’re the only ones to be born from the show I believe.”
Meanwhile, Dec found romantic success of his own after the Im A Celebrity wrap party in 2004 where Katie had tried her moves on him. After dating TV presenter Georgie Thompson from January 2009 until April 2011, Dec fell for Ali Astall, who was then working as his and Ant’s manager.
The pair tied the knot in 2015 and are now parents to two children.
