Dean McCullough’s rise to I’m a Celeb fame saw him left homeless & ‘annihilated’ by trolls over ‘appalling’ TV disaster

HE’S been dividing viewers with his over-the-top reactions and excitable energy in the jungle.

And Dean McCullough will be taking centre stage in tonight’s Bushtucker trial on I’m A Celebrity, as a result.

The Radio 1 host received the highest public votes to take on the Sinister Sarcophagus challenge in a bid to win stars for camp.

And he will be left screaming his head off as he is covered in creepy crawlies in tonight’s episode.

While the actual trial may be hell for Dean, the air time will be a dream come true for the Belfast boy, who worked hard to get famous.

He has appeared on various reality TV shows, including Britain’s Got Talent, and was homeless when he first moved to London to make it big.

Dean has also opened up on his battle with booze and how going sober finally bagged him his dream job presenting Radio 1.

We reveal his rocky road to fame…

Homelessness

Dean’s life wasn’t all glitz and glamour when he was younger.

In fact, in his teens, his family were homeless for a year after his parents’ separation.

He told the Big Issue: “We weren’t living on the street, we were living in my aunt’s house on a sofa. 

“I was moving between houses on a regular basis.”

When he first arrived in London with hopes of being a musical theatre star, Dean was homeless once again, spending years couch surfing – and moving any time he felt unsafe.

He said: “As soon as I sensed any kind of danger, I’d be straight out of [where I was staying]… for a long time I had no fixed address. 

“I would go out on the Thursday and just stay out all weekend because I just didn’t want to go home.”

And he’s admitted this period of his life has left him with “problems with my possessions and feeling like I need to take care of absolutely everything around me”. 

He added: “That comes down to moving from house to house and not ever feeling like anything was ever truly mine.”

Reality TV stints

During his quest for fame, Dean was part of all-male dancing group called The Glambassadors, who made it to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent in 2013.

The trio danced and lip-synced to Christina Aguilera’s hit Candyman – and judge David Walliams called the act “camper than Christmas”.

At the time, Dean said: “We formed because we all know each other through working in dance. But a week before the auditions we lost two guys who got jobs in LA. 

“So we found two other friends and we had one rehearsal before we got to the stage.

“I choreographed the dance so I was under pressure to get it sorted. We were winging it but I think because of the pressure we were under it all came together and now I have made friends for life. 

“We have all been on this journey together, none of us have ever done anything like this before.”

Two years later, Dean appeared on another reality TV show – Young, Free and Single.

The forgotten E4 dating show was hosted by Steve Jones, and involved six singletons living together in a house, while viewers voted on who they’d go on dates with.

Dean got loads of backlash online for how he treated one of his blind dates, Dan – unimpressed by his appearance, he decided to spend the whole evening on his phone instead.

“I was appalled at my behaviour on my second date but I’m glad it happened,” he told Attitude at the time. “It’s sparked massive controversy and people gave me their honest opinion – in abundance. 

“Listen, I want to make the mistakes that single guys are afraid to. 

“I want to prove that confidence doesn’t mean confident. I’ve learnt so much from that date and I hope you can see improvements in the weeks to come.

“I got annihilated and I deserved it.

I looked at my bins in my apartment and it was like, three bottles of red, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of prosecco, I was like ‘Who drank that?  Oh, it was me.’

Dean McCollough

“I would’ve tweeted me and it wouldn’t have been pretty. It’s all part of the show. 

“You could get ten amazingly positive tweets but it takes one negative to make an impact and yes – I had a cry but I’m learning and I thank every single person that gets in touch. I read them all.”

‘Dark place’

After a lot of partying and dating, booze eventually became a problem for Dean.

Speaking on Scott Thomas’ Learning As I Go podcast, he said: “Alcoholism runs in my family and I’ve got a lot of friends that have been alcohol dependent so I just thought it was my turn.”

It was during the Covid-19 pandemic, while Dean was presenting the breakfast show on Gaydio, that he realised he was in a “dark place”.

He added to iNews: “What was like a glass of wine of an evening after work turned into a bottle which turned into two bottles and then, some weekends, I was drinking like a bottle of vodka too.

I had to dig deep and process years of trauma. It was so, so difficult at times but actually inspired me to stay sober and feel every feeling

Dean McCollough

“I looked at my bins in my apartment and it was like, three bottles of red, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of prosecco, I was like ‘Who drank that?  Oh, it was me.’

“I just got myself into a bad way and I was sort of thinking some really, really dark thoughts to myself. 

“Anybody who’s kind of struggled with mental health will know what it’s like.

 “I just saw the path in front of me and it wasn’t nice. It was really dark and it was very destructive and I thought, if I want to get to Radio 1, which was always my dream, if I want to do that, I need to make some changes.”

4 years sober

Dean decided to stop drinking for a month on the first day of September in 2020 – and a month later he bagged a job at Radio 1.

He has been sober ever since and, in September this year, he shared this picture of himself in Ibiza celebrating four years of sobriety.

He wrote: “4 years sober today & the universe wanted me to spend it on my favourite island reflecting on the most incredible journey.

“I wanted to stop boozing for a month to refocus my mind and take back control of what was a spiralling problem. 

“I wanted to go for my dream job at Radio 1 but had absolutely no idea how that was going to happen but what would happen next would be remarkable. 

“Everything aligned, I stayed sober for another month and then Radio 1 happened, my mind opened up and I felt like me.

“The first year was the easiest, I stayed sober & the haze lifting, good sleep and no anxiety.”

However, he also opened up about how it’s not always been easy to stay sober.

He continued: “1 year in everything that was bubbling under the surface started to raise its ugly head. Trauma that I hadn’t processed, pain that I was running away from and parts of myself that I hadn’t given love began to stare me in the face. I had nowhere to run.

“I reached out and was sent to a psychotherapist. I had to dig deep and process years of trauma. It was so so difficult at times but actually inspired me to stay sober and feel every feeling. Anxiety, sadness, pain, regret, neglect, abandonment & the rest. I had to feel it all in order to move on.

“At the same time, my career is going from strength to strength, I’m now at Radio 1 full time, with my own weekend show, I’ve got an amazing team around me taking care of my career with me for the first time. Everything is coming together after 13 years of graft. My life finally felt like mine.

“In the last 18 months I’ve had a whirlwind of experiences. I’ve bought my own home & felt every bit of stress around that. I’ve fallen in love with the wrong person and had to navigate the breakdown of that. I’ve had a shift at work and navigate all of that. 

“Sadly I’ve had family members pass away and we’ve all had to process the deep pain of that.

“During all of this, I haven’t wanted to drink or use drugs to hide the pain and in these moment that’s when I’m so grateful for sobriety. 

“It’s not easy but as I sit here in Ibiza reflecting on the last 4 years, I’d rather have periods of pain and heartache and really feel it than keep running from my problems. That is life, this is sober magic and here’s to the next 4 years.”