I’m a Celeb’s Vernon Kay was the phantom dribbler but Shane Richie covered for him to stop ‘posh’ wife Tess finding out

I’M A Celebrity’s Vernon Kay has been revealed as the castle privy’s phantom dribbler – but it was covered up because he didn’t want “posh” wife Tess Daly to find out.

Viewers had seen the campmates trying to figure out who had been peeing on the communal toilet’s floor, but were never told if they’d gotten to the bottom of the matter.

At the time, all of the boys distanced themselves from the unpleasant leak, with Vernon, 46, covering his tracks by saying: “It is a bit awkward.

“How do you teach people over 25 how to pee?”

Now Shane Richie, 56, has outed Vernon as the show’s phantom dribbler and claimed the ex Family Fortunes presenter begged his co-stars to keep it a secret because “dead posh” Strictly host Tess wouldn’t approve.

Speaking during the Daily Drop, Shane revealed: “Let’s just clear a few things up shall we. When all that started, the phantom dribber.

“I was ill. I couldn’t stand. I remember Vernon, cos he’s eight foot two, and he’s a tall lad and it’s a long distance from him for the toilet.

“He went to the toilet and he came back and we said, ‘Vernon have you dribbled?’, and he was like ‘Oh don’t do ‘cos Tess is watching.

“‘Oh please don’t say nothing.”

“And we had to cover it up ‘cos he was worried about what Tess would say. It was Vernon.

“Vernon kept saying ‘Oh Shane, don’t say nothing, ‘cos Tess is watching and she’s on Strictly. She’s dead posh my wife.

“So Vernon if you’re watching, it was you and you know it was you!”

Shane made the revelation after being accused of being the phantom dribbler by I’m A Celebrity hosts Ant and Dec.

Dec asked him outright during his exit interview on Thursday: “There’s a couple of bits we’ve got to cover with you, who’s the ‘phantom dribbler’? It’s you, isn’t it?”

Shane argued “Well it can’t be me can it?” and Dec teased: “It is you.”

The actor then explained: “I promise it’s not me because every time they talked about it, I never stood, I was ill that time.

“I was sitting on the toilet all the time and they kept saying it was me, and I was saying it’s not me.”