Vicki Michelle lied about having a cyst on her ovary so she could appear on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’
The 64-year-old actress was told she had a growth "the size of a small rugby ball" just three weeks before she was set to arrive in the Austrailan jungle but refused to let producers know as she feared she would be unable to take part in the series.
She said: "I had been to an exercise class and was doubled over in pain and weeing every 30 minutes. It was excruciating but I just put it down to getting older.
"But I was in so much pain I called out my doctor and he said, ‘I’m sorry, but you need to go to A&E now’.
"I feared the worst, I thought it was cancer. Two days later I went to have a scan. They told me I had a cyst the size of a small rugby ball."
Fortunately, the ”Allo ‘Allo!’ star was able to have her cyst drained through keyhole surgery by royal surgeon Alan Farthing instead of having it removed, which allowed her to avoid the six week recovery period.
However, Vicki was still forced to lie to the show’s doctors in order to appear on the programme.
She told The Sun newspaper: "I was really lucky to be able to get an appointment with Mr. Farthing, who is the Queen’s surgeon-gynaecologist. He is an amazing surgeon – and the bonus was he is also drop-dead gorgeous.
"The doctor who works for the programme asked if I had anything wrong, any recent surgery.
"I said I hadn’t had any problems. I did lie. My doctor in England had said I would be fine but I didn’t want to risk anything. I didn’t want to lose the job."
Vicki Michelle lied about cyst to get on I’m A Celebrity
