Fleur East "trained" herself to eat meat before going on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’.
The ‘Sax’ hitmaker is known to be vegan – meaning she doesn’t eat any animal products – so surprised viewers when she was seen tucking into wallaby in the camp, and her dad Malcolm has revealed she spent two months slowly expanding her diet in order to cope with the food served on the show.
He told MailOnline: "She chose to go vegan as a lifestyle choice about two years ago, not for religious reasons, but because she’s heavily into health and fitness and because she saw the way animals were slaughtered on a video. So she said, ‘Let’s have a go at living on a vegetable-based diet.’
"When ‘I’m A Celebrity’ approached her two months back about going into the jungle she knew she’d have to do something about not eating meat, otherwise the body would react to what she ate when she was out there.
"So that’s what she did. She ate meat again. And in the jungle you’ve got no choice about what you eat have you?"
Previous contestants on the show have complained about the small rations they are given to live off so Fleur also took measures to reduce her food intake before flying out to Australia so she’d have fewer cravings.
Her dad said: "In the month before she went in she had been reducing her stomach size so that she’s not craving food all day long. She was like that about eating meat.
And Malcolm admitted the former ‘X Factor’ runner-up’s preparations were nothing new for her.
He added: "When she went on ‘X Factor’ she would practice singing while running on a treadmill so that she could combine singing and dancing, which no one else could do like her on the show.
"She’s got the determination and the personality that will step up to any challenge. I don’t think that she was particularly daunted by the prospect of ‘I’m A Celebrity.’ "
Fleur East ‘trained’ body to cope with meat in jungle
