I’m A Celebrity’s AngryGinge bared his heart in Thursday’s episode as he honoured his mum Michelle — the woman he says “kept three jobs going on a council estate” to raise him alone, and the reason he “never gives up” in the jungle.
During a quiet moment with football pundit Alex Scott, the 24-year-old YouTuber — real name Morgan Sam Lee Burtwistle — reflected on how both of them grew up on tough council estates, and how that grit shaped everything they’ve achieved.
Morgan told Alex he first got into streaming because he knew he was good at it, adding that his whole life had been proof of the motto he lives by: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Alex confessed she once felt like she “wasn’t supposed to make it” to the England team, but she knew that if she “outworked everyone”, she could carve out her own path. Their shared experiences of growing up working-class created a bond neither expected.
It was then that Morgan opened up about the single mother who pushed through exhaustion every single day. He described watching Michelle finish one job, rush to her second, then head straight to her third before finally coming home late at night. “If she can keep going like that, then I can do this in the jungle,” he told Alex firmly.
His vulnerability has been clear throughout the series. Earlier this week, he choked up in the Bush Telegraph after looking at a framed picture of his family, admitting he felt “like it’s one of those down days… I’m missing home, missing speaking to my family.”
Back in the UK, those emotional scenes hit his mum hard. Michelle said she burst into tears when she saw a clip of him crying. “My heart absolutely sank. Morgan is such a strong person, so he must have been struggling a lot,” she said, adding she “can’t wait to give him the biggest hug on that bridge.”
Even in lighter moments, Morgan’s fierce determination remains. During a head-to-head trial with rapper Aitch, he was left fuming when Aitch found the sabotage button first and plunged Morgan’s compartment into darkness. “There is no way he’s beaten me again! My hand was already in there!” he shouted before forcing himself to calm down. “Ah mate, just stay calm,” he muttered.
But through frustration, homesickness and the grind of camp life, one thing is constant: every step AngryGinge takes in the jungle, he takes for his mum.
