I'm A Celebrity's Liz Ellis reveals truth behind emotional family moment: 'Crying'

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner Liz Ellis has opened up about the heart-warming moment she was reunited with her family during Sunday night’s finale.

In the episode, Liz was shown sitting by herself in camp when her two young children walked through the tunnel and surprised her.

The netball legend tells Yahoo Lifestyle she had no idea her family were going to turn up in South Africa and describes the moment as “very emotional”.

“I was told to sit in camp and wait for someone from publicity to come speak to me and I was just sitting there thinking, ‘Gosh, they’re taking their time’,” she recalls.

“And then I heard a little voice say ‘mum’ and it was one of the most amazing moments of my life when I turned around and they were both there running towards me. I had missed them so much, but I hadn't thought about what that moment would be like and I just burst into tears.

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“I just couldn't believe they were there,” she continues. “I just wanted to kiss them and smell them and hug them and my little girl, who is generally very chatty, just couldn't talk. She was crying and I was crying and it was just amazing.

“And then 30 seconds later, my husband walked through the tunnel and we just grabbed each other and he was shaking and I was crying. It was one of the best moments of my life.”

'I just didn't realise how hard that would all be'

Heading into the jungle, Liz admits she knew there would be times when she felt “starving” due to the lack of food, “disgusted” with things she was made to eat or “scared” by the tucker trials.

However, what she didn’t expect was how difficult she would find being so far away from her family.

“I’ve been away from my family before for an extended period of time during Covid when I had to go to Queensland and work in the netball bubble, but to not know what they were up to, to not know if they were okay, and to not knowing what was going on, I just didn't realise how hard that would all be,” she says.

“But it’s all good now. The kids are in South Africa and they electrocuted me in the last trial, so I don’t know what that means for our relationship going forward but they are certainly grounded for the rest of their lives.”

She adds that her kids were “pretty grossed out” by the things she ate in the jungle, especially the rat’s tail, but are extremely proud of her for winning the show.

“I can't wait for them to go back to school and just be the kings and queens of school for a couple of days because they came and did the trial and got their heads on telly,” she remarks.

“I said to my husband last night, ‘Can you believe we’re in Africa?’. It’s just crazy. We were just laughing because this is not what we had on our bingo card for 2023, but here we are!”

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