Julia Morris admits she was 'angry' when Chris Brown quit I'm A Celebrity

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! host Julia Morris has opened up about how she really felt when her longtime co-host Chris Brown left the show last year.

The pair worked together for nine seasons of the reality series - as well as the short-lived variety show Chris & Julia's Sunday Night Takeaway - before Chris announced he would be leaving Channel 10 to join rival network Seven.

It’s since been revealed that Chris will co-host the next season of Dancing With The Stars, the renovation series Dream Home, and a new animal series titled Once in a Lifetime.

Ahead of the upcoming tenth season of I’m A Celebrity, which will see Robert Irwin step into Chris’ role, Julia has reflected on her co-star’s departure and shared how she reacted when he broke the news.

“I was shocked, I was angry, but I was also fine because it's what my friend needed to do. It was a super confusing time,” she said.

“But off he goes to renovate and travel, so that's gonna be amazing. I love him dearly though, we both do. We've all been mates for years.”

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Julia also admitted that despite working alongside Chris for almost a decade, no part of her considered quitting the show when he decided to leave.

“I'm a 56-year-old woman in showbiz, I'm lucky to be still clinging on to a job, you know what I'm saying?” she remarked.

“So when he said he was going to retire from the show, I was like, ‘Oh no great because I've got so many opportunities ahead of me. I think going into a much smaller apartment will also work for the family’.”

Julia spills on the audition process to replace Chris

It was announced in October that Robert Irwin had been chosen to replace Chris Brown on I’m A Celebrity following a lengthy audition process alongside Julia.

Julia described the auditions as “a couple of really fun days” involving “around six” well-known Australian personalities.

“There were a lot of presenters that I have worked with, some for years, some not for as long, but there were a lot of fantastic guys and girls that came along to try their hand and see how the double thing would work,” she said.

“Then Robert came in, and absolutely no judgment to everybody else who was fabulous in their own right, but everyone dissolved immediately and everybody knew it. The production team, network, me, we all literally just went, 'Okay, well now it can't be anybody else’.”

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While fans have plenty of questions about how the dynamic between Robert and Julia will work and whether she will be just as flirty with the 20-year-old as she was with Chris, Julia says people will just have to wait and see.

“I don't know how and why it's already working so beautifully,” she detailed. “I think we've already got a great friendship established so the rest is now going to be fun. Now we have fun. I'm learning along the way from Robert, which is fantastic.”

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! premieres Sunday, March 24 on 10 and 10 Play.

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