22 April 2026, 15:13
Beverley Callard has declared she will “beat” cancer.
Picture:
ITV / Instagram
I’m A Celebrity South Africa’s Beverley Callard has reflected on her emotional camp exit after recent cancer diagnosis.
The cast of I’m A Celebrity South Africa has diminished more and more each episode as the final looms. On Tuesday night (21st April), Coronation Street’s Beverley Callard became the first campmate to quit the show.
She was later followed by Jimmy Bullard who called out ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ during a trial. Unlike Jimmy, Beverley didn’t actually want to leave the show but was forced to on medical grounds.
After seeing the onsite doctor, Beverley returned to camp with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t feel very well this morning, I had a bit of a funny turn. And they’ve said I can’t come back in and I’ve got to go home,” she explained through tears.
Now, Beverley has opened up about her emotional exit and revealed that it was actually undiagnosed breast cancer that was making her feel so unwell.
Beverly Callard emotional ahead of leaving camp
After the scenes of her leaving camp aired, Beverley took to her socials to share how she feels watching it back.
“It made me cry all over again,” she began. “Because of course I didn’t know then that I had cancer, but I just knew that it was the sort of last couple of days there that I’d not felt very well.”
Explaining what happened off-camera she said: “And so what happened was, I was called into the Bush Telegraph and apparently I lost consciousness for a little while… And they took me to a medical hut, they were amazing.
“They really looked after me, and and then they said, ‘You can’t go back’. And I said, ‘Don’t send me home. I’m sure I’ll be fine’.”
She added: “You know, I jumped out of a plane, hung off a cliff and I did want to succeed and make it through to the end. But that was the start of everything, really, so it’s made me really emotional.”
However, the 69-year-old actress bravely affirmed: “But I will beat this. I will beat it.”
Beverley Callard was in tears as she shared she had to leave I’m A Celeb.
Picture:
ITV
In February 2026, four months after filming I’m A Celeb South Africa, Beverley announced that she had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.
Soon after she shared her diagnosis, she underwent surgery to remove cancerous tissue in her left breast and the lymph nodes under her left armpit for fear it had spread.
Less than a week ago (at the time of writing), she shared that the surgery to remove cancerous tissue was successful but a small amount of cancer was detected in one of her lymph nodes.
She shared how the cancerous lymph node has been sent off for testing to see how aggressive the cancer is and she’ll get the results after two weeks.
The soap star explained: “If it’s aggressive, I will have to undergo chemo first and after that radiotherapy. If it’s not aggressive, I will have the radiotherapy as was planned.”
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