Marvin Humes was so emotional seeing wife Rochelle again when she came in camp he compared it to seeing her walking down the aisle when they got married.
Millions of viewers described them as a perfect couple after watching them together on Friday night. And since then 38-year-old family man Marvin has been sobbing again speaking to their children on FaceTime.
Describing the memorable moment he was reunited with his wife in the jungle, Marvin said: “When Roch came in yesterday it was a feeling I’d never experienced before in my life. I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it. I was so emotional. Seeing Rochelle in camp reminded me of our wedding day and seeing Rochelle at the end of the aisle. That feeling of love for my wife.
“That three weeks apart makes you so grateful for what you have got. Seeing her in that red chair, I had no idea; I thought I was going to do some random challenge. I looked like I had seen a ghost. I have watched it back and I’ve never seen myself pull that face before.”
Before going onto the show, Marvin wanted to tackle his fears which included heights. And he made his children – daughters Alaia-Mai, 10, and Valentina, six, and three-year-old son Blake – proud when he skydived into the camp. He also famously tapped his heart to send a message to them each night.
“We wanted to come up with something so they knew I was thinking of them,” he said. “Every day in the Bush Telegraph I was talking about them and giving them shout outs but I don’t think any of that made the edit. I needed to do something to show them daddy was thinking of them.”
He added: “I FaceTimed the kids earlier and that were so emotional. My middle child Valentina is only six and she burst into tears when she saw me. And then I started crying. I’m not normally emotional like this but this experience heightens everything. When I spoke to Alaia-Mai and Valentina because Blake was in bed and they were both crying, Rochelle and I were crying. We were blubbering messes.
“When I went in my eldest Alaia-Mai said, ‘Daddy I want you to conquer your fears,’ she is scared of rollercoasters and she told me, if you can do it when I get home I want to go on a rollercoaster. I was able to show them that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
Marvin said the show “completely exceeded his expectations” but as well as memories he may well have some battle scars to remember his adventure by. He has visible scars all over the back of his neck and on his arms and some are from trials from weeks ago.
Marvin explained: “I struggled with green ants. The trials with all the cockroaches, the rats, the spiders, all of that was hard and not easy but the green ants but they won. Myself Nick and JL did a trial in a box and had to do the four letter words and they were chucking green ants on us. See the back of my neck that is scars from green ants. And that is three weeks old. They really took to me.”
The trials won’t be easy for Marvin to forget as he said: “The last few nights I’ve been having nightmares, dreaming I was doing trials in my sleep. I felt these things crawling around my legs. I woke up and looked into my sleeping bag and there was a cockroach in there. You get so accustomed to jungle life.”
As far as Marvin is concerned there are two worthy winners of this series – Tony Bellew and Sam Thompson. Explaining his choices, he admitted: “I am torn. Sam deserves to win, he is so kind. His reaction if he wins would be amazing. Sam thought he was going to be out ages ago. He will be gobsmacked.
“He is one of a kind; he is an amazing human being. I had met him before somewhere but we don’t have a relationship. But he has such an infectious personality. He lights up the camp wherever he is. He is so excitable and enthusiastic. He has a zest for life and is a glass half full person.”
Turning to boxer Bellew, he added: “Equally Tony deserves to win. I had this chat with him and unless you’re a boxing fan, I don’t think the majority of IAC viewers know much about him aside from the fact that he is a champion boxer. People have come to know the real Tony. I am a fan of his, I knew who he was, I’ve watched his fights and I had a lot of respect for him.
“He comes in with this macho persona. He’s a big guy; he’s 6ft 3”, no nonsense and cracked on. He was very in charge. But every day another layer would be peeled away. He is a completely different man now. I think that has been so endearing to see. He has so much emotion; he is actually a big softie. He has been really afraid as a boxer to show that emotion because he has always been the tough guy. But now the nation has seen a completely different man from when he walked in to who he is today
“He has been like, how has Nella gone? Frankie gone? Fred gone? If he wins he won’t believe it. He deserves to win because he has the biggest heart. And he is so funny.”
