Why is Russell Watson exempt from some trials on ‘medical grounds’?

He was ruled out of last night’s trial


Last night on I’m A Celeb it was announced that Russell Watson would be exempt from the upcoming challenge on medical grounds. It’s not often that people have a genuine reason to drop out of doing trials, and although Ant and Dec offer people the opportunity to turn down the challenge, this year nobody has willingly sat out.

However, now we have seen two people who cannot partake in certain trials for medical reasons. We already know the reason behind why Beverley Callard is exempt from some challenges on medical grounds, but what happened to Russell Watson for him to not be able to take part in some challenges on medical grounds?

Why is Russell Watson exempt from some trials on ‘medical grounds’?

Although it hasn’t been confirmed that this is the reason that he can’t partake in challenges, it’s likely that Russell’s brain surgery has something to do with his not being able to partake in certain challenges.

In 2006, when Russell was 40, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. After successful treatment, he was diagnosed again with a much more serious second tumour that led to a bleed in his brain. After having five weeks of radiotherapy and spending three years recovering, Russell made a full recovery and was able to carry on singing.

On last Friday’s episode, he spoke to campmates, telling them that the second one was the more severe tumour: “The second one was the ‘one’, the first wasn’t life-threatening, it was painful and I nearly lost my vision.  The second one was holy s***, I went home, went to bed and didn’t wake up because of a haemorrhage.

“My assistant found me, called the paramedics and I knew I was in trouble because the paramedic kept saying ‘stay with us, stay with us’.  We got to the hospital and they operated.  One of the most emotional things, after I came out of intensive care, was this bloke came up to me and said ‘nice to see you’re doing well Mr Watson’ and I realised it was the ‘stay with us, stay with us’ guy.”

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