ZARA Tindall hugged hubby Mike on the camp’s rope bridge last night in an emotional reunion after his shock I’m A Celebrity eviction.
The King’s niece, 41, ran into the former England rugby ace’s arms — and he told her: “I have missed you so much.”
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There had been speculation she would not be there to meet him.
However, hours before 44-year-old Mike was voted off, Zara was pictured around Byron Bay — an hour’s drive from the jungle camp.
Our exclusive pictures showed “happy and relaxed” Zara strolling in denim shorts and a striped T-shirt.
Onlookers saw the daughter of Princess Anne pop into a fashion boutique and a sunglasses store.
One said: “Zara looked very happy as she wandered around the local shops.”
Before the reunion, Mike told Ant and Dec about his stay in camp had been “a lot of laughs”.
He added: “You can get through anything when the humour is good.”
Mike and Zara have three children — Mia, eight, Lena, four, and Lucas, one.
Mike said: “I knew that Mia would want me to do trials with creepy crawlies because that is just how she likes it.”
Mike won over viewers with his stoicism during gruesome Bushtucker Trials — and eye-catching budgie-smuggler swimming trunks.
His stint has also saw him give fascinating insights into the Royal Family and his relationship with Zara, who he married in 2011.
He told campmates that the pair met in 2003 when he went for a drink to let off steam after being dropped from the World Cup squad.
He added: “First actual date, just went out for lunch and it ended up being quite a boozy one. Then we figured out that we both quite like getting smashed.”
In a later episode, when quizzed by actor Owen Warner if her status made him feel pressured, he replied: “No, because we were friends first.
“Then William and Harry were massive rugby fans at the time, so we’d met them numerous times — met more of the family than you’d normally have met of the woman you start dating.”
In a letter to Mike read aloud to campmates, Zara wrote: “‘Hi my love. We are missing you so much and really needing some papa hugs, but glad you’re sharing them with your campmates.
“The girls are enjoying sports and throwing themselves into everything and the little man is loving life, smashing it up, learning some new words.”
Lucas also had a TV mention, as Mike told the story of his “rapid” birth at Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.
He recalled: “As we got our stuff to go to hospital, she (Zara) got out of the bath, she could barely stand, she was shaking.
“The midwife was like, ‘She’s not making the hospital’. She was like, ‘You don’t want to be delivering in the car.’ (I went) into the gym (and got) two gym mats (to put) down in the bathroom . . . it was fast though, from that moment.
“She almost choked me to death. You can’t say anything, can you? ‘Can you let go? You’re really hurting me’.”
Mike also entertained campmates during the show by belting out rap songs including Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby and Will Smith’s Boom! Shake The Room.
He was encouraged to take on I’m A Celeb by his former England team-mate and pal James Haskell, who was on the show in 2019.
James, 37, predicted he would do well, saying: “Mike is very capable, and he’s a very calm guy.”
The series ends tonight when politician Matt Hancock, 44, Lioness Jill Scott, 35, or Hollyoaks actor Owen Warner, 23, will be crowned King or Queen of the jungle.
Last night Jill remained the firm favourite to win the ITV show at odds of 2/5.
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