Paul Burrell has credited the upcoming all-stars edition of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! for detecting his prostate cancer at an early stage.
The 64-year-old - former butler to Princess Diana - is part of the lineup for the new spinoff show, which brings together some of the most memorable contestants from the last two decades.
After signing up to the show, which was pre-recorded in South Africa last autumn, Burrell underwent a standard medical exam which threw up an abnormal result.
"That show, I'm A Celebrity, literally saved my life," he told today's Lorraine. "I went for the medical [and] they found a raised PSA level.
"I went to my GP and I said to him, 'Am I still able to do the show?' And he said, 'Look, this can wait until you get back [from filming] and when you get back, we'll continue with the investigations'.
"So when I got back, then I had an MRI scan and then I had a biopsy and then they told me that I had cancer, and then I had to go on the path of treatment."
He added: "I'm so grateful to ITV for picking me to do the jungle because without that, I would still be sat here today not knowing I had cancer growing inside of me. So my journey is a happy one.
"It's a rollercoaster of emotions and you just don't know what's going to happen to you next. And combining that with hormone therapy, which doesn't help, I get hot sweats and I'm very emotional and very tired, so it's a tough experience to go through but I'm getting through it."
I'm A Celebrity... South Africa will air on ITV1 and ITVX next month.
> In Pictures: First nine celebrities confirmed for I'm A Celebrity... South Africa
Neil Wilkes
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