Thomas posted on Instagram on Saturday: “I have realised that when people try to dim your light, it says more about them than it ever will about you.”
“There were moments that could have broken me, but I stayed true to myself and that is something I will always be proud of,” he said of his time in the jungle.
It was the second series of the South Africa-set spin-off starring past contestants.
Thomas had finished third on the regular show in 2016. This time, the Waterloo Road actor’s eventful jungle stay included being on the receiving end of jibes from boxer David Haye, who later called him “weak” and “brittle-spirited”.
His row with Bullard came after the pair teamed up for a trial in which the losing duo would be eliminated. Bullard did not join in and said “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”, to forfeit the challenge.
Thomas responded by launching an expletive-laden rant at his partner, telling him he should have quit on his own or not done the show at all.
However, Thomas was saved when hosts Ant and Dec let the other campmates decide whether he be allowed to stay – and they unanimously agreed he should.
Producers did not show Thomas’s full outburst. “They watered it down,” Charles revealed.
“It was unbroadcastable as it was. It was deeply traumatic and it was really upsetting. Adam was so wound up. He was so aggressive. It looked like he was going to attack Jimmy.”
Bullard called his reaction “pathetic” and explained that he had quit because he wanted to go home.
“I know a lot of my time in camp which has been aired recently has been drama,” Thomas wrote on Instagram on this week, external, “but there was so much more… so many laughs and so much love and warmth.” He also wrote about the physical toll of the experience due to living with psoriatic arthritis.
