The MasterChef star has spoken out after quitting the series (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock/Rex Features)

Grace Dent has spoken out on social media for the first time since quitting I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Earlier this week, it was announced that the MasterChef star had withdrawn from the ITV programme on ‘medical grounds’.

She was later seen for the first time since her exit at Brisbane Airport in Australia, before arriving at London’s Heathrow back in the UK.

In a new heartfelt statement, in which she thanked her fans for their ‘outpouring of love’, Grace insisted that she didn’t leave the jungle ‘as planned’.

In her Instagram caption, she wrote: ‘Dear friends. Thank you for the outpouring of love I’ve received since I was removed on Monday. I am overwhelmingly sad right now, but determined to keep alive in my heart the huge personal breakthroughs I made over the weeks.

‘I spent 15 days without a phone or any contact with loved ones, living much of the time outdoors in a rain forest in very wet weather. It gave me a short, sharp glimpse into the pain some folk worldwide endure. Normal life, forever, will always feel beautiful.

‘Until now, I had no idea I could find a mental space where I could calmly climb down the side of a sky scraper and then slide out on a pole, unlocking stars,as the cars below on the street felt the size of ants.’

The restaurant critic continued, outlining how before her experience on the ITV series, she ‘had no idea it was possible to be shown an American football helmet and be informed I was shortly to be locked in at the neck and filled to the eyebrows with cockroaches, and for me to think “OK this is doable, the trick is to breathe”‘.

Grace revealed that for ‘as long as I live’, she won’t ever forget ‘the cockroach that entered my ear canal and the sound of its little feet creeping closer down to my brain’.

‘It took us two goes to lure him out. Sat on the grass behind the ‘Scarena’ he finally washed up,’ she said.

Grace looked extremely happy to now have a plate full of food in front of her (Picture: Instagram/@gracedent)

The star shared that being in the jungle showed how her fast she could ‘become blasé about sleeping with hungry rats, noisy toads, moths and Huntsman spiders’.

‘It taught me that when you have to sleep close to the enemy the trick is to stay calm, have empathy and that screaming achieves nothing but wasted calories,’ she stated.

‘The jungle showed me that I am physically stronger than I thought; I can carry a lot of logs and water up hill, build fire and eat hare innards at dawn for breakfast.’

Concluding her message, Grace wrote: ‘I hope I gave you all a smile. I didn’t go out as I planned or I wanted, but I did what I could, and I did it in a siren red gel manicure without chipping a nail. I didn’t cry when I took off my bra to find a family of mealworms living in the right cup. At some level, this must be an achievement.

‘My plan is to recover…and when the adrenaline finally ebbs away, to make some serious plans for dinner. Three courses, extra potatoes, definitely pudding. I think I deserve it.

‘I love you all and miss my jungle crew. Miss Grace Dent xxx.’

More to follow.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! returns tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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The MasterChef star has spoken out after quitting the series.