Shropshire Star

Mike Tindall opens up about Zara Phillips giving birth on the bathroom floor

The 44-year-old former rugby player said his wife ‘almost choked him to death’ during labour.

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Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall (PA)

Mike Tindall said on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here his wife, Zara Phillips, gave birth on the bathroom floor as she was not going to make it to the hospital.

The 44-year-old former rugby player is married to Ms Phillips, 41, who had their child Lucas Philip Tindall at her mother Princess Anne’s estate, Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire.

The birth in March 2021 was thought to be the first royal baby to be born at home for nearly 60 years.

The late Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, had her daughter Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, now Lady Sarah Chatto, at home in Kensington Palace in May 1964, a few weeks after Elizabeth II had Prince Edward, now the Earl of Wessex, at Buckingham Palace.

Cheltenham Festival 2022 – Day One – Cheltenham Racecourse
Zara Tindall and Mike Tindall at the Cheltenham Festival (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Tindall said in the Australian jungle on Thursday his third child, Lucas – a member of the royal family but not referred to as His Royal Highness, “was rapid”.

He added: “As we got our stuff to go to hospital, she 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.”

Tindall also spoke about his wife’s labour pains, saying: “(Zara) was, 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?’”

Elsewhere, Tindall was given an orthopaedic pillow as a treat after Seann Walsh, Matt Hancock, Jill Scott and Scarlette Douglas were unearthed as undercover moles.

The moles were given a series of secret missions to undertake to earn the campmates their luxury items.

TV presenter Douglas, 35, who has arachnophobia had to get Tindall to remove spiders and screamed for him twice to come help her after she lied about seeing the insects.

He said: “There were loud screams, I would have been worried to see this spider.

“Or I’d be really disappointed it was tiny.

“She’s going to have nightmares about going in the shower now.”

Walsh also spoke about being pictured in October 2018 kissing his Strictly partner Katya Jones, while he was in a relationship and she was married to Neil Jones, also a Strictly dancer.

The 36-year-old comedian said he wants the show to be a “positive experience” and is still “very sorry” for his behaviour while he was in a relationship with actress Rebecca Humphries.

Hancock – who arrived in the celebrity show with Walsh on Wednesday – took on the latest Bushtucker Trial, Tentacles of Terror, after a vote by the public.

The former health secretary also spoke about being forced to quit in June 2021 after breaking coronavirus social distancing rules by having an affair in his ministerial office with aide Gina Coladangelo.

He said there was “no excuse” for the actions that led to his resignation as health secretary, but insisted “I fell in love”.

– I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues at 9pm on Thursday on ITV.

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