Ex-manager of 2022 Queen of the Jungle Jill Scott’s praises her ‘steely determination’ following I'm a Celeb... win

The former England footballer, 35, triumphed during the live final last week to be crowned Queen of the Jungle.

Scott, who took some of her first steps on the pitch with Boldon Girls, received most of the estimated 12 million votes cast for the finale, according to presenting duo Ant and Dec.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of his side’s Women’s Super League game against Brighton on Sunday, City manager Gareth Taylor said Scott’s former colleagues suspected she would do well on the ITV show.

“Hindsight’s a wonderful thing,” he told reporters, “a lot of us were saying that we’d have liked to have benefited by her favourable odds at the beginning of the show.

“She was great, and when you look at the programme, and when you (look) at what that kind of set-up is, you had a real feeling that Jill would do well in that space.

“She’s a real top team player, she’s great with people and she certainly showed that. She certainly behaved in the way that Jill does – she’s fun, she’s supporting and she’s got that steely determination.

“I was almost a little bit surprised with some of the things she did, certainly some of the eating challenges and certainly some of the ones from a great height.

“But she loves that, she loves the excitement and the challenge definitely.”

Mr Taylor said he has not spoken to Scott, who was part of the Women’s Euro 2022 winning team before retiring in the summer, since her jungle victory but many of her former teammates will have.

He added: “I’m sure a lot of the girls would have been in contact with her, and they’re probably struggling to get hold of her at the moment because I can imagine the demand is really high for her, and rightly so.”

The midfielder posted a story on Instagram on Wednesday showing she had arrived back in the UK from Australia.

It showed her returning to Boxx2Boxx Coffee in Manchester, which she owns with her fiancee Shelly Unitt.