Grace Dent breaks silence after leaving I'm A Celebrity

Restaurant critic Grace Dent has spoken out for the first time since she left the I'm A Celebrity jungle on medical grounds.

The columnist left the Australian jungle earlier this week, and said she "didn't go out as I planned, or wanted".

Just two days after her departure it was announced Britney Spears' sister Jamie Lynn was also leaving the show.

In her first statement shared on social media since leaving, Dent said: "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."

Her post included photos from her time in the I'm A Celebrity jungle, topped with an image of the star sitting in front of a hearty breakfast following days without proper food.

Dent, 50, said that spending 15 days "without a phone or any contact with loved ones, living much of the time outdoors in a rainforest in very wet weather" had given her a "short, sharp glimpse into the pain some folk worldwide endure".

Taking part in the show taught her things about herself and made her realise she was physically stronger than she previously thought, she said.

'The sound of its feet creeping closer to my brain'

"I 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'," she said.

"For as long as I live, I shall never 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."

Dent went on to describe becoming "blasé about sleeping with hungry rats, noisy toads, moths and huntsman spiders" and said the show had taught her "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".

'I hope I gave you all a smile'

She finished her post by saying she was planning to make "serious plans for dinner" once she has recovered.

"I hope I gave you all a smile," she said. "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."

Dent had been due to face the bushtucker trial, Down The Tubes, in Monday night's instalment.

Instead, Hollyoaks actor Nick Pickard read out a statement to the camp in which Dent announced she was leaving early and apologised to her campmates, saying: "I'm so sorry to let you down."

She had previously said she was struggling in the jungle, telling campmate Josie Gibson last week: "I've had enough. I've completely had enough. I just want to go home."

Jamie Lynn Spears' departure was announced on Wednesday.

"She's been a fantastic campmate who has triumphed at trials and bonded well with her fellow celebrities," a spokesperson for the show said.

Like Dent, Spears had been unhappy in the jungle and had threatened to quit after just a few days when she became emotional because she was missing her children.