“The bizarre moment last night when I realised I’d become a Shane Warne fan.”

When I think of the Australian sportsmen I genuinely admire, Shane Warne has never managed to weasel his way onto the list. Not even close, to be honest.

Adam Goodes? Absolutely. David Pocock? Sign me up. I’ve nothing against the ex-Aussie cricketer, but he’s not exactly a human personification of a moral compass, that’s all.

However, something has happened out there in the South African jungle that’s sprouted a bud of good will within me – fondness even – towards Shane Warne.

It occurred a couple of days ago as I reclined on the couch to watch I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! (IACGMOOH). As per usual, I was half-watching, half-scrolling my Instagram feed – until something caught my full, unbridled attention.

Shane Warne. Being a bit of a legend.

Warne (or Warney as I now affectionately call him) was faced with the noble challenge of trying to ingest as many revolting foods as possible in order to win much required supplies.

As a wine glass filled with blended off oysters and fish guts was presented to him he visibly psyched himself up.

“I’ve gotta do this one, I’m doing this. This is someone who needs some food that’s hanging in there, I’ve got to do this.”

You can watch that moment here (Post continues after video. Courtesy of Channel 10)

No, he wasn’t referring to dying children, he was referring to his fellow celebs. They get hungry too, you know.

While Laurina Fleure decided that bull’s eyes with a side of roasted maggots weren’t for her (fair call, girl) and called for the game to be shut down, Warney soldiered on, gagging and shaking as he downed blended rat’s offal, tripe and maggots. His gallant effort won a bulk of dinners for the crew.

Later at the camp, Warney had the decency to impart a little advice to Laurina, while celebs like Anthony Callea and Brendan Fevola slagged her behind her back.

“One thing that we all have to do is make sure that we’re aware of everyone. You know, you could think, ‘he’s trying, so I’ll encourage him’… the best thing to do in that situation is to encourage.”

Thanks, Shane.

It’s become clear that “encourage” is basically Shane’s personal motto, he can constantly be heard thanking his teammates for the food they cook and congratulating them for the deeds they’ve done.

No, he’s not exactly reinventing the wheel, but damn, it’s nice to hear someone these days who’s not allergic to a good ol’ fashioned please or thank you.

It turns out that aside from competing on the show to gain publicity and further raise his profile win money for charity, Warne just wants us to see that, while in the past he might’ve been branded a sex-addicted bogan, he’s actually all right.

See more of Warne’s decency here: (Post continues after video. Courtesy of Channel 10)

“It’s disappointing, I suppose, when people have this preconceived idea of what you’re like… As Brendan [Fevola] said to me earlier, ‘this’ll be good for you because people will be able to see what we see, the guy who cares about his kids, is good to his mates’,” he explained to camera.

“You can’t please everyone, not everyone is going to like you and I don’t expect people to like me for whatever reason, but hopefully at the end of it the people who don’t like me might say, ‘you know what, he’s not a bad guy’.”

You took the words right out of my mouth, Warney.

Sure, he mightn’t have the greatest of track records (I’m not going to go into detail about the sex joke during cricket commentating, the time he asked the winning Aussie cricket team if they were going to go out on the piss, like some creepy uncle trying to hang out with ‘the kids’, failing drug tests, that sexting scandal or the time he had a well-publicised threesome with two strippers) but you can’t deny Shane means well.

He means really well and in spite of my preconceived notions about him, he’s the one celebrity in that jungle I wouldn’t mind being lectured about encouragement by.

The world might have seen actress Elizabeth Hurley and Shane Warne as the oddest pairing on earth during their romance, but I think she was onto something – Shane’s all right, guys.

*Feature Image Supplied by Channel 10 (with added love hearts).

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