When boxer Anthony Mundine, 42, became the second contestant to quit I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here in as many weeks, Australia breathed a sigh of relief.
Maybe, just maybe, viewers thought, we would be given a rest from his homophobic and misogynistic views and go back to enjoying footage of celebrities sleeping in the open air, eating bug guts and walking on high tightropes.
But, within moments of the professional boxer and former rugby league player leaving the camp, he was making some of his most controversial statements yet, appearing to support the use of the death penalty to “deter homosexuality”.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in a filmed interview just moments after leaving the camp, Mundine was asked to respond to the controversy surrounding the comments he made upon entering the South African jungle, when he stated homosexuality was "confusing to society" and "unnatural".
"I don't care if you are gay or not, it doesn't worry me because the creator will judge you later," he told reporter Jonathon Moran.
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He said he had been brought up in a culture where homosexuality was forbidden.
"I beleive it's a choice, everything is a choice," he said, before adding that "if you are going to be gay, do it behind closed doors, that is how it used to be."
"If we were to live in a society, just like in Aboriginal culture, that homosexuality is forbidden and you do it and the consequences are capital punishment or death, you think you are going to do it? Or think twice about doing it? Hell no.
"That's the only way to deter the problem... they're not going to be happy until they have primary school kids being gay."
Mundine went on to add he did not believe homosexuals - either actors or as characters on screen - should be allowed on television as he believed it would "influence children to become gay".
Fans have reacted to his latest comments, with many expressing relief he and his out-dated beliefs are off their screens.
"'I come in here to let people see the real Anthony Mundine... to know who I really am as a man'. Mission accomplished," one fan wrote on Twitter.
"I previously thought he was just a harmless, immodest braggart. I now know he's actually a bigot and extreme homophobe."
"I think you have been hit too many times in the head @Anthony_Mundine it probably explains your uninformed puerile bigotry," another added.
Tim Campbell, the husband of I'm A Celebrity season two contestant Anthony Callea, shared a string of tweets about Mundine's latest statements.
Others described him as a "homophobic lunatic" and a "low life" and called for Channel 10 to apologise for giving the athlete a "platform to promote his deeply homophobic views from".
Mundine has already been criticised for the comments he made towards his female campmates during his first moments on the reality TV show.
Relaxing in the camp, he told his fellow female contestants, "I just kick back and relax while women cook and clean. That is my attitude."
Top Comments
This might be an extremely controversial opinion, but I think people should be allowed to voice their beliefs. People do not have to accept or agree with homosexuality. I think Anthony is wrong in the way he worded his opinion, yes, and the death penalty comment was not warranted in any way. But this is meant to be a country that allows freedom of expression, religion and beliefs. Whether the LGBT community likes it or not, in most religions homosexuality is not accepted – that’s just the reality of it – it is strictly forbidden. Therefore, religious people have the right to follow their beliefs and believe what they want. It is not fair to silence them or hate them for it. They have the right to express concern over what their children are taught in school – certain programs should be optional to cater for this not enforced. Why is it ok for LGBT communities to ridicule and mock religions freely yet they cannot accept any views that oppose their own? I’m a strong believer that everyone should be entitled to their own beliefs in a respectful and harmonious way and there have been plenty of wrongs done on both sides.
He doesn't want gay people on tv, because he thinks they'll make kids gay - what kind of superpowers does he think gay folks have? There are far more straight people on telly, are they gays so much stronger that the few that are on tv are somehow going to affect the sexuality of the poor children watching, and all the straight people also on tv just won't be able to match their hypnotic powers?
Same reason I don't let my kids watch basketball on TV, don't want them growing up tall.....
If you provide a suitable dose of GoT I think you will find they balance each other out - everything in moderation
So ... do you make them watch horse racing?