SHONA McGarty has revealed she was stunned to hear of the romance rumours surrounding her and fellow I’m A Celeb star Aitch.

The former EastEnders actress, 34, pointed out the nine-year age gap between her and the rapper, 25 – saying he is more like a brother.

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They had raised hopes of a jungle romance when Aitch, real name Harrison Armstrong, said he had a “soft spot” for Shona earlier in the series.

The pair were seen getting on well in camp – with Aitch at one point wrapping his legs around Shona after a pillow fight.

But after finishing third in last night’s final behind YouTuber Angry Ginge, 24, and Celebs Go Dating‘s Tom Read Wilson, 39, Shona told The Sun:

“Look, I’m sure Aitch would make someone a lovely boyfriend, but he’s a lot younger than me.

“I only see him as a brother, and I would only protect him as an older sister.

“And there was nothing romantic between me and Aitch at all. Like, not at all. Honestly, no. No way.”

Shona – who is hoping to launch a singing career after releasing her debut single, Unapologetically Me, in October – stunned campmates with her incredible voice.

She said she bonded with Aitch over music.

I’m A Celeb’s Shona sends savage warning to Aitch after sweet scandal

Shona said: “Aitch was just like a little brother to me in there. Honestly, he was.

“There were moments where Aitch might be having a bit of a slumpy day, where he turned down some rice occasionally, and I said, ‘No, you have to eat the rice. You have to eat it’.

“I just sort of became his older sister in there, and I felt like I wanted to protect him.

“But also, what I love about Aitch is that he’s into music.

So am I, and I think the way that we bonded was through the music.

“All we spoke about in there was music.

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“And we were both hyper, like two kids. We were having punching fights with the water bags in the morning.

“We were running up, doing the Jack Sparrow run up and down the path in camp and just having a crazy time.”

One of the series’ main storylines was the contraband smuggling saga – kicked off by ex-Lioness Alex Scott, who sneaked sachets of salt and pepper into camp for mealtimes.

Shona, who formed a close bond with 41-year-old Alex before she became the first evictee, also showed her cheeky side when she nabbed a can of air freshener from a trial zone loo for the dunny.

She came clean and turned in the spray in a contraband amnesty to avoid losing stars.

But Shona, who went on to be voted camp leader, was forced to give up her crown after she was caught on camera mixing butter she found in the food trunk into her rice and beans.

Some campmates were left angry at her decision to not share the butter – which, it later emerged, was smuggled in by Ginge.

It led to show bosses launching a crackdown on smugglers in the final week – with producers trying to catch any offenders by trawling over footage from the camp’s cameras.

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Shona said: “I have no regrets about the contraband.
I was shocked to find out that Ginge had actually brought it in.

“So if anything, Ginge was a massive tease. He knew what he was doing – he set me up.

“It added a bit of jazz to the beans – I’m such a big butter fan.

“Anyone that knows me knows that I would literally eat it with a spoon. love it. Coming from an Irish family, we have it on everything.

“So when I saw that, my eyes lit up. Anything I could put on those beans to make them nicer. I even drank the juice.”

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Shona, who quit her role as Whitney Dean in BBC1’s EastEnders last year, also revealed how she managed to sneak the air freshener into the main camp.

She says she used it as deodorant to freshen up – and she craftily covered her microphone when spraying so producers did not pick up on it.

She also says celebs including model Kelly Brook, 46, and Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley, 49, were aware of the spray.

Shona said: “We went to a trial and there was a dunny that you could use.

“In the dunny was an air freshener and I thought, not only does the dunny smell back in camp, but some of the campmates are kicking up quite a stench too. So I thought, I’ll take that back for the family.

“And it was a great perfume. It was lavender, it was fresh. Helped me sleep. It was nice. No regrets.

“I put it in the back of my trousers, in the waistband, and that was it.

“I took it back to camp, put it in the dunny and I would cup my microphone and spray it on myself, and I told Lisa about it.

“I think Kelly was informed but Kelly didn’t understand, so she just sprayed it so loudly in there and apparently nearly gave the game away.