'It was scary' Irish Aussie star's mammy's reaction to I'm A Celebrity Australia

Zach Tuohy, retired Australian AFL football star is on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here 2025 Australia, and his parents back in Portlaoise, Laois are watching every episode from home.

Retired councillor Noel Tuohy and Cllr Marie Tuohy are having a hard time seeing Geelong Cats legend Zach go through scary challenges, especially his first bushtucker trail, voted by the public in Australia.

Marie told the Leinster Express / Laois Live about it, and how Zach is coping.

"He had an extremely tough trial, he had to swim through a tunnel, with only a couple of airholes, through catfish with pipes in the way, holding his breath. Then he had to thread a key and unlock his way out, to get food for his camp.

"It was hard to watch, it was scary," she said.

To even enter camp which is in South Africa, Zach had to face one of his fears; snakes.

"His team all had to go in underground through a tunnel in the dark and the first thing that happened was they dumped worms on his head. There was a hole with his name on it and he had to put his hand in, there were snakes inside. Then the floor went from under him like a trapdoor down into water and he had to swim underwater," his mother said.

They are watching the show every morning in Ireland from 8.30am to 10am, on Channel 10. They have confidence that Zach could go all the way, with a $100,000 prize for grabs that Zach will donate to the HeartKids charity if he wins.

"He likes a challenge. The show had asked him to do it a couple of times. He is determined and competitive, he wants to succeed. That's what brought him this far in life.

"He is doing it for the Heartkids who help the families of kids with heart disease. It's a personal link, one of his team mates had a little boy and they got support from the charity. He is fine now. It's also to help awareness around the charity," Marie Tuohy said.

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"We are proud of him, we always are. It's just something else he said he'd do. It's a competitive show, all the people are well known, but we know he'll give it his best shot," she said.

HeartKids is all about supporting kids with congenital heart disease and their families through treatment, recovery, and beyond. They offer vital support services, raise awareness, and fund research to improve care and outcomes for Aussie kids with heart conditions.

Zach Tuohy's autobiography, called The Irish Experiment, including his early career in Portlaoise GAA club, is on sale in AllBooks Portlaoise and all good bookshops.