So, Sam Fox got herself evicted from the I’m A Celebrity jungle. She was the third celeb to leave after a three-way eviction with Sabrina Washington and Jimmy White.

She might not have won the 2009 series, but in my humble opinion, Samantha Fox totally reinvented herself in two weeks in the jungle. Let’s take a retrospective look at her career to see what I mean…

The Glamour Years

Ah, Sam. I remember her Page Free days well. Didn’t fancy her though, I was more a Kathy Lloyd man myself (look her up, gents), but the Sam Fox of Page 3 was a brassy, fun-lovin’ gel as you can see from the picture.

It was the topless modelling that made Sam a household name. But I think the public loved her…

The Popstar Year

Then she decided to reinvent herself as a pop star. As we all know, at least one person bought her single, Touch Me. That person was Gino D’Acampo.

Actually, Sam Fox bothered the pop charts for quite some time, if the mighty Wikipedia is correct, which led to an imfamous encounter…

At the BRIT Awards

Yep, this one has made all sorts of awkward TV moments compilation lists. Sam teamed up with Mick Fleetwood (who?) to present an award at the 1989 Brits (tabloid headline: Show Us Your Brits, Sam)

An autocue malfunction caused both celebrities to make a complete bollocks of their appearance, causing them to look like a complete pair of…well, you know…

(How much does Fleetwood look like Lurch in that picture though?)

Onwards and Upwards

In 2003, Sam appeared on the reality TV show, The Club. That particular appearance more or less destroyed her career, making her look like am argumentative drunken idiot. The nation’s love affair with Sam Fox more or less hit rock bottom. Check out the train wreck…

2009: I’m A Celebrity

When we heard Sam was going on I’m A Celebrity this year, were we worried? Yes. We thought we were going to see an off-the-rails, alcoholic, lesbian, former Page 3 girl. Hell, we were expecting a whirlwind of bitterness and resentment…

What we got was a feisty Sam Fox, unafraid of the gross-out tasks, full of old-wife wisdom and the odd joke. She wasn’t hung up on any of her past mistakes, and none of the salacious aspects of her life: the topless modelling, the drunken TV appearance, the lesbian turnaround (all Page 3 girls must be red-blooded heterosexuals, else the white van men feel betrayed!). None of those issues were exploited for the sake of ‘good TV’. Whether the producers didn’t seize their opportunities or whether Sam didn’t allow them to be issues is another matter.

But I will say this: One celebrity went in there with the sole intention of reinventing herself. Supposedly media-savvy, Katie Price came out of the jungle with the harsh reality that the public can’t stand her. But in the background, Sam Fox was being a decent person and being part of the camp. It’s all about the attitude. Take note, Jordan…

Well done, Sam!