For millions tuning into this year’s I’m A Celebrity, Tom Read Wilson is the late arrival who instantly stole the spotlight — the man with the velvet-smooth accent, theatre-kid charm, and an old-world softness that feels almost too magical for modern TV.
But to Charlie Collins, who has adored him since the age of four, Tom is something far deeper than a clever campmate or a comedic gentleman.
To her, he is “the boy who grew into everyone’s safe place.”
And on Thursday — as social media argued over whether Tom’s elegant speech was real or a carefully crafted persona — Charlie broke her long silence, unveiling the version of Tom she has cherished for 34 years. A Tom the cameras have only scratched the surface of.
A friendship older than memory itself
Her post begins with a photo:
Tom mid-laugh, running through a field in a suit, radiating the same whimsical energy now captivating the nation.
But the caption beneath it hit viewers like a nostalgic punch to the chest.
“Tom was my first kiss — and I tease him to this day that I might be the reason he never chased girls again.”
From school plays where his voice soared above the hall, to nights he practised scales while she listened from downstairs, Charlie paints a picture of a boy who was always exactly what the world sees now — only gentler, softer, and even more dazzling.
The Tom the nation deserves to meet
While viewers see him quoting Shakespeare under a canopy of stars or carrying campmates through meltdowns with poetry and wit, Charlie says there is an entire universe beneath that polished charm.
The Tom who refuses to turn anyone away when they need him.
The Tom who once walked into a tiny shop in December just to sing carols and lift the staff’s spirits.
The Tom who reads to children at her sister’s school simply because “stories matter.”
The Tom who stood at her wedding and delivered a poem that made the entire room dissolve into joyful tears.
She writes:
“Tom doesn’t just enter a room — he warms it. He dotes on his mum, he spoils my mum, and he somehow makes every person feel like the only soul in his orbit.”
A son, a brother, a friend — long before he became a household name
Charlie also shares a glimpse into Tom’s devotion to his family.
“He adores Miranda and Jack. And his mum… he treats her like a queen — champagne lunches, endless stories, memories that sparkle.”
It is the kind of tenderness that rarely survives the jump to primetime TV — yet explains perfectly why Britain has fallen under his spell so quickly.
“Tom is a dose of sunlight in a frightening world.”
Charlie’s most poetic words come at the end of her tribute.
“Watching him charm snakes into behaving, or quote Shakespeare in the bathing pond like some kind of joyful forest spirit… it feels like seeing the best bits of childhood brought to life in an adult.”
Then she writes a line that’s already gone viral:
“He is the yolk to our egg — the warm centre that holds everything together.”
Followed by the rallying cry of a friend who has loved him through every chapter:
“Tom for the win.”
Beyond the accent — a soul shaped by love, theatre and tenderness
Tom recently opened up about his father, his passion for language, and even the unusual beginnings of his parents’ romance — details that left viewers both charmed and startled.
But Charlie’s tribute completes the puzzle.
A man raised on stories.
A heart shaped by kindness.
A life defined by lifting others up.
A national treasure in the making
As the season unfolds, Tom’s gentle humour, musical spirit and effortless warmth have become the emotional backbone of I’m A Celeb.
But now, because of Charlie’s raw, beautiful message, Britain isn’t just watching him.
They’re rooting for him.
Not for the accent.
Not for the jokes.
Not for the vocabulary.
But because he is that rarest thing in reality TV:
A soul who makes the jungle softer — and the world a little brighter.
