I’m A Celebrity star Dean McCullough faced allegations of ‘bullying’ from production staff on his afternoon Radio 1 show earlier this year – before being shifted to a graveyard 5am slot.
The 32-year-old DJ, who has appeared on the BBC network since 2021, was hosting daily from 1pm until 3.30pm until the middle of February this year – when production crew complained about working with him.
Shortly afterwards, a new schedule was announced just days later which saw Mr McCullough shifted from his high profile afternoon show which he presented alongside Vicky Hawkesworth – with the duo having replaced veteran Scott Mills who was recently announced as the new host of Radio 2’s Breakfast show.
Mr McCullough’s new gig, The Early Breakfast Show, where he remains from Monday to Thursday each week is broadcast from Manchester – where he has been based for several years rather than the station’s London headquarters – while his previous show was taken over by The Saturdays singer Mollie King and co-host Matt Edmondson.
A Radio 1 source said: ‘Quite a few people who worked with Dean were really unhappy – and some of them made it very clear with bosses. They accused him of being a bully to staff, and they just didn’t want to keep working with him any longer.
‘To be honest by the end it was just chaos – there were cover presenters drafted in and producers moved around to try to keep things on track but it became untenable.
I’m A Celebrity star Dean McCullough faced allegations of ‘bullying’ from production staff on his afternoon Radio 1 show earlier this year – before being shifted to a graveyard 5am slot
‘When you’ve got producers threatening to blow the whistle in public, something has to give. Obviously in the end that was Dean’s position in the schedules – and everything has been great since.’
It is not yet clear whether the move was directly related to the complaints, with TV insiders noting that radio schedules change regularly for many reasons.
Mr McCullough arrived on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity as one of the lesser known stars – but has become a prominent fixture on the nightly entertainment show thanks to his dramatic outbursts and theatrical squealing.
His weaknesses have seen him ridiculed by viewers – who have consistently voted for him to take part in a staggering seven of the show’s gruelling and unpleasant Bushtucker Trials, seemingly enjoying watching him struggle.
And he has clashed with fellow campmates including Alan Halsall and Melvin Odoom for not pulling his weight fairly with chores – becoming one of the favourites for an early exit as the public begin to vote for who will remain on the show.
Many have even accused him of being ‘fake’ and exaggerating his over the top reactions in order to get attention and secure more air time.
Acknowledging the allegations, a BBC spokesman said: ‘We don’t comment on individuals but we take any allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and the BBC has robust processes in place to investigate them thoroughly.’
It comes after even I’m A Celebrity’s host, Ant McPartlin, shared his ‘frustration’ with Dean’s lack of ability in the trials as he’s called ‘I’m A Celebrity’ twice in the four challenges he’s been nominated for.
He further fuelled his current dislike of him online after he started an argument with Alan Halsall, 42.
The DJ, who has appeared on the BBC network since 2021, was hosting daily from 1pm until 3.30pm until February this year – when production crew complained about working with him
It comes after viewers saw Dean involved in a tense exchange with campmate Alan Halsall during last week’s show
The Coronation Street star woke Dean up to help Loose Women’s Jane Moore collect firewood and when the BBC presenter failed to get up immediately, Alan said: ‘Don’t fancy it? No?’
The soap star then went down to help Jane, 62, and Dean later joined them and told Alan ‘You can go back now’, before the actor explained: ‘I was trying to wake you up as soft as I could.’
Dean then hit back: ‘Listen to me. If you’re gonna wake me up, you need to give me a minute, alright?’
‘ It takes a couple of minutes for my contact lenses to get back working again, alright, so you don’t need to turn around to me and say ‘Do you not fancy it, Ok?’ And then turn around and walk away.’
‘I’ve listened to you, Jane was halfway down here, that’s why I went’ Alan replied as the pair got into a heated back and forth.’
