Mike Tindall on 'I'm A Celebrity' for £265k payout as work dried during COVID, says pal

The former rugby player reportedly earns most of his money from public speaking which he could not do during the pandemic.

Mike Tindall allegedly joined "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!" because he is in need of money. A close friend of his shared that he is there to bag the quarter-of-a-million pound pay-out.

According to OK! magazine, Tindall could earn £265,000 for his stint on the show. His pal, sports presenter Alex Pain, said the dad of three is doing his best on the reality TV show because he is strapped for cash. He explained that the pandemic really affected the former rugby player's work.

Speaking of his work, Pain, who co-hosts "The Good, The Bad and The Rugby" along with Tindall, shared that he gets his money from public speaking events and as a guest at dinner parties.

Unfortunately, his earnings suffered amid the COVID-19 pandemic when restrictions were put in place in the entertainment or hospitality business. Likewise, Pain said that his friend is not well off as some people might think just because he is married to British royalty.

The 44-year-old is the husband of Zara Tindall. She is the daughter of Princess Anne and is the granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

"It's not like he's sitting there in a pile of money. He's a guy who's in the public eye and that's where he earns his money," Pain told The Sun.

He added, "Mike's primary source of income is public speaking, and he goes out and does dinners. He's on the sporting circuit but it's worth remembering that the last two years haven't been pretty much a day's work for people in that sort of industry, entertainment and hospitality industry."

Pain also believes that Tindall would never have joined "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!" if he did not get the approval of the royal family. He said his friend "would do absolutely nothing to jeopardise or create any sort of scenario in which he would be getting it wrong." He knows that Tindall "wouldn't be doing it if it was a problem" for the royals and even thinks that the former rugby captain does not find the show "that much of a challenge" and that "he's been quite bored at times."