I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! eliminated Sanjaya Malakar and Patti Blagojevich and determined its final three contestants during last night's penultimate broadcast of the three-week NBC reality competition.
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Malakar and Blagojevich were both eliminated based on the results of home viewer voting that took place after Monday night's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! broadcast.
"The first person leaving the jungle tonight is... Sanjaya," I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! co-host Damien Fahey told the celebrities after revealing Torrie Wilson and Lou Diamond Phillips had both received enough home viewer votes to advance to the competition's finale.
"Wow, oh my goodness," Phillips -- whom Malakar had previously termed his "representation of the perfect father figure" -- said as he shared a long goodbye embrace with the former American Idol finalist.
"Peace out fam, see you tomorrow," Malakar shouted to the remaining celebrities as he crossed a wobbly rope bridge and left the contestants' Costa Rican jungle campsite.
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Fahey later returned to the campsite and revealed that Blagojevich would be the second celebrity getting eliminated and John Salley would be joining Wilson and Phillips as the third member of the competition's final threesome.
"The next celebrity to leave the jungle is... Patti," Fahey told the celebrities.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Knock 'em dead -- you kill these guys, you understand me?!" Blagojevich told Wilson has she exchanged departure hugs with all the final three celebrities.
During a live interview that followed his ouster, an upbeat Malakar said he was proud of his I'm a Celebrity accomplishments, which included winning nine of the 12 challenges he'd participated in.
"I'm a little disappointed, but you know what I made it to the Top 5. There's one more day in the jungle and I'm ready to watch my fellow campmates battle it out," Malakar told I'm a Celebrity co-host Myleene Klass.
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Malakar was also noncommittal about the future of his relationship with previously eliminated -- twice -- contestant Holly Montag, which the show had repeatedly attempted to position as a budding romance.
"Holly's [been] my best friend in camp. I mean I don't know, people are always coming up to me and [saying] 'Oh, you and Holly!'" Malakar said. "I don't know."
Similar to Malakar, Blagojevich had also indicated she was proud that she had managed to make it to I'm a Celebrity's penultimate broadcast during her own post-ouster interview.
"I didn't, I was pleasantly surprised," she said when asked if she'd expected to survive 23 days in the competition. "But once I got here I just felt myself getting stronger and stronger with each passing day and it was a great experience."
"I love it, it was unlike anything I've ever experienced before and I don't think I'll ever experience anything like this again," she added. ""I feel good. I've left behind three incredible people and I'm honored to lose to any one of them."
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During her interview, Blagojevich also revealed I'm a Celebrity's cast has grown so close that they are planning to stage a reunion camping trip next year.
"I think we're all going to keep in touch," she said. "We've kind of even already planned a reunion for next year at this time. We're all going to go camping somewhere maybe in Colorado or the Rockies and bring all the things we didn't have with us here."
Even I'm a Celebrity troublemakers Heidi and Spencer Pratt, Blagojevich was asked?
"Sure, why not? Everyone will be invited," she replied.
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'s live finale will air tonight at 8PM ET/PT on NBC.
(Photo credit NBC/Tyler Golden)
About The Author: Steven Rogers