Apr 27 2006
By Kate Mansey
Daily Post Staff
TELEVISION viewers who backed soap star
Sheree Murphy to the runner-up spot in reality show
I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! raised £65,000 for Alder Hey hospital in the process.
Yesterday, the former Emmerdale actress arrived at the Liverpool hospital to hand over the money - only to be greeted by a mini bush-tucker trial.
Sheree came second to Carol Thatcher, the daughter of ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in the most recent series of the hit ITV series, presented by Ant and Dec.
While in the jungle, she took part in several 'trials' to win food for her and the other celebrity contestants - including placing her hands in maggots and worms.
But when presented with a mini-challenge created by patients at Alder Hey, Sheree was relieved to find nothing more frightening than a pretend mouse hidden inside a box.
The mother-of-two, who spent two hours with young patients, said: "It's been lovely seeing all the children on the wards.
"When I first went into the ward where the babies and really young children were, they had made a little mini jungle for me.
"One group had even made some jungle challenges for me, including one where I had to put my hand in a box that had a pretend mouse in.
"It was absolutely lovely meeting all the kids and their parents. Some are very poorly but I was amazed how positive and happy they were.
"There is a really nice atmosphere in the hospital and it was lovely to see the people that will benefit from the money."
The 30-year-old wife of Liverpool and Australia footballer Harry Kewell appeared on the show with celebrities including Jimmy Osmond, Sid Owen and Jenny Frost.
She chose the Imagine Appeal, which raises money to help sick children at Alder Hey, after her husband told her about the charity.
Ms Murphy said: "I chose the Imagine Appeal because it's a charity that Harry has supported in the past.
"Before one of his matches Harry wore an Imagine Appeal T-shirt to raise awareness of the charity and I know about the good work that they do at the hospital.
"We live in Cheshire now and with us being so near Liverpool I know that this is where my children would come if anything ever happened to them. "
Yesterday she revealed she was looking forward to travelling to Cardiff with the Liverpool FC team for the FA Cup final.
She said: "I will almost definitely be going down to the match - I can't wait."
"Last time I went to Cardiff was for the Carling Cup but they lost and it felt like a very long drive home.
"Harry's fully fit and doing well so I really hope we'll win this time."
Chris Done, of Alder Hey's Imagine Appeal, met the actress at the children's hospital.
She said: "It's an absolutely staggering amount of money and we're really grateful to Sheree for supporting the Imagine Appeal.
"We thought she was fantastic on the programme and we were all furiously voting for her even though we'd no idea the money would be coming to Alder Hey."
The money will be used to fund improvements in health care at the hospital.
