He won't see me struggle ...he's so caring and I'm so proud of him

Angry Ginge's mum on her jungle star son

- TOM BRYANT

A FEW years ago she was juggling low-paid jobs and fretting about the mortgage while her teenage son shouted at a computer.

Now, sitting on a five-star hotel balcony in Australia overlooking the South Pacific, single mum Michelle cannot quite believe how far her boy Morgan Burtwistle has come.

Better known to millions as Angry Ginge, he is the bookies' favourite to be crowned King of the Jungle.

And Michelle is delighted that her son has shown his personality on TV.

Of Ginge's tearful moments on screen, Michelle says: "I've always said to him never hide your feelings, if you want to cry, then you cry."

That sensitivity has always been there, even if the world now knows him as the fiery gamer. As a boy he struggled with homesickness. Michelle says: "We used to go to caravan parks and Pontins, and every time we went, he'd wake up in the night and be sick."

He eventually grew out of it by the time he did his Duke of Edinburgh Award. But his wobble in camp, when he admitted he was missing home, did not surprise Michelle.

Before he was Angry Ginge, he was a cheeky but hardworking schoolkid.

"He had a few sneaky moments, but he was never really naughty, even in school, in fact he was even the head boy," Michelle recalls.