On Wednesday night, Dicko was the next celeb to see his time in the jungle come to an end. After Bianca Hunt and Anna Polyviou left just a few days ago, the entire camp realised just how quickly things could come to an end, with Dr Chris Brown and Lady Julia Morris announcing that one celeb would be leaving each night moving forward.
"It's good, I loved it, it's time to go and it's been really, really special," Dicko told his campmates after Chris and Julia broke the news.
While he was initially one of the most hesitant about living in the camp with a handful of other celebs, Dicko quickly came to embrace the experience, becoming close with some truly unlikely campmates.
"I really was not expecting to fall in love with strangers like I did, but I did! I've left with some really, really potentially great friendships," Dicko told Chris and Julia adding, "I feel really grateful, I really do."
"There were people I obviously knew from their public persona," Dicko told 10 Play. "But you really get beyond the press release very quickly in this scenario and see people in all of their warts and all glory, and that was very exciting.
"Just to get to know the likes of Pete and Liz... and also Nathan who I had long been a fan of from Geordie Shore... he was a fellow pom so we bonded on tales from home quite a lot."
It was clear he and Domenica Calarco were going to ruffle each other’s feathers, but when push came to shove – the dynamic duo really showed that they had the greatest mateship that saw them conquer one of the toughest trials the jungle has to offer: the Viper Room.
"I absolutely loved this whole experience," Dicko told 10 Play, "there were difficulties but, bizarrely, the trials were the least challenging of the whole experience.
"The big challenge for me was the long days with nothing to do, trying to keep your mind focused and trying to stay positive," he continued. "And, of course, the hunger. The hunger is real. The hunger is very, very real."
During his time in the jungle, we fell in love with Dicko’s softer side and saw him speak about his days on Australian Idol and his infamous comments to Paulini and the gold dress, wanting to be a great dad to his kids, and even tearing up while talking about his love for his wife.
READ MORE: 'He Never Provided For The Family': Dicko Opens Up About His Relationship With His Father
"I just wasn't expecting to discover so much about myself in there and I think leaving all that stuff that I regarded as so important on the outside and just having to come face-to-face with me... it was just thrilling, actually," he said.
Dicko’s time in the jungle was in support of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation, a not-for-profit that provides weekly music education classes and access to instruments to disadvantaged children and youth at risk across the country.
"That organisation provides free music education to children in need, whether it's Indigenous communities, adolescents in lockup or schools from poorer areas with a high propensity of refugee kids that don't speak English as a first language," Dicko said.
Having sat on the board for a few years before he moved to Queensland, Dicko told 10 Play he knows firsthand the great work ACMF do.
"I've seen with my own eyes the tangible results that music education gives young people," he explained. "I'm thrilled that they're going to get supported by Channel 10 and, hopefully, the profile will support people to look them up and see what they do."
For more information about the ACMF, or any of the charities our celebs are representing this year, as well as info on how you can support or donate, click here.
