A Childhood Friend of 34 Years Reveals the Real Tom – The Boy Who Sang Joy into Every Room and Never Stopped Choosing Kindness – And Viewers Say They’re Seeing Him in a Whole New Light

 “Some people shine on TV… but Tom Read Wilson has been lighting up lives long before the cameras arrived.” That simple truth, shared by a childhood friend of 34 years on Thursday’s This Morning, has transformed the way Britain sees the I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! breakout star. The 38-year-old reception host from Celebs Go Dating, already beloved for his baroque vocabulary and unfiltered warmth in the jungle, was reduced to tears live on air when lifelong pal Sarah-Jane Mee read a letter describing the boy who “helped everyone, sang joy into every room, and never stopped choosing kindness.” Viewers, already smitten with Tom’s nightly hugs and Shakespearean pep talks, say they’re seeing him in a whole new light: “He’s the sunshine you don’t realise you needed… until he walks into the scene.”

Sarah-Jane, who met Tom aged four at a Berkshire nursery, painted a portrait of a child who “never changed.” “Tom would organise little concerts in the playground – he’d sing Memory from Cats at the top of his lungs while the rest of us just watched in awe,” she recalled, voice cracking. “If someone fell over, Tom was first there with a plaster and a hug. He never wanted the spotlight – he just wanted everyone to feel loved.” She described teenage Tom volunteering at a local care home every Saturday, reading poetry to residents and learning their life stories “because he genuinely cared.” “Even then,” she said, “he spoke like a Victorian gentleman – but his heart was pure 2025 kindness.”

The revelation came during Tom’s post-eviction This Morning interview, where he’d expected light jungle banter. Instead, hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard surprised him with Sarah-Jane’s video message. As she finished with “You’ve always been our sunshine – the jungle just gave the world permission to see it,” Tom – usually unflappable – dissolved into quiet tears, covering his face with those signature expressive hands. “I’m just me,” he whispered. “Kindness costs nothing – it’s the easiest currency.”

Britain melted. #RealTom trended with 1.8 million posts, fans sharing clips of his jungle moments – comforting Oti Mabuse after a trial, teaching Dean McCullough the word “effulgent,” and declaring every campmate “radiant” – now viewed through this new lens. “He’s not performing kindness – he’s been this way since he was four,” one wrote, alongside childhood photos of a beaming, bow-tied Tom.

Tom’s journey from shy Berkshire boy to national treasure has been gradual but unstoppable. After drama school at LAMDA, he worked as a wedding singer, cruise-ship entertainer, and voiceover artist before Celebs Go Dating made him a household name in 2016. Yet friends say fame never changed him. “He still sends handwritten thank-you cards,” Sarah-Jane laughed. “Who does that in 2025?”

In the jungle, Tom’s vocabulary – “luminous,” “exquisite,” “resplendent” – became nightly gifts, but his heart was the real star. From serenading the camp with Over the Rainbow to declaring “every soul here is worthy of love,” he turned a snake-filled swamp into a sanctuary of warmth.

As he told This Morning, eyes still glistening: “Kindness is my north star – always has been.” Britain, already in love, just fell harder. Tom Read Wilson isn’t just TV sunshine – he’s the real thing, and he’s been shining for 38 years.