Mike Tindall Details Wife Zara's Surprise Home Birth on Reality Show: 'She Almost Choked Me to Death'

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Zara and Mike Tindall

Mike Tindall is getting real on reality TV.

The former England rugby player, who is married to Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter Zara, is competing on the U.K. reality show I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! and chatted with his fellow contestants about when his wife gave birth to their son, Lucas Philip — at home after realizing it was too late to head to the hospital.

"As we got our stuff to go to hospital, she got out of the bath, she could barely stand, she was shaking," Mike recalled on the show, according to Sky News. "The midwife was like, 'She's not making the hospital.' She was like, 'You don't want to be delivering in the car.' [I went] into the gym [and got] two gym mats [to put] down in the bathroom."

Mike added that Zara's labor pains were intense: "She almost choked me to death. You can't say anything, can you? 'Can you let go, you're really hurting me?' "

Luckily, Lucas arrived safely on March 21, 2021. The baby boy, who is the fifth grandchild of Princess Anne, joined his two big sisters: Mia, now 8, and Lena, now 4.

RELATED: Is the Queen's Granddaughter Zara Tindall the First Royal to Give Birth at Home?

Karwai Tang/WireImage Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall

Earlier this week, Mike told the rest of the cast about how he met Zara.

Zara, 41, and Mike, 44, first crossed paths during the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, meeting at the Manly Wharf Bar.

"I was at the World Cup, she was out watching," the athlete said on Monday's episode of the show. "I got dropped from the semi-final. I was pissed off, and so I went for a beer with another guy who got dropped and a guy who was over [in Sydney]. They'd met her before, and they introduced us and then got chatting."

Back in the U.K., the pair met up.

"First actual date, just went out for lunch locally. And ended up being quite a boozy one," Mike recalled. "Then we figured out that we both quite like getting smashed. It was a good start."

The couple got engaged in 2010 and wed the following summer.

Mike is braving the Australian wilderness for the reality show alongside pop singer Boy George, Coronation Street actress Sue Cleaver, Hollyoaks star Owen Warner, TV host Scarlette Douglas, journalist Charlene White, radio host Chris Moyles, pro soccer player Jill Scott, comedian Babatunde Aléshé and Love Island alum Olivia Attwood.

RELATED: Mike Tindall Puts His Rapping Skills on Display During I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

Before leaving for the adventure, Mike recorded a special episode of his podcast The Good, The Bad & The Rugby.

Cohost Alex Payne asked Mike if there was anything that made him "shudder."

"Well, no. Creepy crawlies don't really bug me, snakes don't really bug me, but then I've never been buried in a coffin with all those things... So in the moment, I'd say no, but that's their job," he said, referencing TV producers' anticipated hijinks.

"First challenge, he's going to be absolutely hysterical. Tears, snot, emotions," Payne joked.

Laughing, Mike pretended to cry and said, "Get me out of here!"

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According to his bio for ITV, "Former English Rugby Union player Mike Tindall will become the first member of the Royal Family to take part in I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, and he predicts he will get voted to do all the famous trials in the jungle."