Ex-Italy star Francesco Coco says he's 'sad' about media speculation over his friendship with gay Italian celeb Alessandro Cecchi Paone.

'He's a superb human,' says Coco, after the pair met on Italy's I'm a Celebrity... Get me out of here!

'There's feeling between us. He's a sensitive person and I don't care that people make fun about our friendship.'

Last year Coco admitted paying a paparazzo not to publish pictures of him and a male friend on a boat, or other photos of him with four naked men.

'I don't accept how the papers portray me. Everyone thinks I am a drugged-up gay who lives in nightclubs. I need to get away.'